Innovative Projects Realized

Improvement and Innovation of current Mantech PECOD slide preparation process using magnetron sputtering

Currently, researchers at Nano and Micro System Lab (NMSL) of the University of Waterloo have been manufacturing photo-electro-chemical sensor slides using a bio-compatible material, titanium oxide to monitor water quality and contamination. But there are certain challenges in the slide performance and production scale and type of the current manufacturing technique. To overcome these industrial challenges the NMSL researchers has proposed new production method, namely magnetron sputtering, a nanotechnology method involved in vacuum deposition. With this technique, the partner organization, Mantech will be more competitive and able to comply with current protocols, and its water sensing slides will be more robust and have longer service time along with high sensitivity and faster detection.

Lumiio – Ishaan Gill

The Lumiio Development Intern Project will to be improve the its operational processes to that are required for marketing to new and existing clients, inform sales strategies and generate data needed to create key decisions. This project involves conducting research on market trends, competitors, prospective customers, product/technology, and providing recommendations for enhancing current business opportunities.

Business Internship “Prograde Landscapes”

Prograde Landscapes is a complete landscaping and property maintenance company. We create beautiful landscapes both residential and commercial and offer a variety of property maintenance services such as; lawn care, snow removal, spring and fall cleanups. The company was established 4 years ago; however, the owner has had multiple years of previous business experience managing a landscaping and pool building company in Kelowna.

At Prograde we are looking for a candidate to help offer a fresh set of eyes to some of our various processes. We are looking in particular for areas such as marketing, quoting/estimating and employee/customer relations.

We would like to take on an intern so as to both instruct them and learn from them. As an owner of the company, I was a teacher previously and have always believed that an instructor doesn’t just teach but learns from his or her students. In the same way at Prograde we see the value of having a fresh set of eyes that may help us learn or offer new insights to various aspects of our company. Having an intern would help us explore a variety of elements such as; processes, gap analysis and current systems.

New Inventory Management Software Implementation & COR and/or ISO Certification

The project overview includes 1) streamlining our internal metal inventory management, moving from a manual and time-consuming process to a digital process and new ERP software program, and 2) researching and attaining certification to attract larger clients and contracts.

Anti-viral potential of polyphenolic compounds isolated from marine seaweeds; multi-target approach against RNA viruses.

This research builds upon previous research performed by the intern regarding identifying natural compounds to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication and survival in the host cell. RNA viruses are responsible for notable human diseases, and continuous mutations of these viruses are challenging to develop anti-viral agents. Scientists have developed various anti-viral agents against RNA viruses. However, most are synthetic medications with a narrow spectrum and numerous side effects. Therefore, developing anti-viral medicines by employing natural products which are safer than synthetic compounds can solve these effects. Marine seaweeds generate various polyphenolic compounds for survival due to exposure to extreme conditions. Therefore, these polyphenolic compounds consist of remarkable biological activities against many diseases. Therefore, the proposed research hypothesizes a multi-target approach of polyphenolic compounds isolated from marine seaweeds against RNA viruses by inhibiting viral cell entry mechanism, replication, and survival in the host cell through different therapeutic drug targets can successfully inhibit RNA viral diseases.

An educational technology solution for upstream mental health in school-aged children

Fledge is an educational technology intervention for preventative mental health that will be implemented in classrooms for children from kindergarten to grade 3 to target stress/anxiety, focus, and emotional regulation. In order to assess the effectiveness of this intervention, the proposed research project will evaluate mental health literacy/social emotional learning and application of skills by the children before, during, and after using the platform. We will complete annual check-ins for 3 subsequent years to understand how the children’s mental health and wellbeing differs from a group of children that did not have access to the platform. We will collect information from the students, their teachers, and their parents throughout development of the platform to ensure that it is designed specifically for the users. It is so important for Fledge to be able to measure our impact and to be able to demonstrate the effectiveness of our upstream mental health approach.

Accélération du temps de simulation d’un jumeau numérique de broyeur semi-autogène à l’aide de l’intelligence artificielle

Le broyeur semi-autogène (SAG) est le broyeur primaire le plus commun dans les usines minéralurgiques en raison de son faible coût en capital. Bien que très performants, les broyeurs SAG sont souvent opérés de manière sous-optimale (manquant quelques points de pourcentage de capacité), car il est impossible de voir ce qui se passe à l’intérieur de celui-ci (niveau de la charge et angle d’impact des boulets sur la charge) et donc de faire les meilleurs ajustements des variables d’opération. Jumine possède un simulateur numérique de broyeur SAG basé sur des principes physiques permettant d’estimer le comportement intérieur au broyeur. Opérer ce simulateur en temps réel, en parallèle à l’opération normale, permet donc aux usines minéralurgiques une meilleure productivité. Ce projet vise l’amélioration de cet outil de travail afin de le rendre plus précis.

Combined use of Watershed and Morphodynamic Modelling to aid in the Conservation of Wild Atlantic Salmon

With constant news about population decline and a perceived lack of action from governments, people feel discouraged about the future of wild salmon. There is a need for a new, bold plan for wild Atlantic salmon conservation in the freshwater environment that will start working today, and 100 years from now. Plans are underway to identify watersheds that are important to the survival of this fish but climate change threatens their habitat. A new, innovative approach is being explored that will model how changing weather patterns will affect freshwater streams that are crucial for the development of young salmon. The results from these computer simulations will go towards strategic planning of conservation methods to ensure the Atlantic salmon has a place to grow and spawn for generations to come.

3D Printing of Affordable Housing for Remote Communities in Canada

Rural homelessness in Canada is still an ongoing problem that the country is trying to address. Most of Canada’s indigenous families in remote communities are living in substandard housing that needs major repairs. 3D printing of cementitious material to digitally construct building structures has already gained considerable attention from both the public and private sectors. Because this technology allows rapid construction, reduced cost, and labor, minimal construction wastes, and offers architectural freedom through seamless design modification. So, using 3D printing technology makes it a potential solution for the Canadian remote communities where the traditional construction supply chain fails to address even increasing housing demand. Turning wood-waste into value added carbon-neutral building material is envisioned in this project

Data visualization and analytical tools for agroecology

To respond to the lack of digital tools for small-scale farmers, our team has been developing Litefarm (https://www.litefarm.org), a free and open source multifunctional web app which can be used by farmers to enter data for farm management, obtaining organic certification, and participatory assessment of agroecological outputs. Launched in 2020, LiteFarm is now the world’s first community-led, not-for-profit, digital platform joining farmers and scientists, and is being piloted independently by over 2500 farmers in more than 110 countries.The intern will join our team to develop tools for data access and visualization to researchers and Litefarm users, while contributing to the development of specific statistical and mathematical methods to investigate the determinants of agroecosystem diversity.

Co-creating best practices for implementing work-integrated learning programs across Canada

The Rural Development Network is looking to engage an intern to research and uncover best practices around work-integrated learning (WIL) programs. WIL combines classroom theory with practical experience (e.g. apprenticeship). This project will support and strengthen collaboration between post-secondary institutions, employers, and students across Canada in a rural and remote context. Together, we will identify trends, supporting systems, and best practices to create a toolkit that supports institutions that are looking to enhance or develop WIL programs.

Computational methods for atomic force microscopy

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is a powerful tool to investigate the mechanical properties of cell membranes, by using a probe to scan the surface of a biological sample. However, computational and mathematical tools are still lacking to process and analyze time-series data from AFM in an automated way. Our project aims to develop an end-to-end pipeline to quantify the biophysical heterogeneity of cells observed from AFM data, by developing algorithms and analytical tools in bioinformatics, computational geometry and image analysis. By applying our new methodology on data provided from our collaborator who pioneered the technique, we are also planning to assess the impact of various stress conditions and antibiotic treatment on the cell membrane, providing potential avenues for the development of novel treatments of microbial infections.