Praxis III is the capstone course of the Engineering Science Foundation Design sequence. It challenges students to extend and apply the models of engineering design, communication, teamwork, and professionalism introduced and developed in Praxis I and II to engineering design in a complex collaboration setting. Students integrate the design, technical, and complementary knowledge gained across the Engineering Science Foundation curriculum in the context of a single, major, mechatronic design project.

Teams in Praxis III choose from a curated set of opportunity areas that integrate technical, complementary, and optionally, multidisciplinary, considerations. They are responsible both for framing a specific opportunity within their chosen area and for developing a valid design idea for the opportunity supported by a mechatronic prototype. Praxis III culminates in a public showcase where teams present their design process and outcomes to an external audience. All courses within the Foundation Design sequence use engineering design to provide a context in which students integrate their knowledge, develop their emerging engineering identity, and codify their individual approach to engineering practice.

The Option Seminar provides students with an introduction to their upper-year discipline of study, and encourages students to consider different educational and career pathways. Students will participate in sessions with other students from their Option/Major, with a focus on research and industry directions and the relationship between the Option/Major and it’s social & environmental context. Students will also participate in program-wide seminars which feature opportunities for career exploration. This course is offered on a credit/no credit basis, and students receive credit for attending sessions and completing a small set written deliverables.

Introduces techniques to analyze and solve partial differential equations (PDEs). Concepts covered include Fourier series, Sturm-Liouville theory, separation of variables, fundamental solutions, Green's functions, method of characteristics, and numerical methods. Applications are in model PDEs in continuum mechanics: heat, Laplace's, wave, and transport equations.

Humanities and Social Science elective.

Through this course, students have the opportunity to propose a topic for exploration in the realm of technology and society studies to run as a student-led seminar course. Accepted course topics in any given year will be based on student interest. The student course leader(s) are expected to work with the course coordinator to create a full course plan, including learning objectives, course topics and methods of assessment. All participants are expected to contribute to the learning experience, through presentations, suggestions of readings and subtopics. The student directed seminar provides an opportunity to explore a topic of interest, and gain experience in course planning and delivery in a collaborative learning environment. Suggested topics may include engineering & international development, engineering education & outreach, the politicization of science, gender & technology, or cross-profession collaboration; however, students may propose any topic in the broad realm of technology and society studies. Deadlines for student directed seminar proposals and seminar registration will be publicized by the Division of Engineering Science.

A half-year capstone design course in which students work in teams to apply the engineering design, technical, and communication skills learned previously, while refining their skills in teamwork and project management. The course focus is on context-appropriate energy systems design and simulation, incorporating generation, transmission and storage of energy from across a range of traditional and alternative energy sources. Students identify, frame, and design solutions to problems that align with that focus, and the resulting designs are assessed on their engineering quality and design credibility. In addition, each student engages in individual critical reflection on their course activities, team performance, and on their growth as an engineering designer across their undergraduate program. Students are supported by a teaching team comprising both design and domain experts.

A half-year capstone design course in which students work in small teams to apply the engineering design, technical, and communication skills learned previously, while refining their skills in teamwork and project management. The course focus is the (re)design and implementation of experiments suitable for the undergraduate classroom or laboratory. Students identify, frame, and design solutions to problems that align with that focus, and the resulting designs are assessed on their engineering quality and design credibility. In addition, each student engages in individual critical reflection on their course activities, team performance, and on their growth as an engineering designer across their undergraduate program. Students are supported by a teaching team comprising both design and domain experts.

A half-year capstone design course in which students work in small teams to apply the engineering design, technical, and communication skills learned previously, while refining their skills in teamwork and project management. Each team is expected to design a complex engineered system, implemented (a) fully in software, (b) fully in hardware or (c) in a mixture of hardware and software, using concepts drawn from the ECE Major curriculum and resulting in a functional prototype. Teams are expected to integrate their design, technical, and complementary knowledge, to design for safety, and to consider relevant interdisciplinary factors such as economic, health, environmental, social, and similar concerns.

In addition, each student will complete an individual critical reflection on their course activities, team performance, and on their growth as an engineering designer across their undergraduate program. This reflection is intended to prepare the student for the next stage of their engineering career

Independent study courses are student initiated projects, open to Engineering Science students, which allow students to work one-on-one with a division faculty member. The student and supervising faculty member will develop a learning plan for the semester within the first week of term (Limited Enrollment).

Every student in Fourth Year Engineering Science is required to conduct a thesis on an approved subject under the supervision of any faculty member at the University of Toronto. The thesis provides students with an opportunity to conduct, document, and experience engineering related research as an undergraduate student. This course is structured to provide resources to support that process, in particular the documentation of research, through a series of lectures and workshops. While the final thesis document is the main deliverable, students are also required to submit a set of interim deliverables to support ongoing documentation and reflection.

Every student in Fourth Year Engineering Science is required to conduct a thesis on an approved subject under the supervision of any faculty member at the University of Toronto. The thesis provides students with an opportunity to conduct, document, and experience engineering related research as an undergraduate student. This course is structured to provide resources to support that process, in particular the documentation of research, through a series of lectures and workshops. While the final thesis document is the main deliverable, students are also required to submit a set of interim deliverables to support ongoing documentation and reflection.

Humanities and Social Science elective

Trees and their components have been used through the centuries for shelter, heat, entertainment, weapons, sport, furnishings, communication, food and medicines. This course explores the co-evolution of nature and culture by examining the social and economic impacts that the forest and its exploitation had in the development of societies throughout the ages. Focus will be on the cultural history of wood and products derived from it and its influence on developing societies from biblical times to modern day. The course will examine how wood's versatility and usefulness in varied applications has been discovered by society as needs for survival to austerity develop. The unique properties of woody materials will be examined to expose its ability to meet the varied demands of societies throughout the ages. This course will allow students to explore the place and role of wood derived products in sustainable society.

Complementary Studies elective

With over 80% of the world's population now living in cities, tomorrow's forests will be urban. Increasing global recognition of nature deficit disorder and the values of green infrastructure to mitigate broader human impacts gives a new meaning to the term 'urban forestry', coined here at UofT and now recognized widely. Trees in and around the city are key to providing multiple engineered and ecological services that only recently have been brought into the responsible fiscal planning of every municipality around the globe. If managed properly (a key concept), urban forests mitigate climate change and urban heat island effects, act as carbon sinks, air filters, water purifiers, air conditioners, noise dampeners, wildlife and/or biodiversity refuges, and green spaces for the human spirit. Here, we explore the challenges and opportunities of this exciting new applied field at the cross-roads of ecology, engineering and planning to ensure future global sustainability.

Sustainable materials are a mandate for sustainable societies. This course will explore the manufacturing, engineering principles and design fundamentals for creating sustainable materials from renewable resources. Special emphasis will be on bioplastics, biofibre, nanobiofibre, biocomposites and nanobiocomposites. Written communication and design skills will be developed through tutorials and assignments.

Technological advances and approaches in deriving biofuels, chemical feedstocks from forest and other biomass resources. Fundamental chemical attributes of biomass, as they affect the fuel value and potential for deriving liquid, solid and gaseous fuels and valuable chemicals for other applications will be explored.

Wood has been an important building material throughout the ages and in today's world has taken on the added importance of being a renewable and sustainable material that assists with greenhouse gas mitigation strategies. This course will provide students with an understanding of wood’s unique physical properties, the variability of these properties within different species and how these properties can inform its proper use in various applications. Students will have the opportunity to gain knowledge about engineered wood products and related sources of technical information. The Canadian forestry industry sets the context for this course acknowledging that forests transcend political borders and reach around the world.

Geography matters in the success of both public and private sector organizations. Using mostly retail examples contemporary location problems are addressed. The geographies of demand and supply are analyzed and trade area and site selection techniques are applied. The relevance of the planning context and utility of geovisualization techniques such as GIS are also briefly considered.

Humanities and Social Science elective

This course surveys the development of science from Antiquity to the modern times. We focus on a number of selected topics, ranging from the mechanical worldview to particle physics, from the classification of species to molecular biology, from the introduction of laboratory to the interaction between war and science. Our aim is to explore how and why science came to its current form and status by addressing crucial discoveries and conceptual breakthroughs, conditions and standards indispensable to scientific research, and principal mutual influences between science and society.

Humanities and Social Science elective

The emphasis in this course will be more on the history of engineers as workers, members of professional groups, and managers rather than engineering proper, although obviously engineering cannot be ignored when we talk about engineers' work. The aim of the course is to give an understanding of the heritage of engineers as participants in the economy and society.

Complementary Studies elective

Introduces a brief overview of essential concepts in accounting and corporate finance. The first part of the course covers the fundamentals of accounting. We start by exploring the basic language of accounting and the fundamental concepts of financial reporting. Students learn to read and analyze basic financial statements including the statements of financial position, comprehensive income, changes in equity, and cash flows. We then introduce key management accounting concepts and explore various methods of costing for decision-making. The second part of the course covers the fundamentals of corporate finance. In the second half, students will learn how to make financial projections and how to value complex investment opportunities. Following this, students learn various techniques for controlling risk and how to determine the appropriate cost of capital. Finally, the course considers issues in cash flow management and overviews project valuation as it relates to corporate mergers.

Complementary Studies elective

Introduces the basic concepts, frameworks and methodologies useful to managers in crafting and executing entrepreneurial business strategies in technology-based companies. In the first part of the course, students gain an understanding of the external, internal, and dynamic environments of a business and the elements of a superior competitive position. In the second part, we focus on designing and delivering customer value, which involves strategic decisions about segmentation, targeting and positioning, and tactical decisions related to product introductions, marketing communications, distribution channels and pricing. In the third part of the course, we build on these fundamentals and examine challenges related to innovation and industry dynamics, such as industry life cycles, disruptive technologies, product renewal, and the relationship between R&D and commercialization.

Spans three inter-related topics within organizational behavior and human resources: individual behavior, group behaviour, and leadership. It provides students with both the theory and practice of how to work, lead, and thrive in organizations. Topics include theories of personality, learning, power, decision making, ethics, culture, communication, leadership, teamwork, and motivation teamwork. These topics are taught in three ways:

1. Case studies, role play & simulation exercises followed by class discussion
2. Surveys of Personality & Skills
3. Lectures, discussions, and readings based on the current research on the topic

Topics include: include: linear systems, matrix algebra, Rn as a vector space, a normed space and an inner-product space, linear transformations on Rn, eigenvalues, applications to circuits, mechanics and an introduction to computer methods.

Topics include: limits and continuity; differentiation; applications of the derivative - related rates problems, curve sketching, optimization problems, L'Hopital's rule; definite and indefinite integrals; the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus; applications of integration in geometry, mechanics and other engineering problems.

Topics include: techniques of integration, an introduction to mathematical modeling with differential equations, infinite sequences and series, Taylor series, parametric and polar curves, vector-valued functions, partial differentiation, and application to mechanics and other engineering problems.

This course covers systems of linear equations and Gaussian elimination, applications; vectors in Rn, independent sets and spanning sets; linear transformations, matrices, inverses; subspaces in Rn, basis and dimension; determinants; eigenvalues and diagonalization; systems of differential equations; dot products and orthogonal sets in Rn; projections and the Gram-Schmidt process; diagonalizing symmetric matrices; least squares approximation. Includes an introduction to numeric computation in a weekly laboratory.

Topics include: limits and continuity, differentiation, maximum and minimum problems, definite and indefinite integrals, application of integration to geometry, mechanics and other engineering problems as well as an introduction to first order differential equations.

Ordinary differential equations. Classification. Equations of first order and first degree. Linear equations of order n. Equations of second order. Bessel's equation. Legendre's equation. Series solutions. Systems of simultaneous equations. Partial differential equations. Classification of types. The diffusion equation. Laplace's equation. The wave equation. Solution by separation of variables.

Ordinary differential equations. Equations of first order and first degree. Linear equations of order n. Systems of simultaneous equations. Difference equations. Forecasting. Business dynamics. Basic Set Theory. Counting, Cartesian Product, Combinations, Permutations. Basic Propositional Logic and Proofs. Throughout the course: formulating and analysing differential equation, difference equation, and discrete mathematical models for real-world problems.

An introduction to complex variables and ordinary differential equations. Topics include: Laplace transforms, ordinary higher-order linear differential equations with constant coefficients; transform methods; complex numbers and the complex plane; complex functions; limits and continuity; derivatives and integrals; analytic functions and the Cauchy-Riemann equations; power series as analytic functions; the logarithmic and exponential functions; Cauchy's integral theorem, Laurent series, residues, Cauchy's integral formula, the Laplace transform as an analytic function. Examples are drawn from electrical systems.

The chain rule for functions of several variables; the gradient, directional derivative, tangent plane and small signal modeling and Jacobians. Multiple integrals; change of variables and Jacobians, line integrals: parametric and explicit representations, the divergence and curl of a vector field, surface integrals; parametric and explicit representations, multi-variable Dirac Delta distribution, superposition of vector fields, Helmholtz decomposition theorem, Divergence theorem and Stokes' theorem and application from electromagnetic fields.