1% Inspiration

Dana is an electrical engineering graduate from the University of Toronto. We talk about what drove her interest in electrical engineering, navigating uncertainty in electrical and computer engineering (ECE), her current work at Honeywell, her online Etsy shop Daydreamy Design and how she integrates creative thinking as an engineer in training. During our lightning round, she shares her top resource recommendations, what makes her hopeful for the future, and her final advice for students.

Kathy is a final-year undergraduate Engineering Science student at the University of Toronto in the Machine Intelligence major. We discuss her summer research experiences at UC Irvine and U of T, internships at Huawei as a Machine Learning Research Engineer, how to prepare for a software engineering interview, and involvement with technical clubs like U of T's UTRA (University of Toronto Robotics Association).

Yilin is an engineering graduate from the University of Toronto's Materials Science Engineering program, currently completing a Master's degree in Science, Technology & Policy and is interested in AI governance and Effective Altruism principles. We discuss the role of engineering in policy, AI governance, effective altruism, self-teaching mechanical engineering to work at a drone company, great resources students can access outside of the U of T ecosystem, and how she built credibility as a young professional.

Ben Sprenger is currently pursuing an MSc at ETH Zurich in Robotics, Systems and Control, and is a mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Toronto (U of T). We talk about his multiple global professional and research experiences through PEY, the Munk School, filmmaking, and U of T's Formula Racing Team. We discuss his technical interests that led to his leadership within the University of Toronto Formula Racing Team, his artistic mindset as a filmmaker, and developing the ability to learn anything.

We talked to Professor Elham Marzi from the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education and Practice. Elham has a strong passion for teaching and is bringing her specialization in organizational behaviour and human resource management to engineering education at the University of Toronto.

Elham explains organizational behaviour (OB) in engineering and the value of integrating business with engineering. We discussed examples of OB in the context of educational institutions and resources for learning more about OB described below. Further in the conversation, Elham shared her insights on her expanded work of creating a global classroom and the impact of remote learning on higher education. We also talk about why libraries are underrated, resources every student should take advantage of, and her rewarding experiences as a professor.

Cori is the Associate Faculty Registrar & Director, Student Affairs at the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto. We talk about her experience leading student experience initiatives at U of T Engineering, how she suggests students navigate undergraduate research at U of T, exploring mental health supports available at the university, her PhD work, and what an equitable engineering profession could look like.

Dr Chris Yip is the current Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering (FASE) at U of T. We talk to him about his path to becoming the Dean of FASE, his experience leading during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reflect on what he sees as the next steps for FASE. He shares how his current work helps address a gap in student experience with academic leadership, how he makes decisions, leading during the COVID-19 pandemic, why he loves to run, and what he believes are the most important takeaways of engineering education at U of T.

In our lightning round, Dean Yip shares the top resource students should take advantage of, his favourite trait about himself, and reassures students striving for success.

We talked to Minha Ha, a PhD candidate at IDEA-Lab at York University and instructor of the course TEP447, "The Art of Ethical & Equitable Decision Making in Engineering", at the University of Toronto's Troost ILead Institute (Troost Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering). Minha has dedicated her career to improving higher education and particularly engineering education.

In this episode, Minha shared stories of essential mentors, advocates, and sponsors who contributed to her work in engineering education. We also discussed the insights from Minha's research on the value creation process, engineering ethics, and what a holistic education looks like in engineering.

Dear Frosh is an advice letter-writing campaign involving senior students and alumni from the University of Toronto engineering community writing letters to their first-year selves. 1% Inspiration will share these letters in print and digitally with incoming first-year students (or Frosh) in September 2022 during F!rosh Week.

In this conversation, we talked to Dr. Phil De Luna about his continuous journey working on climate change issues as a PhD student, Federal Member of Parliament Candidate, Director of the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, mentor at the University of Toronto Creative Destruction Lab, and Adjunct Professor at U of T.

We explored perspectives on addressing climate change issues, including technology readiness, Phil's 5 Point Plan on addressing climate change, and scaling climate solutions with three levers (tech, policy, and finance). Dr. Phil De Luna advises young professionals who want to work in climate change space today: "Find out what piece of the climate pie you are most interested in and apply your skills." Phil shares the career maturity level framework for young professionals to follow and his experience running for office as the Green Party Federal Member of Parliament Candidate for Toronto-St. Paul's.