Innovative Projects Realized

Business and Data Analyst

This project will be looking to work with the Cansbridge Fellowship to work on solutions for food waste and innovative solutions for waste management today. I will be working on this project in conjunction with a Singapore-based startup as a case study to work on waste management and the reduction of food wastes in the existing flow between suppliers and customers. I will be placed as a specialist for data analytics to provide insights into the business and connect with stakeholders to provide for strategies that can be optimized for the business model going into the future. Moreover, I will be placed in a team under the project manager to ensure I am able to provide clear analysis into their existing processes and will be then responsible for providing more clientele in service lines which are revealed to be the most impactful when pursuing.
The partner organization will be supporting this project and will look to provide an internationally connected project for a clear positive impact on the Canadian region. Moreover, they will be operating to provide the resources for me as the student to succeed in my deliverables for this project. This will look to extend their capacity to support more innovation projects and fellows that are looking to fulfill their entrepreneurial spirits!

Facilitating the Dissemination of Scientifically-Proven Psychological Interventions through Instructional Videos

Nellie Health (aka. Nellie) is a Canadian mental health startup company that aims to improve the accessibility of evidence-based mental health care for stress- and trauma-related mental health problems. Our vision is to revolutionize the mental healthcare delivery system by using innovative technology to facilitate the delivery of scientifically-supported interventions. The proposed business strategy internship project will support Nellie’s efforts to facilitate access to evidence-based treatment through the creation of a library of instructional videos, aimed at client consumers, describing scientifically-proven techniques for the spectrum of mental health conditions. These short videos to be produced will provide patients with information about their conditions, the rationale behind various therapeutic interventions, and instructions for how to implement them in their daily lives (i.e., microskills). Nellie ultimately strives to get individuals with trauma and stress-related conditions quality care, and this project is integral to supporting our mission.

Finite element modelling for the assessment of dented pipelines

Pipelines are extensively used across Canada and worldwide as a safe, reliable, and environmentally friendly way of transporting oil and gas. The pipelines traversing different ground conditions are sometimes subjected to minor mechanical damages from external interference. A dent is a type of mechanical damage resulting in a plastic deformation of the pipe wall. The proposed research focuses on developing a cost-effective solution for the dented pipes with an assessment of the performance of the pipes using numerical modeling. The research findings would be useful for updating the pipe design codes with a better understanding of the behavior of the dented pipes.

Disseminating Scientifically-Proven Psychological Interventions through Instructional Videos

Nellie Health (aka. Nellie) is a Canadian mental health startup company that aims to improve the accessibility of evidence-based mental health care for stress- and trauma-related mental health problems. Our vision is to revolutionize the mental healthcare delivery system by using innovative technology to facilitate the delivery of scientifically-supported interventions. The proposed business strategy internship project will support Nellie’s efforts to facilitate access to evidence-based treatment through the creation of a library of instructional videos, aimed at client consumers, describing scientifically-proven techniques for the spectrum of mental health conditions. These short videos to be produced will provide patients with information about their conditions, the rationale behind various therapeutic interventions, and instructions for how to implement them in their daily lives (i.e., microskills). Nellie ultimately strives to get individuals with trauma and stress-related conditions quality care, and this project is integral to supporting our mission.

Improving the efficiency and robustness of a microwave polystyrene pyrolysis reactor through combined experiments and simulations

Plastics are widely used and their end-of-life management remains a challenge. In 2016, Canadians disposed 3.3 million tons of plastics where 86% was landfilled, 4% was incinerated with energy recovery and only 9% was recycled. The low recycling rate is partly due to a limited market for the recycled material produced via mechanical technologies like optical sorting, washing, drying, and extrusion that we find in current recycling plants. Generally, such mechanical technologies do not enable a closed loop approach where the recycled material would be reintroduced into virgin-like applications.

Pyrowave’s microwave depolymerization technology has received increasing attention in recent years due to the advantages associated with microwave heating. The heating mechanism in this approach significantly enhances monomer yields compared to conventional technologies. In conventional methods, heating occurs based on conduction/convection, while with microwave, the energy is transferred on a volumetric basis. Polystyrene does not considerably interact with microwave fields. As such, a dielectric material particles are introduced in the system to convert the microwave energy into heat that promotes the polymer depolymerization at high temperature. Microwave irradiation selectively heats the dielectric material, which prevents secondary undesired reactions. Pyrowave’s reactor is a stirred-tank reactor, which is recognized as a suitable unit operation for non-Newtonian fluids like melted polystyrene. There are still multiple opportunities for optimization of Pyrowave’s reactor. The shape of the agitator can be optimized to promote the suspension of solid particles, maximise fluid circulation and prevent the risk of arcing. This is the goal of this project.

Spike sleep state deep learning classifier

Epilepsy is a difficult disorder to assess and even more so automatically. It is observed that in REM sleep epileptiform activity differs from other states of consciousness. REM sleep could hold the key to a better understanding of epilepsy, however robust features that work on different people and types of epilepsies are required. The purpose of using a deep learning model to classify epileptic spikes into designated sleep states can help designate those robust features. Instead of blindly looking for answers the deep learning model can incorporate millions of features where possibly only a handful are representative of why a spike is classified into REM. Through this work the features discovered could lead to a better understanding of epilepsy and hopefully better treatment.

Organometallic chemistry – Illumination through luminescent carbene-complexes

Effects of ionizing radiation on neural differentiation in a 3D in vitro model

Life Cycle Assessment of an additively manufactured component

Quality assurance for stroke decision support software in development (release 2.0)

Acute stroke is a leading cause of global death and disability. Quick access to robust treatments significantly improves patient outcomes, however, accurate interpretation of diagnostic imaging and effective communication of suspected findings remains a serious challenge for all stroke networks. Circle Neurovascular Imaging (Circle NVI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Circle Cardiovascular Imaging (Circle CVI) and a joint venture with the Calgary Stroke Program, is building a software as a service business aimed at providing physicians with an acute stroke decision aid tool, StrokeSENS™ that will leverage artificial intelligence (AI), advanced image-processing, and network connectivity to support physicians and other healthcare team members to simplify stroke care, with a focus on enabling front line stroke centers. Circle NVI’s mission is to simplify stroke care by augmenting front-line physician decision making. The intern will learn to use software tools and programming languages to prepare test datasets for AI algorithm training and validation as well as software validation. The funding provided through this project will enable Circle NVI to continue developing and testing our StrokeSENS software, making improvements to the current product as well as developing new features of interest to clinicians from our beta sites.

Development of an intelligent video technology – iVIDEO

The managers of HIT FILM Inc. believe that iVIDEO, compared to static information websites and those with standard videos, and a chatbot, provides a more interactive, playful, and personalized way of presenting content and information and improves the quality of browsing and navigation experience and users’ engagement, and consequently enhance the conversion rate (e.g., registration, purchase, mail registration for next step, etc.). They are seeking research-based proof for their belief.

Challenges of Scaling Social Enterprise in Canada

Social enterprises are businesses whose primary purpose is to create social and/or environmental impact. This study will seek to understand how to grow these businesses to create more social or environmental impact while being financially sustainable. This study will interview social enterprises to understand how they work, how they are trying to grow and what challenges they encounter while doing so. From the findings of this research, we hope to better understand how to strengthen the social enterprise sector in Canada.