Keeping Canada on the Radar Screen

The electronics-manufacturing and aerospace industries are key to the future of the Canadian economy. In a bid to help Canada keep its competitive edge in these areas, a number of new chairs have been established at the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering.

Three chairs have been created with a total of $3 million in donations, to be matched by the university, from Celestica, a leader in electronics manufacturing; Eugene Polistuk, the company’s chairman and CEO; and a group of Celestica executives who are U of T alumni: Paul Blom (BASc 1984, MBA 1993), Michael Mortson (BASc 1982), John Peri (BASc 1984), Johanne Picard-Thompson (BASc 1984), Dan Shea (BASc 1980) and John Yealand (BASc 1968). The chairs will reside in the departments of metallurgy and materials science, mechanical and industrial engineering and the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The J. Armand Bombardier Foundation, a leader in the aerospace and transportation industry, has made a $1.5-million gift – also to be matched by the university – to support aerospace research at the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. The commitment provides for a chair and an assistant professor’s position, which will reside within the faculty’s Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS), and contributes to program support, including the upgrading of the real-time flight simulator located at UTIAS.