Humpback whales are filter feeders that can engulf massive quantities of prey. However, because of their indiscriminate feeding strategies, humpback whales often ingest more than their intended prey alone. Alongside fish and zooplankton, microplastics are likely becoming a frequent menu item for humpback whales foraging along the coastlines of BC. Microplastics are a concerning environmental […]

This research is to develop a gallium nitride-based transistor used in high-power applications such as in electric vehicles and in solar power grids. Current gallium nitride transistors break down around 600-800 V. We propose to develop a technology that enable them to have more than 1200 V breakdown voltages. We also keep the balance between […]

Severe bleeding is a life-threatening medical emergency that can potentially result in death. Although there are currently available treatments to stop severe bleeding from injuries, these treatments have their limitations and may be ineffective for specific types of bleeding, such as non-compressible intra-abdominal bleeding. The goal of this proposed project is to conduct research on […]

This study will assess the behaviour, physiology, reproduction and survival of individual birds breeding on reclaimed mine tailings and waste rock, and will provide a robust measure of the effectiveness of reclamation efforts on the Highland Valley Copper operating area. By examining a range of life-history traits in two ecologically distinct species, and comparing birds […]

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 […]