Innovative Projects Realized

Explore thousands of successful projects resulting from collaboration between organizations and post-secondary talent.

29670 Completed Projects

2811
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4990
BC
801
MB
663
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825
SK
8841
ON
9197
QC
95
PE
568
NB
1088
NS

Projects by Category

Exploring the lives of women with acne (acne and gender-based violence; acne inversa and sexual health)

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence (SV) are unfortunately common occurrences in women’s lives. Women with a disability are at higher risk of these experiences. Disabilities such as depression have been researched and we now turn our attention to a condition that has not been researched: acne. This research project aims to find the rates of co-occurrence of IPV and SV in a sample of women who have acne; gain a better understanding of these women’s experiences; examine sexual health experiences of women who have acne inversa; and analyze study results to produce documents that will be available to patients in the waiting room
of a dermatologist’s office. These patient-oriented documents will 1) provide information and resources to those experiencing or know someone who has experienced IPV or SV and 2) information on acne inversa and experiences with sexual health.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Kathryn Lafreniere

Student:

Partner:

Windsor Clinical Research Inc

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Windsor

Program:

Accelerate

Potentiel pour la finance carbone de soutenir l’aménagement écosystémique : un modèle régional appliqué sur la Côte-Nord du Québec

Les feux étant relativement peu fréquents dans la forêt boréale de la Côte-Nord, cette dernière se caractérise par une abondance de vieux peuplements présentant une grande diversité d’espèces animales et végétales. La mise en place d’un aménagement forestier durable qui maintiendrait cette diversité exige de l’industrie qu’elle reproduise du mieux possible la complexité structurelle qui caractérise les vieilles forêts, ce qui implique des coûts d’intervention accrus pour une récolte moindre. Néanmoins, le carbone additionnel qui serait alors laissé sur place pourrait comporter ses propres avantages financiers, compensant potentiellement les coûts supplémentaires. Ce projet vise donc à établir la viabilité d’une telle stratégie en chiffrant précisément ses coûts et bénéfices. Des estimations positives pourraient ouvrir une nouvelle voie à l’industrie forestière et augmenter ses marges de manoeuvre en diversifiant ses sources de revenus.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Yves Bergeron

Student:

Partner:

Développement Economique Sept-Iles Inc;Groupe Rémabec

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services; Public administration

University:

Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue

Program:

Accelerate

Development of Smart Energy Management Algorithms for Commercial Building Retrofit

The Unity Integration Smart Energy Management System (SEMS) will be a technology that fills a critical niche in realizing the Smart Grid of the future. Green building codes are driving energy efficient design of new buildings, but the vast stock of existing buildings – responsible for 30% of Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – needs to be addressed. There is a clear need for low-cost solutions to building energy retrofit, initially in the commercial sector where the energy use and economics to do so are most favourable. To this end, Michael Fischer will research and build upon existing advanced predictive control algorithms that employ spatial illuminance and thermal modeling to realize improved energy management for commercial building lighting and heating. The control algorithms will be implemented via a low-energy and low-cost suite of wireless sensors and actuators under development at Unity, forming a robust and reconfigurable control network.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Kui Wu

Student:

Partner:

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Victoria

Program:

Accelerate

Development of a slit die system for on-line rheological measurements of polymeric melts and study rheological properties at EHC

Our industry partner, EHC GLOBAL, is a world leader in the design, manufacture and sale of escalator handrails products including recyclable handrail that features built-in antimicrobial properties and the ability to display custom graphics. They also deal in many other products such as escalator safety brushes, urethane rollers and engineered polymer products and are continuing to introduce new products in the market. However, escalator handrails continue to be one of their major product
lines, which they consistently look at improving the performance of this product. Therefore, they have established a pilot production line for investigating new material formulations and production methods. They want to undertake detailed scientific studies of all the factors that have a bearing on material properties and production technology. The rheological properties are key parameters that affect not only the production processes but also mechanical performance of the elastomeric handrails during operation. The rheological behavior of materials can vary widely with both formulations and process parameters. Therefore, having an in-situ measurement system will be very helpful in carrying out the scientific studies and modeling that they desire to undertake for product improvement. TO BE CONT’D

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ghaus Rizvi

Student:

Partner:

EHC Canada

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Program:

Accelerate

Scalability management for Virtualized IMS

Network virtualization has received a lot of attention, as it represents a promising way to diversify existing networks and ensure the co-existence of heterogeneous network architectures on top of shared substrates. Virtualization of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) improves the system scalability, simplifies software upgrade and eases the implementation of security. There are several challenges that need to be considered when defining a solution for virtualized IMS architecture. Among them, we can list definition and validation of mechanisms that enable service-based resource scaling of virtualized IMS nodes to support dynamic, efficient and ondemand service provisioning over virtualized IMS systems while meeting the consumers, and the infrastructure provider performance objectives. This project aims to develop, demonstrate and evaluate a new mechanism for resource scaling for virtualized IMS systems based on SLAs. This mechanism will allow dynamic allocation of resources based on low-level (resources) and high-level service requirements.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Nadjia Kara

Student:

Partner:

Ericsson Canada Inc (Montreal, QC);École de technologie supérieure

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Information and cultural industries; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

École de technologie supérieure

Program:

Accelerate

Development a Stabilized Computer Vision System for Infrared Aerial Fire Monitoring

Hummingbird Drones provides aerial fire monitoring services to the BC Wildfire Service through the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). They conduct night-time flights over wildfire zones to locate and map hotspots for ground crews. Their current operations suffer from two bottlenecks: a heavy camera stabilizer which decreases flight time, and long post-processing time after landing required to analyze captured thermal images. By developing a lightweight camera stabilizer with onboard microprocessor, images can be analyzed in real-time while minimizing the weight required for separate recording equipment. This all-in-one solution will streamline operations for Hummingbird Drones by increasing their imaging and processing efficiency, allowing them to provide up-to-date fire information to ground crews.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Homayoun Najjaran

Student:

Partner:

Fire AI

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Aerospace; Commercial Services; Technology

University:

University of British Columbia - Okanagan

Program:

Accelerate

Visualization and Analysis of User-Authored Annotations using Graphs

User-authored annotations of data visualizations can support analysts in the activity of sense making, where it is not only critical to document observations and hypotheses, but also to communicate insights between analysts. As the size and complexity of data grow, so does the diversity of annotations. We propose to develop a visualization system that allows analysts to interactively create, compare, and manipulate these annotations. We seek to explore the visual representation of annotations in collaborative data analysis scenarios using a variety of datasets, including time-series and documents. Each objective of this project will result in a publication submission to a top scientific venue, benefitting Autodesk Research, the intern, and the visualization community.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ravin Balakrishnan;Sheelagh Carpendale

Student:

Partner:

Autodesk

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Technology; Sustainability & the Environment

University:

University of Calgary; University of Toronto

Program:

Accelerate

Development of value-added materials and products through extraction and purification of metallurgical by-products

The availability of mineral natural resources in British Columbia has significantly contributed to the prosperity and growth of local, provincial and federal economies. Currently, with a continued globalization of resource markets, the procurement and access to mineral and metal resources continues to be a prime national security priority for Canada. As a result, this Mitacs Accelerate Cluster proposal seeks to further develop the mineral processing capabilities in BC, with a particular focus on maximizing the use of by-products generated during smelting operations. In this project, industry leaders from Teck Metals Ltd., Fenix Advanced Materials, Drop Designs, Kootenay Association for Science and Technology and researchers from the University of British Columbia seek to collaboratively utilize by-products and slag generated during lead (Pb) – zinc (Zn) smelting operations at Teck’s metallurgical operation in Trail, BC. Of particular interest is the extraction of selenium (Se) from copper selenide (CuSe) by-product, and tellurium (Te) from soda slag. Further, purification of Teck’s indium (In) metal to achieve ultra high purity will be examined. Finally, the use of slag as an abrasive for advanced manufacturing operations will be investigated. TO BE CONT’D

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Faculty Supervisor:

Lukas Bichler

Student:

Partner:

Teck Ltd (Trail, BC);Fenix Advanced Materials Inc;Drop Designs;Kootenay Association For Science and Technology

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Mining

University:

The University of British Columbia - Okanagan; University of British Columbia - Okanagan

Program:

Accelerate

Development of Novel Power Take Off and Control Scheme for a Canadian Wave Energy Converter

In the proposed project, an exploratory study will be conducted on the control concept and WEC design developed by P2H2P in order to prove its viability for energy recovery from the waves. For this purpose, a time domain model and unique control system will be constructed considering the particularities of the design, as provided by P2H2P. The outcome of this project will be the predicted power output from the WEC in the typically sea states that occur off the West Coast of Canada, alongside the expected annual energy generation from this concept. The measure of success of this concept will be how well this concept performs compared to the concept with a passive power generation scheme. The relevance of this project for P2H2P is to determine the viability of their concept. They do not have the ability to numerically model their concept and to test out there theories, therefore they are currently relying on thought experiments to predict the likely motions and potential increases to power recovery. TO BE CONT’D

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Faculty Supervisor:

Bradley Buckham

Student:

Partner:

P2H2P Energy Recyclers Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Victoria

Program:

Accelerate

Generation and Characterization of High Performance PV Silicon

Current silicon photovoltaic solar panels are mostly produced from refined silicon, which must be of a required purity that is acquired through energy intensive and costly processes. Our industry partner, Ubiquity Solar Inc. is developing manufacturing process which will ultimately require less energy and cost and will also produce silicon of high purity with a physical structure that produces superior performance in photovoltaic applications. This project will study various solvents and processing conditions to improve the product refining process to produce silicon with the least amount of impurities. Furthermore, it will also study the mechanical properties of manufactured rods and develop computer models which incorporate underlying mechanisms causing these flaws, leading to optimization of processing conditions which minimize these flaws.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Chandra Veer Singh;Mansoor Barati;Kinnor Chattopadhyay;Glenn Hibbard

Student:

Partner:

Ubiquity Solar Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Accelerate

The Restricted Publicity: Esoteric Buddhist Texts and Imperial Control in Medieval China

In medieval China, the state regularly sponsored the compilation of Buddhist canons and its circulation. It was a measure of publicity as well as restrictionism, and standardization. The official control of the translation and publish of esoteric texts exemplifies the theory, which, to both the state and the church, contain messages improper for ecumenical accessibility. A probe into this issue helps us better know about information sharing of the past and rethink its digitalizing and universalizing trend that is sweeping the world. The investigation would shed new light on the ideological nature of the Buddhist canons in history and provide references for the ongoing digitalization program of Buddhist texts undertaken by Dharma Drum Mountain, which aims to create a massive electronic database including all kinds of Buddhist texts. It would be available for consultation on the design of the exhibition on East Asian manuscript and print culture both online and on-site (UBC Asian Centre, Feb.-May 2016) that is sponsored by Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Jinhua Chen

Student:

Partner:

Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association (Vancouver, BC)

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Other services (except public administration)

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

Analysis of introducing aperiodicity in microlens arrays in a superlens-based magnifier for an improvement in resolution

Microlens arrays (MLAs) have tiny lenses with a diameter less than a millimetre, typically placed in a periodic arrangement. A compact magnifier using two layers of MLAs has been demonstrated by us. In this project, we intend to increase the resolving power of the MLA magnifier by adjusting the periodicity of the microlenses, which would minimize the spherical aberration of the MLA magnifier. In a sense, this would be analogous to making the lens curvature aspheric in singlet lenses. In this project, the optimal adjustment of the microlens periodicity which will result in the highest improvement in the resolution of the MLA magnifier will be investigated.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Boris Stoeber

Student:

Partner:

Recon Instruments Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate