A new forensic engineering course and certificate will be offered for the first time in Canada to U of T undergraduate students beginning in 2017-2018.
According to an article by U of T News on January 2, “First in Canada: U of T Engineering offers course and new certificate in Forensic Engineering,” following the Sunrise Propane plant explosion that killed 2 people in August 2008, forensic engineers were called after the police, fire, and ambulance were called.
Doug Perovic, a U of T engineering professor who will be teaching the course, told The Medium that forensic engineering is an example of how one can use science and engineering to help people and to help “improve safety standards, codes, and products so it [an incident forensic engineers are investigating] does not happen again.”
Perovic, who has led more than 500 investigations, plans on beginning his first class on January 17. The class is said to include disturbing displays of a car crash featuring beheaded victims, which Perovic aims to use to show students what forensic engineers work with.
Perovic said that he hopes to teach students how to use logic, and to fit the framework of becoming good investigators for “out of the norm situations, and how to logically anticipate what may have happened.”
He added that, “To call yourself a forensic engineer, legally you need an engineering degree to prove it,” referring to U of T’s new forensic engineering program which will facilitate certification.
The catalyst towards the introduction of this course in Canada began in May 2011, when the Professional Engineers Ontario launched a committee to define what forensic engineering is through specific guidelines. The committee’s work was finished and finalized last year.
