Projets novateurs réalisés

Crooked Branch Orchard – Growth into Sustainability

Established in 2018 and located in the community of Jamestown on the Bonavista Peninsula, Crooked Branch is a small, high-density orchard, nestled close to the ocean. Growing Nova Spy, Crimson Crisp and Liberty apples in the warm microclimate of upper Bonavista Bay, it is co-owned by John and Valerie Barron and is currently the only commercial orchard in the area. The sales strategies were grassroots and included roadside stands, farmer’s markets, and direct sales from our Facebook page. Crooked Branch need a sales and marketing strategy, a website with online sales capabilities, and help with developing a customer base. With the internship support, it is expected to expand Crooked Branch’s business and generate revenue in the shoulder season with an agri-tourism venture which is popular in other parts of Canada. This can increase Crooked Branch’s impact with community outreach activities

Bounce Health MBA-SEE internship – Bounce Health Innovation Advanced Marketing Initiative

As part of this role, the individual will introduce automation technology into marketing, gather data and develop a data-driven decision-making process related to marketing activities for social enterprise. A vital aspect of the role is to assist small med-tech social enterprises and start-ups that the company works with so
that the company can provide examples of how the start-ups may approach their marketing initiatives by embracing new technology and analyzing their data.

Strengthening opportunities for climate change adaptation and mitigation in NunatuKavut

Like many Indigenous communities across the north, NunatuKavut Inuit communities are facing diverse impacts of climate change. For example, Inuit have been describing impacts to changing sea ice conditions. Sea ice is critical to coastal and inland communities in this region, with notable impacts on health, traditional education, food security, etc.

This project will assist NCC in the development of a NunatuKavut Inuit climate change framework (a tool that will later assist NCC in their efforts to inform a climate strategy for NunatuKavut). Prior to the development of a climate strategy however, NCC requires assistance with proposal development to secure opportunities to engage in this work. As one example, an Inuit program titled SmartICE, helps communities address sea ice safety by monitoring ice thickness and other ice-related climate conditions. The project intern will work on securing funding and developing the application for SmartICE.

Deep Surface AI Security Operations Program

As of February 2023, DSAI has achieved HIPAA compliance, and will be deploying its product in several clinics throughout the United States. As this is the first time DSAI will be holding live patient data, a need to bolster its current security operations program. The intern will work closely with DSAI’s compliance and software development teams to implement improvements to improve the company’s security posture.

Développement de composants photoniques novateurs par inscription de réseaux de Bragg volumiques.

Les lasers émettant des puissances élevées servent aujourd’hui à toutes sortes d’applications, et encore plus particulièrement dans les industries de pointe. L’arrivée des systèmes laser opérant par compression d’impulsions étirées et amplifiées dans les dernières décennies a permis de multiples développements dans de nombreux domaines où la demande pour des lasers à puissance crête élevée est requise. L’objectif de ce projet est de produire un compresseur d’impulsions pour ce type de système étant hautement résistant aux effets thermiques en utilisant l’inscription de réseaux de Bragg volumiques dans le verre de silice. Le développement de ce type de composant pourrait permettre d’atteindre des puissances laser crêtes et moyennes plus encore élevées par rapport à ce qui est présentement utilisé. Ce projet est avantageux pour TeraXion, qui se spécialise dans le développement et la commercialisation de composants photoniques à base de réseaux de Bragg, car celui-ci lui permettra de développer de nouveaux produits à forte valeur ajoutée.

Implementation of Imaging Solutions for Agri-Biotechnology

The costs of manually sorting seeds and plants for commercial clients and international export is costly and at risk of human error. Correspondingly, 2020 Seed Labs requires cost-effective, custom solutions to enhance automation in their seed sorting and plant selection workflows. Across diverse sectors, image analysis combined with machine has provided a wide-range of benefits. Here, we propose to capitalize on these technologies to address biotechnological challenges unique to 2020 Seed Labs by utilizing successfully implemented workflows developed by the partner academic labs. In addition, we will develop a new image analysis workflow that utilizes diffracted light to reveal unique features of seeds and plants to address 2020 Seed Labs challenges. Collectively, this project aims to assist 2020 Seed Labs find enhanced efficiencies in their production workflows by reducing human intervention in critical process central to their operation.

Development of a climate change adaptation plan and flood risk readiness assessment for communities in Northwest New Brunswick

This project aims to develop a climate change adaptation plan for rural communities located in Northwest New Brunswick within the jurisdiction of the Northwest Regional Service Commission following the ICLEI process and informed by engagement with citizens and decision-makers.
We will also assess flood-readiness of communities within the jurisdiction and apply inclusive approaches to consultation. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods will be applied using a wide variety of existing data.

Statistical aspects of Optimal Transport

This proposal explores the use of optimal transport in statistics and machine learning as well as develop one simple application in chemistry. Optimal transport is a well established mathematical field whose actors have gone to receive the most prestigious recognitions. Its inventor, Leonid Kantorovich, received the Nobel Prize in Economics. Cedric Villani, who wrote the two most notable books on the topic, received the Fields Medal in 2010 and, more recently, another Fields Medal was awarded to Alessio Figalli for his work on optimal transport.

Beyond its mathematical depth, optimal transport has become a preponderant tool in many applications where data can be represented as probability distributions (images, point clouds, curves, word counts, etc). This useful feature translates into powerful tools ranging from clustering to dimension reduction.

A central goal of this MITACS project is to train the students to work on Statistical and Computational aspects of optimal transport by facing problems at the interface of Mathematics, Statistics and Data Sciences.

Méthode robuste d’estimation de la capacité d’effacement local des charges résidentielles

La gestion de la demande de puissance électrique (GDP) est un outil émergent pour les opérateurs de réseaux électriques. À l’heure actuelle, au Québec sous la bannière d’Hilo, on l’utilise principalement pour diminuer la pression sur le réseau lors des périodes de grande consommation comme les pointes hivernales. Dans ce projet, on cherche à développer les outils nécessaires pour utiliser la GDP à des fins plus sensibles, comme la coordination d’activités de maintenance dans un poste de distribution, où on a besoin de garantir, avec une certaine précision, la quantité de puissance qui sera effacée à un mo-ment précis et pour un lieu défini. Ces avancées permettront à Hilo d’à la fois diversifier son soutien au réseau en offrant un service sur mesure à Hydro-Québec, mais aussi d’augmenter les opportunités de récompense pour ses utilisateurs.

Cross-functional teams to develop and commercialize AI-powered solutions – Part C

AltaML is an innovative company capitalizing on a major technological trend: artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, enabled by big data, are driving a fourth industrial revolution. AI will transform all industries, but traditional industries face challenges in implementing AI. AltaML has a unique business model to overcome barriers to adoption of AI solutions by industry, which is to bring the innovating startup together with the large organization, thereby bringing together rich datasets, AI talent with a playbook for industry application and the close collaboration of subject matter experts and AI experts–with a mindset for change. In addition to AI expertise, we bring agility that our large, corporate partners often lack, and which is so essential for innovation. With a strategic focus on AI adoption and product, AltaML works across industries as well as with the public sector using a co-development approach to create applied AI solutions as well as joint AI ventures. This rich, complex multisectoral environment provides the breadth that enables insights in one area to be applied in new areas, leading to ever increasing opportunities for innovation.

The project comprises internships in a variety of technical and business roles, which are: associate machine learning developer, business development associate, communications associate, finance associate, associate business solutions consultant, and project delivery associate. Outcomes will include algorithm creation and deployment, data visualizations, market research reports, sales collateral, competitive landscape analysis, feasibility analysis; key messages and content writing such as case studies and feature articles, financial model development, data analysis, financial reports and variance analysis, customer workflow mapping, business case reports, resource allocation plans, project update reports, and project plans.

Pattern matching for definite summation in Maple

The proposed project is to design and implement a pattern matching based method for definite symbolic summation in. To remain competitive, Maple’s symbolic computation capabilities, which are one of its strengths, need to be improved constantly. This includes the ability to symbolically evaluate definite sums. Closed forms for definite sums are important in many applications, e.g., special functions, combinatorics, as well as first- and second-year university analysis courses, and even particle physics. Since new algorithms for symbolic summation that target more general classes of inputs are high effort to implement, and the benefits of doing so are not so clear, a pattern matching based approach seems like the quickest way to extend Maple’s symbolic summation capabilities, closing the gap between Maple’s integration capabilities (which already uses pattern matching) and summation capabilities (that are mostly pure algorithmic).

Forestry Co Op Student

The intern will assist on a range of planning & operations projects in the office and field. They will scout and evaluate sites in the field for timber volumes for utility, & forestry clients, conduct hazard tree assessments and salvage planning on utility lines, review stakeholder agreements & obtain landowner access consents, and prepare reports and GIS maps with resulting data for regulatory and client approval.