This proposal outlines research work that will compare the capabilities and accuracy of a common, fast but approximate approach to computer modelling of geophysical electromagnetic (EM) data with an approach that considers a much more complete description of the modelling problem. The primary goal is to determine for what situations the plate-based modelling is adequate […]

The Montney Formation in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) is a productive low permeability natural gas reservoir. Alongside natural gas, it contains high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas, which is both economically and environmentally detrimental to the exploration and production of natural gas from the reservoir. This research proposal aims to examine the […]

The Niagara Escarpment is a dominant landform in southern Ontario and provides the region with exceptional sites of natural beauty including numerous waterfalls and exposed rocky cliffs. However, the escarpment is also a geomorphic feature formed by ongoing erosion processes that create many challenges for those living near or enjoying its natural beauty. Unfortunately, there […]

Solar power is the fastest growing source of renewable energy worldwide. Developing low cost, high efficiency and clean solar energy technologies will be of significant long-term interests. All around the world, silicon solar cells dominate the rooftop solar energy production market due to their high efficiency and stability. However, silicon modules have limited use cases […]

This project will support efforts to develop a new instrument and techniques to measure the state of stress in the ground. This is a key parameter used in the engineering design of underground mines, tunnels and boreholes for geothermal and shale gas extraction. Existing techniques suffer from reliability issues and it is proposed to use […]

MyHEAT Inc. (industry partner) provides on-line tools/services to reduce urban waste energy. Currently, the company relies on sourced municipal, private, or publicly available GIS roof polygons which it combines with its proprietary high-resolution (H-Res) airborne thermal infrared (TIR) imagery to generate personalized rooftop heat-loss maps/metrics. Unfortunately, these GIS polygons are often incomplete, inaccurate and out-of-date. […]

Walking and wheeling to/from school represents an important source of physical activity for children. As policy decisions about how we build our neighbourhoods, schools, and transportation systems have changed, we have seen a worrisome decrease in the number of children who use active modes of travel to get to/from school. We have limited research mapping […]

Understanding when and where bowhead whales occur is ecologically, culturally and politically important in the context of a rapidly changing climate, with some of the greatest impacts happening in the Arctic. Decreases in sea ice allow for increased shipping and its associated underwater noise in one of the last acoustically pristine habitats in the world. […]

Canadian community foundations significantly support post-secondary institutions and students in their provision of merit and needs based awards and bursaries. Yet little is known about the impacts of these investments for students. The Edmonton Community Foundation has partnered with UAlberta (Community Service-Learning) and the Edmonton Social Planning Council (ESPC) to explore the impacts of a […]

Climate-induced changes to the range and distribution patterns of benthic habitats are predicted to occur in many parts of the world’s oceans. Our ability to survey the seafloor at the resolution and spatial scale necessary to identify habitats and habitat changes is a major technical challenge that requires development and application of new mapping technologies […]

Recent tailings dam failures occurring in past years have highlighted a need for innovative approaches to monitoring these structures. This research proposes to explore advances in the development of a novel type of distributed fiber-optic sensing technology known as Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS), and evaluate its performance in monitoring a tailings dam. Ambient noise interferometry […]

Quick Response Research has long allowed social, behavioural and economic science researchers to collect and integrate valuable first-response data in time-sensitive environments. This type of research is conducted during or shortly after an extreme event and allows social science researchers to collect perishable data that wouldn’t be accessible otherwise. While quick response research has been […]