Projets novateurs réalisés

A Usability Study of Teacher Help: Classroom Management

The goal of the proposed research project is to evaluate the usability of a new module for an existing eLearning program for classroom teachers called Teacher Help. The new module is designed to provide training in evidence-based classroom management strategies to decrease disruptive classroom behaviour. Participants will be classroom teachers (n =20) and other stakeholders (e.g., school psychologists, parents, behaviour specialists; n = 20), who will access the program and rate the usability of the module after completing each of the six sessions in the new module, and at the end of the program. Participants will be rating the module using a questionnaire based on Morville’s User Experience Framework, which will assess their perception of the module’s accessibility, credibility, desirability, findability, usability, usefulness, and value. The partner organization will benefit from the proposed project’s novelty and by the elucidation of stakeholder perceptions of behavioural eLearning programs for teachers.

International Marketing Strategy Development

The primary question to answer is broad: how can we identify, target, and convert potential customers in Canada, the US, and Mexico in a sustainable way? Our strategy must be designed to consider operational and resource constraints. The first objective would be to develop and execute a digital marketing communication strategy in an Agile way. This would include activities related to planning and strategy development, as well as executing the planned activities. The second objective would be to develop a database of potential partnerships and funding opportunities that could support business development and R&D activities. The question to answer is: how can we increase and leverage resources to enable sustainable, long-term business growth?

Developing a robust digital marketing communication strategy is both important and urgent as we establish our international business development strategy and launch of our new product at the end of 2020. The proposed project could have a significant, immediate impact, as well as support the sustainable, long-term growth of our company.

IT Support

With Covid-19’s impact on Reliance Foundry, we had to stop sponsorships on recruitment and lost a great candidate for role we were originally considering to expand in sales. We also stopped spending various other activities to save additional costs for our company. Our company has lost 30% of sales in the month of May compared to last May’s sales.
We had many plans to continue the growth of our company, and having a student help us out during the summer time or longer will support our goal to grow our company and help us bounce back to healthy state we were originally in.”
IT Role:
• Help in developing new IoT products.
• Research competitive product offerings from other vendors.
• Make recommendations on which features to prioritize in future product development.
• Make wireframe and software design plans to ensure all customer required features are included.
• Develop the basics of a cloud-based decision log where meeting minutes on product development is kept

Evaluation of microbolometer-based imager for wildfire radiometric imaging

Monitoring of wildland fires through infra-red remote sensing has become increasing of interest to the wildland fire management community, and quality scientific analysis of the capabilities of such sensors is critical if they are to be used in any operational way. In 2019 a joint burning experiment was carried out over several days. In 2019 a collaboration between the Canadian Forest Service, Institut national d’optique (INO), and the University of Toronto saw the ignition and monitoring of a series of experimental fires in the field at a CFS field research station. During these experiments, a series fires were observed using conventional cooled infrared imagers alongside a novel imager built by INO. This study conducts spatial and temporal analysis of coincident infrared data to assess the performance of the INO system for the application of wildfire imaging and radiometry.

Mitacs/Smith-Brick Labs Inc. Summer Internship

The Brick Labs Inc. have identified two new services that we will introduce in the next 4 months. The first is the Learning Continuity Program (LCP) which begins in September and is currently available for registration. It basically can be described as contracted 3rd party homeschooling for elementary students. The second will be our virtual educational and entertainment programs. We had great success with these programs over the last 3 months and believe that there will be a growing demand in the months ahead. In terms of the objectives, the Marketing Intern will create an executable marketing strategy and checklist for each of the programs using the material and ideas already assembled. The LCP marketing strategy to be completed within 10 days of starting and the Virtual Programs plan to be completed by week 8 of the internship. The basis of these plans should form a framework for future plan development. Each plan should include a checklist with Action, OPI, and Due Date. The intern will assist with the completion of each action item. The Learning Continuity Program (LCP) will open new business opportunities for Brick Labs.

Multi-host firmware for TCicontroller

C-Therm Technologies’ TCi Thermal Analyzer, measures quickly and non-destructively
the thermal properties of liquids, powders, pastes and solids with very low conductivity
and up to 120 W/mK. The TCi controller currently communicates with a single PC host
using a limited resource 8 bit microcontroller. In this project we will investigate the
firmware changes needed to accommodate a second tablet computer connected via a
USB dock and/or a WIFI link

Mitacs BSI

This business strategy internship is an incredible opportunity for every student in the Smith Commerce program to gain experience and help grow their skills. With the current global pandemic, many students have been negatively affected with their education and with work outside of school. This internship provides the opportunity to adapt and gain work experience during this limited-work period.
Aside from work experience, I will be able to advance my studies in the commerce program and apply what I gain to my future at Queens and in my career. Through this valuable work experience, I will acquire skills in strategic thinking and real-world problem solving, while simultaneously expanding my professional network and explore future career paths.

Internal Strategy Consultant

Kings Distributed Systems (“Kings”) is a Canadian corporation with the mission to make computing more affordable, secure, and interoperable. Its core offering is a software platform that makes running modern applications cheap and easy through a global ‘marketplace’ for computing resources. Since its inception, it has been delivering high-quality software for use in a broad number of industries, such as public health, STEM research, AI/ML, and cybersecurity. Kings is aware of many more fields such as aerospace, smart cities, and mining that may also have a number of applications that might benefit significantly, but the company has not conducted enough research to confirm their potential. This Mitacs project will conduct this research to suggest which fields are the most promising for Kings in the mid- to long-term, and suggest a viable strategy to address each. The intern will also analyze whether Kings’ solution will hold a strong competitive position in these fields. These activities will all help Kings save significant time and resources when the company is ready to address these fields, and reduces the risk of investing in the wrong ones.

Kings Distributed Systems

Kings Distributed Systems (“Kings”) is a Canadian corporation with the mission to make computing more affordable, secure, and interoperable. Its core offering is a software platform that makes running modern applications cheap and easy through a global ‘marketplace’ for computing resources. Since its inception, it has been delivering high-quality software for use in a broad number of industries, such as space science, public health, STEM research, AI/ML, and cybersecurity. Universities and colleges are often at the cutting edge of research in these areas, and Kings has already built productive relationships with some including such as Queen’s University. Kings has plans to address the severe shortage of computing resources that Canadian researchers face in these fields by creating campus-wide networks from underutilized desktops, servers, and other devices. This is a massive undertaking that involves key university stakeholders, but which will have significant benefits. This Mitacs project will help Kings achieve this by identifying the key steps, frameworks, and decision makers involved in installing new software in the higher education space. The intern’s involvement will answer questions like these, shortening the companies time to market and helping university researchers nationwide.

Matthew Aslett – Business Strategy Internship

The project is designed to offer timely recommendations to the organization about refined programming to retain existing and recruit new membership in view of long-term sustainability given the COVID-19 pandemic. The aspiration is my partner organization will benefit from recommendations that intend to increase profitability, raise member retention, and improve member recruitment.

Leadogo

COVID-19 has dramatically impacted the mental health of individuals, those in the over 60-year old demographic. As social distancing continues, the Leadogo platform is a plausible conduit for human connection and higher self-worth. It combines the best parts of work with the best elements of retirement and is a catalyst for organizational social good. The contributions of the student will be foundational to the potential scaling of the business. The team-building tool will be something required to service the forecasted number of clients in subsequent years. The tool also has a viable use outside of the platform and could be utilized as a team optimization tool for organizations in Canada outside the general realm of Leadogo’s initial customer base. This tool would result in an additional revenue stream for the company but would improve engagement and team dynamics at other firms. It will be necessary to uncover the critical dynamics of constructing small teams that function first socially, is purpose-driven, and are high-performing. Research has been conducted on behaviours of the demographic, on matching algorithms from dating sites, and with team sports and training executives.

Website and digital marketing

This project is a combination of building one website for partner organization and implementing digital marketing associated with this website on digital media platforms such as Google AdWords and Facebook. It will give the partner organization a place to show its expertise as well as attract new customers by increasing brand awareness, which are essential for startup companies.