The Lassonde Institute for Engineering Geoscience is an interdisciplinary research institute within the University of Toronto created to be at the forefront of leading edge research in Engineering Geoscience. It is an international center of excellence in Engineering Geoscience encompassing engineers, geophysicists, geologists, geochemists, materials scientists and environmental scientists who are interested in research that crosses disciplines and traditional boundaries. Engineering Geoscience is the science of man’s interaction with the earth. The earth is a dynamic planet and the goal of Engineering Geoscience is to pursue fundamental understanding of the earth’s response to human activities. Graduate research at the Lassonde Institute seeks to further that understanding.

Through the Lassonde Institute, the University of Toronto is positioned as an international centre of excellence in engineering geoscience, with research groups performing fundamental and critical science at the interface of engineering, geology and geophysics.  The Lassonde Institute is charged with solving first-order scientific problems in support of future development efforts that will fundamentally change the way companies in the minerals and energy sectors work with and exploit the earth’s crust. The Institute is composed of several research groups and laboratories within the University covering the fields of rock physics, rock fracture dynamics, seismology, computational geomechanics, mineral engineering, and soil and rock mechanics.  Research groups collaborate with each other, with other international research groups and with industrial partners in extensive multi-disciplinary research projects. This leads to a unique synergy contributing to world-class research and the development of exciting new technologies. 

The institute was created with the help of the Canadian Mineral industry and in particular Dr. Pierre Lassonde (President of Newmont Corporation) to conduct leading edge research and graduate studies at the interface between geophysics, geology and engineering (engineering geoscience).