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jyotijariwal — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 14:56:29 +0000

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https://uoft.service-now.com/utm_iits?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0013250

��ϲ�� researcher to talk about AI opportunities – and designing household robots

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 17:21:42 +0000

��ϲ�� researcher to talk about AI opportunities – and designing household robots

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 11/08/2017 - 12:21

Cutline

Sanja Fidler, an assistant professor in ��ϲ�� Mississauga's department of mathematical and computational sciences, talks about her research earlier this year at the ElevateTO conference (photo by Chris Sorensen)

Chris Sorensen

Topic

City & Culture

Artificial Intelligence

Computer Science

Faculty of Arts & Science

Subheadline

Sanja Fidler will be one of several speakers during campus career event

Sanja Fidler has a back-of-the-envelope way to track Toronto’s rapid emergence as a global centre for artificial intelligence, or AI: the number of machine learning graduate students who are jumping at offers to do their research at the ��ϲ��.

“You typically have some ratio of ‘accepts’ because there is MIT, Stanford and Berkeley and we all compete for the same people,” says Fidler, an assistant professor at ��ϲ�� Mississauga's department of mathematical and computational sciences and a founding member of the Vector Institute for AI research.

“But this year almost everyone accepted.”

The flood of interest reflects both ��ϲ��’s growing global reputation in the booming field of AI and the degree to which Canada’s strategy of investing in AI research through initiatives like Vector, a partnership between ��ϲ��, government and industry, is helping to attract and retain top talent.

That includes top researchers like Fidler, who specializes in computer vision and applied machine learning. She will be speaking at ��ϲ�� Thursday as part of an AI career event with Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia, a Vector partner that designs graphics processing units, or GPUs, which are often used to handle the intense computations necessary for AI applications.

“I do a lot of things connecting computer vision with natural language – so moving towards robots that are not only going to see but also communicate with people in natural ways,” Fidler says.

“The grand vision is we want to teach a robot how to do anything in a household – make coffee, clean your room. Maybe watch TV with you?”

Kidding aside, developing a Jetsons-like robot is far more difficult than it sounds. While companies like Uber, Google and others are rushing to develop self-driving cars, Fidler says creating robots that can interact with people in their homes is actually a more challenging problem in some respects.

Whereas cars operate in a relatively contained environment – streets or highways equipped with lanes, signage and stoplights – a robot wandering around your house, by contrast, could come in contact with any number of different objects, from an empty cereal box to a cat sleeping on the window sill.

“Imagine I’m taking a picture in my office,” says Fidler. “There are so many different objects that will appear in the picture and some will only have a very few pixels, a very tiny region in the image.

“In order to identify all these things, to outline the region and where each object is, as well as determine the [robot’s] task, is a very hard problem.”

The challenges are made even more difficult by the fact that any object a robot “sees” will appear to change as either the object or robot moves around the room. “If I take a pen and rotate it, the image is changing a lot,” says Fidler. “So these neural nets have to capture this kind of variability.”

This is precisely the problem that ��ϲ�� University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton discussed on stage at Google’s GO North event last week. Hinton, who does AI research for the search engine giant and is sometimes referred to as the “godfather” of deep learning, recently published two papers that offer a new approach called “capsule networks” that aim to make it easier for computers to recognize the same object from different perspectives.

Read the Wired magazine story on Hinton's latest research

“This is how research is driven,” Fidler says. You always want to think of better ways to do things. Everyone right now is thinking about convolutional neural nets for images, but maybe there’s a better way to design these nets.”

Fidler says her goal at the Nvidia event, which also feature presentations by two Nvidia researchers, will be to inspire students by emphasizing how “cool” AI research is and the number of truly difficult problems that need to be solved.

“Imagine you’re on the team that builds a car that’s going to drive itself,” she says, noting that her ��ϲ�� colleague, Associate Professor Raquel Urtasun, who heads up Uber’s self-driving vehicle lab in Toronto, recently drew a crowd to an Uber career event at ��ϲ��.

“You’re going to go down in history.”

And creating robot assistants who will do your laundry?

“I think that’s huge, too,” Fidler says. “But it’s also a little more out there – farther into the future.”

#UofTBackToSchool: You’re home! ��ϲ�� international students get warm welcome at Pearson Airport

Romi Levine — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 18:58:06 +0000

#UofTBackToSchool: You’re home! ��ϲ�� international students get warm welcome at Pearson Airport

Romi Levine Tue, 09/05/2017 - 14:58

Cutline

Incoming student Mahaksh Malhodra and his sister chat with members of the ��ϲ��'s Pearson airport welcome team (photo by Romi Levine)

Romi Levine

Author legacy

Romi Levine

Topic

City & Culture

Global

International Students

Centre for International Experience

Rotman Commerce

UTSC

UTM

It’s a 20-hour journey from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Toronto – the longest trip Moksha Antani has ever taken, but also the most exciting.

She’s about to begin her first year at the ��ϲ��’s Rotman Commerce program, and, even after an exhausting day of travel, she finds it hard to contain her enthusiasm.

“I’m looking forward to new people, new culture – everything!” she says.

Thousands of international students pass through Toronto Pearson International Airport’s Terminal 1 and 3 on their way to ��ϲ��. While they share first-day jitters with domestic students, they also have the hefty task of navigating their way around an unfamiliar city.

That's why ��ϲ�� airport welcome teams are there. The teams, made up of students from ��ϲ�� Mississauga, ��ϲ�� Scarborough and the downtown Toronto campus, help new international students with anything they need, from directions to residences to advice on the best place to exchange money.

Moksha Antani was glad to see some friendly ��ϲ�� faces at the Pearson welcome booth (photo by Romi Levine)

So far this year, students from 41 different countries – from the tiny island of Mauritius to the Baltic nation of Estonia – have come by the welcome booths.

People also visit the booth to ask for everything from directions to the nearest washroom to information about ��ϲ��’s engineering programs.

The welcome team has witnessed some amazing moments too, from tearful reunions to a hoard of fans waiting to greet the 13-member Korean Pop boy band Seventeen – as seen in the video below.

@saythename_17 at #torontopearson today! #somanyscreamingteens #seventeen #kpop #whatathrill #korea #seventeentour #seventeentoronto #6ix #416 #tdot #kpoplife

A post shared by UofT Airport Welcome Team (@yyzaws) on Aug 24, 2017 at 5:30pm PDT

Like the incoming first-years, the welcome team comes from all over the world, with 19 students who speak over 22 different languages.

“I'm an international student so I understand the importance of this for having a good first impression and getting help,” says Salman Khan, a management student at ��ϲ�� Scarborough, who came to study in Toronto from Bangladesh.

��ϲ��'s MasterCard Scholars were given a warm welcome in Terminal 3 (photo by Romi Levine)

Khan’s booth-mate, Ingrid Llambi, is an English and cinema studies student at ��ϲ��’s downtown Toronto campus. Llambi says when she sees the relief in students’ faces, it drives home how meaningful – and necessary – the welcome booth is.

“Getting to do that is really great and they really need it in that moment,” she says. “They're super grateful, excited and happy.”

Ingrid Llambi and Salman Khan are two of the 19 student greeters at Pearson airport (photo by Romi Levine)

Mahaksh Malhodra says he was thankful for the ��ϲ�� presence at the airport – it helped to calm his nerves.

Coming from Varanasi, India, Malhodra decided to study computer science at ��ϲ�� “because it’s the best,” he says.

He’s looking forward to exploring his new city and can’t wait to make his way up the CN Tower and take a photo with the Toronto sign at Nathan Phillips Square.

The welcome booths will continue to greet students until Sept. 10.

Evolution of a killer: ��ϲ�� study traces deadly fungus affecting bats

rasbachn — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 17:57:44 +0000

Evolution of a killer: ��ϲ�� study traces deadly fungus affecting bats

rasbachn Wed, 08/16/2017 - 13:57

Cutline

About seven million bats have died of white-nose syndrome in the past decade (photo courtesy Ryan von Linden, New York Department of Environmental Conservation via Flickr)

Blake Eligh

Author legacy

Blake Eligh

Topic

Breaking Research

UTM

Biology

A new study from ��ϲ�� Mississauga is shining a light on genetic changes happening in the darkest of places – bat caves.

First discovered in 2006, Pseudogymnoascus destructans is a fungus that has wreaked havoc on eastern North American bat populations. The fungus, which is thought to have been accidentally introduced from Europe, has taken hold in caves along eastern Canada and the United States, where it has thrived in a perfect ecosystem of cold temperatures and unsuspecting hosts. The fungus causes white-nose syndrome, so named because it covers the snouts and wing membranes of hibernating bats with a fuzzy white growth.

Bats who contract the fungus have trouble flying and hunting, and eventually starve. About seven million bats have died of the syndrome in the past decade.

Graduate student Jigar Trivedi has spent the past two years studying the fungus, working with ��ϲ�� Mississauga's Linda Kohn, a professor of biology, and James Anderson, a professor of cell & systems biology. Trivedi’s findings, recently published in the American Society for Microbiology's journal mSphere, reveal new information about how the fungus reproduces and evolves over time.

“White-nose syndrome attacks the immune system of the bats,” Trivedi says. “They hibernate together in close quarters where the fungus is easily transferred and their immunity is low – the fungus acts as an opportunistic pathogen.”

The North American fungus is unique because there is only one strain.

“There are many strains of the fungus in Europe, where bats appear to be less affected, but in North America, only one strain was introduced and it hasn’t yet combined with a different strain. It has been reproducing asexually by creating clones of itself,” says Trivedi (right).

“Previous studies didn’t tell us if the fungus was evolving or not,” he says. “We wanted to see how it was evolving, and how much genetic diversity the fungus has accumulated.”

Trivedi grew cultures from fungus samples collected from bats, cave insects and cave walls in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

“This is a cold-loving fungus,” Trivedi says. “We weren’t sure we could grow it in the lab.”

After about a month, Trivedi extracted DNA from the samples to create complete genetic sequences of the samples.

“We see that this fungus is slowly and steadily accumulating genetic variation through spontaneous mutations that have occurred over the last 10 years,” he says.

Trivedi’s findings have generated a lot of interest, with more than 3,000 views of the study in the first two weeks of publication and more than 15,000 posts on social media.

Trivedi warns that accidental introduction of a new strain of the fungus could cause additional evolution and spell disaster for bats that are already on the brink of extinction. He notes that the big brown bat has shown some resistance to the fungus, and hopes that the new data can provide further insight into how the pathogen and the host might evolve.

“We can look at what has happened in Europe over hundreds of years and see that it’s possible that the host and pathogen have co-evolved,” he says. “If the North American fungus has a chance to become more genetically diverse, it can cause even more trouble for the bats. You will see how natural selection acts – in favour of the bats or in favour of the fungus.”

“There are strict measures for biosecurity that we should take to prevent this,” Trivedi says.

He recommends that those intending to visit the caves take measures to quarantine clothes and gear.

“It’s like having the flu and being careful to stay away from children and others with low immunity,” he says.

The research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

White supremacists, Antifa: ��ϲ�� experts on protesters in Charlottesville

ullahnor — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 20:23:04 +0000

White supremacists, Antifa: ��ϲ�� experts on protesters in Charlottesville

ullahnor Tue, 08/15/2017 - 16:23

Cutline

Neo Nazis, alt-right and white supremacists encircle counter protesters after marching through the University of Virginia campus with torches in Charlottesville, Va. (photo by Shay Horse/NurPhoto/Getty)

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Author legacy

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Topic

Global Lens

Race

UTM

Faculty of Information

Faculty of Arts & Science

Sociology

The violence in Charlottesville, Va., and U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial comments have turned the spotlight on the emergence of emboldened white supremacists on the far right and the presence of some Antifa protesters on the far left.

��ϲ�� News spoke with sociologist Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, whose work focuses on race, crime and criminal justice, about the prevalence of white nationalists in the U.S. and Canada. Owusu-Bempah, who returned to ��ϲ�� in the fall of 2016, says that while he was teaching at Indiana University in Bloomington, the local Ku Klux Klan would hand out flyers, and the campus had white nationalist groups.

David Roberts, who specializes in geographies of race and racialization, and Alex Hanna, who uses data collection to analyze protest movements, talked about Antifa, the counter protesters who surfaced in Charlottesville. Trump has also blamed them for the deadly violence, inciting criticism from politicians on both sides.

“I think it is extremely important that we avoid even the slightest appearance of drawing equivalency between white supremacist/white nationalist/fascist groups and those organizing to resist them in the fight against racism, xenophobia, homophobia, fascism,” Roberts says. “While there is no denying that Antifa groups do engage in violence in various forms, their organizing is not predicated on the hatred of others. This is an important and key distinction.”

Anti-fascist counter protesters hurl insults at white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the 'alt-right' in Charlottesville over the weekend, where a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is slated to be removed (photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Akwasi Owusu-Bempah is an assistant professor of sociology at ��ϲ�� Mississauga:

White supremacy in the United States has been very open historically – first, with slave holding, and then, the public lynching that came afterwards. Entire families would go and watch the lynching of Black men. In the post-civil rights era and certainly in the ‘80s and ‘90s, we started to see a change in how open Americans were with their racism. It was a more polite, more subtle racism.

I think this has always been present in the United States. But I think Donald Trump has specifically provided more fodder for this type of public action. Trump seems to have not only re-legitimized but also provided a space and set an example for people that hold these views. During the election campaign, he said a host of overtly racist things. His election has signalled to people with those views that it's OK. If the leader of the most powerful country in the world and their leader is saying these things, that provides them with a justification and further motivation to espouse these views and act in public.

I came back from Indiana, where the local branch of the KKK in Bloomington would often distribute flyers saying they were going to hold demonstrations, and we had white nationalist groups on campus. Those individuals didn't hide their identities. The FBI has been warning about the threat of white nationalists and white supremacists for some time. They've said that white supremacists pose a threat to the nation, and they actually highlighted the fact that white supremacists have been quite effective in infiltrating American law enforcement. This is something that is not new. It is ongoing, and it's very dangerous.

Likewise, we have a history of white supremacy in this country too. Specifically the first 16 legislators of Upper Canada held slaves. J.S. Woodsworth made comments on the inferiority of Black people, views that were supported by the Macdonald government. That's not to even mention how Indigneous populations have been viewed and treated. Rob Ford's sister, Kathy Ford, was involved in a relationship with a white supremacist. Of course, we've had Kellie Leitch and her campaign. [Over the weekend] I retweeted the example from B.C. of a KKK flyer distributed earlier this year – the second time in three months. In the last five to ten years, we've had fairly prominent cross burnings on both sides of the country. In Halifax, a mixed race couple were antagonized, and individuals basically run out of town. And we have white supremacist groups here in Ontario and nationally.

We as Canadians have done a better job of erasing our racist past. But I would suggest that racism and white supremacy lurks under the surface of Canadian society, and at times rears its ugly head. There's a potential for the same thing to happen here.

David Roberts is an assistant professor, teaching stream in the Faculty of Arts & Science's urban studies program:

The Antifa (anti-fascist) movement is a term used to describe militant anti-fascist organizations who embrace a variety of tactics, including physical violence, to confront white supremacy, racism, homophobia and fascism.

The movement has its roots in 1930s Europe and paramilitary organizing against the rise of fascism prior to the Second World War. In the United States, the emergence of Antifa groups is most closely connected to the late 1980s punk scene in response to neo-Nazi infiltration. The growth of the North American Antifa movement in recent years can likely be traced to a response to an emboldened white supremacist/white nationalist movement, as well as a belief that governmental institutions are complicit in the perpetuation of racism and white supremacy. While I do not know the details of Antifa organizing in Canada, just as Canada is not immune to white supremacist organizing, I am certain that there is Antifa organizing as well.

Given the emboldened white supremacist movements and their embrace and advocacy of violence and hate, we are likely to see more violent confrontations and violent acts perpetrated by extremists. It is really hard to know how many of the counter protesters are actually Antifa – though some of them have definitely claimed that label. My guess is that the vast majority of those who showed up in counter protests did so with more peaceful intentions. It seems to me that the attempts to paint the counter protests with a wide brush as Antifa are largely coming from white supremacist organizers and sympathizers in an attempt to justify their violence – but again, this is just a hunch.

Part of what I am trying to say is that while the white supremacists were organized in their message and approach, those who oppose them in Charlottesville and elsewhere represent a pretty diverse collection of groups with various opinions about violence.

Alex Hanna is an assistant professor at U of T Mississauga and the Faculty of Information:

Antifa is hard to discuss in general terms, mostly because its members’ ideologies tend towards anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism and autonomist strains of Marxism and socialism. These ideologies by and large tend to be anti-state and left libertarian, which means they see a more perfect society to be composed of small, autonomous groups of individuals working together in mutual respect and aid.

Antifa has been in the news lately because they have been very visible in shutting down and combatting white supremacists emboldened by the election of Donald Trump. Antifa tends to be different from other modern liberal and left movements in the U.S. such that they are willing to destroy property and inflict violence on not only white supremacists but the property of corporations and the police. Antifa in Berkeley, Calif., caused enough of a disruption, for instance, to prevent the former Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos – who has regularly promoted racist, sexist, and transphobic views – from speaking at the University of California-Berkeley. It isn’t surprising that they would be involved in counter protests to the recent events in Charlottesville.

The resurgence of Antifa groups is a response to rising nationalism and white supremacist movements. In the U.S., far-right and nationalist organizations are heavily armed and are disproportionately the progenitors of violence. Antifa arise as a reaction to far-right movements and mostly seek to clash with them.

We’ve seen more nationalism in Canada, yes, but I don’t think nationalists are as emboldened as they have been in the U.S. So far, they have been met with a left and liberal response with little Antifa involvement. My hypotheses would be that stronger gun laws dissuade white nationalists from carrying weapons as openly as they do in the U.S., and that the public discourse coming from the highest officials in the government is one of multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism (often in opposition to their past and current actions which harm Indigenous communities and communities of colour). This public discourse provides nonviolent counter protests with some level of government support. Therefore the Antifa response seems to be less present.

The risks faced by China's human rights lawyers: ��ϲ�� sociologist Sida Liu

ullahnor — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 19:51:55 +0000

The risks faced by China's human rights lawyers: ��ϲ�� sociologist Sida Liu

ullahnor Thu, 08/10/2017 - 15:51

Cutline

Portraits of detained Chinese human rights lawyers Jian Tianyong (left) and Wang Quanzhang (right) are seen as Hong Kong pro-democracy activists hold a silent protest for human rights lawyers in China (photo by Tengku Bahar/AFP/Getty Images)

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Author legacy

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Topic

His book was just reviewed in the New York Review of Books, and he was recently quoted extensively in a New York Times Magazine article on the lawyers representing China's dissidents, but for Sida Liu the latest interest in China's human rights abuses is not surprising.

He says his book, Criminal Defense in China: The Politics of Lawyers at Work, co-written by Terence Charles Halliday, began receiving media attention even before the book was out in print.

“The irony, however, is that much of it was owing to the plight of Chinese criminal defence lawyers in recent years,” he says. “It was painful for me to see our book getting good reviews while some of our informants suffered in the criminal process.”

Liu, who officially joined ��ϲ�� Mississauga’s sociology department in 2016 as an assistant professor, spent last year at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., for an academic sabbatical. When classes resume in the fall, students will finally get a chance to attend his lectures and learn about what's unfolding in China today.

Targeting chronic pain: ��ϲ�� researcher identifies potential way to reduce pain

ullahnor — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 17:32:26 +0000

Targeting chronic pain: ��ϲ�� researcher identifies potential way to reduce pain

ullahnor Tue, 08/08/2017 - 13:32

Cutline

One in five Canadians suffer from chronic pain. Loren Martin, a ��ϲ�� Mississauga behavioural neuroscientist, has helped identify a molecule that researchers say could be responsible for chronic pain (photo by threephin via Flickr)

Nicolle Wahl

Author legacy

Nicolle Wahl

Topic

A molecule responsible for activating the body’s pain receptors has been identified by a ��ϲ�� neuroscientist and an international team of researchers, offering hope to people suffering from chronic pain worldwide.

Despite the prevalence of chronic pain, the current options for pain relief are limited to opioids, which carry the possibility of addiction, overdoses and unpleasant side effects.

Loren Martin, an assistant professor of psychology at the ��ϲ�� Mississauga, collaborated with colleagues from McGill University and the University of North Carolina and found that inhibiting one of the body’s proteins, known as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), lessens the pain associated with nerve injury and inflammation in mice. Genetic mutations of EGFR were also linked to the development of head and jaw pain in people.

The researchers also found that one particular molecule, epiregulin, is implicated in EGFR-related chronic pain – those who had chronic pain had higher than normal levels of epiregulin.

They plan to explore the therapeutic potential of controlling epiregulin, since simply inhibiting the EGFR receptor has side effects of its own that may cause reluctance to use drugs that rely on this approach.

“By normalizing the body’s levels of epiregulin, we may be able to reduce sensitivity to pain and improve the quality of life for chronic pain sufferers,” said Martin, the study's lead author.

Their study appears in the Journal of Clinical Investigation this month.

Martin first became interested in pursuing this line of inquiry when he noted that cancer patients who were prescribed EGFR-inhibiting drugs reported a lessening of pain after taking the medication.

“The association of this receptor with small-cell lung cancer is well known, but we demonstrate that inhibition of this receptor is not unique to those suffering from cancer,” Martin said. “Instead, this receptor appears to be associated with general pain processing.”

A study done by his collaborators analyzed about 3,000 people and discovered that those who developed a particular type of chronic facial pain had a mutation in the EGFR receptor and in the gene coding for epiregulin. In the current study, an analysis of three human pain cohorts linked the epiregulin/EGFR pathway to chronic pain.

Martin then replicated those results in mice by inducing conditions that are accompanied by chronic pain and measuring the epiregulin levels in their blood.

“When we blocked the EGFR receptor with the inhibitors currently available, it reversed chronic pain in mice,” he said.

The research was supported by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the National Institutes of Health, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the Louise and Alan Edwards Foundation and the Canadian Pain Society.

Professor Ulrich Krull appointed vice-president, ��ϲ��, and principal, ��ϲ�� Mississauga

lanthierj — Tue, 27 Jun 2017 21:27:20 +0000

Professor Ulrich Krull appointed vice-president, ��ϲ��, and principal, ��ϲ�� Mississauga

lanthierj Tue, 06/27/2017 - 17:27

Jane Stirling

Author legacy

Jane Stirling

Topic

Our Community

��ϲ�� Mississauga

UTM

Professor Ulrich Krull, currently serving as interim vice-president and principal, has been appointed the new vice-president & principal of the ��ϲ�� Mississauga, ��ϲ�� announced today.

The appointment, a three-year term, begins July 1, 2017.

“I am absolutely delighted by the appointment of Professor Ulrich Krull as vice-president and principal, ��ϲ�� Mississauga,” said Meric Gertler, president of the ��ϲ��. “In addition to his record as a distinguished scientist and celebrated teacher, he is also a gifted administrator who is building on UTM’s accomplishments in preparation for its next 50 years of success. At the same time he is continuing UTM’s very effective partnership with the City of Mississauga, helping to foster innovation and long-term prosperity in the region and well beyond. Professor Krull is a tremendous asset to UTM and to ��ϲ��, and I look forward to our continued collaboration in this next phase of his leadership.”

Krull has been serving as interim vice-president and principal since Sept. 1, 2016. In an appointment notice to the ��ϲ�� community, Gertler and Provost Cheryl Regehr note that Krull has “demonstrated his deep passion for and commitment to the UTM campus” over the past year. “His visionary, strategic and innovative thinking has inspired the UTM community and are the precise qualities that make him exceptionally well suited to lead UTM over the next several years.”

“This is an exciting time at UTM, given the visioning and strategic planning process that will shape our destiny,” said Krull. “There is momentum and enthusiasm in all quarters to explore new areas of academic growth and research excellence. But we need to be quite deliberate in our decision-making – choosing smart, strategic directions so our growth both supports and helps lead ��ϲ��’s global mission.

“For the present, smart growth at UTM means suspending undergraduate enrolment increases while continuing to hire additional faculty and staff. It means investing in space that will support outstanding research opportunities and internationally recognized scholarship. And it means building robust links between academic programs and hands-on research so we enrich the academic experience for our students.

“Over the past number of years, UTM has invested wisely in supporting our established colleagues, hiring remarkable faculty and staff, and building award-winning facilities,” Krull noted. “We are now ready to embark on our next stage. And we will do so with our extraordinarily committed community of faculty, staff, students and senior executive team, engaged alumni and supportive community members in the City of Mississauga and Region of Peel. Working together, we will support excellence, encourage creativity and innovation, and explore new directions. I feel truly privileged to serve as principal of UTM and vice-president of ��ϲ�� at such a pivotal time in our history.”

Before assuming the role of interim vice-president and principal, Krull served as vice-principal, special initiatives at UTM. In 2015, he served for six months as acting vice-president and principal during his predecessor’s administrative leave. Over his career, he served in a number of academic administrative roles at UTM: associate dean of sciences (1994-99); vice-dean, graduate (2006-08); and vice-principal, research (2003-13).

In addition to demonstrating a long-standing commitment to university service, Krull is also an active member of the community, both locally and internationally. Past leadership roles include chair of the Healthy City Stewardship Centre and vice-chair of Advantage Mississauga. He continues to serve on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Europtrode Conference series, the Board of Directors of the Research Innovation Commercialization Centre, and as a member of the Mississauga Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee at the invitation of Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie.

Past awards and honours have included the Faculty Teaching Excellence Award at UTM, the Paul W. Fox Alumni Award at UTM, the ��ϲ�� Faculty Award, the Life Sciences Ontario Community Service Award, the inaugural Outstanding Contributor Award from ��ϲ��’s School of Continuing Studies, and the McBryde Medal and the Maxxam Lecture Award from the Canadian Society of Chemistry.

A professor of analytical chemistry, Krull holds the AstraZeneca Chair in Biotechnology, and is recognized as one of the leading analytical chemists in Canada. His scholarship focuses on bioanalytical research and the development of molecular diagnostics technologies for biomedical and environmental applications. He received his PhD from ��ϲ�� in 1983, and has over 200 refereed publications and eight patents.

Phew! ��ϲ�� student made her final, thanks commuters who helped during TTC delay

geoff.vendeville — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 20:12:14 +0000

Phew! ��ϲ�� student made her final, thanks commuters who helped during TTC delay

geoff.vendeville Tue, 04/25/2017 - 16:12

Cutline

Despite the TTC delay that almost made her miss her sociology final, A. Zhang reached the exam room and was able to write the exam (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Author legacy

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

Our Community

Students

Undergraduate Students

Faculty of Arts & Science

Subheadline

"Toronto is a much kinder place than any other large city I’ve travelled to"

A. Zhang has a habit of arriving early for everything – which made getting stuck on the TTC the morning of an important exam all the more stressful.

The first-year undergraduate shared her story after ��ϲ�� News published an article about the strangers who helped her reach the exam room in the nick of time last week.

Zhang was travelling on the Bloor-Danforth Line on the way to a 9 a.m. sociology final on McCaul Street on Friday. Then, the subway stalled.

“For me, it’s ironic because I’m always early to everything so the one time I’m late for something, it has to be my exam, and I have to almost miss it,” she said.

A 24-minute delay was caused by a suspicious package found at the Bloor-Yonge Station, which turned out to be a false alarm, according to TTC spokesperson Stuart Green.

Zhang – stuck somewhere underground with minutes to go before her peers would receive their exam booklets – understandably lost her cool.

“There was a lady sitting (nearby), and she noticed that I was crying,” Zhang recalled. “Six or seven people around her were talking to me, asking me what was wrong, comforting me.”

“Another ”lady offered me a tissue, which was really kind of her.

Finally a woman with a British accent – Zhang didn't catch her name – offered to pay for an Uber from Chester Station. But by the time they exited, the estimated wait time was 20 minutes and Zhang had none to spare.

By then the subway was back up and running so the stranger guided Zhang through the mob in the station and “squished” her onto an overcrowded train.

From St. George Station, she ran to the exam hall and arrived at 9:30.

“When I got there my TA was super friendly,” she said. “He said, ‘You made it!’ and for some reason that triggered me, and I burst into tears.”

She was able to write the exam on the spot, she said. The final, she added, was worth 35 per cent of her final mark – not 50 per cent as ��ϲ�� News reported last week based on an interview with a commuter.

In hindsight, Zhang says she wasn't entirely surprised by the outpouring of support she received.

“I personally think Toronto is a much kinder place than any other large city I’ve travelled to,” she said. “A lot of people say there’s a kind of distance in Torontonians, but I think it’s more politeness.”

Late for an exam? Here's what to do:

Sandy Welsh, vice-provost of students, offered some general advice for students across all three campuses.

“If you are late, go to the exam location to learn about your options. If you have missed the exam entirely, go to your registrar's office as soon as possible,” Welsh said.

“It is not the end of the world – but I understand it may feel this way in the moment.”

The silver lining to Zhang's story, Welsh said, was that it's a “reminder that our city is filled with caring people.”

“It is heartwarming that people, who were also delayed, took the time to help reassure the student and help get her to her exam,” she said. “I went home on Friday a proud Torontonian and happy that our city is looking out for our students as well.”

For students in the Faculty of Arts & Science at the downtown Toronto campus, Deborah Robinson, the faculty registrar and director of undergraduate academic services, said they can still write the exam if they are under 20 minutes late, although they won't get more time. If they miss the final, they can petition to write a deferred exam.

“If a student doesn’t have a history of having previously requested a deferred exam because of a timetable misread or some other issue, the petition is usually granted,” she explained.

“If something does go wrong – if you get sick the day before the exam, for example, or if your alarm doesn’t go off – remember that there are people here ready to help and support you.”

More exam season tips from Donald Boere, assistant principal and registrar at ��ϲ��'s Innis College

Information for ��ϲ�� Scarborough students

Information for ��ϲ�� Mississauga students

Turkey referendum follows global shift to the right: ��ϲ�� historian compares the Erdoğan win to Trump and Brexit

ullahnor — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 16:06:27 +0000

Turkey referendum follows global shift to the right: ��ϲ�� historian compares the Erdoğan win to Trump and Brexit

ullahnor Wed, 04/19/2017 - 12:06

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A man holds a marked ballot paper showing two 'my choice' (Tercih) stamps in the 'No' (Hayir) leaving the 'Yes' (Evet) section blank (photo by Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images)

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Author legacy

Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

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Following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's referendum win earlier this week which has expanded his hold on power, members of Turkey’s political opposition were arrested in dawn raids today.

Erdogan has claimed a narrow 51.4 per cent to 48.6 per cent victory in the referendum, and protesters have been marching in the streets against what they're calling a rigged election. Lawyers and relatives of the detained told The New York Times that at least 38 people accused of participating in the protests were rounded up Wednesday morning or issued arrest warrants.

Jens Hanssen, an associate professor of Arab Civilization at the ��ϲ�� Mississauga and modern Middle Eastern and Mediterranean history at ��ϲ��'s downtown Toronto campus, says the narrow win is “reminiscent” of the Brexit referendum and the American elections last year.

��ϲ�� News spoke with Hanssen about Turkey's future and the similarities between Erdoğan, U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and France's Marine Le Pen.

What do you think these results mean for Turkey?

The constitutional referendum on Sunday has clearly split the Turkish public. The narrow victory of the ‘Yes’ camp is reminiscent of the Brexit referendum and the American elections last year. There also appear to be parallels regarding the demographic composition of each vote. Residents in major Turkish cities voted for the existing parliamentary system and the rural population generally for the adoption of a presidential system.

Whereas in the U.K. and U.S. the victories for the leave-campaign and Donald Trump came as a surprise if not shock to the system, the real surprise in Turkey was just how close the vote was, and how valiantly the democratic forces campaigned in the face of intimidation and reprisals.

Recall the June 2015 parliamentary election which saw Erdoğan’s “Justice and Development Party” (the AKP) lose its majority for the first time since coming to power in 2002. Unhappy with the result, Erdoğan held another, snap election for November 2015, launched major military offensives against the Kurdish region and criminalized the progressive parties that had gained popularity.

These elections restored his party’s majority but political violence spiraled. Since the coup attempt in July 2016 and the subsequent emergency laws that have just been extended for another three months, Erdoğan has purged tens of thousands of politicians, bureaucrats and military officers in an unprecedented form of Turkish “Gleichschaltung.” His government has arrested scores of journalists, closed independent media outlets and banned art exhibits and cultural festivals. Hundreds of Turkish academics have been jailed, many for signing the Academics for Peace Petition that I and many others in the ��ϲ�� community also signed at the time, which called on the government to end its crackdowns targeting Kurds.

The signs are worrying. A new form of political system is spreading across the planet. In my view, the points of comparison are right-wing take-overs in the U.S., the U.K. and perhaps soon in France. In all cases, the xenophobe rhetoric of their supporters glosses the now familiar process of accumulating political power for the purpose of economic appropriation.

What will Turkey look like with Erdogan maintaining a stronger grip on power?

Against this background of a near-total gutting the once-thriving Turkish civil society, the referendum was supposed to facilitate Erdoğan’s anti-democratic policies for the ‘greater good’ of national unity. Instead, Turkey’s political and economic future looks more ominous than ever. Erdoğan now has the formal democratic mandate to unhinge the checks and balances between the executive, legislative and juridical levels, and at age 63, is set to rule for possibly two decades – without the approval of parliament, if necessary.

Do you think the results are accurate?

Yes, the vote count appears to be accurate. But we are receiving mounting evidence of irregularities both from international election observers and the opposition parties.

Moreover, under current law – which the referendum is supposed to cancel – the president of the Turkish Republic should not have participated in the election campaign and remain above party politics. Instead, this referendum has been all about Erdoğan. I suspect nothing will come of the protests since much of the independent judiciary has already been purged. In fact, the mood in Turkey is somber, even Erdoğan supporters are not celebrating that much. This is a result that no-one wanted, in a sense.

What will this mean for the region and stability in the area?

The EU and NATO are unlikely to do much. Both are too dependent on Turkey, not least because Erdoğan is using the specter of Middle Eastern refugees as political blackmail. He will keep bombing Kurds, and all kinds of militants will seek to destabilize Turkey and provoke Erdoğan to escalate the violence at home and abroad.

How do you feel about Trump making the first congratulatory call to Erdoğan?

Trump and Erdoğan are very similar, so are Putin, Netanyahu and Marine Le Pen.

So we are facing an albeit disunited authoritarian front globally. Democracies are being highjacked by chauvinists who will militarize their economies and cause mayhem in their countries and internationally. Things will get a lot worse before this phase has run its destructive course.

UTM

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Turkey referendum follows global shift to the right: ��ϲ�� historian compares the Erdoğan win to Trump and Brexit