Voices of
Lassonde
Student
Greatlove Bariboloka
Undergraduate student (third year)
Software Engineering
As the Lassonde School of Engineering marks its 10th anniversary, and shares stories about its momentum and milestones from 2021 to 2022, it’s clear there is plenty to celebrate. The projects and achievements described in this report have a special meaning for me as a Lassonde student. I’ve enjoyed countless opportunities to grow and excel in the area of software engineering, and build connections in a welcoming community.
When I was seven years old, my uncle introduced me to web design, and I was immediately captivated by the creativity of the process. I thought to myself: Wow! There’s so much potential here to innovate. That interest grew throughout my childhood, and when it came time for post-secondary education, studying software design and development was a natural choice.
At Lassonde, my program’s focus on theoretical knowledge, practical skills and experiential learning has enabled me to discover my interests and develop my strengths in software engineering. I’ve realized I especially enjoy design—determining the most effective and efficient approach to creating new software applications. Some of my more interesting class assignments have included creating a sound-sensitive lighting system, and researching methods to make clean drinking water more accessible worldwide. The professors are always there to provide support with these projects—I know they care about my success.
Lassonde provides me with meaningful opportunities to apply my learning outside the classroom. As a participant one year in the annual York Engineering Competition, my team and I presented up-and-coming approaches to more effectively recycle plastic. As this year’s YEC chair, I partnered with competition leads to organize more than 100 students competing across eight categories. The experience was deeply fulfilling, and it helped me build my leadership, teamwork and communication skills.
Being at Lassonde has enabled me to grow not just as a student, but as a person. As a former mentor in the k2i academy, I supported 10 high school students in building an education app to help them interact better with their peers and teachers. Sharing STEM learning opportunities with young people is incredibly rewarding for me. I also previously volunteered as a Lassonde Peer Helper, where I supported first-year students in settling in at the School. I wanted those new students to feel as welcomed and included at the School as I have felt throughout my time here.
As I prepare to enter the final year of my undergraduate degree, I’m looking forward to further building and applying my software development skills. I’m not yet sure exactly what the future holds—whether I’ll pursue graduate education or join a company. But I know that my journey at Lassonde is preparing me to do some innovative and important work in the field. As this report demonstrates, and as I am experiencing directly, Lassonde aims to foster growth, opportunity and community for students.
Alum
Raghavender Sahdev
Graduate, Master of Computer Science (2018)
Founder and CEO, NuPort Robotics
Forbes Top 30 Under 30 – Manufacturing and Industry (2023)
I would like to offer my congratulations to the Lassonde School of Engineering on your 10th anniversary, and commend the significant progress you have made in 2021-22 in the areas of engineering education, research and community impact.
When I was a student at Lassonde, I experienced first-hand how the School invests in the development and success of its students. The knowledge and skills I developed, the faculty support I received and the independence given by my graduate supervisor have been very helpful to my ability to establish and run my autonomous trucking company just a year after graduating.
What first drew me to Lassonde was the ability to learn from professor John Tsotsos, a highly accomplished and visionary computer science researcher and the founding director of the School’s Centre for Innovation in Computing. As someone who has extensively studied robotics, computer and human vision and computational neuroscience, and who leads a state-of-the-art research facility, John is someone I knew could help me significantly advance my expertise and my career.
At Lassonde, I was able to develop the full range of essential technical expertise, including software engineering, artificial intelligence, networks and human-centred computing. With the knowledge I gained, I was able to pursue and publish seven research papers during my time at Lassonde. Among them was a project on a person-following robot that won a Best Paper award at the 14th Canadian Conference on Computer and Robot Vision.
Just as critical to my technical development was a course I took on entrepreneurship, which provided me with both the fundamental insights and the inspiration to start my own business. And it was at Lassonde that I met my current business partner, Bao Xin Chen, who was also a student in the program.
Together, Bao and I are working to transform the trucking sector by automating transportation for supply chains. We see self-driving trucks as the gateway to achieving more effective, efficient and sustainable trucking industry not only in Canada but across the world. My professional journey is one of many alumni stories that reflect how Lassonde provides the foundational expertise to succeed.
Dean
Jane Goodyer
Dean, Lassonde School of Engineering
At its heart, engineering is about turning ideas into reality. But at the Lassonde of School of Engineering at York University, what matters even more is the quality of those ideas, and how we put them into action.
At Lassonde, we care about using the knowledge, methods and tools of engineering and science to actualize human ingenuity and create a better world. As we celebrate our School’s 10th anniversary, this is an appropriate time to reflect on our achievements and impact, what we have learned along the way, and the strides towards excellence we continue to make in research, academic programming and partnerships.
As you will discover in this report, the engineers and scientists at Lassonde aim to address a wide range of issues, including protecting our ecosystems, improving health care, enhancing our critical infrastructure, making transportation safer and more reliable, and better understanding our solar system. Through extensive interdisciplinary research with faculty within Lassonde, across York and at other institutions, our distinguished researchers are helping to make progress on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. By fostering a research environment that promotes interdisciplinary cooperation, values creativity and risk-taking, respects diverse perspectives and prioritizes the highest ethical standards, Lassonde empowers its community of creators to advance innovations that create a more just and sustainable world for all.
Innovation and creativity flourish widely at Lassonde because of the transformative educational and research opportunities we offer our students and faculty members. By emphasizing experiential learning and pioneering new teaching models and methods, we help learners develop the depth of knowledge, critical thinking and interdisciplinary experience to meaningfully contribute to research projects, collaborate with community groups and help solve society’s most pressing problems. As Lassonde students realize their potential and go on to build rewarding careers, they join our thriving global alumni community—almost 10,000 engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs who are achieving positive change across many spheres of life.
At Lassonde, we innately understand that harnessing the full potential of engineering + science requires a diverse mix of people, perspectives and lived experiences. It has long been an important goal for me to make the field more welcoming and accessible to women and non-gender conforming people, Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour and other underrepresented groups in STEM. That is why we introduced our k2i academy, where we collaborate with public school boards to offer free hands-on STEM programs to local youth. Over $5 million in federal and provincial funding and corporate and individual donations supports this work. By paving the way to engineering and science post-secondary education at Lassonde, we are helping dismantle persistent socioeconomic barriers, reduce educational inequities and achieve systemic change.
As the engineering field continues to evolve in step with the dynamic technology sector, so, too, is Lassonde changing how it prepares students for the labour force. Responding to a shortage of tech talent that has been hampering Canadian businesses of every size and in every sector, we are launching this fall Canada’s first fully work-integrated degree program in Digital Technologies. Participants in this flexible earn-while-you-learn program will combine four years’ full-time paid work with approximately 20 per cent in-class academic learning, continuously applied and integrated in the workforce. Employers, on the other hand, will be able to conveniently recruit and upskill their teams to adapt and innovate.
When forward-thinking initiatives unfold at Lassonde, they are often co-imagined with or enabled by our collaborations with our local and global partners: private and public organizations across diverse sectors and geographies that are similarly invested in leveraging the power of engineering to solve problems and improve society. As Lassonde continues to focus on generating and animating bright ideas and bold innovations over the next five years of our Strategic Academic Plan, 2021-2026, and well beyond, we hope this report will inspire you, too, to join us on our journey.
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