Arts &amp; Science news staff / en Remembering Ā鶹ֱ²„app's Natalie Zemon Davis, a renowned social historian /news/remembering-u-t-s-natalie-zemon-davis-renowned-social-historian <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Remembering Ā鶹ֱ²„app's Natalie Zemon Davis, a renowned social historian </span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-10/UofT15731_LPedersen_LUCY6896-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Ilc5SNFz 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-10/UofT15731_LPedersen_LUCY6896-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=gqcNGUoI 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-10/UofT15731_LPedersen_LUCY6896-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SfSLDcRK 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-10/UofT15731_LPedersen_LUCY6896-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Ilc5SNFz" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-10-27T15:54:47-04:00" title="Friday, October 27, 2023 - 15:54" class="datetime">Fri, 10/27/2023 - 15:54</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>(photo by Laura Pedersen)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/history" hreflang="en">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/honorary-degree" hreflang="en">Honorary Degree</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">"I have tried my best to be not only a truth-teller about the past, but also to be a historian of hope"</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The University of Toronto is joining others around the world in remembering <strong>Natalie Zemon Davis</strong>, a renowned social historian who brought to life the lesser-known lives of workers, women and peasants.</p> <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/books/natalie-zemon-davis-dead.html" target="_blank"><em>The New York Times </em>described&nbsp;</a>Zemon Davis ā€“ a professor emerita&nbsp;of history in Ā鶹ֱ²„appā€™s Faculty of Arts &amp; Science who died Oct. 21 at age 94 ā€“ as a researcher who drew insights from anthropology and literary criticism, as well as meticulous archival digging.</p> <p>ā€œProfessor Davis both represented and inspired an emerging approach to history in the second half of the 20th century, often by filling in gaps in the historical record with informed speculations based on deep immersion in the period under study,ā€ the&nbsp;Times<em>&nbsp;</em>said.</p> <p>Zemon Davis chose not to focus on the history of royalty or aristocrats but rather on populations previously ignored by historians ā€“ workers, peasants, women and outsiders. Her work originally focused on France, but later broadened to include other parts of Europe, North America and the Caribbean.</p> <p>She told <em>Ā鶹ֱ²„app News</em> in 2017 that she believed traits such as daring, a sense of wonder and passion were essential for a researcher to do their job well.</p> <p>ā€œThatā€™s really something quite important: the unexpected, the surprise that satisfies or nourishes oneā€™s curiosity,ā€ she said.</p> <p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e0lvz_FvR-I?si=5E0r-NtqQzGLsu9z" title="YouTube video player" width="750"></iframe></p> <p>One of the first female humanities professors at Ā鶹ֱ²„app,&nbsp;Zemon Davis was&nbsp;a mentor to a generation of historians. Her teaching career took her to Brown University, the University of California, Berkeley and Princeton University. Zemon Davis was also president of the American Historical Association in 1987&nbsp;ā€“ the second woman to hold the position.&nbsp;</p> <p>She was a prolific writer, with more than a dozen books and essay collections. Her best-known book,&nbsp;<em>The Return of Martin Guerre&nbsp;</em>(1983), is the story of a 16th-century French peasant who abandoned his wife and lands ā€“ and later returns to discover an imposter has taken his place. The book generated worldwide attention and was translated into more than 20 languages. (A year earlier, she consulted on the French film of the same title.)</p> <p>Her book of essays,<em>&nbsp;Society and Culture in Early Modern France&nbsp;</em>(1975), is regarded as a landmark in historical anthropology and the history of women and gender. It combined her intensive archival research with the study of cultural rituals, violent chapters of religious wars and social work of womenā€™s religious groups.</p> <p>At Ā鶹ֱ²„app, Zemon Davis was a supporter of fundamental research, <a href="/news/natalie-zemon-davis-importance-curiosity-humanities-research">joining a group of experts</a> in 2017 who called on the federal government to implement the recommendations of&nbsp;<a href="/news/bolstering-canadian-research-u-t-welcomes-federal-science-review">Canada's Fundamental Science Review</a>.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-center"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_750_width_/public/2023-10/UofT4884_20130912_NatalieZemonDavis_002.jpg?itok=cymIaeRZ" width="750" height="500" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-750-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>(photo by Ralph Alswang/National Endowment for the Humanities)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>For her contributions to academic scholarship, Zemon Davis received several honorary degrees from universities around the world, including Ā鶹ֱ²„app, Harvard University, Yale University, the University of Edinburgh, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and others.</p> <p>Among her many accolades and prizes, she was&nbsp;awarded the prestigious Holberg Prize&nbsp;established by the Norwegian parliament in 2010 and was named Companion of the Order of Canada in 2012.</p> <p>In 2013, she received the&nbsp;National Humanities Medal from U.S. President Barack Obama.</p> <p>ā€œThe president spoke of the humanities and hope, and his words rang in my ears as he put the medal around my neck,ā€ <a href="/news/natalie-zemon-davis-receives-national-humanities-medal">said Zemon Davis in an interview with the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science that year</a>, ā€œfor I have tried my best to be not only a truth-teller about the past, but also to be a historian of hope."</p> <h3><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/books/natalie-zemon-davis-dead.html" target="_blank">Read more about Natalie Zemon Davis in the <em>New York Times</em></a></h3> <h3><a href="/news/natalie-zemon-davis-importance-curiosity-humanities-research">Read more about Natalie Zemon Davis at <em>Ā鶹ֱ²„app News</em></a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 27 Oct 2023 19:54:47 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 304065 at Physicists create 'quasicrystals' that exhibit superconductive properties /news/physicists-create-quasicrystals-exhibit-superconductive-properties <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Physicists create 'quasicrystals' that exhibit superconductive properties</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-10/Uri.delaBarrera-crop.jpg?h=40390047&amp;itok=cSlEXzFE 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-10/Uri.delaBarrera-crop.jpg?h=40390047&amp;itok=TDxHPXG1 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-10/Uri.delaBarrera-crop.jpg?h=40390047&amp;itok=40uDfO7o 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-10/Uri.delaBarrera-crop.jpg?h=40390047&amp;itok=cSlEXzFE" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-10-18T14:11:09-04:00" title="Wednesday, October 18, 2023 - 14:11" class="datetime">Wed, 10/18/2023 - 14:11</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p><em>MITā€™s Aviram Uri, left, and Ā鶹ֱ²„appā€™s Sergio C. de la Barrera are part of a team that coaxed superconductivity from an enigmatic class of materials known as quasicrystals (photo by Eva Cheung)</em></p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physics" hreflang="en">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">ā€œWe donā€™t yet fully understand the system. There are still quite a few mysteries.ā€</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers at the University of Toronto and the&nbsp;Massachusetts Institute of Technology&nbsp;have discovered a way to create new atomically thin versions of quasicrystals&nbsp;ā€“&nbsp;an enigmatic class of materials&nbsp;ā€“ that exhibit superconductivity.</p> <p>The work by&nbsp;<strong>Sergio C. de la Barrera</strong>, an assistant professor in Ā鶹ֱ²„appā€™s department of physics, and his MIT colleagues promises to jumpstart interest in&nbsp;quasicrystals by creating a new platform for further research. That, in turn, could lead to new physics insights and important applications such as more efficient electronic devices.</p> <p><a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06294-z">Recently published&nbsp;in <em>Nature</em>,</a> the research and brings together two previously unconnected fields: ā€œquasicrystalsā€ and ā€œtwistronics.ā€</p> <p>ā€œIt's really extraordinary that the field of twistronics keeps making unexpected connections to other areas of physics and chemistry&nbsp;ā€“ in this case the beautiful and exotic world of quasiperiodic crystals,ā€ says Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics at MIT who pioneered the field of twistronics only five years ago.</p> <p>Twistronics involves placing atomically thin layers of materials on top of one another. Rotating, or twisting, one or more of the layers at a slight angle creates a unique pattern called a moirĆ© superlattice. And a moirĆ© pattern, in turn, has an impact on the behaviour of electrons.</p> <p>ā€œIt changes the spectrum of energy levels available to the electrons and can provide the conditions for interesting phenomena to arise,ā€ says de la Barrera, one of four co-first authors of the recent paper who conducted the work while a postdoctoral associate at MIT.</p> <p>A moirĆ© system can also be tailored for different behaviors by changing the number of electrons added to the system. As a result, the field of twistronics has exploded over the last five years as researchers around the world have applied it to creating new atomically thin quantum materials.</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media align-center"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/scale_image_750_width_/public/2023-10/mQC.png?itok=mT5XHlqL" width="750" height="499" alt="&quot;&quot;" class="image-style-scale-image-750-width-"> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Image of a moirĆ© quasicrystal, center column, created by three overlapping sheets of atomically thin graphene (photo credit: Sergio C. de la Barrera)</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>In the current work, the researchers were tinkering with a moirĆ© system made of three sheets of graphene. Graphene is composed of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in hexagons resembling a honeycomb structure. In this case, the team layered three sheets of graphene, but twisted two of the sheets at slightly different angles.</p> <p>To their surprise, the system created a quasicrystal, an unusual class of material discovered in the 1980s. As the name implies, quasicrystals are somewhere between a crystal such as a diamond, which has a regular repeating structure, and an amorphous material like glass, ā€œwhere the atoms are all jumbled, or randomly arranged,ā€ says de la Barrera.</p> <p>In a nutshell, quasicrystals ā€œhave really strange patterns,ā€ de la Barrera says.</p> <p>Compared to crystals and amorphous materials, however, relatively little is known about quasicrystals. Thatā€™s in part because theyā€™re hard to make. ā€œThat doesnā€™t mean theyā€™re not interesting; it just means that we havenā€™t paid as much attention to them, particularly to their electronic properties,ā€ says de la Barrera, adding that the relatively simple quasicrystal created by the studyā€™s authors could be used by other researchers as a platform to advance the field.</p> <p>Because the original researchers werenā€™t experts in quasicrystals, they reached out to Professor Ron Lifshitz of Tel Aviv University, a co-author who helped the team to better understand what they were looking at, which they call a moirĆ© quasicrystal.</p> <p>The physicists then tuned a moirĆ© quasicrystal to make it superconducting, or transmit current with no resistance at all below a certain low temperature. Thatā€™s important because superconducting devices could transfer current through electronic devices much more efficiently than is possible today, but the phenomenon is still not fully understood in all cases.&nbsp;</p> <p>The team also found evidence of symmetry breaking&nbsp;ā€“ a phenomenon that ā€œtells us that the electrons are interacting with one another very strongly,ā€&nbsp;de la Barrera says. ā€œAnd as physicists and quantum material scientists, we want our electrons interacting with each other because thatā€™s where the exotic physics happens.ā€&nbsp;</p> <p>In the end, ā€œthrough discussions across continents we were able to decipher this thing, and now we believe we have a good handle on whatā€™s going on,ā€ says Aviram Uri, a co-first author of the paper and an MIT Pappalardo and VATAT postdoctoral fellow, although he notes that ā€œwe donā€™t yet fully understand the system. There are still quite a few mysteries.ā€</p> <p>The best part of the research was ā€œsolving the puzzle of what it was we had actually created,ā€ de la Barrera says. ā€œWe were expecting [something else], so it was a very pleasant surprise when we realized we were actually looking at something very new and different.ā€</p> <p><em>With files from Elizabeth A. Thomson, MIT</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 18 Oct 2023 18:11:09 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 303745 at Dissident literature: Ā鶹ֱ²„app researcher helps build 'an honest record' of Soviet history /news/dissident-literature-u-t-researcher-helps-build-honest-record-soviet-history <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Dissident literature: Ā鶹ֱ²„app researcher helps build 'an honest record' of Soviet history </span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/UofT13212_DSC_6643-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ZDiEZIHd 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/UofT13212_DSC_6643-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ZOxIMrf8 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/UofT13212_DSC_6643-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=k5WbywRO 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/UofT13212_DSC_6643-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ZDiEZIHd" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2023-03-22T18:29:52-04:00" title="Wednesday, March 22, 2023 - 18:29" class="datetime">Wed, 03/22/2023 - 18:29</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Ann Komaromi has spent more than two decades working with the Russian human rights organization Memorial, which was recently shut down by a Russian court (photo courtesy of Ann Komaromi)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/centre-comparative-literature" hreflang="en">Centre for Comparative Literature</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/slavic-languages-and-literatures" hreflang="en">Slavic languages and literatures</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/russia" hreflang="en">Russia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/soviet" hreflang="en">Soviet</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>While the world continues to witness the exchange of bombs and gunfire in Ukraine, the University of Torontoā€™s&nbsp;<strong>Ann Komaromi&nbsp;</strong>is involved in the exchange of underground journalism and literature about the former Soviet Union.</p> <p>For more than 20 years, Komaromi, an associate professor in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Scienceā€™s&nbsp;department of Slavic languages and literatures&nbsp;and the director of the&nbsp;Centre for Comparative Literature, has been involved with Memorial, a&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2022/memorial/facts/">Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights organization</a>&nbsp;that&nbsp;was founded in Russia during the fall of the Soviet Union to collect facts about repressions and civil society activity during Joseph Stalin's reign (1924-1953) and its aftermath.&nbsp;</p> <p>The organization consisted of two entities: Memorial International, which documented Soviet-era history, including crimes against humanity; and&nbsp;the Memorial Human Rights Centre, which was focused on the protection of human rights&nbsp;ā€“ especially in conflict zones in and around modern Russia.</p> <p>The Russian government <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/28/russian-court-memorial-human-rights-group-closure">ordered Memorial shut down in December 2021</a>&nbsp;and forced its closure earlier this year.</p> <p>ā€œThe historians at Memorial, some of whom were activists in the dissident period, were not well paid. It&nbsp;was not glamorous and they were not particularly rewarded within their society for what they were doing,ā€ says Komaromi. ā€œThatā€™s why it's important to support what they do and make sure it's well known.ā€</p> <p>Komaromi first became connected to Memorial in the&nbsp;late 1990s&nbsp;while working on her PhD dissertation when she was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.</p> <p>ā€œI went to Moscow to do some research and went to the offices and met people there,ā€ she says. ā€œI became fascinated with the materials and information they had. You couldn't find it anywhere else.</p> <p>ā€œResearching topics that were not part of official history&nbsp;ā€“ that became the history of repression in the Stalinist era. Memorialā€™s efforts to commemorate and gather information about the victims of Stalin era represented the flagship work they were doing for many years. It's enormously significant.ā€</p> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/GettyImages-1237393029-crop.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></p> <p><em>A woman wearing a face mask with the logo of Russia's rights group Memorial is seen outside the Moscow City Court where a hearing to dissolve the group's Human Rights Centre was taking place&nbsp;(photo by&nbsp;Vasily&nbsp;Maximov/AFP via Getty Images)</em></p> <p>Komaromi assisted with Memorialā€™s efforts to capture the history of dissidence after Stalin which included recording and preserving the unofficial texts Russian citizens produced and circulated. By the mid-2000s, she was deeply involved in a collaboration to further study this publishing network, called "samizdat."</p> <div class="image-with-caption left"> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/book-cover.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 430px;"></p> </div> <p>"We collaborated to work on a catalogue of underground publications," she says. Those publications included art and literary journals,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forschungsstelle.uni-bremen.de/en/9/20111208113007/Samizdat_Periodicals.html">rare copies of which are kept in an archive in Bremen, Germany</a>, at the Institute for the Study of Eastern Europe.</p> <p>Now, electronic editions of those underground journals are available with timelines of dissident movements and published interviews with activists on Komaromiā€™s&nbsp;<a href="https://samizdatcollections.library.utoronto.ca/">digital humanities project site</a>&nbsp;through University of Toronto Libraries.</p> <p>Among the journals and publications shared and exchanged, <em>the&nbsp;Chronicle of Current Events&nbsp;</em>was regarded as the most widely read underground bulletin.</p> <p>ā€œThey were recording facts about who had been arrested, who underwent interrogation,ā€ says Komaromi. ā€œIt also shared what uncensored works were being passed around&nbsp;and what was being seized during searches. The emphasis was on facts. They wanted to keep emotion and politics out of it.</p> <p>ā€œBut at the same time, there was this thriving poetry scene, there was theatre, fiction writing&nbsp;ā€“ all of this unofficial culture.ā€</p> <p>Some of the fiction writing and poetry circulated included the works of some very well-known writers, such as Aleksandr&nbsp;Solzhenitsyn and Joseph Brodsky, who was exiled in the early 1970s for his poetry.</p> <p>But most of the journalists and authors were relatively unknown.</p> <p>To boost the exposure of their work, Komaromi published her book,&nbsp;<em>Soviet Samzidat,</em>&nbsp;last year, capturing the underground publishing scene between the 1950s and 1980s.</p> <p>ā€œIt's about the publishing itself and the culture ā€“ and the rich content of that underground publishing network,ā€ says Komaromi.</p> <p>She continues to work with Memorial, despite it being shuttered by the Russian government.</p> <p>ā€œThe Russian government needs to control the history of the Soviet Union for its political purposes today,ā€ says Komaromi. ā€œThis was a very public signal that the government controlled the narrative about history and wouldnā€™t allow any independent work to be done.ā€</p> <p>That wonā€™t stop Komaromi.</p> <p>ā€œMy research today has to do with dissident memoirs&nbsp;and looking at the ways that people who were involved with various kinds of rights activism described their lives and activities,ā€ she says.</p> <p>ā€œThere's still a form of Memorial functioning in Russia, but a lot of people needed to go abroad. In France, for example, the history of dissidence project is still going on through people working there. That's how I'm able to continue collaborating with them.ā€</p> <p>For Komaromi, her work with Memorial has been the defining experience of her distinguished academic career and a reflection of her belief in democratic values.</p> <p>ā€œI find the commitment of the historians of Memorial inspiring, the way people have devoted so many years to the values they uphold,ā€ she says. ā€œI see what they do as deeply patriotic.</p> <p>ā€œThey want to curate an honest record of the history of their own country&nbsp;for the good of their own people. I feel it's something that's crucially important for Russia and itā€™s also relevant globally ā€“ for all of us who care about fact-based discourse, individual rights and freedom of expression.</p> <p>ā€œWe should all be concerned about the distortion of facts and violent suppression of rights to free speech because historical propaganda is being used to justify Russia's war in Ukraine.ā€</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 22 Mar 2023 22:29:52 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 180632 at Reef 'hope spots' may help rescue coral habitats damaged by climate change: Researchers /news/reef-hope-spots-may-help-rescue-coral-habitats-damaged-climate-change-researchers <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Reef 'hope spots' may help rescue coral habitats damaged by climate change: Researchers</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/coral-main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=bysI1bEN 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/coral-main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=S3mSWTr8 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/coral-main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=9m2sZ0B0 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/coral-main.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=bysI1bEN" alt="Coral reef"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>geoff.vendeville</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-08-04T11:54:01-04:00" title="Thursday, August 4, 2022 - 11:54" class="datetime">Thu, 08/04/2022 - 11:54</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">A new study shows that connections between climate-resilient coral reefs can help recover biodiversity, even after projected mass bleaching events from climate change (photo by Renata Romeo)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/climate-change" hreflang="en">Climate Change</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ecology-evolutionary-biology" hreflang="en">Ecology &amp; Evolutionary Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>With coral reefs imperiled by climate change, coral refugia ā€“ reefs in habitats that are protected from environmental stressors ā€“ may hold the key to sustaining these diverse underwater ecosystems.&nbsp;</p> <p>A new study by researchers at the University of Toronto, Wildlife Conservation Society and National Research Council in Italy suggests these ā€œcoral reef hope spots,ā€ connected to other reefs in networks that carry tiny larval coral on ocean currents, may help maintain and regenerate ocean biodiversity ā€“ even after projected mass coral bleaching events.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œOur results show how crucial it is to understand coral reef networks and how they may be affected by climate change, when designing future coral reef conservation strategies,ā€ says <strong>Ariel Greiner</strong>, lead author of the study and a PhD candidate in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology in Ā鶹ֱ²„app's Faculty of Arts &amp; Science.</p> <p>ā€œWe found that these coral reef networks may help maintain coral reef strongholds. We also encourage researchers to build off of this work and determine the locations of reefs that could act as stepping stones between these coral reef strongholds, as these reefs will hold the key to enabling these strongholds to preserve not just themselves but also the rest of the global coral reef habitat.ā€</p> <p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/geb.13571">In the study, which appeared in <em>Global Ecology and Biogeography</em>,</a> scientists modelled coral larval dispersal connections between reefs. Also known as coral connectivity, these connections form networks that serve to transport larval corals over vast distances to shuffle the gene pool and help reefs recover from coral bleaching and other disturbances.</p> <p>By modelling connectivity under different scenarios of climate change and future coral bleaching, the researchers provide a glimpse of how connections between reefs might change in coming decades ā€“ and the potential of those networks to reseed reefs that are lost. Their findings may help inform future conservation strategies as coral reefs suffer the effects of climate change, ocean acidification and overfishing. Alarmingly, some models predict 70 to 99 per cent of reefs risk long-term damage due to bleaching by 2100 or earlier, the researchers note.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/coral-embed.jpg" alt><br> <em>The researchers' study pinpoints reefs that have the greatest potential to regenerate others, helping direct limited resources for conservation at a crucial time for climate action (photo by Matt Curnock)</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Some existing climate-resilient coral reef strongholds are expected to have the best chance of surviving environmental stressors. If they do, the researchers found that present-day connectivity ā€“ grouped into six major networks of interconnected reefs worldwide ā€“ will be largely preserved, even if only the most climate-resilient coral reef strongholds (representing about 30 per cent&nbsp;of original coral reef cells) remain.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œStrategic conservation action is crucial in the face of climate change,ā€ says <strong>Emily Darling</strong>, director of Coral Reef Conservation at WCS and an adjunct professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology, as well as study co-author. ā€œOur study shows that biological connections between reefs can increase the ability of corals to recover from climate shocks and are a call to action to boost the health and function of key ā€œsourceā€ reefs in climate-resilient networks.ā€</p> <p>However, the researchers strike a note of caution, saying that not all coral reef habitat can be restored if only&nbsp;about 30 per cent of coral reef habitat is preserved ā€œeven under an optimistic reseeding paradigm.ā€ Even if stepping stone reefs are also preserved, it will still take ā€œseveral generations to reseed all reachable reef cells,ā€ they add.&nbsp;</p> <p>Nevertheless, the researchers say the study will help inform conservation strategies by highlighting the importance of reef connectivity to ensure their resilience in the face of climate change.</p> <p>This research was supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Tiffany &amp; Co. Foundation, and by the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Canada Graduate Scholarships and Canada Research Chairs.</p> <p><em>With files from the WCS.</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 04 Aug 2022 15:54:01 +0000 geoff.vendeville 175861 at Anatole von Lilienfeld joins Acceleration Consortium as inaugural Clark Chair in advanced materials discovery /news/anatole-von-lilienfeld-joins-acceleration-consortium-inaugural-clark-chair-advanced-materials <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Anatole von Lilienfeld joins Acceleration Consortium as inaugural Clark Chair in advanced materials discovery</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/profile-photo-crop.jpeg?h=0197c748&amp;itok=Tivv9js3 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-04/profile-photo-crop.jpeg?h=0197c748&amp;itok=t7UaLLL- 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-04/profile-photo-crop.jpeg?h=0197c748&amp;itok=5MzJjTkf 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/profile-photo-crop.jpeg?h=0197c748&amp;itok=Tivv9js3" alt="Anatole von Lilienfeld"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-12-08T11:07:12-05:00" title="Wednesday, December 8, 2021 - 11:07" class="datetime">Wed, 12/08/2021 - 11:07</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p>Anatole von Lilienfeld, a machine learning and physical chemistry specialist, will support the Acceleration Consortiumā€™s goal of revolutionizing the field of materials science.</p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/acceleration-consortium" hreflang="en">Acceleration Consortium</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institutional-strategic-initiatives" hreflang="en">Institutional Strategic Initiatives</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/artificial-intelligence" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/chemistry" hreflang="en">Chemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/physics" hreflang="en">Physics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/trinity-college" hreflang="en">Trinity College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/vector-institute" hreflang="en">Vector Institute</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Machine learning and physical chemistry specialist&nbsp;<strong>Anatole von Lilienfeld</strong>&nbsp;has been named the inaugural holder of the Clark Chair in Advanced Materials at the&nbsp;<a href="https://vectorinstitute.ai/">Vector Institute</a>&nbsp;and the University of Toronto, becoming a pivotal faculty member at the&nbsp;<a href="https://acceleration.utoronto.ca/">Acceleration Consortium</a>.</p> <p>A leading expert in designing novel approaches for rapidly predicting chemical compound behaviour, von Lilienfeld will support the Acceleration Consortiumā€™s goal of revolutionizing the field of materials science. Based in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science in partnership with the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering and the Division of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, the Acceleration Consortium is a global coalition of academia, industry, and government that combines artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to accelerate the design and discovery of materials that do not yet exist.</p> <p>ā€œI am thrilled to be joining this exceptional community of researchers at the University of Toronto and contribute to the Acceleration Consortiumā€™s remarkable commitment to excellence in applying artificial intelligence to the chemical sciences,ā€ said von Lilienfeld. ā€œThe pursuit to digitize chemistry is grand and requires many team-players, and the Acceleration Consortium is shaping up to become the perfect framework for this effort.ā€&nbsp;</p> <p>Currently a full professor in the Faculty of Physics at the University of Vienna&nbsp;and previously associate and assistant professor of physical chemistry at the University of Basel, von Lilienfeld brings expertise in developing and applying machine learning methods that drive the design and discovery of new materials using quantum mechanics, big data, statistical mechanics&nbsp;and computing.</p> <p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="422px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DMGv16cTzy8" title="YouTube video player" width="750px"></iframe></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œAnatole is recognized as one of the visionaries and pioneers for the use of computers to understand the vastness of chemical space,ā€ said&nbsp;<strong>AlĆ”n Aspuru-Guzik</strong>, director of the Acceleration Consortium and a Ā鶹ֱ²„app professor of chemistry and computer science. ā€œI am excited that Anatole will be coming here to help build Ā鶹ֱ²„app as the global centre of excellence in the area of AI for molecules and materials.ā€</p> <p>The Clark Chair is made possible through a generous gift from longtime Ā鶹ֱ²„app donor&nbsp;<strong>Edmund Clark</strong>, with additional support from the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering. The&nbsp;donation from Clark epitomizes his long-standing commitments to both supporting excellence in teaching and research at Ā鶹ֱ²„app and recognizing the potential of AI to transform global society in innumerable ways.</p> <p>ā€œCanadians are looking to the Acceleration Consortium and the Vector Institute to tackle the immense challenges that impact their lives by driving the discovery of new materials for more environmentally friendly products, green energy&nbsp;and better medicine among other industrial applications,ā€ said Clark, board chair of the Vector Institute and former president and CEO of the TD Bank Group. ā€œWeā€™re thrilled to welcome Anatole von Lilienfeld in this role as he will be a tremendous asset in supporting the consortiumā€™s ability to accomplish that goal.ā€</p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media"> <div> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/2023-04/IMG_0041-crop.jpeg" width="750" height="563" alt="Fran and&nbsp;Edmund Clark "> </div> </div> <figcaption><em>Fran and&nbsp;Edmund Clark are Ā鶹ֱ²„app alumni and longtime supporters of the university.</em></figcaption> </figure> <p>As founding chair of the Vector Institute, Clark is a passionate advocate for advancing the application of artificial intelligence and improving machine research and development. He has long recognized the need for creating conditions to nurture and attract a critical mass of top AI minds.</p> <p>ā€œWe are grateful to Ed Clark for establishing this chair and continuously investing in education and research,ā€ said&nbsp;<strong>Melanie Woodin</strong>, dean of the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science. ā€œThis realization of his vision demonstrates his commitment to solidifying Canadaā€™s place as a leader in machine learning and deep learning. With Anatole assuming this role, we are only deepening Ā鶹ֱ²„appā€™s strength in artificial intelligence-based research across a variety of disciplines.ā€</p> <p>Von Lilienfeld will play a key role in helping the Acceleration Consortium reach its goal of reducing the time and cost of developing new materials to as little as one year and $1 million, down from 20 years and $100 million.</p> <p>ā€œVon Lilienfeld brings the promise that we'll be able to think about problems in a new way and develop powerful solutions much more rapidly than through conventional approaches,ā€ said Professor&nbsp;<strong>Robert Batey</strong>, chair of the department of chemistry, who played an integral role in attracting von Lilienfeld to Ā鶹ֱ²„app. ā€œWith his expertise, weā€™ll propose new materials, make them&nbsp;and test them much more quickly.ā€</p> <p>Von Lilienfeldā€™s appointment at Ā鶹ֱ²„app is shared between the&nbsp;department of chemistry&nbsp;in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and the&nbsp;department of materials science and engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering. He will also be affiliated with the&nbsp;department of physics&nbsp;and will be a&nbsp;Trinity College Fellow.</p> <p>ā€œThis cross-disciplinary appointment epitomizes knowledge transfer across fields of deep expertise at Ā鶹ֱ²„app,ā€ said&nbsp;<strong>Chris Yip</strong>, dean of the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering. ā€œThe partnership allows faculty members and students from not only Engineering and Arts &amp; Science, but from across the University and beyond, to collaborate and tackle key global challenges.ā€</p> <p>With this appointment, von Lilienfeld also joins a community of researchers at the Vector Institute as a&nbsp;Vector faculty member, providing further opportunities for the exchange of ideas within a group of vibrant and innovative problem-solvers, working across disciplines on both curiosity-driven and applied research in AI.</p> <p>ā€œI am delighted to welcome Anatole to the Vector Institute and the University of Toronto ecosystem,ā€ said&nbsp;<strong>Garth Gibson</strong>, president and CEO of Vector Institute. ā€œVector has endeavoured to attract top talent to advance AI research and drive its application, adoption and commercialization. We look forward to collaborating with Anatole and the Acceleration Consortium team in advancing Torontoā€™s stature as a global centre for artificial based research.ā€</p> <p>The Acceleration Consortium is one of many ventures in&nbsp;Ā鶹ֱ²„appā€™s&nbsp;<a href="https://isi.utoronto.ca/">Institutional Strategic Initiatives</a>&nbsp;(ISI) program, a framework that enables the development and sustainability of cross-divisional, interdisciplinary collaborative research networks through partnerships with external industry, community&nbsp;and philanthropic partners.</p> <p>ā€œThanks to the generosity of Ed Clark, and with Anatole assuming the inaugural Chair, Ā鶹ֱ²„app increases its capacity to answer some of the most pressing questions in the field of materials discovery,ā€ said&nbsp;<strong>Christine Allen</strong>, Ā鶹ֱ²„appā€™s associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives. ā€œI am thrilled that we are pushing the envelope and securing Ā鶹ֱ²„appā€™s place at the forefront of developing solutions-oriented global research ecosystems.ā€</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 08 Dec 2021 16:07:12 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 301248 at Sidney Smith Hall transformation project to create space for innovative learning, teaching and research /news/sidney-smith-hall-transformation-project-create-space-innovative-learning-teaching-and-research <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Sidney Smith Hall transformation project to create space for innovative learning, teaching and research</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-05/DSC_0652-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Zd39dq_3 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-05/DSC_0652-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=USmw713J 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-05/DSC_0652-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=3-WCWVg5 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-05/DSC_0652-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Zd39dq_3" alt="Veronica Bergstrom and Andrew Yin "> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-11-10T14:37:35-05:00" title="Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - 14:37" class="datetime">Wed, 11/10/2021 - 14:37</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"><p>Veronica Bergstrom and Andrew Yin sit outside Sidney Smith Hall, which will undergo a transformative redevelopment project that will create a new home for Ā鶹ֱ²„app's Faculty of Arts &amp; Science (photo by Diana Tyszko)</p> </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/scott-mabury" hreflang="en">Scott Mabury</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/buildings" hreflang="en">Buildings</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innis-college" hreflang="en">Innis College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-students" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The University of Torontoā€™s Faculty of Arts &amp; Science has announced plans to redevelop&nbsp;Sidney Smith Hall&nbsp;to create a transformative&nbsp;space for innovative learning, teaching and research.</p> <p>The revitalization project, currently in early planning stages, will help redefine the&nbsp;universityā€™s largest academic division&nbsp;ā€“ and one of the largest in North America ā€“ by creating a new home for it on the St. George campus.</p> <p>ā€œOur goal is to create a contemporary, accessible and state-of-the-art space for our students, staff and faculty, and the wider community,ā€ says <strong>Melanie Woodin</strong>, dean of the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science. ā€œAs dean, I am really pleased to launch this exciting project that will advance and grow our teaching and research mission.ā€</p> <p>The project will provide a new facility while extensively renovating the north vertical portion of the building. It will address much-needed academic, administrative, student and ancillary space needs. They include:&nbsp;lounge, study and collaboration spaces;&nbsp;a community marketplace to gather and eat;&nbsp;event and meeting space;&nbsp;and state-of-the-art classrooms.</p> <p>ā€œAs the University of Toronto heads into its third century, we envision this new footprint will be a magnet for local and international engagement, and a hub to inspire thought-provoking events and respectful, authentic dialogue on the critical issues facing our society,ā€ adds Woodin.</p> <p>The renewal project aims to create a more recognizable identity for the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and foster greater connections across its community, comprising more than 70 academic departments, schools, centres and institutes in 40 academic buildings and colleges across the St. George campus.</p> <p>ā€œItā€™s really exciting to hear about this project. Better classrooms, more food options, more event space and the addition of common areas outside are all really beneficial to students in the long run,ā€ says PhD student <strong>Veronica Bergstrom</strong> of the department of psychology.</p> <p>Ā鶹ֱ²„app ā€™s Faculty of Arts &amp; Science has grown in breadth and depth since the building opened in 1960. While the site is one of the most well-travelled places on the St. George campus due to its central location and teaching space, the buildingā€™s age and size are&nbsp;constraints on the facultyā€™s ability to fully realize its potential as a research and leadership centre locally, nationally and internationally.</p> <p>The university will also address the buildingā€™s accessibility and improve student spaces as a central part of its redevelopment while&nbsp;designing and building a high-performance net-zero carbon certified building.</p> <p>ā€œFrom a userā€™s point of view, it's unfortunately difficult to navigate,ā€ says undergraduate student <strong>Andrew Yin</strong>, who is in his final year at Innis College. ā€œI've gotten lost in the basement and lost trying to get to the food hall; some areas are not connected. There are a lot of areas where improvement is needed. I'm quite glad the university has not only recognized these issues and is trying to rebuild the site, but also considering the students point of view and trying to hold consultation sessions.ā€</p> <p><strong>Scott Mabury</strong>, vice-president of operations and real estate partnerships, says like all major capital development projects, the process is lengthy and will include opportunities for viewing models, renderings and engagement with design ideas as architects are selected and the plan is developed over the next several years.</p> <p>ā€œThis plan will allow growth for the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science well into the future,ā€ says Mabury. ā€œIt will be a thoughtfully designed, sustainable and accessible building complemented with a large, and welcoming open space serving our entire community for generations to come.ā€</p> <p>Design team selection for this project is scheduled to take place over several months, starting in spring 2022.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 10 Nov 2021 19:37:35 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 171204 at ā€˜Passionate, principled and caringā€™: Ā鶹ֱ²„app remembers math professor Alfonso Gracia-Saz /news/passionate-principled-and-caring-u-t-remembers-math-professor-alfonso-gracia-saz <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">ā€˜Passionate, principled and caringā€™: Ā鶹ֱ²„app remembers math professor Alfonso Gracia-Saz</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/lfonso%20Gracia-Saz%20-%20Math-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=9G7vBVPl 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2023-04/lfonso%20Gracia-Saz%20-%20Math-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=EwIntjEl 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2023-04/lfonso%20Gracia-Saz%20-%20Math-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=MCuF80CD 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2023-04/lfonso%20Gracia-Saz%20-%20Math-crop.jpeg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=9G7vBVPl" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-05-12T16:26:10-04:00" title="Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - 16:26" class="datetime">Wed, 05/12/2021 - 16:26</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mathematics" hreflang="en">Mathematics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/teaching" hreflang="en">Teaching</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p style="margin-bottom:11px">The University of Toronto community is mourning the loss of <b>Alfonso Gracia-Saz</b>, an associate professor, teaching stream, in the department of mathematics in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, who was renowned for his creativity, innovation and dedication to his students.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">ā€œAlfonso was a passionate, principled and caring mathematician and an educational leader,ā€ said Professor <b>Jeremy Quastel</b>, chair of the department. ā€œHe taught large, challenging courses, reshaping and modernizing them with an intense focus on the learning experience of the students. His lectures inspired not only a love of mathematics, but also a rethinking of what was possible in the act of teaching itself.ā€</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><a href="https://www.gatheringus.com/memorial/alfonso-gracia-saz/7329">A memorial page has been created</a> for Gracia-Saz, who died unexpectedly on May 6. Memories and tributes are being shared from across Canada and around the world.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">Gracia-Sazā€™s research focused on Poisson geometry, Lie algebroids, active learning and inquiry-based learning. In recognition of his dynamic teaching style, attention to detail and his famous problem sets, the Canadian Mathematical Society had recently announced it was <a href="/celebrates/alfonso-gracia-saz-receives-excellence-teaching-award-canadian-mathematical-society">awarding Gracia-Saz with the 2021 Excellence in Teaching Award</a>.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">He was popular among students.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><b>Bernardo Galvao-Sousa</b>, an associate professor, teaching stream, <a href="https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/news/math-alfonso-gracia-saz-honoured-canadian-mathematical-society-teaching-excellence">said at the time</a> that Gracia-Saz, ā€œbelongs to this rare breed of born teachers that possess not only the knowledge and creativity, but also the warm and dynamic personality that allows him to teach students in such a natural way that the barrier between teacher and student ceases to exist.ā€</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">Gracia-Saz maintained a YouTube channel for calculus, creating and posting 200 videos that have received more than 3 million views.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">Peter&nbsp;Taylor, chair of the CMS Excellence in Teaching Award committee, called the videos ā€œremarkable, both technically and conceptually ā”€ they give you an experience that is both challenging and joyful.ā€</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">A keen mentor and supporter of undergraduate research, Gracia-Saz also co-led recruiting and training for the Ā鶹ֱ²„app Putnam Mathematical Competition team, which placed fourth in the 2017 competition.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">ā€œAlfonso believed in the power of education and his dedication to teaching mathematics extended beyond the university,ā€ Quastel said. ā€œHe was active in mathematics outreach through competitions, math camps and science fairs ā€“ his impact was felt throughout the mathematics community.ā€</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">For more than 10 years, Gracia-Saz was an academic adviser and an instructor for the <a href="https://www.mathcamp.org/">Canada/USA Mathcamp</a>. He also volunteered as an instructor for the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison (now Mount Tamalpais College).</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">Born in Zaragoza, Spain in 1976, Gracia-Saz lived and worked in Spain, the United States, Japan and Canada. Interested in mathematics and physics as a teenager, he was a winner of the V Spanish Physics Olympiad and participated in the international competition in Beijing in 1994.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">He obtained a Licenciatura (BSc) in both physics and mathematics from Universidad de Zaragoza in Spain in 2000-2001 and a PhD in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2006, where he was supervised by Professor Alan Weinstein. He held post-doctoral positions at Keio University in Japan and Ā鶹ֱ²„app before taking a faculty position at the University of Victoria. He joined the faculty of Ā鶹ֱ²„app in 2013.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">With his beloved partner of six years, Nick Remedios, Gracia-Saz enjoyed contra dancing, complex board games and cooking.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">In Spain, Gracia-Saz is mourned by his mother, Carmen; his father, Antonio; his sister, Rebeca, and her children, Mario and Carla.</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">The math department has <a href="https://engage.utoronto.ca/site/SPageServer?pagename=donate#/fund/1624">created a scholarship in honour of Gracia-Saz</a> and a memorial will be held online on Friday, May 14 at 3 p.m. EST. Details and links will&nbsp;be posted on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.math.toronto.edu/" target="_blank">department of mathematicsā€™ website later in the week</a>.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 12 May 2021 20:26:10 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 301338 at Ā鶹ֱ²„app joins national consortium to address talent needs of post-pandemic economy /news/u-t-joins-national-consortium-address-talent-needs-post-pandemic-economy <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Ā鶹ֱ²„app joins national consortium to address talent needs of post-pandemic economy</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-534666369.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SxWodJro 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-534666369.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=e1y20D6r 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-534666369.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Ymse4xQZ 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-534666369.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SxWodJro" alt="young woman going up a set of stairs"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-04-08T16:04:21-04:00" title="Thursday, April 8, 2021 - 16:04" class="datetime">Thu, 04/08/2021 - 16:04</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Ā鶹ֱ²„app's Faculty of Arts &amp; Science is partnering with non-profit Palette Skills and other academic and business organizations to upskill Canadians for high-demand roles in fast-growing parts of the economy (photo by ArthurHidden via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/coronavirus" hreflang="en">Coronavirus</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/economy" hreflang="en">Economy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/meric-gertler" hreflang="en">Meric Gertler</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The University of Toronto is partnering with <a href="https://paletteskills.org">Palette Skills, a national non-profit organization</a>, and other major Canadian academic and business organizations to address the growing skills gap in the Canadian economy and advance an inclusive post-pandemic recovery.</p> <p>The consortium, launched this week, will include Ā鶹ֱ²„appā€™s Faculty of Arts &amp; Science as part of its mission to create programs to rapidly upskill Canadians for high-demand roles in the fastest-growing parts of the economy.</p> <p>ā€œCollaboration between Canadaā€™s businesses and its higher education partners will be a key factor in our ability to create good jobs and economic growth across the country,ā€ said Ā鶹ֱ²„app President <strong>Meric Gertler</strong>.</p> <p>ā€œThe University of Toronto is proud to host this great initiative led by Palette Skills, and we look forward to collaborating with its member organizations and institutions.ā€</p> <p>Along with Ā鶹ֱ²„app, other founding members of the consortium include the Business Council of Canada, the Council of Canadian Innovators, Business Council of British Columbia, the Brookfield Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and several Canadian universities.</p> <p>Ā鶹ֱ²„app, which is also a co-founder of the Business/Higher Education Roundtable, will collaborate with the consortiumā€™s partners to identify talent gaps and develop strategies for filling them as Canada works to recover from the economic impact of COVID-19. Together with Palette Skills, the partners will develop demand-driven, industry-led accelerated training programs aimed at rapidly transitioning more Canadians into high-demand roles.</p> <p>ā€œCanada has an extremely talented and diverse workforce, but we lack accessible pathways to transition large sections of the Canadian workforce into careers in industries that emerge from the pandemic ready to grow and compete on a global scale,ā€ said <strong>Arvind Gupta</strong>, a computer science professor at Ā鶹ֱ²„app and the chief executive officer of Palette Skills.</p> <p>ā€œThis newly announced consortium of business and higher education partners ensures that we can effectively provide a broad cross-section of opportunities to Canadians.ā€</p> <p><a href="/news/u-t-partners-non-profit-help-re-skill-canadian-workers">Ā鶹ֱ²„app has been working with Palette Skills since last November</a> to support individuals whose careers were disrupted by the shifting global economy. Palette Skills offers an integrated platform for mid-career upskilling aimed at training Canadians in technical skills that will allow them to thrive in growing industries.</p> <p>ā€œWeā€™re excited to support Paletteā€™s mission and to work alongside many leading organizations to address the skills gap across Canada,ā€ said&nbsp;<strong>Melanie Woodin</strong>, dean of Ā鶹ֱ²„appā€™s Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and a member of the Palette board of directors.</p> <p>ā€œPalette is at the forefront of the talent industry and is having great success developing programs that help transition those who are underemployed into high-demand roles. We look forward to joining Canadaā€™s top researchers and industry leaders to help improve the lives of Canadians by driving new solutions and creating unique opportunities for success.ā€</p> <p>The consortium, which includes Simon Fraser University, University of Calgary, Dalhousie University, University of Guelph, UniversitĆ© Laval and the University of Saskatchewan, as well as Ā鶹ֱ²„app, is seeking to expand to other post-secondary colleges and universities, business associations and community partners from coast to coast.</p> <p>ā€œClose partnerships between educators and employers ensure that workers learn the skills they need to build successful careers,ā€ said Goldy Hyder, president and chief executive officer of the Business Council of Canada.</p> <p>ā€œPalette is building the programs we need to create a better future and a higher quality of life for Canadians.ā€</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 08 Apr 2021 20:04:21 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 169018 at Ā鶹ֱ²„app Centre for Ethics explores relationship between race, ethics and power /news/u-t-centre-ethics-explores-relationship-between-race-ethics-and-power <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Ā鶹ֱ²„app Centre for Ethics explores relationship between race, ethics and power </span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1216501136.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=4qXFPRnF 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-1216501136.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=A2hqI6qc 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-1216501136.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=EzPtIRoP 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1216501136.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=4qXFPRnF" alt="A young Black woman raises her fist in the air at a Black lives matter protest"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-01-21T08:56:08-05:00" title="Thursday, January 21, 2021 - 08:56" class="datetime">Thu, 01/21/2021 - 08:56</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Protesters march during a rally in Toronto after police killed George Floyd in Minneapolis (photo by Arindam Shivaani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/centre-ethics" hreflang="en">Centre for Ethics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-students" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/woodsworth-college" hreflang="en">Woodsworth College</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The University of Torontoā€™s Centre for Ethics has launched a&nbsp;project&nbsp;that explores the complex themes&nbsp;of&nbsp;race, ethics and power&nbsp;through emerging scholars and interdisciplinary perspectives.</p> <p><a href="http://ethics.utoronto.ca/race-ethics-and-power-project/">The Race, Ethics and Power (REP) project</a>, which rolled out last fall in&nbsp;the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others,&nbsp;includes an&nbsp;emerging scholars series, undergraduate and graduate student reading and working groups, as well as public facing events.</p> <p>The centre also brought on two research associates,&nbsp;as well as six undergraduate and graduate researchers, to help run the project.</p> <p><strong>Vasuki Shanmuganathan</strong> and <strong>Christopher Smith </strong>ā€“ the two research associates&nbsp;ā€“&nbsp;are<strong>&nbsp;</strong>both PhDs with backgrounds in race, colonialism and health, as well as Black diaspora cultural studies, Black expressive cultures and practices, and queer and feminist theory, respectively.</p> <p>ā€œSeeing this project connect and engage with ongoing and current race matters as part of the greater community is different in design and approach,ā€ said Shanmuganathan. ā€œBeing so close to the heartbeat of ongoing issues on the ground and providing a platform for discussions makes the centre a remarkable space to work, learn and be in.ā€</p> <p>Alongside the centreā€™s&nbsp;Critical Race Studies: Interdisciplinary Perspectives&nbsp;series, which features interdisciplinary talks from established scholars in the field, the&nbsp;emerging scholars&nbsp;series brings together Canadian and international emerging scholars ā€“ graduate and doctoral students ā€“ whose work is at the cutting edge of race, ethics and power research to examine underrepresented histories and provide fresh perspectives.</p> <p>ā€œWe want to challenge who we perceive as doing scholarly work and include presenters who combine academic and creative approaches converging on themes of race, ethics and power,ā€ said Shanmuganathan.</p> <p>To date, presentations have explored topics from Black LGBTQ+ identity politics in Brazil to ā€œsurface, abstraction and skinā€ in Black contemporary art.</p> <p>Flash events have included a conversation with Jonathan Kidd and Sonya Winton-Odamtten, co-executive producers of the HBO television series&nbsp;<em>Lovecraft Country</em>.</p> <p>ā€œThe speakers chosen for this series illustrate that concerns regarding race, ethics and power extend beyond theoretical debates normally assumed to happen in the university classroom,ā€ said Smith.</p> <p>ā€œThese conversations are already occurring on the ground and in all institutions.ā€</p> <p><strong><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/UofT16957_0W7A5209.jpg" alt>Markus Dubber</strong>, the centreā€™s director, says his goal for Race, Ethics and Power was to provide others with a space to build a project of their own.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œIt wasnā€™t just that I wanted to focus on the subject matter,ā€ he said.</p> <p>Beyond the emerging scholars series, Shanmuganathan and Smith also run a Race, Ethics and Power reading group and working group for undergraduate and graduate researchers&nbsp;at the centre.</p> <p>The reading group, which includes&nbsp;students from a range of disciplines, discusses publications related to race, ethics and power with the hope that students will learn how to pose strong research questions and consider how to apply what they learn&nbsp;to their own writing and life.</p> <p>ā€œThe purpose of the group is to foster a critical conversation across disciplines by engaging the work of each speaker,ā€ said Smith. ā€œEach of the fellows is at a different stage academically, so a key function of the group is to enable each other to work through complex ideas and arguments by each author.ā€</p> <p><strong>Tsitsi Macherera</strong>, a fourth-year Woodsworth College pursuing a double major in ethics, society and law and book and media studies, is an undergraduate researcher at the Centre for Ethics.</p> <p>She says the project has given her a greater awareness of the ethical impasses and questions present in other scholarly disciplines and a greater appreciation of interdisciplinary scholarship.</p> <p>ā€œIā€™ve been really energized by the discussions, especially the opportunity they present for engaging with people from different areas of the university,ā€ said Macherera. ā€œMy time in the group has made me better appreciate the communal aspects of learning.</p> <p>ā€œI think the centre was purposive in making room for emerging scholars who are touching on a lot of age-old issues in fresh ways. It's always energizing to see scholars expanding the boundaries of their disciplines to include necessary conversations about race.ā€</p> <p>The working group acts as a research hub that Shanmuganathan says provides student researchers&nbsp;with ā€œa space to discuss research, benefit from mentoring and better navigate their learning process.ā€</p> <p><strong>Farhia Farah</strong> ā€“ an Race, Ethics and Power graduate student researcher and second-year masterā€™s student in the department for the study of religion ā€“ focuses her research on Islam and gender from a sociology of religion perspective and explores the themes of ethics, race and power. &nbsp;She says she was drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of the project.</p> <p>ā€œI appreciate how the centre is big on collaboration and innovation, and in facilitating cross-disciplinary conversations between fellows who are from a variety of backgrounds. It allows us space to grow and engage with questions and ideas we may not necessarily have the space, time or funding for in other departments,ā€ Farah said.</p> <p>For Shanmuganathan and Smith the goal is to give students an opportunity to talk about race, ethics and power and participate in these discussions regardless of discipline.</p> <p>ā€œWe hope that both the reading and working groups allow students to feel they are being supported in their work and are able to connect with others in REP. This is especially important during these uncertain times when we are only able to meet online,ā€ said Shanmuganathan. ā€œCommunity is centred in the REP project.ā€</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 21 Jan 2021 13:56:08 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 168117 at Researchers at Ā鶹ֱ²„app, Northwestern use AI to accelerate discovery of industrial materials /news/researchers-u-t-northwestern-use-ai-accelerate-discovery-industrial-materials <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Researchers at Ā鶹ֱ²„app, Northwestern use AI to accelerate discovery of industrial materials </span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/7_1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Z7yI8ZH0 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/7_1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=awztkexh 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/7_1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=oYgksuGy 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/7_1.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Z7yI8ZH0" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-01-13T10:51:47-05:00" title="Wednesday, January 13, 2021 - 10:51" class="datetime">Wed, 01/13/2021 - 10:51</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(illustration by Ella Marushchenko)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/artificial-intelligence" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/chemistry" hreflang="en">Chemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers at the University of Toronto and Northwestern University are using machine learning to craft the best materials for different industrial uses.</p> <p>The findings,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-020-00271-1">published this week in <em>Nature Machine Intelligence</em></a>, demonstrated that the use of AI can help propose&nbsp;novel materials for diverse applications, helping to speed up&nbsp;the design cycle for materials. One example is the separation of carbon dioxide from industrial combustion processes.</p> <p>With the objective of improving the separation of chemicals in industrial processes, the team of researchers including collaborators from Harvard University and the University of Ottawa, set out to identify the best reticular frameworks ā€“ for example, metal organic frameworks and&nbsp;covalent organic frameworks&nbsp;ā€“&nbsp;for use in the process. Such frameworks, which can be thought of as tailored molecular ā€œspongesā€, form via the self-assembly of molecular building blocks into different arrangements and represent a new family of crystalline porous materials that have been proven to be promising in addressing technology challenges in fields that&nbsp;range from clean energy and&nbsp;sensors to biomedicine.</p> <p>ā€œWe built an automated materials discovery platform that generates the design of various molecular frameworks, significantly reducing the time required to identify the optimal materials for use in this particular process,ā€ says <strong>Zhenpeng Yao</strong>, a post-doctoral researcher in the departments of chemistry and computer science in Ā鶹ֱ²„appā€™s Faculty of Arts &amp; Science who is&nbsp;lead author of the study.</p> <p>ā€œIn this demonstrated employment of the platform, we discovered frameworks that are strongly competitive against some of the best-performing materials used for CO2 separation known to date.ā€</p> <p>The perennial challenges in addressing CO2 separation and other problems like greenhouse gas reduction and vaccine development, however, are the unpredictable amount of time and extensive trial-and-error efforts required in the pursuit of such new materials. The occasionally infinite combinations of molecular building blocks available in the construction of chemical compounds can mean the exhaustion of significant amounts of time and resources before a breakthrough is made.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/UofT85362_2020-04-17-Al%C3%A1n%20Aspuru-Guzik.%20%2825%29.jpg" alt>ā€œDesigning reticular materials is particularly challenging, as they bring the hard aspects of modelling crystals together with those of modelling molecules in a single problem,ā€ says senior co-author Professor&nbsp;<strong>AlĆ”n Aspuru-Guzik</strong>, Canada 150 Research Chair in Theoretical Chemistry in the departments of chemistry and computer science and a Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œThis approach to reticular chemistry exemplifies our emerging focus at Ā鶹ֱ²„app of accelerating materials development by means of artificial intelligence. By using an AI model that can ā€˜dreamā€™ or suggest novel materials, we can go beyond the traditional library-based screening approach.ā€</p> <p>The researchers focused on the development of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that are now considered the ideal absorbing material for the removal of CO2 from flue gas and other combustion processes.</p> <p>ā€œWe began with the construction of a large number of MOF structures on the computer, simulated their performance using molecular-level modelling&nbsp;and built a training pool applicable to the chosen application of CO2 separation,ā€ said study co-author Randall Snurr, the John G. Searle professor and chair of the department of chemical and biological engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.</p> <p>ā€œIn the past, we would have screened through the pool of candidates computationally and reported the top candidates. Whatā€™s new here is that the automated materials discovery platform developed in this collaborative effort is more efficient than such a ā€˜brute forceā€™&nbsp;screening of every material in a database. Perhaps more importantly, the approach uses machine learning algorithms to learn from the data as it explores the space of materials and actually suggests new materials that were not originally imagined.ā€</p> <p>The researchers say the model shows great prediction and optimization capability in the design of novel reticular frameworks, particularly in combination with already known candidates in specific functions, and that the platform is fully customizable in its application to address many contemporary technology challenges.</p> <p>The research was supported by the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy, the Canadian Network for Research and Innovation in Machining Technology, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 13 Jan 2021 15:51:47 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 168047 at