Sun, Yu
Professor

Biography

Yu Sun is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, with joint appointments in the Institute and Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. He was elected Fellow of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), and CAE (Canadian Academy of Engineering) for his work on micro-nano devices and robotic systems. His Advanced Micro and Nanosystems Laboratory specializes in developing innovative technologies and instruments for manipulating and characterization of cells, molecules, and nanomaterials, and collaborates with an extensive collaborative network that includes clinician scientists, industry partners, biologists, physicists, material scientists, and engineers.

Sun obtained his PhD from the University of Minnesota in 2003 and did his postdoctoral research at ETH-Zürich. In 2004, he joined the University of Toronto where he is now a Tier I Canada Research Chair. In 2012-2013, he directed the University of Toronto Nanofabrication Center. Sun has served and serves on the editorial boards of several IEEE journals (IEEE Trans. Robotics, IEEE Trans. Automation Science and Engineering, and IEEE Trans. Mechatronics), J. Micromechanics Microengineering, Sensors & Actuators A: Physical, Scientific Reports, and Microsystems & Nanoengineering. Among the awards he received were the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Early Career Award; over a dozen best paper awards and finalists at major conferences; seven times University of Toronto Connaught Innovation Award; the McLean Award; the First Prize in Technical Achievement of ASRM (American Society for Reproductive Medicine); an NSERC E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship; and the IEEE C.C. Gotlieb Computer Award.

Memberships/Awards

• IEEE C.C. Gotlieb Computer Award, 2018
• U of T’s Connaught Innovation Award, 2018
• Tier I Canada Research Chair, 2017
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2016
• U of T’s Connaught Innovation Award, 2016
• Alumni Achievement Award, Dalian University of Technology, 2015
• Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE, through the Robotics and Automation Society), 2015
• MIE Teaching Award, University of Toronto, 2014
• Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), 2014
• U of T’s Connaught Innovation Award, 2014
• NSERC E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship (the fellowship was awarded to 6 researchers selected from across all fields of natural sciences and engineering, across Canada), 2013
• Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2013
• Fellow, Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), 2013
• U of T’s Connaught Innovation Award, 2013
• U of T’s Connaught Innovation Award, 2012
• U of T’s Inventor of the Year Award (First Prize), 2011
• U of T’s Connaught Innovation Award, 2011
• IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Academic Early Career Award “for contributions to enabling microrobotic and MEMS technologies for automated cell manipulation and characterization in cell biology and clinical applications”, 2010
• U of T’s McLean Award, 2009
• First Prize for Technical Achievement by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), 2009
• Fellow, Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers (CSME), 2009