A spoken sentence means more than the sum of its words’ meanings. A speaker’s voice, more specifically, the way a speaker shapes speech melody, also conveys emotional information. Healthy brains easily distinguish fear and anger even in short utterances without any meaning. Yet, when we interact with people face-to-face, our brains seemingly ignore this auditory […]

Rhodopsins are a family of light sensitive proteins which are photosensory in complex organisms (such as humans) but have other functions (ion pumps and channels) in microbial organisms. We have discovered a new and unique group of rhodopsins which were isolated from a microbe in a fresh water lake in Antarctica, called Lake Fryxell. Through […]

Inferring underlying properties of a dataset is a fundamental task in the fields of learning, statistics, and data analysis. In recent years, the amount of data which we have access to and would like to analyze continues to grow at an astronomical rate. Algorithms that were previously considered efficient for learning properties of the data […]

To develop parts from an initial design to the final product is a very tedious process in the mold manufacturing industry. Computer Numerical Control (CNC) plays a major role in the mold manufacturing industry to create products in a fast and efficient manner. The goal of this project is to automate the CAD to CNC […]

Chitin is a vastly available resource in the form of waste from the fishing industry in Canada and worldwide. BOCO Bio-Nanotechnologies has currently the infrastructure in place for scalable extraction of CNWs (Chitin nano-whiskers) from crab shells. CNWs are crystalline regions of chitin, possessing high strength, stiffness and aspect ratio, making them ideal for reinforcement […]

Designing a new helicopter is a very complex task that demands the collaboration of many disciplines of aerospace engineering. Nowadays, noise impact has also become crucial as restrictive environmental noise impact certification issues are being enforced by the certification authorities to the manufacturers. This project will be concerned with the integration of all these disciplines […]

Stuttering is a speech disorder that not only affects a person’s ability to communicate fluently and confidently, but can also have a significant impact on their quality of life and mental health. Developmental stuttering typically emerges in early childhood; however, 20% of individuals will continue to be affected by this disorder into adulthood. After decades […]

There is an abundance of evidence from astronomical and cosmological observations that suggests approximately 85% of the matter in the universe is dark matter, an unknown form of matter beyond the description of the standard model of particle physics. To date the effects of dark matter have only been observed through its interactions via gravity; […]

Obesity is a major public health concern and sugar intake has been put in the spotlight as a possible key driver of the obesity epidemic. Much of the evidence is confounded by increased energy intake and is mainly focused on sugar-sweetened beverages. However, other sugar-containing foods like fruit, yogurt and high fibre breakfast cereals may […]

Small molecules with conducting electronic properties resembling those of metals have been used in next generation electronic devices such as organic solar cells. These organic or carbon-based molecules are paving a new road towards environmentally-friendly, flexible and cheaper solar cells. Boron subphthalocyanines (BsubPcs) are an example of small organic molecules that have been used to […]

This Mitacs cluster project will involve the research, development and deployment of a multi-sensor navigation system that will be used for portable applications, such as dismounted soldier navigation, urban surveying and mobile phone localization. Multi-sensors are needed to provide positioning and orientation information when wireless signals are blocked or inaccurate. The project will focus on […]

My research project is a component of the Reciprocal Learning Program and SSHRC Partnership Grant project run by Dr. Shijing Xu and Dr. Michael Connelly respectfully. I will actively participate in and observe how music students study the historical, musical, and practical applications of vocal pedagogy in Chinese music classrooms. I would also like to […]