This week, the University of Toronto will be hosting a series of events and workshops to celebrate the third annual Global Engineering (GE) Week.
Global Engineering Week is a week-long initiative that connects engineering students to industry experts, universities and NGOs through a speaker series, events, and case studies in courses. The aim of the initiative is to immerse students in some of the world’s toughest problems, from climate change to health care.
Founder, and U of T Alumnus, of GE Week Malik Ismail hopes that students will take a multidisciplinary approach when thinking about global issues.
“We want to expose engineering students to solving problems in non-traditional contexts, whether it’s solutions to a complex issue in the developing world, or in Northern Canada. There are socioeconomic implications, financial implications and unique circumstances based on your local stakeholders—a well-rounded engineer, one who makes a positive difference, would be mindful of all these aspects.”
This year, the universities of Waterloo, Concordia, and Western have all adopted GE Week. “We’ve experienced three times the growth since I started GE Week three years ago,” said Ismail. “This year, we’re excited to have the opportunity to engage nearly 10,000 engineering students across four universities through immersive and hands-on events.”
Events during the week include a speaker panel on the role of artificial intelligence in global development, as well as a student hackathon, Hack the Globe, which began on March 2nd and will continue until March 17th.
