I n effort to reduce the environmental footprint and improve the sustainability of wastewatertreatment plants, this study is focused on the production of energy and the recovery of valueadded products from municipal wastewater via the chemical precipitation of magnesium ammonium phosphate (struvite). The method employs the controlled addition of a suitable magnesium compound such as […]

Maintaining cognitive ability is key to successful aging and to retaining the ability to live independently. BrainTagger is a suite of games that assess highly specific brain functions. BrainTagger LTC is a version that has been designed for measuring cognitive status of residents in long term care (see ltc.braintagger.com for a demo). The goal of […]

A job as an animal care professional can be bittersweet – great levels of work satisfaction can also come with an increased likelihood of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion (“compassion fatigue”). This project aims to ‘take a picture’ of Toronto Zoo staff experiences with compassion fatigue and provide a deeper understanding of the impactful experiences […]

Mineralogy is the key to interpreting planetary geology and climate history. The aim of this project is to develop initial designs and prototype components of a portable and miniaturized In situ X-ray diffractometer (ISXRD) that will be mounted on a rover for planetary exploration applications. This miniaturized instrument will enable direct mineral characterization of intact […]

To prepare today’s youth to be successful in the future, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning has become a priority within Canadian education systems. To better meet the learning needs and requirements of 21st century educators, teacher education must continue to be resigned and updated to reflect the changing K-12 education system. This study […]

Wearable and implantable electronics have the potential to transform personalized health monitoring, particularly as human-machine interfaces and biosensors to improve human health and well-being. When we think about the current electronics in our lives, such as our phones or laptops, we notice that they are mostly hard and not flexible. This is in strong contrast […]

Expressing Vibrancy is a yearlong project outlining an approach for measuring the cultural vibrancy of neighbourhoods. The proposed research seeks to develop methods for understanding and measuring the cultural vibrancy of neighbourhoods, using Hamilton, Ontario as a case study. Using innovative technologies (geo-referenced video), this project will analyze the relationship between measures of cultural vibrancy […]

Skeletal muscle plays several different roles in the promotion and maintenance of health and well-being. The loss of muscle mass that occurs with aging, chronic muscle wasting diseases, and physical inactivity puts people at an increased risk of frailty and becoming insulin resistant. Some individuals fail to increase the size of their muscle following (low […]

Medical dispatchers are responsible for making decisions about when and how patients are transferred by different hospitals. This can be a very difficult task since patients who are in urgent or emergent conditions require immediate transfers. One of the key pieces of information that dispatchers use in these medical decisions is the time to definitive […]

Psilocybin is a promising pharmaceutical compound that is currently undergoing development for therapeutical use in Canada. Many people who take psilocybin report heightened sensation, improved perception, and better focus after taking a micro-dose (e.g., 10-20% of the full clinical dose). Atlhough micro-dosing has gain popularity in neuro-hacking circles and in some popular literature, very few […]

The goal of the project is to develop a slow-release fertilizer in a chemical reaction wherein salts are impregnated into the pores of a feedstock material; either biomass or biochar. This will not only allow for prolonged nutrient retention and absorption by plants in the soil, but it will also act to sequester carbon in […]

Using simplified language understandable to a layperson, provide a general, one-paragraph description of the proposed research project to be undertaken by the intern(s) as well as the expected benefit to the partner organization.