Innovative Projects Realized

Fall For Dance North

Fall for Dance North is looking to improve its audience engagement, digital transformation, and create a sustainable hybridization model. Addressing these concerns will help ensure this festival is accessible, engaging, and able to withstand future events that may disrupt the festival.

Security and Automation Considerations forInternal Licensing Database Management System

This proposed research will create a modem internal licensing database management system, which will be developed at Side Effects. The main objectives of this applied research are (1) manage customer and license information; (2) ensure the security of the system; (3) test the application efficiently and automatically; (4) generate a useful report based on the licensing data. With the participation of the intern in the design and implementation of the data core of the system, the company will benefit by being able to manage complex software licensing agreement with greater efficiency.

Indigenous Women’s Healing Centre- Case Work

Interns will be assisting current staff in creating the Summer Schedule for Programming for the children who live with their mothers at the IWHC, which will begin once they are done school at the end of June. Once the Summer Programming Schedule is approved, interns will help staff implement the summer programming with the women and children.
As well, I as an Intern intend to shadow and learn Case Management skills (Intake Process and learning the social history and needs of the potential incoming participant). Other Case Management skill I would like to learn and practice are the steps to creating a case consult prep and presentation, which is given to the Board of Directors and Staff to determine whether a woman is able to be taken on as a participant in the program. Lastly, once comfortable, Interns can take on roles of co-facilitating day programming to the women, such as cooking lessons or seminars on self-confidence. Throughout this I will be using qualitative, participatory research skills to interact with cleints in the programs and then developing case studies to help suoort the work of the IWHC

Universal Learning Institute- Marketing Coordinator Internship-Hajara

A private career college with over 25 years of student success, we offer a variety of short-term courses and diploma and certificate programs in many fields. Our mission is to ensure students can find and keep a job locally and internationally. Our proven programs help many get the education and training they need and assist them in succeeding in their careers. All ULI programs have a career focus assuring students will enter the job market as soon as possible and they become more competitive in job hunting after their career training.
This project will help us conduct market research on the industry trend and competitors. We will be able to create appropriate marketing content for the right target audience, and it will help not only us but many Canadian job seekers & employers. Another primary objective is to create newsletter templates & content for BC government agencies and our industry partners, explaining the benefits of our program and how we can help them meet their staffing needs. The intern will learn to integrate various social media platforms to create a top-notch marketing strategy and increase brand awareness.

Anonymous peer coach innovation

Honest Empathy Innovations Inc. aims to build sustainable mental healthcare solutions with groundbreaking development and innovation in machine learning. We plan to build a next-generation machine learning platform that Canadians can access for their mental health with this project. Our solution is supported by the Canadian Mental Health Association, NEXT Canada, and Yukon Government. Our solution research aims to help folks affected by post-traumatic stress disorder and those who encounter anxiety, depression, and OCD daily. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, By age 40, about 50% of the population will have a mental illness. Two out of three Canadians won’t have access to treatment. This project aims to significantly reduce this statistic by innovating CBT with machine learning.

Experimental Investigations on Novel Absorption Columns for Post-Combustion CO2 Capture Using Alkanolamine Solvents

Post-combustion CO2 capture is widely recognized as the most feasible approach to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels as it can easily be retrofitted to existing facilities. The existing aqueous amine absorption technology has shown promising performance but also the challenges associated with the mass transfer, kinetics, and amine degradation persist. The careful engineering of the CO2 absorption column through the optimization of absorption column design and packing structure configuration have the potential to significantly enhance the performance of CO2 capture using the amine absorption technology. This research proposal aims to develop and evaluate different amine absorber designs to improve the hydrodynamics of the absorption process to facilitate the proper gas-liquid contact and minimize mass transfer resistances. In this work three different configuration of the absorber will be developed which are packed column, spray column and wired column. Demonstration of this novel absorption technology, first in bench scale size, will provide concrete engineering data to design a commercial absorber, which can meet the absorption capacity at low capital/operating expenditures (CAPEX and OPEX), with low energy consumption.

Deep Learning Artificial Intelligence for Optimal Production and Quality of Carbon Nano-fibers from Green-house Gases

Carbon dioxide and methane are two dominant green-house gases responsible for global warming—a topic of major concern nowadays. Efforts are intensifying in both academia and industry all around the world to come up with innovative and cost-effective solutions to combat global warming. One such effort is Carbonova’s technology
that transforms carbon dioxide and methane into carbon nano-fibers—a material that is lighter, stronger, and more flexible than steel, with applications in electronic devices, sensors, and more. However, Carbonova’s technology involves complex chemical reactions at two stages, where at each stage there exists non-linear relationship between the various process parameters and the output of the stage. Currently, the complex chemical reactions and non-linear relationships are determined experimentally which is time-intensive and costly. The research proposes to use deep learning artificial intelligence (DL/AI) to model the complex chemical reaction and nonlinear behavior of the process parameters on the output. The intern will create DL/AI models, and then train, test, and validate the models, which are then used to predict the production rate of carbon and quality of carbon nanofibers. The expected benefit of the research is a reduction in the number of experiments performed, which translates to savings in operational expenditure for Carbonova.

Exploring further possibilities and advancements of using bio-control entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) for the management of insect pests in Alberta (# 2021F119R)

Crop losses and the economic impact caused by canola insect pests is substantial, depending on outbreak conditions. With the predicted de-registration of two key insecticides, canola producers are potential subject to greater economic losses. Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), also known as predatory nematodes, are commercially available biocontrol agents for the management of insect pests. Advancement in application technology has improved their biocontrol efficiency against insect pests. In this project we propose to further explore EPN use against root maggots and cutworms. EPNs showed good control of both these pest in laboratory experiments of different commercially available EPN species. This project is focused on the investigations under greenhouse conditions and subsequently future studies will lead to field trials with the long-term goal of providing a sustainable insect pest management approach for Western Canadian growers.

South Asians in the Great Outdoors: Navigating racialized experiences Rock Climbing in Canada

Six to eight South Asian-Canadians interested in rock climbing will participate in a day of outdoor rock climbing as a combined research activity and community initiative. Participants will provide feedback from the experience in the form of an on-site focus group discussion. Additionally, a photograph of the event, as a performance art piece, will be captured, blown up to 4’ x 6’ and displayed in a climbing gym in the Vancouver area for one month. During this time, gym-goers from the broader climbing community will be invited to participate in the interactive installation through a questionnaire about the image that will be accessible through a QR code pasted beside. This research will benefit partner organizations in helping them create desired inclusive climbing communities.

Structure of near-zero carbon footprintsustainable community

The objective of this project is to conduct a feasibility study and build a business case for the design and deployment of an electric energy storage inftrastrucutre from renewable and mostly solar energy sources. The feasibility study will follow a thorough benchmarking and evaluation study of the various existing choices an select the one(s) that are the most promising for new and large sustainable communities.

Arts-based programming and outreach support

This project will assist both West Central Women’s Resource Centre and North End Women’s Centre in identifying community needs as they transition out of the pandemic and towards sustainable and responsive programming through arts-based programming and outreach. The objective of this project will be to plan and implement arts-based programming within the centres an support outreach activities. It will engage the centres participants in arts-based programming to increase communication and identify needs. Outreach support will be provided to increase the centres ability to encourage participation in programming. This project will expand on the work the centres are already doing and build from community-based research methods and engagement and arts-based practices. The project will increase support and outreach to the centres participants which will result in better communication and outcomes for both the centre and the participants. Arts-based programs will be implemented and a report of the internship will be produced for the centres.

Translation platform and OSNAT 800 chin platform – PulseMedica

PulseMedica is developing the OSNAT 800, a medical device that enables precise, controllable vitreoretinal laser surgery.
One of the major competitive advantages of the OSNAT-800 is its ability to offer clinicians precise control over the various aspects of the lasers. This control will result in a significant improvement in patient outcomes due to increased surgical accuracy and decreased destructive thermal energy required for treatment.

However, for this competitive advantage to hold true, the entire structure of the device and all of its elements need to be of the highest standards. In this project, we are specifically focussing on improving the chin rest and the translation stand. These two components are very important to the success of our device because during the laser treatment procedure, it will be imperative that the patient’s eye position is stable and perfectly aligned with the device despite slight head movements. Since our current translation stand and chin rest have various limitations that restrict the accurate delivery of lasers in the eye, further development is needed.