Dr. Bassam Jubran

To call Bassam Jubran a jack-of-all-trades is to put it mildly. Over the past 30 years, Jubran has worked in everything from solar and wind energy to oil and gas, and his research has been shaped by the many diverse countries he has lived in, including the UK and Malaysia. It’s been a life and career full of adventure – experience Jubran uses to great effect in the classroom. “I like to keep things interesting,” he says. “I tell stories and jokes, whatever I can do to keep my students engaged.”

A professor at Toronto Metropolitan University since 2004, Jubran knows that communication and leadership skills are just as important as technical ones. He makes a point of ensuring that his undergraduates are real-world-ready by assigning them each the challenge of delivering a class lecture, even making a friendly competition out of it.

This approach reinforces one of Jubran’s goals: to empower all of his students in the classroom and beyond. “When they transition into their professional careers, today’s engineers need to know how to think for themselves and be leaders,” says Jubran. “If I can help them do that, I’ve done my job.”