April 25, 2014
Professor Glenn Gulak and Susan Grant, both of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, were honoured at this year’s Celebrating Engineering Excellence reception Wednesday. The gala was hosted by Professor Cristina Amon, dean of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.
Professor Gulak received the Faculty’s Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award, recognizing a professor who has demonstrated consistent excellence in
teaching in the Faculty over an extended period of time. Professor Gulak has won eight ECE teaching awards, and received the Faculty Teaching Award in 1999. His popular approach to learning has made him a sought-after supervisor, and many alumni credit him for having a major impact on their career paths. Students have called his lectures “life-transforming,” and he has been called an “inspirational leader, great mentor and role-model” for students as well as other faculty members.
Susan Grant, who retired at the end of 2013, won this year’s Quality of Student Experience Award for her unstinting dedication over her 18 years in the department to making ECE a supportive and enriching place for its students.
“Her infectious enthusiasm for engineering has been a consistent and positive presence in our students’ lives,” said ECE chair Professor Farid Najm. “Though she has been gone a short time, she is already greatly missed.”
The event united faculty and staff members from across Engineering to toast the accomplishments and awards for research, administration and teaching innovation. Other awardees from ECE for the year 2013-2014 included:
- Wei Yu – Inducted as a Fellow of the IEEE
- Stewart Aitchison – Elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- Alberto Leon-Garcia – Inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering
- Jonathan Rose – University of Toronto Faculty Award
- Peter Lehn – University of Toronto Inventor of the Year Award
- Linda Espeut, Karen Irving, Jayne Leake, Jaro Pristupa, Joe Wong – University of Toronto Excellence Through Innovation Award
- Piero Triverio – Canada Research Chair in Modelling of Electrical Interconnects
- Kevin Truong – Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute Grant
- Vaughn Betz, Stark Draper, Antonio Liscidini, Joshua Taylor, Ding Yuan – Canadian Foundation for Innovation John R. Evans Leaders Fund
- Richard Cobbold, Joyce Poon, Sorin Voinigescu, Li Qian – Connaught Innovation Awards
- Joshua Taylor, Pierro Triverio, Paul Yoo, Ding Yuan – Connaught New Researcher Awards
- Brendan Frey – NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplement
- Ted Sargent – NSERC Idea to Innovation Grant
- Peter Herman, Baochun Li, Ben Liang, Ted Sargent – NSERC Strategic Project Grants
- Piero Triverio – Ontario Research Fund – Research Infrastructure
- Konstantinos Plataniotis, Anastasios Venetsanopoulos, Wai Tung Ng, K.C. Smith, Phil Anderson – Authored new books in 2013-14
“This year’s award winners have made exceptional contributions to the Faculty’s achievements in engineering research, learning, recruitment and student experience,” said Dean Cristina Amon. “I offer my warmest congratulations for their richly deserved recognition.”
More information:
Marit Mitchell
Senior Communications Officer
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
416-978-7997; marit.mitchell@utoronto.ca