Tell Me More: Coffee with Chris Yip

Millions of people around the world are cared for by health workers who don’t speak the same language as them — leading to misunderstandings with major consequences. Fourth-year industrial engineering student Catherine Xiong has first-hand experience with this, and it led her to found a company that aims to provide live, hands-free, AI-driven translation for a wide range of health care needs. 

Xiong has essentially shaped her entire academic journey around Aiko Health Solutions Inc. Her courses were chosen with an eye to how they would help her learn what she needed to know to grow the business, and she was supported by a range of startup incubators across Toronto, including U of T Engineering’s Entrepreneurship Hatchery. Even her team members — and potentially future employees — came from the U of T Engineering community network. 

Dean Yip talked with Xiong about her business, how it’s grown and where it’s going next, as well as how U of T Engineering can help nuture even more startups like hers. 

A graduate of our industrial engineering program, Maeesha Biswas (IndE 2T2 + PEY) is one of the three co-founders of Chatforce, an AI game studio that enables its clients to transform their ideas into beautiful, shareable video games. Chatforce is one of several companies co-located with U of T Engineering at our Engineering Partnerships Office at 800 Bay Street.

But Biswas's journey didn't start out in AI. She talked with Dean Yip about the wide range of experiences that shaped her path, from biomedical research at SickKids as a high school student to her PEY placement at a health tech startup, to starting her own podcast.

At NordSpace, Rahul  Goel (EngSci 1T6, UTIAS PhD student) leads what he hopes will be the first company to launch a commercial rocket from a private Canadian spaceport.

Goel’s passion for both aerospace and entrepreneurship go all the way back to his time as an undergraduate right here at U of T Engineering — and he’s still a student today, working on a PhD at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies. 

Dean Yip spoke to him about his time in Engineering Science, the multiple businesses he’s started, Canada’s future in space and the value of giving back to the U of T Engineering community.

Andrew Forde (MSE 1T1, MIE PhD 2T0) is a double graduate U of T Engineering, and a trailblazer at the intersection of industry and academia. 

After completing his undergraduate in Materials Science & Engineering, Forde went to work for a variety of consulting companies, including Boston Consulting Group, IBM and Deloitte. A few years later, Forde became one of the first students to complete what is now the flex-time PhD program, under the supervision of Professor Mark Fox (MIE). Earlier this year, he was appointed Head of AI Research at KPMG. 

Dean Yip spoke to him about his new role, the importance of academic-industry collaborations when it comes to addressing open-ended, complex challenges and the connections between music and engineering. 

Since graduating from U of T Engineering, Luigi La Corte (CivMin 1T4 + PEY) has built a career that has ranged from construction to high finance. In 2022, he co-founded Provision, a company leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate and speed up the paperwork associated with large construction projects, and now serves as its CEO.

Dean Yip spoke with him about how engineering prepared him for his current career, and how the dynamics of founding a company are changing in the era of AI.

U of T Engineering alumna Rumina Velshi (CivMin 7T8) is one of Canada's most prominent nuclear engineers.

The former head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, she was recently appointed to the board of Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear energy company. She is also a co-founder and principal at ZettaJoule, Inc., which is working to advance small modular nuclear reactors.

Dean Yip spoke to her about her career and the role that Canada can play in a rapidly changing global nuclear industry.

After graduating from U of T Engineering, Dr. Michelle Murti (EngSci 2T2) became a physician specializing in preventative medicine. She has worked for public health authorities across North America, and last September, she was appointed the Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto. Dean Yip talked to her about she applies her engineering training to help people live healthier lives.

Dean Yip chats with Jenya Doudareva (IndE 1T0 + PEY, MASc 1T3, PhD 2T1), a triple graduate of U of T Engineering who completed her PhD in 2021. Today, she works in Cloud and AI consulting at OnX.

All three of Doudareva’s degrees are in industrial engineering, and she explains why this discipline is a great background for a career helping businesses find effective and ethical ways to deploy AI.

She also touches on her experiences writing poetry and science fiction, and she tells a story about how she once smashed up her mom’s calculator looking for a microchip that would help her build a “Terminator” style robot.

Support for mental wellness is a critical part of U of T Engineering’s commitment to fostering a healthy, inclusive and vibrant student community. Thanks to a generous gift from Loui Pappas (CivE 8T8, MASc 8T9) and his daughter Elena Pappas (ChemE 2T2), that support is being strengthened through a new campaign to raise funds for the Skule™ Mental Wellness Bursary.

In this episode, Loui and Elena share the inspiring story behind their gift, their family’s connection to Skule™ and how they hope to help future engineering students thrive.

Arlyne James (MechE 2T4) is founder and CEO of My Dorm Store, which she created while she was still an undergraduate student at U of T Engineering. The company, which began as an assignment in an engineering business course, has grown tremendously in just a few short years, and this fall provided services to more than 60 residences across Canada.

James spoke with Dean Yip about what she learned at U of T Engineering, and how it helped her start — and grow — her thriving business.