Innovative Projects Realized

Extraction of rare earth elements from a leach liquor of waste NdFeB magnets

NeoCtech is a cleantech company producing critical rare earth metals from recycled waste magnets with an electrified, clean and green process. This project is about the development of an viable and sustainable process to separate rare earth elements with neutral CO2 production and significantly less consumption of environmentally detrimental chemicals.

Westland Insurance, Marketing Intern-Rochelle

This project will develop the brand and improve the ways we manage the community relationships at both regional and national levels. The internship will be assessing evolving new marketing strategies and looking at creating impactful content, including short videos for different media channels. The project involves revamping the Westland brand through collaboration with internal clients (in regards to various projects and marketing tactics) and through working with the teams that are currently supporting various active campaigns and other brand-growth related initiatives. In addition, this intern will join forces with the Marketing Director, who will serve as a coach and mentor. The Marketing Intern will get exposure to learning how to liaise with external suppliers and partners, following set communication channels or looking at other options and proposing new ideas. Additionally, the project intern will have an opportunity to gain expertise working extensively with specific software, such as Adobe Suite particularly Photoshop and InDesign, CANVA, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Outlook while having an option to work remotely.

Lin zhang- administrative and communication intern

Cyclic Materials is helping the world transition to a more environmentally responsible future by recovering rare earth elements and other valuable materials from the difficult-to-recycle products of the modern world. Cycilc Material help businesses recycle, provide the market with a secure and regional supply of critical metals, and do so in an ethical, economic, and sustainable way. This intern position aim to help the partner organization with manangement and communication and planning for the partner organization to perform their business objective efficiently. This position aim to increase the daily activities of the partner organization.

Funding/financing streams for family medicine clinic expansion

Internship to look into grant and funding for a family medicine clinic in an area with low access to healthcare, low socioeconomic means and large refugee community.

Recently, and with much difficulty, the clinic has been able to attract 3 new family physicians, doubling the number of physicians for the community. Between this and process optimization goals made possible by scale, it is projected that the clinic would be able to quadruple the number of patients it provides care for in the next year and a half. These new physicians will need equipment, and funding received could help provide this equipment for them at the clinic.
The clinic believes it is an appropriate time to expand their service offering to wider demographic due to the shortage of physicians, rising patient demand and the opportunity to be a excellent care provider in the region. We have enlisted the assistance of a Telfer School of Management (TSOM) MBA student to help clarify the feasibility of funding from various grants, and to assist in creating a market plan to roster increased non-resident patients.

Characterization of ionomer properties of the catalys tlayers of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs)

The state-of-the-art polymer electrolyte fuel cells have catalyst layers (CLs) made of platinum catalyst on carbon support (Pt/C) bound together by proton conducting polymer or ionomer. To overcome the challenges of high cost of Platinum catalyst and corrosion of carbon support, alternative materials for catalyst and catalyst support are being considered. The interaction of ionomer with catalyst and itsa support materials controls two factors that profoundly affects the CL Performance: the micro-scale structure of the CL and ionomer propoerties in the catalyst layer. The proposed research aims to carry out a systematic study of -characterizing the propoerties of ultra-thin films of different ionomers on various substrates.This work fills in the gap in knowledge of how different ionomer types interact with different catalyst/catalyst support and ultimately affect the catalyst layer structure, property, and performance. The fundamental knowledge generated will be used to fabricate CLs layer with desirable characteristics of high catalyst utilization and enhanced electrochemical performance.

Patent and Trademark Support for Growing Canadian Companies

OWN Innovation advises clients on legal and business strategies for high-growth Canadian technology companies. OWN is experiencing a significant challenge in dealing with the rapidly changing IP position of a client in the financial technology sector. From May-August 2022, the intern will assist OWN Innovation in building and/or implementing an IP strategy for this growing client. In doing so, the intern will learn to assess, strategize, and implement a strategy to protect and commercialize this client’s foreign and domestic IP portfolio and position in the Canadian space. This will include patent landscape research, drafting and reviewing IP portions of contractual arrangements, and filing or prosecuting patents. The intern’s work on this file will help address the client’s rapid development and allow the client to become an anchor point for Canadian financial technology and inspire other Canadian companies to pursue innovation in the hope of achieving similar success.

University of Alberta and City of Edmonton Grand Challenge Collaboration

The City of Edmonton (CoE) and the Governors of the University of Alberta (UofA) realize the shared interests and vision of our institutions through the ‘City of Edmonton and Post-Secondary Senior Advisory Committee (PS-SAC)’ engagement program. As such, the UofA and the CoE have prioritized leveraging each other’s strengths and interests to advance social and community innovation initiatives that address jointly identified societal ‘grand challenges’ in Edmonton. For the collaboration to be successful, a shared community innovation platform needs to be developed and operationalized. The project of interest will seek to identify current municipal-post-secondary collaboration models and initiatives to determine best practices. The project will seek to identify the range of resources and funding opportunities that could be leveraged. The partners will aim to conduct projects through the newly developed collaboration model.

Commercialization of Language Technology for Automated Consumer Research

This internship will involve the commercialization of a market research technology (ResTech) platform, powered by language technology. The intern will work with Nexxt Intelligence’s existing platform, inca, to explore and improve the text analytic capabilities and to commercialize them through applying their skills in market research and digital marketing to help polish the platform as a do-it-yourself solution for market researchers to use at scale. The intern will benefit from opportunities to engage with innovative and experimental approaches to market research.

Exploration of preharvest technologies in controlled environment production to improve the postharvest chilling tolerance of Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.)

Sweet basil is a leafy, flavourful and fragrant herb commonly used many types of cooking. It has not only nutrient values but also many health benefits. Basil likes warm growing environment; therefore, it is commonly produced in greenhouses in Canada. To keep leafy vegetables fresh, right after harvesting majority of them are normally stored and transported at about 4 ºC. However, basil can quickly become black and not sellable when kept at that temperature. To store and transport basil separately is logistically difficult and costly. Therefore, it would help both the growers and consumers if basil can be kept at low temperature. This project is to explore preharvest technologies in controlled environment plant production systems to improve basil’s postharvest chilling tolerance in order for it to be stored and transported under the same conditions as other fresh produces. This will not only benefit producers, but also will provide Canadian consumers with locally produced fresh basil even in winter months.

Contribution, en temps réel, d’une source sonore ponctuelle mobile à la nuisance en acoustique environnementale

Pour favoriser le maintien de la production en contexte de développement durable, nous cherchons à conceptualiser un système permettant au Port de Trois-Rivières d’identifier les sources bruyantes individuelles qui sont à l’origine de dépassements des niveaux sonores permis. Les techniques traditionnelles ne permettant pas d’établir ce lien de causalité, nous faisons appel aux avancées récentes dans le domaine de la reconnaissance sonore par l’intelligence artificielle afin de déterminer automatiquement et avec un très grand niveau de confiance les liens de cohérence entre chaque source rapprochée et un champ sonore distant.
Cet outil ouvrira la porte à une nouvelle génération de techniques d’intervention en contrôle de la nuisance par le bruit industriel. Ainsi, dans le cadre de ce projet de recherche, nous comptons mettre en place un système de notification aux opérateurs de machinerie, en temps réel et de façon individuelle, lorsque les stations de mesure de la nuisance en zone résidentielle détectent un dépassement des limites sonores permises provoqué par un opérateur donné. Ce système permettra d’intervenir avec précision et assurance sur les techniques de travail ainsi que sur la gestion du chantier en lien, par exemple, avec la position des équipements et les conditions météorologiques.

The Influence of Cannabis Inhalation During Exercise on Cardiovascular Health and Function: Exploring the Optimal Balance of Cannabinoids and Mode of Administration to Decrease Risk and Maximize Benefits

The proposed project will explore how cannabis consumption affects the cardiovascular system. Additionally, this project will examine how these effects might impact humans abilities to perform exercise following cannabis use, and whether cannabis use alters how exercise is perceived. It will also explore whether these effects vary if cannabis is inhaled by different methods, or if different types of cannabis have different effects. This information to develop evidence based understanding and messaging around cannabis use and exercise within health and wellness programming, and inform future commercialization efforts within the cannabis space.

The Fertility Partners

During the summer of 2022, I will be partnering with The Fertility Partners in Toronto, to further develop my understanding of finance while gaining real world experience in the finance industry. The Fertility Partners is a private equity backed search fund that acquires, partners with, and aids fertility clinics in their day-to-day operations. During my tenure at the firm, I will be helping the finance team with their daily activities regarding future mergers and acquisitions analysis’ as well as their business planning and analysis. On the M&A side, I will be learning and helping with the analysis of future clinic acquisitions and deal negotiations. On the BP&A side, I will be learning and helping with accounting and financial planning. Finally, I will be offering the firm a unique set of perspectives and my personal opinions on its business operations.