Selkirk College, in southern BC, built a network of Mitacs-funded internships with nine community partners to advance social and economic wellbeing in its rural region. In areas from conservation to culture, Selkirk students undertook research to address pressing local challenges.

In 2017, BC-based Hydra Energy hired then-Mitacs intern Patrick Steiche, who helped them develop a breakthrough retrofit kit that enables trucking companies to convert their diesel vehicles to cleaner hydrogen, reducing emissions up to 40 percent. Shortly after, Steiche was hired full time and later became the company’s Director of Innovation.

Simon Fraser University’s Dr. Erik Kjeang is leading a four-year collaboration with Greenlight Innovation, the global leader and manufacturer of fuel cell and electrolyzer test stations, to help scale up the technology needed to lead the transition to a hydrogen economy.

After turning conventional wisdom on its head — by exploring the role that lactic acid plays in cancer cells even though scientists have long considered it a harmless waste product — University of British Columbia (UBC) researcher Stephen Yiu Chuen Choi is using his breakthrough discovery to develop a first-of-its-kind treatment for difficult-to-treat prostate cancers. 

A wildlife ecologist is supporting Splatsin in their dedicated and long-term work to recover endangered caribou populations within their traditional territory. 

There are significant mental health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada, largely due to a legacy of colonization. Though Indigenous health is legally a federal responsibility, mental health services vary dramatically between provinces and territories.

An Indigenous-led research team at the Sanyakola Foundation, situated in Port Hardy, B.C. has initiated a multi-faceted, collaborative effort to recover Kwak’wala. Led by Sara Child, a professor of Indigenous Education at North Island College, the Sanyakola Foundation is undertaking work that involves Kwakwaka’wakw Elders and Knowledge Keepers and is engaging a younger generation in its work. 

Using methods virtually unchanged since the 1930s, high-rise window cleaning is in line for a facelift.

Autonopia, a small business, is developing a first-of-its-kind robot that can safely rappel all types of building surfaces much faster than humans.

With the goal of reducing the risk of arsenic contamination in drinking water, American chemical engineering student Andrea Green is helping a University of Victoria (UVic) lab create a rapid, low-cost, and reliable detection test using a cellphone — all from the comfort of her home in Atlanta, Georgia.

Many young artists dream of working in animation, bringing to life beloved characters that children all over the world watch every day. But following that dream is not as easy as it might seem.  Breaking into the world of animation requires connections to the industry that not every young artist possesses.

21-year-old Emily Carr University animation student Lia Fabre-Dimsdale wasn’t expecting to find a summer job opportunity working in an animation studio, despite her aspirations in the field.