Innovative Projects Realized

A Feasibility Study on the Development of Oshawa Hydrogen Economy Hub

This project aims to investigate the establishment of a hydrogen hub in the Pickering and Oshawa region to reduce emissions from fossil fuels. Transportation sector is one of the major air pollution sources in Canada. Produced hydrogen will be used in vehicles operated with fuel cell that will be produced by GM and Hyundai. Fuel cells do not emit NOx, SO2, CO2 compared to conventional fossil fuels. Within the scope of this study, the proposed system will be investigated thermodynamically to optimize hydrogen production. In conclusion, this project aims to reduce air pollutants from fossil fuels, as well as to create new business opportunities, and to establish an economic hub based on hydrogen in Oshawa and its surrounding area.

Machine Learning Engineering and Optimization for Improving Seafood Production

In this project, machine learning and optimization will be applied to a 20 GB dataset on raw fish quality and process control parameters collected by the Tally software over a three-year period in a large industrial tuna cannery processor. The goal of the research is to design predictive machine learning and optimization algorithms maximizing the production yields and reducing waste, which could save hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars a year depending on the seafood processor scale. The partner organization, ThisFish Inc. will embed the AI solutions obtained in this research project in the existing Tally software and offer to its customers, seafood processing companies in Canada and abroad. In addition, the project has an obvious sustainability aspect as it increases traceability of a product in the supply chain ensuring that seafood comes from environmentally and socially responsible harvesters and processors.

Ice coverage prediction for the St-Lawrence River

This project aims at creating a model for forecasting ice formation in the St. Lawrence Seaway between the Welland Canal and Quebec City. This will improve drastically the planning of all maritime operations during the winter transition period, before the freeze-up.

Explore Remote Virtual Technologies Using Real-time Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI)

This program will cement Canada’s leadership in global Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), a key technology in radio astronomy and geodesy. In partnership with Thoth Technology Inc., our team of leading radio astronomers will (i) develop new capabilities to compress, transport, and process large amounts of data between geographically distinct locations to enable real-time VLBI, and (ii) use this capability to make precise astrometric measurements of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) and pulsars, and through their scintillation properties, study their local environments.

The program will have several far-reaching benefits. Scientifically, advances to VLBI will improve the precision of pulsar localization by orders of magnitude and allow for a systematic spatial localization of FRBs. The project will also position Canada’s Algonquin Radio Observatory as the nexus of a new, low-frequency, global VLBI network and Thoth Technology as one of the world’s premier VLBI providers to large-scale, international telescopes. More far-reaching still, next generation VLBI will underpin the high-precision geodetic reference frame upon which autonomous vehicles will rely. As such, advances to VLBI could profoundly impact nearly every aspect of our economy, from engineering and construction to transportation and precision agriculture.

Co-designing the Governance of Natural Climate Solutions in Canada’s Agriculture Sector

The project will focus on setting out the enabling conditions for nature-based climate solutions. Within this objective, the team will develop a portfolio of opportunities for — and a discussion of the implications of — (i) new policy tools and modifications to existing laws and regulations and (ii) market-based approaches, all to enable and accelerate adoption of practices that show promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon in Canada’s agriculture sector. This is an important step to take in advancing the agriculture sector’s role as a solutions provider in climate change mitigation. This research will contribute to a wider initiative in Canada to identify, enhance, and accelerate natural environments such as croplands, grasslands, forests, wetlands, and peatlands capacity to contribute to cost-effective solutions to climate change mitigation, playing a key role in meeting the Paris Climate Agreement and keeping global warming below 2°C.

Development of ultrasonic based oil-water interface level monitoring device

The project aims at developing prototype of a new ultrasonic based device to monitor and
maintain oil-water interface position and oil layer height. Need for such a device has been
identified for applications in oil-water separators commonly used in a number of processes.
The ability to monitor interface position as well as liquid-layer thickness is essential to ensure
continuous operation of separators and avoid complications in downstream processing and/or
accidental discharge to sanitary or storm sewer systems. This is important to meet
environmental regulations for discharge waters into sewer system and avoid penalties.
Improved monitoring and control of these operations will enable them to become more
competitive. The new device would have several desirable features such as self-calibration,
low power consumption, resistance to fouling etc. These features were identified after a
review of potential applications with our industry partner. Further a review of alternative
technologies identified ultrasonic based device to hold the most potential to meet the
requirements.

Developing and Validating a Robust Sample Preparation, Separation and Quantitation Method for Pesticide Residues in Cannabis

Mandatory reporting limits established by Health Canada for pesticide testing in cannabis are typically lower than those published in various U.S. states. Because dried cannabis leaves and flowers generate many co-extractives that can negatively impact testing results, a simple and cost-effective sample preparation and analytical method needs to be developed to meet the demanding testing requirements in Canada. In this proposal, we will develop a robust sample preparation and clean-up procedure based on comparative research work and optimization of conditions and steps utilizing a combination of more basic procedures to extract 96 pesticides listed by Health Canada. Also, we will develop instrument methods to allow low level analysis of pesticides with good recovery in complex cannabis matrices.

Novel approaches for longitudinal control laws of commercial aircraft

The A220 aircraft, former CSeries, is the first commercial aircraft certified by Bombardier with fully augmented Fly-by-Wire Control Laws. The longitudinal controller gains are usually scheduled across the flight envelope according to relevant aerodynamic variables. Their tuning can be a lengthy and, sometimes, sub-optimal process. Hence, it is key for Airbus Canada to continue developing state-of-the-art design methodologies based on recent academic research. During this Master’s thesis, the student will evaluate the benefits and applicability to A220 of two ways of addressing this topic. If successful, those techniques will allow to improve the control laws robustness and performance. They will also offer a major competitive advantage by significantly reducing design turnaround times and the needs for exhaustive development flight test.

Social Media and Public Engagement

Social Media Presence – develop strategies to utilize social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and how best to raise the profile of the organization. Additionally, utilize these platforms to engage with our potential clients
Review current Communication Plan and suggest any recommended changes and implementation processes.
Assist in our community engagement procedures (town halls, community outreach) if we are successful in our recent RFP application for development of supportive housing. This would be a new area of support we would provide, a different level of programming and a new type of stakeholder.

Validation of Novel, Tumor Microenvironment-targetedImmunomodulatory Biological Therapeutic

ImmunoBiochem is developing novel anti-cancer therapeutics to address unmet need in intractable solid tumors. Because solid tumors are highly heterogeneous and evasive, recognizing cancerous cells, while avoiding damage to normal tissue, is a challenge. As a result, many targeted therapies quickly come up against resistance, resulting in patient relapses. ImmunoBiochem is solving the issue of tumor versus normal recognition by exploiting unique cancer targets in the tumor environment – a collection of features that are uniquely present in tumors and absent in the environment of normal cells. This provides for an ability for broader targeting and opportunity to avoid many common resistance mechanisms. The intern will help advance the validation of novel drug candidates in models of various cancer types and subtypes, to understand efficacy and how to ultimately translate the findings to initiate clinical trials in human patients.

FC Analyst

The baseline will be to build a current competitor landscape analysis which will also include mapping their key technology, integrations, and go-to-market strategy. Assessing where their key focus and what they consider the advantage will then be aligned with what we see happening in the market and how we are shaping our product to succeed in the next cycle of drop-shipping.

Community Engagement Strategist

Simbi is an online platform designed to help students improve their reading comprehension and fluency gains. As the community engagement strategist, I am responsible for outreaching to Simbi’s stakeholders and pursuing potential partnerships. Specifically, I will be working with Holocaust survivors and First Nation communities to upload their stories to the platform, and obtaining celebrity partnerships to excite kids to read.