Innovative Projects Realized

Certn Financial Accountant Internship

In this project, the Intern will be responsible for two arching themes and the tasks associated with each during the four-month internship. The first responsibility that the intern will take on is customer analysis. By conducting customer data analysis with a quantitative outlook and working with the development team on the company’s financial and accounting data, the intern will build revenue expectations by customer cohort and ensure the effectiveness of data visualization tools for other stakeholders. The intern will also assist with general accounting, which includes the preparation and presentation of monthly and quarterly consolidated financial statements. Overall, the accounting intern will be responsible for collecting and analyzing customer data that will be used to determine how Certn shall allocate resources and better forecast revenues, and assisting with financial statements preparation. The final reports prepared will be used to support fundraising activities and board member presentations. The goal is to build systems that allow for timely and accurate reporting to analyze where best to allocate Certn’s resources and make better business decisions.

Metabolic Lipid Abnormalities in Prediabetes and Insulin Resistance

Type 2 diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance and has been associated with increased lipids (fat) in the blood (hyperlipidemia). Our research focuses on regulation of blood lipid levels by controlling both intestinal and liver fat (lipid/lipoprotein) metabolism. We have previously shown in our laboratory that a naturally occurring hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) can lower intestinal lipoprotein production. The current research proposal will focus on analyzing the following three areas: 1) how intestinal inflammation alters intestinal lipoprotein production, 2) regulation of intestinal lipoprotein production through brain signaling, and 3) regulation of liver lipoprotein production in insulin resistance. Merck Pharma has developed a compound (sitaglipitin) that prevents the degradation of endogenous GLP-1. Analyzing the effects of long lasting GLP-1 signaling will provide crucial mechanistic insight into common disorders associated with hyperlipidemia.

Learning SMBs’ Perceptions of Data-driven Decision Making

This project aims to gain a better understanding of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)’ attitudes and behaviors as they relate to data-driven decision making. This project will benefit the partner organization and the business community by zooming in the reasons that kept some SMBs from adopting data-driven decision-making strategies. Solving this problem could help the partner organization to increase their persuasion power in selling products to potential clients; also, it could help SMBs to evaluate and improve their decisions regarding data-driven decision-making strategies, thus improving their marketing efficiency.

Business Strategy Internship – Start

Assisting in new special projects including financial forecasting for ISP.

Farmhouse Communications Inc.

The Prairies North Magazine brand is seeking to accomplish three objectives: increase bulk subscriptions to the Client Appreciation Program (CAP), increase magazine sales, and identify additional revenue streams other than advertisement.

Increasing bulk subscriptions to CAP means increasing recurring monthly revenue. CAP enables businesses to send a copy of the magazine issue to their clients as a thank you and marketing effort. I will be responsible in determining who to contact in the province, and identifying touchpoints within the company to send information about the program.

Increasing magazine sales is a consequence of successful prospecting and active subscribers. The overall desired target subscription sales range between 500 to 1000. The appropriate quarterly target must be determined while considering seasonality. Determining brand pricing strategy through observing the market’s supply and demand, studying the competition in the same market, and understanding the brand’s product quality.

Lastly, identifying additional revenue streams requires a creative background and experimentation with potential alternatives that work well with the brand. Some alternatives worth exploring may be brand extensions such as sister publications, books, events, conferences and courses. Other digital content such as YouTube may help familiarize viewers with the brand.

Digital Consulting Business Internship

This business internship will allow the intern to work with CBA Chamber of Commerce (CBACC) as they have taken a leadership role in supporting its membership and Conception Bay Area business community. The pandemic has been as challenging for the Chamber as it has been for most businesses, so we intimately understand much of what the business community is experiencing. The Chamber is hoping to launch a Business Recovery and Resiliency Project that will continue to connect business owners with the resources they need to continue to do business during the pandemic. This proposed project will be an excellent opportunity for the intern to develop and enhance their project management skills, creative thinking skills, and given the ability to work with others to achieve results.

Women In Need Sociery – Intern 2

The intern(s) will work closely with functional area teams to analyze WINS current practices and make them applicable to new environment we operate in, while receiving front line experience in various departments. Significant opportunities will be available in the relaunch of our Retail Ready Employment Service, as well look for innovative ways to continue offering the service. This will include updated health and safety practices, training manuals, and streamlining of processes.

Women in Need Society (Intern 1)

The intern(s) will work closely with the functional area teams as WINS navigates before and after impacts of Covid-19 over the next few months. As reflected in the job description, they’ll play a pivotal role in helping adapt our current practices (as well as identify new ones) in the areas of Finance & Accounting, Fund Development, HR, Health & Safety, IT, and Marketing, as a result of Covid-19. New organizational practices will be the basis of our updated business strategy, goals, and objectives that reflect the new reality we operate in.

Significant opportunities will be available for the relaunch of our Retail Ready Employment Service, as well as looking for innovative ways to continue offering the service. This will include updated health and safety practices, training manuals, and streamlining of processes.

Additionally, our Fund Development Team will be doing a deep dive analysis on the changes in donor behavior. This project will work to identify changes, efficiencies, and recommendations on new strategies for attracting donations.

Spiridon Technologies BSI Internship

Spiridon Technologies is a technology-focused acquisition vehicle acquiring and consolidating North American technology companies in the IoT and AI space. COVID-19 has impacted our firm positively and negatively. The performance of some of our acquisition targets has faltered. In contrast, some of our current holdings have unforeseen opportunities to serve 1) new markets as they are created, and 2) existing markets that are heavily impacted, due to COVID-19. Therefore, we are looking at projects around determining the strategy we should take with regard to acquiring new businesses and how they will look post-COVID, and where we should focus our resources to address new opportunities for our holding companies.

Structural modeling for glycosaminoglycan/peptide complexes

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are biological anchors for growth factors (GF) and other chemical substances. The binding of these substances to GAGs can be modified in times of need. For example during wound healing the increased number of GAGs in the injured areas enables a very localized increase in growth factors and chemokines necessary for wound healing. It appears that the orchestration of initial inflammation, tissue repair and scar formation in would healing is a result of a well-directed feedback between the tissues and the circulating GF. The tissue need for GF is aided by a local increase in specific GAGs to which these GF preferentially bind. This project will explore the forces that determine the specificity of peptide binding to GAGs, in order to develop therapies that act locally and prevent undesired toxicities.

En Route to Discovery of Potential ‘Green’ Refrigerants – Year two

Refrigerants have a wide range of applications in Canada, from their support for the food industry (storage and transport) to their key role in recreational sports like hockey, curling and ice-skating. Although current hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants have solved previous problems associated with depletion of the earth’s ozone layer, they still suffer from high global warming potentials. More recently, these are being replaced by hydrofluoroalkene (HFA) refrigerants with considerably less global warming potential. Unfortunately, the synthetic paths to these new fluoroalkenes are energy-intensive and require harsh/caustic conditions, hydrogen fluoride, expensive reactors and heavy metals. In the enclosed project, we design base-metal catalyzed routes to these valuable refrigerants using a custom gas manifold for production, purification, and isolation of gases. Using base metal catalysts (cobalt and iron) and commercially available fluoroalkenes and alkynes, new economically and environmentally friendly hydrofluorocarbons and fluoroalkenes will be synthesized. This will allow our industry partner, Arkema (in Canada since 1957), to test the new compounds as refrigerants, foam-blowing agents, and new monomers in high-value fluoropolymers and offer the intern a unique training opportunity.

En Route to Discovery of Potential ‘Green’ Refrigerants

Refrigerants have a wide range of applications in Canada, from their support for the food industry (storage and transport) to their key role in recreational sports like hockey, curling and ice-skating. Although current hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants have solved previous problems associated with depletion of the earth’s ozone layer, they still suffer from high global warming potentials. More recently, these are being replaced by hydrofluoroalkene (HFA) refrigerants with considerably less global warming potential. Unfortunately, the synthetic paths to these new fluoroalkenes are energy-intensive and require harsh/caustic conditions, hydrogen fluoride, expensive reactors and heavy metals. In the enclosed project, we design base-metal catalyzed routes to these valuable refrigerants using a custom gas manifold for production, purification, and isolation of gases. Using base metal catalysts (cobalt and iron) and commercially available fluoroalkenes and alkynes, new economically and environmentally friendly hydrofluorocarbons and fluoroalkenes will be synthesized. This will allow our industry partner, Arkema (in Canada since 1957), to test the new compounds as refrigerants, foam-blowing agents, and new monomers in high-value fluoropolymers and offer the intern a unique training opportunity.