Innovative Projects Realized

Explore thousands of successful projects resulting from collaboration between organizations and post-secondary talent.

13270 Completed Projects

1072
AB
2795
BC
430
MB
106
NF
348
SK
4184
ON
2671
QC
43
PE
209
NB
474
NS

Projects by Category

10%
Computer science
9%
Engineering
1%
Engineering - biomedical
4%
Engineering - chemical / biological

Carbon thin-films for cosmetic jewellery applications: Year 3

Thin-films of carbon are finding use in a wide variety of military, industrial, and commercial applications. Arnell Workshop Inc., a West Kelowna, British Columbia-based cosmetic jewellery manufacturer, is using thin-films of carbon in order to coat titanium rings. As of the present moment, they are using an American firm in order to perform these depositions. They are, however, discouraged by the quality of the resultant films (they appear to be flaking and are non-uniform in thickness) and in the length of time that it takes for their product to be shipped back and forth to and from this American company (over a week). This has convinced the management at Arnell Workshop Inc. to consider performing in-house depositions. We aim to customize and optimize the deposition conditions required for these thin-film depositions using the sputtering system available at Arnell Workshop Inc. Quality assessment and accelerated aging protocols will also be developed in this project. It is hoped that the results of this project will equip our industrial partner, Arnell Workshop Inc., with a strategic advantage over its competitors.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Stephen O'Leary

Student:

Jonathan Laumer

Partner:

Arnell Workshop Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

University:

Program:

Accelerate

Conserving the buzz: An interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder approach to pollinator conservation in Ontario, Canada

Southern Ontario is one of the most critical regions in Canada in terms of wildlife-human conflict. It has one of the highest proportions of species at-risk but also dense human population and agricultural productivity. This project proposes to research whether habitat for at-risk pollinators can be adequately incorporated onto private farmland using methods from natural and social sciences. In addition, it seeks to determine whether farmers experience a perceived and/or actual financial benefit from this habitat in the form of increased ecosystem services (e.g. pollination, pest control, water conservation). By working with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, we will be working to create long term suitable habitat using wildlife corridors for endangered and economically important pollinators in areas they historically occupied through community-based management with local landowners.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Sheila Colla

Student:

Rachel Nalepa

Partner:

Nature Conservancy Canada

Discipline:

Environmental sciences

Sector:

Management of companies and enterprises

University:

York University

Program:

Accelerate

Determining how differences between avid and lapsed anglers can improve license sales and angler satisfaction

Regardless of the numerous fishing opportunities, and cultural and historical significance of fishing in British Columbia, the number of freshwater fishing licenses sold to residents has been declining. Many British Columbia anglers are lapsed, meaning that they do not purchase a license every year. A better understanding of these anglers, and the difference between them and avid anglers (who purchase licenses yearly) will help Freshwater Fisheries Society of British Columbia to make regular fishing more attractive and accessible to different types of anglers. This project will use an online survey to learn more about both angler groups, what motivates them to purchase a license and go fishing, what are their levels of fishing experience and commitment, and what barriers keep them from fishing. The survey will also include a special quantitative approach (choice experiment) to find out what are the anglers’ preferences for fishing sites (e.g. amenities, fish species, regulations).

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Faculty Supervisor:

Sean Cox

Student:

Tjasa Demsar

Partner:

Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC

Discipline:

Environmental sciences

Sector:

Natural resources

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Accelerate

Validating dynamic system analysis mooring tools using a 25-kW surface mounted hydrokinetic turbine tested at the Canadian Hydrokinetic Turbine Testing Centre

Dynamic Systems Analysis develops and markets dynamic modeling tools like ProteusDS to predict the behavior of mechanical systems in service in the ocean and marine environments. ProteusDS relies on empirical loading coefficients to predict system loads to calculate the dynamic response of mechanical systems. DSA sees a growth opportunity to apply ProteusDS to predict dynamic mooring loads for surface-mounted hydrokinetic turbines. Dynamic Systems Analysis has already established itself as a strong contender to provide dynamic analysis tools for simulating floating platforms deployed in marine environments for offshore oil and gas, ship, and aquaculture industries. Performing mooring simulations is an effective method to reduce costs and risks associated with mooring systems for surface mounted hydrokinetic turbines. The University of Manitoba operates the Canadian Hydrokinetic Turbine Testing Centre on the Winnipeg River with surface-mounted turbines scheduled to be tested water-to-wire this summer. The University of Manitoba will measure mooring hydrodynamic loads for a surface-mounted 3-blade Darrius hydrokinetic river turbine to validate empirical loading coefficients. The project outcome is to show accuracy in mooring predictions when hydrokinetic turbines are subjected to various hydrodynamic loads. TO BE CONT’D

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Faculty Supervisor:

Eric Bibeau

Student:

Jody Soviak

Partner:

Dynamic Systems Analysis Ltd

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

Environmental industry

University:

University of Manitoba

Program:

Accelerate

Cognitive Impairment Secondary to Depressive Symptomology and its Relationship with Functional Impairment

Depression is a disabling condition affecting millions of people. Some of the symptoms of depression make it impossible for people to function in their daily lives. People experience significant levels of memory, thinking, planning and other cognitive symptoms that impair their abilities to go to work, school and take care of themselves and family. What is unclear is how and to what extent does this type of impairment lead to real world disability, and whether or not these levels of impairment exist in a broad range of people with varying levels of depressive symptomology. The benefits of determining the extent of cognitive impairment resulting in disability for those suffering from depressive disorders is that treatments can be modified and developed to directly target these cognitive symptoms.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Konstantine Zakzanis

Student:

Sonya Dhillon

Partner:

Lundbeck Canada Inc

Discipline:

Medicine

Sector:

Medical devices

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Accelerate

Evaluation of a School Active Travel initiative

The number of children being driven to school has substantially increased over the past few decades—fewer children are walking or bicycling to school. There is good evidence to suggest that programs promoting walking or cycling to school may increase physical activity in children’s lives. With limited funds available, it is important to document the effectiveness of these programs across schools and settings.
In this project we focus on evaluating a behaviour change program meant to encourage more cycling to school, delivered by partner organization HUB Cycling to students in Vancouver elementary schools. Part of the evaluation seeks to understand how well the program succeeded in encouraging students and families to change their school travel. This internship will provide the partner organization with resources to justify to potential funders and partners the importance of supporting and participating in a cycling education program.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Meghan Winters

Student:

Stephanie Sersli

Partner:

HUB Cycling

Discipline:

Kinesiology

Sector:

Environmental industry

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Accelerate

Optimized Extraction of Onion and Garlic Oils Using Green Solvents

This project will be with All Natural Products Inc. (ANPI), who is a Canadian company focused on essential oil extract from natural herbal resources in Bolton, Ontario. These essential oils have applications in the food, flavor, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical industries. ANPI have found that their current extraction methods do not provide a suitable yield of essential oils. This project will investigate the batch florasol extraction process of onion and garlic essential oil using green solvents within different range of temperatures and pressures.
Effect of extraction time, temperature, pressure, modifiers, flow rate, moisture content, shelf time, and particle size of the starting material will be investigated for development and optimization of the extraction process in batch and continues systems. The type, state (whole material dried or fresh), and treatment (ground, chopped, sliced, etc.) of starting material will also be examined which will have an effect on the extraction yield. This project will provide tremendous advantage to ANPI providing new opportunities to extract the maximum value from our low valued Canadian based natural herbal products.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Paul Charpentier

Student:

Shima Ahmadi

Partner:

Anpi Canada

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

Oil and gas

University:

Western University

Program:

Accelerate

Supply chain metrics during the product lifecycle (extension)

Ciena Corporation is a global supplier of telecommunications networking equipment, software and services. The company operates in a high product mix, low volume environment with short product cycle times. As a consequence, it has difficulty estimating product volumes and end-of-life inventory. The project will determine the best set of metrics during product lifecycle stages in order to measure supply chain performance, to estimate total product volumes, and to minimize end-of-life inventory. The study will use a product lifecycle framework to evaluate the metrics used by Ciena now and those suggested through the study of other companies. The data from several of Ciena’s historical products will be evaluated using these metrics and the framework. A supply chain process model will be simulated using the proposed metrics and supply chain data to evaluate potential supply chain performance.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Vincent Thomson

Student:

Afrooz Moatari-Kazerouni

Partner:

Ciena Corp.

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

McGill University

Program:

Accelerate

Florasol Extraction Process Development of Essential Oil

This project will be with ANPI Canada Inc., a Canadian company focused on essential oil extract from softwood in Bolton, Ontario. Presently, ANPI uses various extraction techniques for isolation of essential oils particularly cedar oil from cedar leaves, branches, and mulch. These essential oils have applications in the food, flavor, fragrances, and pharmaceutical industries. ANPI have found that their current extraction methods do not provide a suitable yield of cedar oil. This project will investigate the continuous florasol extraction process of cedar essential oil using green solvents within different range of
temperatures and pressures. Effect of extraction time, flow rate, moisture content, and particle size of the starting material will be investigated for development and optimization of the extraction process. The form (seed, leave, fresh flowers, roots, etc.), state (whole material dried or fresh), and treatment (ground, chopped, sliced, etc.) of starting material will also be examined which will have an effect on the extraction yield. This project will provide tremendous advantage to ANPI providing new opportunities to extract the maximum value from our low valued Canadian based softwood products.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Paul Charpentier

Student:

Raziye Samimihaghgozar

Partner:

Anpi Canada

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

Natural resources

University:

Western University

Program:

Accelerate

An Analysis of Flax Breeding Programs in Western Canada

Canada is the largest producer of flax in the world and the demand for flax is expected to increase significantly due to its proven health benefits. At the same time, the number of flax breeding programs in Western Canada has recently decreased from three programs to just one breeding program. The producer funded Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission (SaskFlax) is contemplating an expansion of flax breeding activity to address the deficit. The objective of this project is to undertake an economic assessment of the breeding requirements for flax industry in Western Canada and to develop a business plan with several options to scale up breeding operations in the Crop Development Center at the University of Saskatchewan. The knowledge created in this project will allow the SaskFlax to make informed decisions about investing in additional flax breeding. Experience in other crops suggests that these investments could create substantial economic benefits for flax producers and the industry as a whole.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Richard Gray

Student:

Katarzyna Bolek-Callbeck

Partner:

Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission

Discipline:

Resources and environmental management

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

University of Saskatchewan

Program:

Accelerate

The effect of silica nanoparticles on colloidal stability of tannins

The use of water sources with high silica concentration has proven to be a major challenge for the operation of steam boilers. Despite advances in conventional technologies, high silica water (>150 mg/L) continues to have a major impact on the operation and efficiency of boilers mainly due to silica deposit, which reduces heat transfer.
This project will investigate the behavior of tannins as a function of colloidal silica concentration, pH, and salt concentration, using photometric dispersion analyzer (PDA) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Field results show that tannin chemistry has changed the way steam boiler systems operate resulting in a higher efficiency and giving a significant cost reduction for low-pressure boilers (<300 psi). In addition, operational data support that the green tannin chemistry performs in silica levels well above any established industry guidelines, while reducing the environmental footprint of the industry. This work provides a new model for how high silica water can be treated in the future.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Theo van de Ven

Student:

Salman SafariMohsenabad

Partner:

TGWT Clean Technologies Inc

Discipline:

Chemistry

Sector:

Natural resources

University:

McGill University

Program:

Accelerate

Developmental Disability, Independent Facilitation, and Citizenship

Increasingly, organizations supporting people with disabilities, like Facilitation Wellington Dufferin (FWD), describe their activities in terms of citizenship goals, e.g., promotion of social inclusion, control over one’s own life, and access to natural supports. Key concepts such as citizenship and inclusion are philosophically disputed, raising a “measurement problem”—what would even count as evidence of success? The intern will distill the citizenship concepts embedded in FWD’s practice, locate them in the relevant theoretical literature, and suggest practical mechanisms for their measurement. Since communication is essential to controlling one’s own life, a second part of the project will involve designing a communication-support capacity-building project, including a best practices guide. The benefits to FWD include improved: understanding of citizenship; ability to measure their success; positioning for future advocacy; and access to expertise in designing the capacity-building project. The project will offer the intern experience in an applied research setting.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Chris Lowry

Student:

Catherine Klausen

Partner:

Facilitation Wellington Dufferin

Discipline:

Philosophy

Sector:

Management of companies and enterprises

University:

University of Waterloo

Program:

Accelerate

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