PEY Co-op Edge Conference 2024

Position yourself for future success

Learn how your PEY Co-op work terms can help inform future goals
Gain awareness of the multiple pathways available to you as a PEY Co-op student
Obtain insights from panel speakers to apply to your own goals and job search strategy

For all students, the Edge Conference provides inspiration and perspectives that will help you transform your careers.

Program at a glance

Connect with your PEY Co-op network, hear from PEY Co-op students, and network with employers! Bring your questions, and expect honest answers. Did we mention the tasty catered lunch for employers, alumni, and students? It's a great way to socialize more informally.

Students

PEY Co-op students returning from their work terms will share their insights and learnings.

Employer Partners

Employer partners will share their perspectives - including what they look for when considering a co-op hire.

PEY Co-op Alumni

PEY Co-op alumni will share their career stories - including the impact of the program on their journey.

Photography

Photographs may be taken at the PEY Co-op Edge Conference, including images of identifiable panelists and/or attendees. The images may be edited and/or used in University of Toronto materials in any media without further notice to the people depicted, and they may also be provided to participating individuals and organizations for their use. If you do not wish to be photographed, please inform the staff at the registration table when you arrive at the PEY Co-op Edge Conference.

There's no substitute for experience

We're very grateful to all our speakers--students, employers, and alumni--for sharing their insights with students pursuing co-op.

View student participants (below)
View employer participants (below)

Students

Panelist

PEY Co-op Conference 2024 (300 x 300 px)-2

Harshit Sohaney

Electrical and Computer Engineering
Mozilla

About Harshit

Sarvnaz Ale Mohammad

Engineering Science
McKinsey & Company

About Sarvnaz

Natacha Hughes

Aerospace Engineering
Nuclear Promise X

About Natacha

Natacha is a 4th-year Aerospace EngSci student, pursuing an Engineering Business Minor and Nuclear Engineering Certificate. She recently completed a 16-month Co-op as a Project Management and Engineering Intern at Nuclear Promise X. During her internship, Natacha worked on a Canadian Space Agency-contracted feasibility study for establishing a Pu-238 supply chain in Canada for deep space exploration applications. For terrestrial applications, she coordinated the company-wide adoption of as-built 3D modelling software for accelerating digital transformation in Ontario nuclear power plants, and she conducted time and motion studies that facilitated work process improvement recommendations for trades work during nuclear power plant outages and refurbishment projects.

Allana Nakashook-Zettler

Chemical Engineering
Environment and Climate Change Canada

About Allana

Allana is a fourth-year student pursuing a degree in chemical engineering with a minor in bioengineering. She is passionate about driving change that uplifts Indigenous and Northern communities. During her 12-month co-op, Alan worked for Environment and Climate Change Canada, assessing multi-million-dollar projects regarding reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this role, she developed criteria for ECCC funding programs to ensure alignment with Canada’s climate objectives, such as Net Zero targets, while incorporating important social considerations. During the summer, she worked for Brightspot Climate, an environmental consulting company. There, she supported the verification of GHG emission reductions under Alberta’s regulations and calculated the emissions profiles of various companies.

Sahibjot Uppal

Civil Engineering
Arup Canada

About Sahibjot

Omar El Malak

Computer Science Engineering
Geotab

About Omar

Najma Sultani

Engineering Science
Ontario Power Generation

About Najma

Catherine Xiong

Industrial Engineering
Scotiabank

About Catherine

Sidharth Satishkumar

Chemical Engineering
Vale Base Metals

About Sidharth

Anmol Mahajan

Industrial Engineering
IBM

About Anmol

Anmol Mahajan is a fourth-year Industrial Engineering, recently completing a 16-month co-op as a Consultant at IBM. At his PEY, he worked with clients in the financial services and insurance sectors. His projects included customer segmentation analysis, developing a data platform for a government entity, organizational change management, and integrating Gen AI use cases into insurance operations. Always open for a recommendation on new food, cafe, and/or gelato spot to try out!

Elif Mercan Akyildirim

Mechanical Engineering
voestalpine Railway Systems

About Elif

Poster Presenters

Xinyuan Guo

Computer Engineering
Quanta Technology

About Xinyuan

Hikaru Tanaka

Material Science
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

About Hikaru

Arvin Bal

Engineering Science
TC Energy

About Arvin

Liam MacHale

Civil Engineering
Ledcor

About Liam

Eric Li

Mechanical Engineering
Nutrien

About Eric

Eric Li is a third year Mechanical Engineering (2T5 + PEY) student returning from a 16-month placement that he recently completed with Nutrien between May 2023 and August 2024. As a Drafting and Documentation Control Co-op student, Eric worked with the underground mine maintenance engineering administration team at Nutrien’s Cory mine site, one of 6 potash mines located throughout Saskatchewan and just a few minutes outside Saskatoon. During his time at the mine, Eric completed several projects involving infrastructure upgrades, engineered safety upgrades, fabrication drawing packages, project management, industrial rigging documentation, 3D modeling and mechanical simulation/animation.

Michael Law

Engineering Science
University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies

About Michael

Michael is a third year Engineering Science student in the Aerospace Engineering option. During his summer co-op work term, Michael had the opportunity to work as a research student in the Computational Aerodynamics lab at UTIAS. During his time there, he worked with graduate students in the lab to develop a gradient enhanced Bayesian optimization algorithm written in Python. This algorithm aims to reduce the computational cost required to optimize various airfoil and aircraft configurations, targeting designs with higher lift to drag ratios and lower fuel consumption. Throughout this exciting experience, he was able to enhance his programming skills and also gained an appreciation for the complexity and challenges involved in an engineering design project.

Andrew Guaiana

Engineering Science
City of Mississauga

About Andrews

Andrew is a 2T4+PEY Engineering Science student who's passionate about infrastructure, public transit, and technology. He recently finished his 16-month PEY Co-op term at MiWay, the City of Mississauga's public transit system and the third largest transit system in Canada. Andrew's position was in Transit Infrastructure, contributing to ongoing infrastructure enhancement projects to expand bus stop amenities, maintaining service across the busiest transit corridor in the city (Hurontario Street) during LRT construction, and improving the safety and accessibility of the 3000+ bus stop network.

Xinyuan Guo

Computer Engineering
Quanta Technology

About Xinyuan

Jessie Jung

Mineral Engineering
Nutrien

About Jessie

Lucky Im

Computer Engineering
Microsoft

About Lucky

Zidan Li

Engineering
TC Energy

About Zidan

Adil Quettawala

Engineering Science
Xero Canada

About Adil

Armita Khashayardoost

Engineering Science
Alphawave Semi

About Armita

Emily Chang

Mechanical Engineering
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

About Emily

Emily Chang is a fourth year Mechanical Engineering student, pursuing a Minor in Bioengineering. She is passionate about design, technology and manufacturing in biomedical and biomechanical applications.

For Emily's 16-month co-op, she worked at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and had various tasks including drafting inspection guides for the Major Component Replacement Project at Bruce Power, interviewing technical specialists on research project effectiveness and conducting desktop reviews of annual environmental monitoring reports from licensees.

Cameron DeWith

Mechanical Engineering
Orbital Research Ltd

About Cameron

Cameron DeWith is a third year Mechanical Engineering student and National Scholarship recipient pursuing a double minor in Engineering Business and Robotics & Mechatronics, with a passion for renewable technology. Cameron recently completed a summer co-op work term at Orbital Research Ltd as a Jr. Mechanical Engineer (Intern Co-Op) where he designed and manufactured frequency converters and radio frequency components for the satellite communications (SATCOM) industry.

Rose Wang

Engineering
Stuttgart Germany

About Rose

Tasfia Mehbuba Islam

Electrical and Computer Engineering
Bombardier Aerospace

About Tasfia

Jason Zhang

Engineering Science
BlueRock Therapeutics

About Jason

Jason Zhang is an EngSci 2T4 + PEY in the Biomedical Systems option. He completed a 15-month PEY Co-op at BlueRock Therapeutics, a cell and gene therapy company, as a Quality Control Specialist Co-op out of their Toronto office. During his co-op term, Jason was responsible for performing quality control test methods on stem cell-derived products, completing documentation, and driving process improvements while complying with current Good Manufacturing Practices. Previously, Jason completed a 4-month summer Co-op at the National Research Council of Canada based in Ottawa, where he investigated the cytotoxicity of plastic nanoparticles. Jason continues to explore his interest in cellular medicines and stem cell reprogramming in the Garton Lab as part of his undergraduate thesis.

Michael Acquaviva

Engineering Science
Analog Devices Inc.

About Michael

Michael Acquaviva is a fourth-year Engineering Science student at the University of Toronto, specializing in Electrical and Computer Engineering. During his 16-month Professional Experience Year (PEY) at Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) in Toronto, Michael worked as an Integrated Circuit Design Engineer. ADI, a global leader in the design and manufacturing of analog, DSP, and mixed-signal integrated circuits, provided Michael with the opportunity to contribute to the Advanced Cores Group, where he worked on high-performance analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) using novel architectures. His role involved several aspects of IC design, including circuit design, layout, and verification. Michael’s term at ADI concluded with the taping out of a continuous-time pipelined ADC.

Nathaniel Sevilla

Mechanical Engineering
Toronto Transit Commission

About Nathaniel

Kirtan Patel

Chemical Engineering
University of Toronto

About Kirtan

Kirtan Patel is a Chemical Engineering student at the University of Toronto entering third year. He completed his summer co-op work term at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, performing research on carbon dioxide mass transfer into algal biofilm photobioreactors. As a summer research student, his research has refined his experiment design and communication skills. Some notable highlights of this summer term are Kirtan's podium presentations of his research at the UnERD and CSChE conferences.

Victoria Young

Industrial Engineering
City of Vaughan

About Victoria

Victoria is a third year Industrial Engineering student. This past summer, she completed her work term with the City of Vaughan as an intern in the Infrastructure Planning and Corporate Asset Management department. Victoria collaborated most closely with the Transportation Planning and Engineering team. Through this role, she was provided the opportunity to take on a variety of projects that incorporated coding, software such as ArcGIS pro, transportation forecasting processes, research and data management.

Echo Chen

Electrical Engineering
McGill University

About Echo

Echo Chen is a second-year Electrical Engineering student, class of 2T6+PEY. With a passion for music technology and interdisciplinary research, Echo has been served as a Visiting Researcher at the Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory (IDMIL) at McGill University during past summer. This unique opportunity allowed Echo to merge interests in both engineering and music, focusing on developing hardware and firmware for musical interfaces and ensuring its gestures recognition ability.

Jonathan Woo

Engineering Science
Traverso Lab

About Jonathan

Jonathan is a fourth year Engineering Science student majoring in machine intelligence. For his PEY, he worked at MIT and Brigham & Women’s Hospital as a visiting research student at the Traverso Lab. There, he primarily worked on deep learning driven mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) drug discovery. He also contributed to machine learning efforts for other projects in the group and a fundamental deep learning project on integrating large language models (LLMs) and scientific foundation models.