Evolutionary Housing Strategies for Canadian Cities

This project examines the feasibility of low-cost evolutionary housing strategies to accommodate changing uses in Canada. It is a partnership between the University of Waterloo school of Architecture and architect John van Nostrand who has developed numerous prototypes for evolutionary housing in Canada and internationally. The research will begin with an analysis of existing prototypes […]

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Synthetic biology constructions toward bacteria-mediated cancer therapy

Development of selective drug delivery agents that target tumor cells with minimal toxicity to normal tissues is a major challenge in cancer therapy. Non-toxic bacteria can be used to target solid tumors because, within a patient’s body, they can only be active at a tumor site (where oxygen levels are pathologically low). Prior attempts at […]

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Designing for better novice assembly: towards energy efficient novice building

This research is about technologies for ‘DIY’ or ‘novice’ home-construction. The research asks if high energy efficiency homes could be built by novice and non-expert builders. Energy efficient construction is an increasingly expert craft: with specialized knowledge, tools, and practices now required to achieve excellent building energy performance, this presents barriers to building efficiency for […]

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Weather and Climate Information for Snow Recreation

Individuals and organizations use weather information to help inform day-to-day decisions. This project focuses on the use of weather information by winter recreationists in the Province of Ontario. Based on survey data, the project will identify the main sources of weather forecast information, the importance placed on this information, and the influence of specific aspects […]

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Research in Support of New Orthotropic Steel Bridge Deck Provisions for CSA S6:25

Orthotropic bridge deck is lightweight steel deck, typically fabricated by welding “ribs” to the underside of a flat steel plate. The potential benefits of these deck systems are compelling. For example, from 1991 to 1993, the deteriorating deck on the Champlain Bridge was replaced with orthotropic steel deck panels weighing 25% less than the original […]

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Use of AI and Wearable Data for Public Health Monitoring

In this proposed project, our research team aims to develop a data ecosystem to use consumer-level technologies such as fitness trackers and wearables to support public health decision making. We will use the COVID-19 pandemic as a testing scenario for the technology, exploring the data to improve our understanding of the impact that social-isolation had […]

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Examining the benefits of interactive learning as a function of decreased mind wandering

Educational video games or ‘serious games’ represent an emerging trend in technology-assisted learning. Research suggests that interactive media, which responds to user input (e.g. video games), may promote learning by engaging attention better than receptive media (e.g. videos). Mind wandering, including off-task thoughts, is associated with disengagement of attention and is linked to boredom and […]

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Foreign Exchange Software Systems

The project will be about the development of foreign exchange, risk management and international payments software systems of the partner organization. The intern will be responsible for designing and implementing new software systems, maintaining and improving performance of existing systems and writing automated tests for new and existing software systems. This project will improve the […]

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Operator space situation awareness in space object tracking tasks

In the field of space operation and monitoring, there is an increasing need to build space situation awareness (SSA). That is, how well an operator can understand the position and operation of all space objects and satellites. It is critical to organize and present all the data in a proper way to support human understanding […]

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