Students getting a leg up with Leap

Engineering students Anastasia Polulyakhova and Katie Hung have been hard at work this summer getting hands-on experience on campus

Not all summer jobs are created equally. For Anastasia Polulyakhova and Katie Hung, this summer has been a whirlwind of hands-on learning as interns dedicated to Project Leap, the University of Toronto’s ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by over 50 per cent by the end of 2027. 

Both U of T undergraduates are entering their third year of engineering studies this fall, Katie in Chemical Engineering and Anastasia in Mechanical Engineering.  

Anastasia’s focus has been lighting, supporting work to upgrade to energy efficient LEDs in 38 buildings across campus. She has been digging deep into the numbers to track, summarize and analyze energy savings data made possible by the upgrades. “I’ve learned a lot about excel,” she laughs. 

Katie has become a fixture in the construction zone currently surrounding the Medical Sciences Building, where crews are hard at work connecting key buildings to Canada’s largest urban geoexchange system under Front Campus. Her role has included site supervision, PPE monitoring and communicating with contractors about scheduling, issues management and more.  

Both have found the experience to be invaluable one, and have enjoyed the exposure to so many experienced professionals across a variety of trades and disciplines, including pipe fitters, welders, installers, heat tracers, energy managers with the St. George Sustainability Office and more. “It’s awesome to hear people geek out about their work,” says Anastasia. The real-world experience has been illuminating, with principles learned in class appearing in their work. “It’s like all these puzzle pieces coming together,” says Katie, “what we’ve learned in class and what we’ve learned in real life.”  

With their help, the first big step university’s vision to make the St. George campus climate positive by 2050 is coming to life.  Through campus-wide sustainability solutions, including transforming how we heat and cool our campus, Project Leap will save nearly 50,000 metric tonnes of GHG emissions annually — equivalent to the energy use of more than 10,000 homes. 

And while their summer internships with Ecosystem, one of the construction partners supporting Project Leap, may be coming to an end, Katie and Anastasia have a busy year of clubs, work and school ahead of them. With a few weeks left to go, they’re enthusiastic about learning as much as they can in the meantime, and enjoying the generosity of spirit they’ve experienced on site.  

You can learn more about Project Leap here, and check out our story about the lighting upgrades to U of T’s growth facilities here.