Modern commercial trucks are crucial for economic activity. The diesel engines in these vehicles emit about 8% of all CO2 emissions in Canada. To reduce the environmental impact of current trucks, Hydra Energy Inc. is developing an approach to replace some of the diesel fuel with excess hydrogen generated in industrial processes. To maximize the benefits of this approach, Hydra and SFU are working together to develop a model of the vehicle system. Using the model, the team will study how the vehicle will behave under different uses and will find ways to increase the amount of hydrogen used.

Ensuring efficient and effective disease testing during a pandemic requires the integration and automation of complex, versatile assessment, scheduling, and planning tools. Project ABC, funded by Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster, will deploy technologies that enable the BC health system to deliver a high volume of COVID-19 tests to the patients who most urgently need them, and when available, vaccination/immunization. This MITACS proposal, Project ABCI, is the companion internship package led by SFU faculty Gromala and Shaw and three interns.

Cannabinoids are natural products derived from the Cannabis sativa plant (commonly known as marijuana). Cannabidiol (CBD), the main non-psychotropic cannabinoid is reputed to have medicinal benefits and is approved for the treatment of two seizure disorders. Other non-psychotropic cannabinoids, like cannabinol and cannabigerol, are less studied. We previously found that CBD both directly and indirectly affects voltage-gated sodium channel (Nav) function.

Treatment wetlands have emerged as a potential treatment option for oil sands process-affected waters (OSPW) produced from bitumen extraction by the oil sands industry. Of particular interest is the removal of naphthenic acids (NAs), which are widely acknowledged as the primary constituents of toxicity in OSPW. Studies have demonstrated the capacity for NA removal in wetland environments; however, the specific mechanisms of removal for NAs in wetlands is not well understood.

The Thingery Sharing Inc. is the logistics provider and parent organization of community lending libraries known as Thingeries located throughout the Lower Mainland of BC. Prior social impact research was conducted to identify and understand the impact that a Thingery has on the social connectivity and ecological footprint of its members for ongoing analysis and planning. The focus of this project is to conduct extensive research into how members can optimally interact with The Thingery and create a detailed user flow analysis for their mobile application development.

Quini is developing a revolutionary system that allows wine producers to predict with a high level of accuracy how much acceptance and sales they will be able to generate from a wine product, over time, in which major cities and selling to whom as the primary buyers. The system will also give consumers exacting wine recommendations that suit their personal taste and that are likey to be available for purchase in their area.

Old growth forests provide many values to society including recreation and the enjoyment of knowing these magnificent forests exist for wildlife and future generations. Ancient Forest Alliance has set out to better communicate the diverse values of intact old growth forests, so they are not undervalued and over-logged. To provide data that AFA needs, this study will survey Vancouver Island residents to determine the value they have for old growth protection and recreation in old growth forests.

The COVID-19 pandemic is caused by SARS-CoV2 coronavirus. This virus which infect cells that are vital in human organs leading to multiple diseases in need of timely medical treatment. There is a great need in search of inhibitors to block such viral infections as a means for disease prevention and/or treatment. Cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD), and high-CBD producing plant species of the Cannabis genus will be tested for the inhibition effects.

The team of interns will together build a complete framework for collecting quality data, building flood models, and visualizing the results in an understandable and comprehensive manner. The benefit to the partner organization will be the development of the services to communities at risk of flooding in British Columbia. The deliverable product developed by the intern team will be a flood forecasting application hosted with cloud services.

A composite material is a macro-level combination of two or more material whose properties can be tuned based on the macro-scale distribution of the material. D.I. Self-Composite Alloys Inc., are working on developing a new generation of materials. Their preliminary findings have shown that it is possible to create metals with improved mechanical properties by just tuning the manufacturing process. They are interested in a design optimization tool for composites.