Date: Thursday, February 1, 2024, 6:00pm-7:30pm
Join us on the evening of Thursday, February 1, 6:00-7:30pm in GB202 to engage with current graduate students and alumni to learn about their graduate experience.
Learn about their academic and professional journey through a panel discussion format. You will also have an opportunity to ask questions and connect with the guests at the event.
Food and refreshments will be provided, if you have questions please contact David Duong d.duong@utoronto.ca about this event.
Register Here
Alumni Panelists
Darius Raisi, MEng, Materials Science Engineering | Senior Consultant, Deloitte (Operations Transformation)
Undergraduate Degree: University of Waterloo, BASc, Nanotechnology Engineering
Darius is a Senior Consultant within the Operations Transformation offering at Deloitte where he focuses on serving clients in the Energy, Resources, and Industrials sectors. Prior to joining Deloitte, he served as Operations Lead at Amazon Logistics where he led various process improvement initiatives. He has also formerly worked in the utilities sector at Hydro One as a Business Analyst where he helped improve their inventory management processes as part of their Metering and Relay Services unit.
He holds a Master of Engineering (M.Eng) degree from the University of Toronto in Materials Science and Engineering with an emphasis on Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Innovation, and Technology in Engineering (ELITE) as well as Advanced Manufacturing. He completed his Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) in Nanotechnology Engineering at the University of Waterloo, graduating with distinction.
Esmeralda Bukuroshi, PhD, Chemical Engineering | Policy Analyst, Natural Resources Canada
PhD Area of Research: Organic Solar Panels (Photovoltaics)
Undergraduate Degree: HBSc, Biological Chemistry Specialist, University of Toronto
Esmeralda has a HBSc in Chemistry and PhD on material development for organic solar cells. During her graduate degree, her student governance experience sparked her interest in science policy, and since then she has been looking to always apply her research and stakeholder consultation skillsets to enable evidence-based decision making.
Esmeralda was at Ontario Health, where for the past two and a half years she supported the COVID Pandemic Response Unit, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Long-Term Care with strategic planning, development, and implementation of various provincial initiatives. Concurrently, Esmeralda supported the Science Impact Unit in one of the federal research laboratories at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) with jurisdictional and environmental scans as well as literature surveys for various science activities.
Esmeralda recently joined NRCan full time and is leveraging her solar cell and renewable energy background to help shape policy in NRCan’s Office of Energy Research and Development.
Aly Hassan, MASc, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | Data Scientist, Assurance IQ
MASc Area of Research: Bio-Inspired Materials
Undergraduate Degree: University of Waterloo, BASc, Nanotechnology Engineering
Aly is a Data Scientist working at an American insurtech company in the shopper outreach and marketing space. He runs large scale A/B experiments and develops models to help optimize conversion and create personalized offerings. Previously, he worked in data science at Aviva Canada where he helped develop auto insurance pricing models.
He holds an MASc degree, where his research focused on the design and optimization of bio-inspired adhesives.
Serena Mandla, P.Eng., MASc, Biomedical Engineering | Chief Scientific Officer, Noa Therapeutics
MASc Area of Research: Biomedical and Biomaterial Engineering
Undergraduate Degree: BASc, Engineering Science, Biomedical Systems Engineering, University of Toronto
Serena Mandla, P.Eng., MASc., is the Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder of Noa Therapeutics, a pre-clinical biotech company transforming the treatment of complex immune diseases with their novel tri-modal therapeutics. Serena is experienced from R&D to commercialization of novel small peptides for cardiovascular and skin disease applications. Prior to Noa Therapeutics, Serena was involved in a spin-out from her MASc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Toronto, Quthero Inc., where Serena has successfully raised financing and commercialized products. She has over 15 scientific papers, and is passionate about translating research and bringing it to the clinic, and is looking forward to seeing and developing new technologies and treatments. Outside of work, Serena is avidly involved as a mentor with through the U of T Alumni Mentorship Program, the Canadian Biomaterials Society, and has delivered talks on entrepreneurship at Queens University, Western University, and the University of Toronto.
Graduate Student Panelists
Meagan Flus | PhD, Mechanical Engineering
Undergraduate Degree: BA, Knowledge Integration, University of Waterloo
Graduate Degree: MASc, Management Science and Engineering, University of Waterloo
Area of Studies: Design cognition, Collaborative design, Condensed, time-bounded design
Sherry Chen | MASc, Aerospace Engineering
Undergraduate Degree: BASc, Engineering Science, University of Toronto
Area of Studies: Robotics and computer vision
Neelesh Bhadwal | PhD, Mechanical Engineering
Undergraduate Degree: BASc, Mechanical Engineering, Carleton University
Master’s Degree: MASc, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto
Area of Studies: Mechatronics, Piezoelectric energy harvesting, Ultrasonic transducers
Andria Liu | MEng, Civil Engineering
Undergraduate Degree: BASc Civil Engineering, University of Toronto,
Area of Studies: Emphasis in Construction Management and ELITE (Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Innovation and Technology in Engineering)