The proposed project aims to characterized and understand the chemical changes to products during baking on a commerical conveyor oven. A focus of this characterization will be on changes to starch during the baking process. There are no studies that have been conducted of this nature; but such an understanding is critical since kinetics of the chemistry during baking is one of the most important factors governing product structure, texture, sensory attributes and shelf life.

Industry uses computer numerical controlled (CNC) machine tools to manufacture parts efficiently at high speed. Before batch manutfacturing is performed confidently, a trial]and]error cutting test is required to validate if part tolerances are violated, which is a costly and time]consuming procedure. The objective of this research project is to develop a Virtual CNC System, which can simulate the CNC motion in virtual environment.

This project is in partnership with AFMNet. Coasun is a monoglyceride-stabilized oil in water emulsion (MAG gel) that is trans fat free and low in saturated fat and can be a substitute for standard fats in a range of bakery products. Specific focus of the intern's research will be on the interaction of this MAG gel with starch, gluten and flour at room temperature and during heating. These results will be compared to industry standard fats to see the advantages of the structure of the MAG gel in relation to its competition.

The interns will spend time in the company lab to build and test proprietary electronic chemical detectors. These will be tested and undergo quality control measures in Universal NanoSensor Technologies’ lab. Once deemed robust, these detectors will then be used concurrently with present art detectors in a real-world, cutting‐edge, applications‐driven setting so that direct comparison can be made. The interns, under the guidance of the supervisor and other students involved in the lab, will perform head‐to‐head tests using both these detectors in place.

The term ‘cosmeceutical’ represents the marriage of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and is the new buzzword in the cosmetics industry. Cosmeceutical products are cosmetic products with a biologically active ingredient purporting to have medical or drug‐like benefits. Dermatological research suggests that the bioactive ingredients used in cosmeceuticals do indeed have benefits beyond the traditional moisturizer, but the term cosmeceutical remains a marketing term, as there are no requirements to prove that the products actually live up to their claims.

The use of natural compounds in the preparation of polymers may yield materials with the desired properties and better bioacceptance. Bile acids are natural amphiphilic compounds biosynthesized in the liver and have been used in the making of such polymers. In this project, the research team use cholic acid, a major bile acid, in the preparation of new star‐shaped polymers. Poly(ethylene glycol) chains and functional groups can be attached to the cholic acid core to obtain star‐shaped polymers.

The research project with Xiris Automation Inc, a developer of high-end machine vision components, is to devise a laser vision system to inspect pipe welds at very high speeds. This will be accomplished by designing custom hardware on a field programmable gate array (FPGA). This process must detect reliably the quality of the welds in a noisy industrial environment and must account for specular reflection on the pipe’s surface. The desired image acquisition and processing speed will be in the range of 200-500 frames per second.

Sumac Workers’ Co-operative, a worker-owned co-op in Guelph, Ontario, has recently launched WearFair, a new wholesale brand of Fair Trade certified t-shirts. They are unique in that both the labour and the agricultural production is certified Fair Trade. The proposed research would be to conduct preliminary and follow-up interviews and a survey of potential customers within 1) current Fair Trade consumers, 2) consumers who are either employees of, or otherwise engaged with, affinity organizations and 3) with members of the general public who are currently not involved with Fair Trade.

Haptics is a growing area of robotics in which users physically interact with dynamic real/virtual environments via active robotic hand-controllers, known as “haptic devices”. Recent emerging applications of haptic technology such as rehabilitation or surgical training simulators require stable high-performance human-to-human interaction in real/virtual environments. Such haptic interaction requires powerful high-performance haptic devices that can produce large force/torque levels suitable for human-level interactions over sustained periods of time.

Hydraulic fracturing technology is one of the most used and efficient methods of oil reservoir stimulation. A way to improve this technology is the consequent pumping of several different fluids containing different concentrations of different proppants (solid spherical particles). This project with Schlumberger, one of the largest international companies in oilfield services, aims at developing a mathematical model describing this technology. The numerical model will predict the fluids’ and proppants’ location is reduced to formulating and solving numerically a different equation.