Four ECE profs snag Connaught Innovation Awards

February 4, 2014

Four Connaught Award Winners.
From left to right: Professors Cobbold, Poon, Qian and Sun.

Four professors in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering have received Connaught Innovation Awards from the University of Toronto. Funding from these awards to nine U of T scholars totals more than $900,000 and is part of the Connaught Program, the University’s premier source of internal research funding.

ECE’s recipients and their projects are:

  • Richard Cobbold, “PedicProbe: Ultrasound navigation for spinal fusion surgery accurate insertion of screw implants using 3D ultrasound navigation”
  • Joyce Poon, “Three dimensionally integrated electro-optic transmitters and receivers”
  • Li Qian, “High-speed on-demand quantum random number generator”
  • Yu Sun, cross-appointed with ECE and Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, also received a Connaught Innovation Award for his project “Automated probing of nanoelectronic structures inside scanning electron microscope.”

“The diversity of these projects underlines the broad scope of research taking place in ECE, and its strong applicability,” said Professor Farid Najm, ECE professor and chair. “Congratulations to Professors Cobbold, Poon, Qian and Sun.”

Connaught is the largest internal university research funding program in Canada and has awarded over $124 million to U of T scholars since its founding. The Connaught Fund was created in 1972 with proceeds from the sale of the Connaught Medical Research Laboratories which was established after U of T’s Frederick Banting, Charles Best, John Macleod and Bertram Collip discovered insulin in 1921.

In line with the broad social impact of the Nobel Prize award-winning discovery of insulin, the Connaught Fund places a strong emphasis on supporting research and innovation that tackles societal challenges.

With files from Paul Fraumeni

More information:
Marit Mitchell
Senior Communications Officer
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
416-978-7997; marit.mitchell@utoronto.ca