Projets novateurs réalisés

Establishing the Enabling Conditions Required to Facilitate Indigenous-led Nature Based Greenhouse Gas Offset Projects in Canada

Canada is a signatory to global commitments to reduce greenhouse gas levels and one important way this will happen is through the implementation of nature-based solutions for climate change. One example of natural climate solutions is GHG offsets based on restoration, protection and establishment of forests, wetlands, grasslands and peatland areas. Indigenous Peoples are critical to the success of natural climate solutions. Understanding the conditions under which these projects can be enabled is a critical component of establishing Indigenous-led nature based GHG offset projects at a scale and speed that is meaningful for climate change action.
The proposed research will expand on the concept of enabling conditions by creating a framework of enabling conditions specific to Indigenous-led nature based GHG offsets then testing this framework in various case studies which represent actualized, viable projects.

Documenter le verdissement du centre-ville de Montréal

Face à l’absence de festivals durant l’été 2020 et à la nécessité d’occuper l’espace au Centre-Ville et de le rendre plus accueillant pour ses visiteurs, mais aussi face à la montée de l’intérêt pour la réduction des îlots de chaleur et le verdissement novateur en ville, le Partenariat du Quartier des Spectacles (PQDS) a installé des arbres et plantes variés dans des bacs mobiles, entourés de son mobilier signature, sur la Place des Festivals à Montréal.
Étudiante d’Alain Paquette de l’UQAM (Ph. D en sciences biologiques), Émilie Secours va participer à un projet du PQDS de suivi de ces arbres en pots installés durant l’été 2020.
Quel est l’impact sur les visiteurs, les passants et les usagers en général de ce prototype de forêt urbaine ? Quel est l’impact réel (température, luminosité…) sur leur environnement immédiat de ces plantations ?
Voici quelques questions qu’elle va se poser durant cette étude, et ses résultats serviront de base à une documentation permettant d’envisager d’étendre ce type d’aménagement à Montréal, mais aussi d’avoir une longueur d’avance pour la gestion et la conservation des arbres en pot de la future Esplanade Tranquille.

Development of a serological test for early diagnosis and monitoring of cancer

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In Canada, cancer accounts for 30% of all deaths, and half of all Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetime. Many cancers can be prevented or controlled through early detection, but the availability of such tests is scarce and a reliable general biomarker for different types of cancers has not been yet discovered. Moreover, cancer survivors are at greater risk of developing a second cancer, and affordable and safe monitoring for the rest of their lives is not available. We propose the development of a serological test for early diagnosis of cancer based on the activity of an enzyme that is upregulated in cancer tissues. This enzyme is able to modify a drug approved by the FDA termed amantadine, which can be measured in urine. We also propose to validate the performance of the kit in clinical samples of patients with lung cancer. Moreover, through our network of collaborators, we expect to distribute the methodology in different points of care in Canada and abroad (USA and Bangladesh).
This project is innovative because it uses inexpensive antibodies produced in bacteria against the modified amantadine detected in urine.

BSI – Market Analysis & Strategy – Canadian Science Publishing

Project training plan:
As a scholarly publisher, CSP’s revenues are supported predominately by university library subscription fees and open access publishing fees. It is clear that COVID-19 will have a direct impact on university library budgets, however the extent of this effect remains uncertain. Due to this uncertainty, CSP is undertaking a scenario planning exercise in order to better predict what effects the pandemic will have on their business operations. They also wish to forecast cash flow and understand the funding opportunities that could be available in the short and long-terms.
The student would be asked to participate as part of a team that is working on CSP’s scenario planning in response to COVID-19. Responsibilities would include collecting and analyzing data to predict the effects that the pandemic will have on CSP’s business operations. This will involve forecasting and making recommendations
on business decisions. Data collection and analysis would focus on CSP’s cash flow, costs/revenues, and could
include an environmental scan. As part of a team, the student, supervisor, and other key staff would work together
to interpret findings and inform business decisions.

GenieLab Business Strategy Internship

GenieLab is a non-profit committed to improving digital literacy and citizenship among, often marginalized and underserved youth, by combining cultural activities and advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence. The onset of the pandemic and the fact that their business model comprises several NAICS codes, among other circumstances, has caused the organization to face complex organizational, operational, and structural challenges. This project aims to address one of these challenges, which is the lack of a solid and integrated marketing communications plan. Majoring in marketing and minoring in data intelligence, I am very passionate about research. Following extensive research and an initial internship to develop a viable marketing and growth strategy, the main marketing goal of the project is to increase brand awareness and reach. Secondary goals include solidifying the brand strategy and increasing brand preference and market share. Additionally, subsequent research and continuous user testing will hopefully help the organization obtain STEAM certification from recognized bodies, which will provide social proof and improve brand credibility and authority, resulting in higher consumer trust. This is especially important due to the current economic reality of today’s youth in a post-pandemic time.

ivy Systems Inc. – Business Development Intern

We need to analyze how to maintain the value propositions since campus life is not active and events are mainly online. This would entail looking at what users want, use currently, and are missing. Further, we need to be ready for the situation to get better and have a plan for spreading to other campuses. Also, we could use help on growth tactics and marketing without physical presence. This would mean finding out how to get the app to students without physically being around, or near them. Then, find out what encourages them to use the app. Our organization will be provided with business development which will result in a better strategy in general and especially now with the pandemic. Towards Canada, there will be a more qualified worker that has experience with a tech company. They will deal with continuous pivots over the next year which will prepare them for the workforce and start-up life. The challenges facing our sector would be providing value through online presence when the company was based around physical events.

1 Million Teachers Internship – Business Strategy

According to UNESCO, the global teacher shortage will reach 69 million by the year 2030. 1 Million Teachers (1MT) is a social enterprise offering blended learning experiences designed to train new teachers, provide ongoing professional development, and attract new teachers to the profession. 1MT aims to close the

gap in the supply of competent teachers by not only attracting new teachers into the profession and training both the new and old but also, by motivating them to keep improving their performance. This is done through a comprehensive reward-based development program that combines high quality online and classroom-based training with mentorship on a scale never attempted before – ensuring that teachers and school administrators become lifelong learners.

Currently, 1MT’s e-learning content focuses on teachers in the Global South with a concentration on Sub Saharan Africa with the goal to expand in other regions too. The courses are designed to be highly accessible, requires low bandwidth for end users on mobile devices, and is delivered on 1MT’s learning platform: start.1millionteachers.com. These e-learning courses are created according to the traditional ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implement, Evaluation) Model of instructional design.

Lifelong reinforcement learning with autonomous inference of subtask dependencies

In this project, we propose a continual learning approach to face the problem of forward transfer in complex reinforcement learning tasks. Concretely, we propose a model that learns how to combine a series of general modules in a deep learning architecture, so that generalization emerges through the composition of those modules. This is of vital importance for Element AI to provide reusable solutions that scale with new data, without the need of learning a new model for every problem and improving the overall performance.

Recovery of culturally important forest plant communities after wildfire in interior British Columbia

In collaboration with the Nadleh Whut’en and Stellat’en First Nations and SERNbc, researchers from university of Northern British Columbia will look at the response of vegetation communities to fire disturbance in the Northern interior of BC. We hope to determine if burn severity alters expected recovery rates and richness of vegetation. We hope to accurately document plant stress in three plants of cultural importance, and note if changes in soils affect plant health and ability to regenerate for food and medicinal use. We will provide recommendations for what will be required to move forward with remediation of the burned land, including information on how soils may need to be tended, which plants and stores of seed are most highly impacted, and predict how plant communities in the burned area will recover.

Vaolo – Priorisation de contenu dans un fil continu

Vaolo est la plateforme de l’organisation non gouvernementale à but non lucratif (ONG) Village Monde. Il s’agit d’une plateforme technologique innovante dans le secteur du voyage, au croisement entre les plateformes transactionnelles, collaboratives, les réseaux sociaux et le partage.
Par son positionnement unique la plateforme Vaolo est appelée à accumuler d’importantes quantités de données avec une croissance soutenue issues de nos différents acteurs : explorateurs, voyageurs, acteurs locaux, agences, partenaires de contenu et de commercialisation.
Un des enjeux principaux de ce type de service est de constamment proposer le meilleur contenu possible aux bons utilisateurs. Pour ce faire, l’un des outils principaux de la plateforme Vaolo est son fil de contenu qui permet, un peu à la mode Pinterest, de dérouler du contenu à volonté, tel un fil social. La priorisation du contenu présenté est présentement effectuée selon certains critères fixes non-variables.
Le but de ce stage est de concevoir, entraîner et déployer un outil d’intelligence artificielle permettant de prioriser et personnaliser la proposition de contenu. Ce fil de contenu s’adaptera donc selon certains facteurs en temps réel, et sera personnalisé à chaque usager et à son contexte.

Regionalization Project Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador with the support of the Professional Municipal Administrators Association

This project is based upon an applied research approach and using a business analytics lens, it seeks to understand the state of the municipal sector to date in Newfoundland and Labrador with respect to regional service and resource sharing. It focuses on regionalization and identifies the current and best practice models for regionalization and regional government in Canada and elsewhere.

PredictNow.ai Business Internship

I will be helping PredictNow.ai grow thier business by working in a marketing/sales role. As recently formed startup PredictNow.ai is still in the process of establishing thier digital footprint from a marketing perpective, which I will help grow. Additionally I will help answer customer questions and help communicate the technical end of the product to clients. I will also help PredictNow.ai grow it’s customer base it has acquired since thier launch. Outside of these tasks, I will also pickup any work I can to help the management team.