ECE professors, students and alumni are regularly featured in the mainstream news media, both as sources and subjects.
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Spotlight
Professor Olivier Trescases | CBC Radio
Why are some Nissan Leaf batteries running out of juice? (from All in a Day with Allan Neal)
Alumnus Illan Kramer | Microsoft Start
ECE Chair, Professor Deepa Kundur | Maclean’s
Hackers will use AI to orchestrate worldwide cyberattacks (author)
April 2024
Professor Alberto Leon-Garcia | Global Radio
On his work to predict emergency events with Edmonton’s first responders (audio)
March 2024
Alumnus Illan Kramer | Microsoft Start
Professor Olivier Trescases | CBC Radio
Why are some Nissan Leaf batteries running out of juice? (from All in a Day with Allan Neal)
Professor Brendan Frey | BNN Breaking
Researchers Identify Nearly One Million New Exons in Human Genome
Professor Nicolas Papernot | The Globe and Mail
AI is hungry for your data (paywall; paper on “model collapse” linked to)
January 2024
Professor Hoi-Kwong Lo | New Scientist
First unhackable shopping transactions carried out on quantum internet (paywall)
Professor Amr Helmy | Phys.org
Professor Olivier Trescases | CBC News
Canada needs hundreds of thousands of public EV charging ports. Who is going to build them?November 2023
ECE Chair, Professor Deepa Kundur | CBC Radio
Part 1: Discussion of the security of Canada’s electric grid. (audio; hear part 2)
October 2023
Professor Parham Aarabi | Microsoft Start
Bally Partners With PRE to Swathe Its E-Commerce in AI
Professor Brendan Frey | Fierce Biotech
ECE Chair Professor Deepa Kundur | Maclean's
Hackers will use AI to orchestrate worldwide cyberattacks (author)
Alumnus Allen Lau | The Globe and Mail
We’re wrong to fear artificial intelligence – real life is not science fiction (author; paywall)
Professor Olivier Trescases | The Toronto Star
What does ‘range’ really mean in an EV … and when is ‘range anxiety’ truly warranted? (paywall)
Students Sophie Sun and Armita Khashayardoost | CBC Radio
September 2023
Professor Brendan Frey | Betakit
Deep Genomics Adds Life Sciences Veteran as CEO to Support Its Evolution into a Biopharma Firm
August 2023
Professor Olivier Trescases | Maclean's
Canada needs a new labour force to become a global EV superpower. Here’s how to do it. (author)
July 2023
Professor Nicolas Papernot | The Atlantic
AI Is an Existential Threat to Itself (limited free articles)
Professor Ervin Sejdić | DOTmed
New AI tool beats standard approaches for detecting heart attacks
June 2023
Alumna Heather Hinton | Silicon Republic
‘One of the biggest challenges in the IT landscape is the move to automation’
Professor Andreas Veneris | The Fintech Times
Ripple Capitalises on Crypto Opportunity in Canada Through University of Toronto
April 2023
Alumnus John Poulos | The Globe and Mail
“I’m the CEO of Dominion Voting Systems – and I believe the truth still matters” (author) (paywall)
Alumnus John Poulos | ABC News
Professor Parham Aarabi | The Globe and Mail
“We can build better, fairer algorithms in a world of angry bias – so why aren’t we?” (paywall)
Professor Parham Aarabi | Women's Wear Daily
“Ex-Modiface CEO Wants to Improve Your Website With AI” (paywall)
March 2023
Alumnus John Poulos | The Globe and Mail
“Dominion and Goliath: Inside the Canadian voting-tech company’s fight with Fox News” (paywall)
Professor Olivier Trescases | The Globe and Mail
February 2023
Professor Hoi-Kwong Lo | IT World Canada
“Toronto startup to test its quantum-resistant key distribution solution”
January 2023
Professor Nicolas Papernot | CBC News
“As new AI ChatGPT earns hype, cybersecurity experts warn about potential malicious uses”
2022 Media coverage ExpandDecember 2022
- Undergradate Ryan Lee in CTV News Calgary: “Three university students from Calgary take first place at Princeton hackathon”
November 2022
- Professor Brendan Frey in The Logic: “The Vector Institute at five” (paywall)
- Professor Andreas Veneris in PYMNTS: “Blockchain payments: Is regulation friend or foe for blockchain?” (video, registration required)
October 2022
- Professor Xilin Liu in Interesting Engineering: “Artificial intelligence might be able to treat various brain disorders”
- Professor Olivier Trescases in CTV News: “Families shocked when battery replacement for electric vehicle tops $20,000”
September 2022
- Alumnus Carlos Perez in The Globe and Mail: “New approaches to health care delivery” (video)
August 2022
- Professor Steve Mann in Spacing: “Protecting Ontario Place’s pebble beaches” (article author)
- Professor Tony Chan Carusone in Computerworld: “Q&A: Computer chip start-up CTO: Our business isn’t boring – or a career dead end”
July 2022
- ECE PhD candidate Neel Choksi in nanowerk: “Achieving sub-MHz optical features resonator-free in solid-state”
- Alumnus Vivek Burhanpurkar in The Toronto Star: “This Markham company brings machines to life” (paywall)
June 2022
- Professor Parham Aarabi & Alumna Foteini Agrafioti in The Toronto Star: “Can we make artificial intelligence less racist?” (paywall)
- Alumnus Joshua Pius in The Logic: “Top Prospects: Leading Innovators from the Class of 2022” (paywall)
May 2022
- Alumnus Allen Lau in The Globe and Mail: “Wattpad’s Allen Lau, a pioneer of Canada’s tech renaissance, steps aside as CEO a year after sale to South Korean giant” (paywall)
April 2022
- Alumnus Tomi Poutanen in The Globe and Mail: “TD’s AI chief quits to start health care firm, backed by bank and Inovia Capital” (paywall)
- Alumna Mai Mavinkurve in The Toronto Star: “Data is a precious resource and Canada needs to treat it as such” (paywall, article author)
- Professor Olivier Trescases in The Toronto Star: “How big a battery should you insist on for your electric car?” (paywall)
March 2022
- Alumnus Carlo Perez in Fierce Healthcare: “Digital wound care tech company Swift Medical rolls out new imaging device”
- Professor Olivier Trescases in The Toronto Star: “With gas prices spiking, is Canada finally ready to start buying electric cars?” (paywall)
- Professor Parham Aarabi of HALT AI in BetaKit: “U of T spinout HALT AI launches tool to measure brands’ diversity across social media”
February 2022
- Professor Andreas Veneris in PYMNTS: “Canada Has a Contingency Plan for a CBDC, but May Not Use It Yet” (article + video interview)
- Alumnus Allen Lau in The Financial Post: “There is life after exit for Canadian startups” (paywall)
January 2022
- Alumna Narinder Dhami in The Toronto Star: “It’s time to invest capital in currently undervalued diverse businesses” (article author, paywall)
- Professor Olivier Trescases in The Toronto Star: “New prototype designs unveiled for Project Arrow – the first all-Canadian electric vehicle” (paywall)
- Professor Olivier Trescases in CBC News: “Effort to boost electric vehicle charging stations in GTHA gets $2M in new federal funding”
2021 Media coverage Expand
Note: Some links degrade over time.
December 2021
- Professor Steve Mann on The Asimov Institute: “Inverse Surveillance AI Expert Interviews (Episode 2)” (podcast)
- Professor Nicholas Papernot in Quanta Magazine: “AI Researchers Fight Noise by Turning to Biology”
November 2021
- Professor Ervin Sejdić on Healthcare Change Makers: “Research with the Power to Change Lives” (podcast)
- Professor Nicholas Papernot on CBC/Radio-Canada: “Ottawa finance la création d’un outil pour déchiffrer les mots de passe / Ottawa funds creation of tool to crack passwords”
- Professor Ted Sargent in Canada’s National Observer: “U of T students win some of Elon Musk’s carbon capture cash”
- Professor Ted Sargent and alumnus Alex Ip (ECE PhD 1T5), advisors for Team E-quester, on Global News: “U of T engineering team wins $250K for carbon removal project”
- Professor Brendan Frey in Toronto Life: “The Influentials 2021: Our annual ranking of the Torontonians whose bravery, smarts and clout are changing the world as we know it”
- Professor Nicholas Papernot in The New York Times: “As Hackers Take Down Newfoundland’s Health Care System, Silence Descends” (paywall)
- Professor David Lie in CBA/ABC National: “Designing data trusts: And what not to do when setting up a mechanism for data stewardship”
October 2021
- Professor Willy Wong in ZME Science: Scientists find universal law of nature that may govern all living things
- Jonathan (Joonhan) Ryu (Year 1 ECE) in CBC News: “Moncton youth wins $30,000 Amazon scholarship”
August 2021
- Professor Olivier Trescases in CBC News: “Toronto needs to speed up its electric vehicle infrastructure to meet targets, critics say”
- Professor Parham Aarabi of HALT AI in BBC News: “Twitter algorithm prefers slimmer, younger, light-skinned faces”
- Professor Parham Aarabi on NBC News: “Twitter’s racist algorithm is also ageist, ableist and Islamaphobic, researchers find”
- Professor Parham Aarabi of HALT AI in Wired: “Twitter hands out ‘bug bounties’ to fight algorithm bias”
July 2021
- Professor Brendan Frey in The Globe and Mail: “University of Toronto spinout Deep Genomics raises US$180-million from Softbank, CPP, Fidelity to develop drugs discovered by AI” (paywall)
- Professor Parham Aarabi on CityTV News: “U of T team working to address biases in artificial intelligence systems”
- Alumnus Carlo Perez in MedCity News: “Startup turns smartphone camera to wound care”
June 2021
- Alumnus Allen Lau in The Globe and Mail: “How Wattpad is establishing itself as an entertainment powerhouse (by listening to young women)” (paywall)
- Professor Andreas Veneris in The Globe and Mail: “The future of money: The digital currency revolution is here, and may sweep away 5,000 years of monetary history” (paywall)
May 2021
- Alumna Narinder Dhami on CTV News: “Canadian Charities Join Forces to Help India” (video)
- Alumnus Somen Mondal in BetaKit: “Ceridan to Acquire Toronto Talent Intelligence Startup Ideal”
April 2021
- Alumna Elsie MacGill in Net News Ledger: “Thunder Bay Air Cadet Squadron to be renamed in Honour of ‘Queen of the Hawker Hurricane'”
- Alumna Elsie MacGill in The Toronto Star: “New Milton high school named for Canada’s first female engineer“
- Professor Parham Aarabi on BNN Bloomberg: “Most AI builders don’t know the biases in their systems” (video)
- Alumnus Joshua Wong, President & CEO of Opus One, in Toronto Star: “Ottawa announces almost $15 million for six Toronto tech firms“ (paywall)
March 2021
- Professor Olivier Trescases in CBC News: “Bothered by headlight glare and thinking of getting tinted windows? You’ll want to watch this first” (video)
February 2021
- Professor Konstantinos Plataniotis in The Korea Herald: “LG AI Research unveils first AI achievement”
- Professor Olivier Trescases in CBC News: “What experts say Canada needs to do to become a leader in the electric vehicle industry”
- Professor Andreas Veneris on Global TV: “Canada looking to create digital consumer currency”
- Xesto, a startup with ECE affiliations, on CTV: “Free app helps people find the perfect sized shoes for their feet“
January 2021
- Professor Deepa Kundur and ECE students Najah Hassan and Jeffrey Qiu in iDrop News: “Shoe Shopping? Measure Your Size, Get the Perfect Fit with the iPhone’s TrueDepth Camera and This Cool App”
- Professor Steve Mann on PBS: “An innovator who sees what others cannot” (video)
2020 Media coverage Expand
Note: Some links may degrade over time.
November 2020
- Professor Parham Aarabi in Dell Technologies’s Trailblazers: “5.5 – Beauty: More Than Skin Deep” (podcast)
- ECE students Gaurav Ranganath and Ria Malhotra in The Strand: “How UofT students are hacking, engineering, and running competitions during COVID-19”
- Professor Brendan Frey in Financial Post: “Biotech startup investments explode, but big investors fret about assault on drug prices”
October 2020
- Professor Olivier Trescases in CBC News: “Owner of all-electric Nissan Leaf frustrated by difficulty of getting new battery“
- Professor Ted Sargent in CBC News: “Meet the winners of the 2020 Canada Council Killam Prizes”
- Alumna Elsie MacGill in The Georgia Straight: “New Heritage Minute highlights the world’s first female aeronautical engineer: Vancouver’s trailblazing Elsie MacGill”
- Alumna Elsie MacGill in CP24: “Second World War female aeronautical engineer Elsie MacGill gets Heritage Minute”
- Alumna Elsie MacGill in Historica Canada’s Heritage Minute Series: “Elsie MacGill was the world’s first female aeronautical engineer and Canada’s first practicing woman engineer.”
- August 2020
- Professor David Lie on The Agenda: “Containing COVID-19? There’s an app for that.”
July 2020
- Professor David Lie in CBC:“COVID Alert, federally backed contact tracing app, hints at what Manitobans may be able to expect”
June 2020
- Professor Parham Aarabi in BetaKit: “Modiface, Amazon partnership allows Canadian shoppers to try on cosmetics virtually”
May 2020
- Professor Nicholas Papernot in University of Wisconsin-Madison News: “Teaching machine learning to check senses may avoid sophisticated attacks”
- Professor Ted Sargent in Wired: “This Lab ‘Cooks’ With AI to Make New Materials”
- Professor Ted Sargent in SciTechDaily: “Artificial Intelligence Helps Researchers Up-Cycle Waste Carbon With Record Efficiency”
April 2020
- Professor Willy Wong on CTV News: “Team develops mini-monitor to help with COVID-19”
- Professor Willy Wong in Design Engineering: “U of T-developed medical device monitors COVID-19 patients remotely”
- Professor Willy Wong in CBC: “A computer ‘the size of a credit card’ could help doctors monitor COVID-19 patients remotely”
March 2020
- Professor Olivier Trescases in The Globe and Mail: “Energy advocates advise EV owners to plug in their cars when it’s cold and avoid fast charging” (paywall)
February 2020
- Professor Steve Mann in TNW: “We shouldn’t ban AI surveillance tech – we must fight to own it”
- ECE students Joshua Pius, Idilo Abdalla and Mohamed Hirole in The Varsity: “NSBEHacks 2020: How a hackathon created community for Black U of T STEM students”
January 2020
- Professor Brendan Frey in BetaKit: “Deep Genomics raises $40 million series B for AI drug discovery platform”
- Professor Brendan Frey in Fortune: “Medicine by machine: Is A.I. the cure for the world’s ailing drug industry?”
Note: Some links may degrade over time.
December 2019
- Professor Deepa Kundur in CBC: “How engineers of the Montreal Massacre generation are changing the world”
- Professor Li Qian in Policy Options: “Pursuing the career the women of Polytechnique could not”
November 2019
- Professor Ted Sargent in CTV News: “Toronto researchers convert CO2 waste into common ingredient in plastics”
- Professor Brendan Frey in The Varsity: “How artificial intelligence could guide drug discovery”
- Professor Brendan Frey in CNBC: “Why Canada is becoming a start-up mecca rivaling Silicon Valley”
- Professor Olivier Trescases and alumnus Kunal Phalpher in CBC: “As electric vehicles age, here’s how the batteries are finding a second life”
October 2019
- Professor Parham Aarabi in BetaKit: “Modiface, Shoppers Drug Mart Partnering On Virtual Makeup Service”
- Professor Brendan Frey in Scientific Computing World: “Deep Genomics discovers therapeutic candidate through its AI platform”
- Professor Brendan Frey in Forbes: “The Rise of the Deep: Eric Topol’s Deep Medicine To Stand The Test Of Time”
September 2019
- Professor Brendan Frey in News-Medical.Net: “‘A new era of drug discovery’: Company develops drug using AI”
- Professor Olivier Trescases in CBC: “Autoworkers at GM’s Oshawa plant ask feds for more than $1B to build electric vehicles”
- Professor Olivier Trescases in Global News: “Why people don’t buy electric cars…yet”
August 2019
- Alumnus Allen Lau in BNN Bloomberg: “‘Don’t waste time’: This summer job taught Wattpad’s CEO how to innovate”
- Alumnus Howard Tam in The Toronto Star: “Dragon Centre was a catalyst for Scarborough’s Chinese community, but the history is not all rosy”
July 2019
- Alumnus John Macdonald in Financial Post: “AI revolution brewing in property business promises to make buildings greener and cheaper to operate”
June 2019
- Professor Olivier Trescases in CBC Quirks & Quarks: “Do electric cars take more CO2 to build than they save?”
- Professor Brendan Frey in Bio-IT World: “Deep Genomics Identifies Rare Disease Targets Using AI System”
- Professor Parham Aarabi in VentureBeat: “Amazon and L’Oréal let you digitally try on makeup”
May 2019
- Professor Ted Sargent in People Matters: “Professor Edward (Ted) Sargent on fostering innovation through research”
- Professor Olivier Trescases in The Globe and Mail: “Regen braking lets you charge up while slowing down”
April 2019
- Professors Peter Lehn and Olivier Trescases in Global News: “Worried about the climate and carbon taxes? What to know about Ottawa’s new electric-vehicle incentive”
- Professor Brendan Frey in National Post: “‘Filling in the missing pieces’: How AI is transforming drug discovery, development and innovation”
January 2019
- Alumnus Somen Mondal in The Verge: “The Next Frontier in Hiring is AI-Driven”
- Alumnus Allen Lau in The New York Times: “Wattpad, the Storytelling App, Will Launch a Publishing Division”
Note: Some links may degrade over time.
December 2018
- Professor Natalie Enright Jerger in Gizmodo: “How Chip Makers Are Circumventing Moore’s Law to Build Super-Fast CPUs of Tomorrow”
- Post-doctoral fellows Cao Thang Dinh and Pelayo Garcia de Arquer and Professor Ted Sargent in Chemistry World: “Foam catalyst performs hydrogen evolution in neutral conditions”
- Professor Ted Sargent in Science Daily: “Low-cost catalyst boosts hydrogen production from water”
November 2018
- Professor Parham Aarabi in BetaKit: “Modiface launches first app after L’Oreal acquisition”
- Professor Steve Mann in The Varsity: “Steve Mann on Inventrepreneurship and the ‘tree-shaped person'”
- ECE alumni in The Varsity: “U of T startup wants to take pain out of parking”
October 2018
- Professor Olivier Trescases in The Globe and Mail: “‘Mild hybrids’ amp up the battery voltage”
- Professor Brendan Frey in The New York Times: “From Agriculture to Art – the A.I. Wave Sweeps In”
- Professor Parham Aarabi in TechCrunch: “Being bullish on AR – to a point”
- ECE Department in The Varsity: “U of T, Huawei extend multimillion-dollar research partnership by five years”
September 2018
- Professor David Lie in CBC News: “Who has your data? Researchers scrutinize apps for undisclosed ties to advertisers, analytics companies”
- Alumnus Carlo Perez in The Globe and Mail: “If digital health care were a patient, it would need a shot in the arm”
August 2018
- Alumnus Rami Rahim in The Financial Post: “Billions of robots and sensors are coming, and it’s going to change the internet”
July 2018
- ECE student Yuhao Zhou in Phys.Org: “Researchers use AI to add 4-D effects to movies”
- Professor Shahrokh Valaee and ECE student Hojjat Salehinejad in Phys.Org: “Training artificial intelligence with artificial X-rays”
June 2018
- Several ECE Alumni in BetaKit: “Here’s Canada’s Developer 30 under 30 List”
- Professor Parham Aarabi in The Globe and Mail: “This Canadian tech company is revolutionizing the way we buy beauty products”
- ECE student Joey Bose in CBC News: “U of T researchers develop a ‘privacy filter’ that jams facial recognition software”
- Alumnus Ted Jin in Forbes: “This Start-Up Just Made Good Oral Hygiene As Sweet As Long Island Iced Tea”
- Professor Parham Aarabi in Forbes: “AI Researchers Create ‘Privacy Filter’ That Disrupts Facial Recognition Technology”
May 2018
- Professor George Eleftheriades in U of T Magazine: “A Way to Make Things Disappear”
- Professor Olivier Trescases in The Globe and Mail: “How car tech is transferred to the high seas”
- ECE student Zachary Kroeze in CBC News: “These U of T students are ‘pioneering’ the autonomous vehicle of tomorrow”
April 2018
- Professor Parham Aarabi in Wired: “How Coders are fighting bias in facial recognition software.”
March 2018
- Professor Alberto Leon-Garcia in CBC News: “Super-fast, next-generation 5G wireless to get $200M research boost from governments”
- Professor Parham Aarabi in The Globe and Mail: “L’Oreal buys Toronto augmented reality startup ModiFace”
February 2018
- Professor Parham Aarabi in Inside Jersey: “Make believe make up”
- Professor Parham Aarabi in TechRepublic: “How Sephora is leveraging AR and AI to transform retail and help customers buy cosmetics”
January 2018
- ECE students Phil De Luna and Rafael Quintero-Bermudez in Global News: “CLS research could help recycle CO2 into plastic”
- Alumnus Anthony Lacavera on CBC’s The Current: “Canada can’t settle for bronze in business, says WIND Mobile founder”
Note: Some links may degrade over time.
December 2017
- Professor Deepa Kundur in Maclean’s: “How engineers are engineering change on the gender gap”
- Professor Brendan Frey in Futurism: “Google Released an AI That Analyzes Your Genome”
- Professor Ted Sargent in Nature: “Use machine learning to find energy materials”
- Professor Brendan Frey in MIT Technology Review: “Google Has Released an AI Tool That Makes Sense of Your Genome”
November 2017
- Alumnus Dongjun Wang in CBC News: “‘Cult-like worshippers’ turn Canadian-invented Instant Pot into a phenomenon”
- Alumnus Karl Martin in The Globe and Mail: “Development program helps entrepreneurs take that Next step”
October 2017
- ECE department and Professor Steve Mann in Popular Mechanics: “The Top Science and Tech Colleges”
September 2017
- Professor Brendan Frey in BetaKit: “Toronto-based Deep Genomics raises $16 million from Khosla Ventures”
- Alumnus Rami Rahim in Forbes: “Juniper Networks CEO Rami Rahim Brings Startup Mentality To Running $5 Billion Business”
- Alumni John Paul Morgan and Nicholas Burgwin in The Toronto Star: “Canada’s cleantech industry is having a back-to-the-future moment”
August 2017
- Alumna Foteini Agrafioti on BNN: “Canada’s Next Leaders: Invest in AI ecosystem to halt the brain drain”
- Professor Brendan Frey in The Telegraph: “Inside the AI healthcare revolution: meeting the robots that can detect Alzheimer’s and depression”
- Professor Ted Sargent in BrainGainMag: “What it takes to study nanotechnology: Q&A with Prof. Ted Sargent”
- ECE PhD candidate Herman Wong in the Montreal Gazette: “Solar eclipse: Montrealers urged to take the right precautions”
July 2017
- Alumna Julie Payette in The Globe and Mail: “Julie Payette: Engineer, musician, astronaut and now, governor-general”
June 2017
- Alumnus Tony Han in CBC News: “Electric pickup truck developed by U of T grad on display in Markham”
- Alumnus Sandro Young in CBC News: “Want a job at Google? Get the highest grades at U of T like Sandro Young”
- Alumnus Sandro Young on BNN: “Google taps University of Toronto students for machine learning gig at its HQ”
- Professor Amr Helmy in CBC News: “‘Hack-proof’ quantum internet networks closer to reality, studies say”
May 2017
- Professor Deepa Kundur in The Globe and Mail: ‘WannaCry’: Will cyberattacks continue to get worse?
April 2017
- Professor Brendan Frey in The New York Times: “Canada Tries to Turn Its A.I. Ideas Into Dollars”
- Professor Brendan Frey in The Globe and Mail: “His unborn child’s genetic problem launched his business”
March 2017
- Alumnus Allen Lau in CNBC: “A booming start-up center north of the border is rivaling Silicon Valley“
January 2017
- Professor Amr Helmy in CBC News: New Canadian quantum computer called twice as powerful as last one, but what does that mean?
- Professor Brendan Frey in the Financial Post: “Generation AI: Canada’s early start in artificial intelligence set it up to be today’s global powerhouse”
- Professor Parham Aarabi in FastMoving: “How technology is making retail more human”
- ECE Alumnus Gimmy Chu in ChinaDaily Asia: “Saving energy with a multi-tinged switch”