The objective is to create new weather-forecast products to enable BC Hydro meteorologists to better support electric-power generation, power transmission, dispatch of emergency repair crews, anticipation of electric loads, and energy trading. The method is to use powerful computers to solve atmospheric equations for future weather (a method called Numerical Weather Prediction, NWP), and to […]

Typical natural language understanding (NLU) models like the ones deployed in virtual assistant (VA) systems are designed to work for a finite set of pre-defined domains. Ideally, if the text representation of a spoken utterance does not belong to the supported set of domains the NLU model would produce a response with low confidence score […]

The demand for photovoltaic solar modules has increased tremendously in recent years. Unfortunately, photovoltaic solar modules are prone to potential induced degradation, i.e., a decrease in the power delivered from such modules arising as a consequence of them operating continuously under high applied voltages. This project aims to design a protocol for the accelerated testing […]

The project develops innovative delivery of beginning literacy lessons. While learning to read and write stories of their own choosing, early learners have many urgent questions. Many of these questions have answers that can be easily explained using a multimedia demonstration. Children can access the answers independently, on demand, when the answers are in a […]

Alison’s research, conducted in partnership with the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of BC, aims to better understand what is limiting the endangered burrowing owl’s population recovery in British Columbia. The Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of BC has implemented a species reintroduction program that includes breeding and releasing owls. They then track how many owls survive, […]

This project proposes to create a standardized methodology to collect, calibrate and process thermal drone imagery into ortho-rectified maps showing accurate temperature data for streams and rivers. These temperature maps are quickly becoming a useful tool with which to detect influxes of cold water that are critical for the preservation of salmon habitat. As our […]

Current and near-future D-Wave processors implement optimization using quantum effects on a fixed processor layout. This layout can be modeled as a graph with certain constraints, and the optimization is applied to a specific problem: fixed-topology Ising spin optimization. It is therefore important to study how best to use this hardware to solve combinatorial optimization […]

Mining activities generate large quantities of waste rock after valuable metals are extracted. Upon exposure to air and water, a diverse range of metals and metalloids are released and mobilized to the surrounding environment. There is an urgent need to manage the environmental risk posed by mine waste rock piles given the scale of the […]

The proposed project is aimed to provide information on the mechanism of premature calcification in the Transcatheter Aortic Valves through a complete investigation of the physicochemical factors influencing the process (chemical composition, pH, temperature, fluid dynamics, and the presence of foreign inorganic and organic substances). The outcome of the proposed research project would allow formulation […]

This project aims to explore how organizations with global operations implement change initiatives for greater environmental and social sustainability. Specifically, we are interested in how employees from various company sites make sense of these change and enact initiatives and whether there are different patterns of sensemaking and enactment among the company’s global subsidiaries. When completed […]

Accurate modelling of the climate is of paramount importance in developing strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change. The ocean is a crucial component of the climate and simulating accurate ocean conditions in climate models is therefore extremely important. However, the energy required to reach a high degree of accuracy in modelling the ocean […]

In recent years, there has been a noticeable surge in the prevalence of dialogues across various domains. The widespread adoption of dialogues, also facilitated by technologies such as ChatGPT, Bard, and Claude, underscores the considerable significance of comprehending their intricate structures. The analysis of dialogue structures offers invaluable benefits, particularly in sectors like healthcare, where […]