Innovative Projects Realized

SSE MBA – QV Studio – Team Ebrahim

The MBA intern will support a quantum startup currently incubated at Quantum Venture Studio (QV Studio), a venture studio dedicated to turning academic research in quantum technologies into viable startups. Over the four-month internship, the intern will work closely with the startup team to help build a clear and realistic three-year roadmap, including business milestones, market development, team needs, and funding strategy. This project will allow the intern to apply strategic planning and analytical skills in a deeptech context, while providing the partner organization with valuable structure and business support during a critical early stage.

Peindre sa place : artistes canadiennes dans les réseaux français (1880-1930)

Au tournant du 20e siècle, les artistes canadiennes Mary Bell Eastlake, Florence Carlyle, Henrietta Mabel May, Helen McNicoll et Laura Muntz Lyall ont traversé l’Atlantique pour se former dans les académies parisiennes. Pourtant, leurs parcours remarquables demeurent éclipsés par leurs homologues masculins dans l’histoire de l’impressionnisme canadien.
Ce projet dévoile comment ces artistes femmes ont stratégiquement navigué un milieu artistique dominé par les hommes. Contrairement au mythe de l’artiste solitaire, cette étude démontre que la réussite dépend de réseaux complexes : relations familiales, contacts d’apprentissage, associations artistiques, solidarités créatrices, entre autres.
La recherche s’appuie sur l’exploration d’archives françaises — correspondances, catalogues d’expositions, registres d’académies — pour reconstituer leurs stratégies d’insertion professionnelle. L’innovation méthodologique réside dans la création d’une cartographie numérique interactive visualisant leurs réseaux transatlantiques, leurs parcours de formation et leurs collaborations artistiques franco-canadiennes.
Cette approche révèle l’agentivité de ces pionnières qui ont su transformer les contraintes en opportunités créatives, établissant des ponts entre les scènes artistiques canadienne et française. En cartographiant ces réseaux artistiques transatlantiques, le projet démontre que l’art canadien résulte d’échanges créatifs bidirectionnels plutôt que d’une simple imitation.

The impact of the physical and social environment on epigenetic modifications, telomere length and the development of breast cancer

Recent studies have shown that interactions between beings and the environment, including social practices and human behavior, have an impact on the susceptibility to develop chronic diseases such as cancer, through epigenetic modifications or telomere shortening. The term epigenetic applies to the modifications that regulate gene expression without modifying the DNA sequence. Furthermore, telomere is a repetitive region at the end of each chromosome to protect them against deterioration caused by aging, stress, environment, etc. The aim of this project is to determine how the chronic and acute stress interacts in our body increasing susceptibility to breast cancer. The psychosocial environment might influence the epigenetic modifications and/or telomere length, thereby increasing the risk of developing breast cancer. The main benefit for the partner organization is to increase the knowledge they have on breast cancer, mainly concerning the interactions between human beings and the environment, including social practices and human behavior.

Analyse et traitement de nuages de points massifs sur GPU

Ce projet de recherche vise à améliorer le traitement des données 3D produites par des capteurs comme le Lidar, utilisés pour cartographier des environnements en haute précision. Ces capteurs génèrent des milliards de points, appelés nuages de points, qui sont aujourd’hui difficiles à analyser rapidement et efficacement.
L’objectif est de développer des outils capables de traiter ces données en temps quasi réel, directement pendant leur acquisition, grâce à la puissance des cartes graphiques (GPU). Cela permettrait d’accélérer les processus industriels, de réduire les coûts et d’améliorer la qualité des résultats, même avec des données incomplètes ou bruitées. Le projet est centré autour du recrutement de Léo Arnal–Anger, doctorant à l’Université de Toulouse, qui effectuera un stage à l’Université de Sherbrooke. Il sera encadré par deux professeurs, experts en géométrie 3D et en calcul haute performance. Ensemble, ils développeront des algorithmes innovants et publieront leurs résultats dans des journaux scientifiques de premier plan. Ce projet renforce la collaboration entre les laboratoires STORM (France) et SHERGRAPH (Canada), tout en formant un jeune chercheur dans un domaine technologique en pleine expansion. Il ouvre la voie à des applications concrètes dans les villes intelligentes, la préservation du patrimoine et l’ingénierie des infrastructures.

Communications Assets for Watershed and Waterfront Resilience

This project will support the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and partners in advancing the Western Lake Ontario Land to Lake Initiative (WLO-L2L), a collaborative effort to strengthen ecosystem health and water quality from the Niagara River to the Ganaraska watershed. The Initiative addresses land-based pressures on the lake such as nutrient and bacterial inputs, stormwater runoff, invasive species, reduced natural cover, and shoreline alteration, through demonstration projects, shared planning, and coordinated communications.
A key to scaling up adoption of nature-based solutions (NbS) is the ability to communicate clearly and consistently across diverse audiences. Municipal staff, funders, and community groups need accessible visuals, messaging, and templates that translate complex ecological information into formats that are easy to understand and apply. This project will embed a graduate student with TRCA to design and test communications strategies that fill this gap.
The intern will create infographics, illustrations, and messaging frameworks that demonstrate the value of NbS across multiple ecosystem types. These products will be developed in alignment with international standards such as the IUCN Global Standard for NbS, while being tailored to the specific needs of Western Lake Ontario L2L communities and governments.
By improving how NbS options are explained and shared, the project will support better decision-making, faster adoption of sustainable practices, and stronger collaboration among L2L partners.

Developing a Market Entry Strategy for Natures Affinity Inc’s innovative horticultrual products

Within the horticultural industry, plastic containers continue to dominate as the industry is reported to generate around 500 million plastic plant containers and seed trays annually [5]. StatsCan reports that more than 45 million nursery trees and plants were produced in containers in Canada for the 2024 period [6]. Natures Affinity Inc. (NAI) (www.naturesaffinity.ca) is a Canadian nanotechnology company located in Toronto, Ontario that has developed a novel, proprietary binding agent, BIOBINDER® that is 100% biobased and made from industrial and agricultural by-products. One of the features of BIOBINDER® is that it imparts a level of hydrophobicity to both virgin and / or recycled fiber, enhancing material stability and durability in wet conditions allowing it to be used successfully in the nursery industry. NAI has further developed two products that can be used in the horticultural industry, called Plant-EE™ pots and Plant-EE™ sleeves both utilizing BIOBINDER®. Plant-EE™ sleeves act as a propagation cell that holds soil substrates together in a plant tray while Plant-EE™ pots were designed to act as a growing container for plants in loose fill soil substrate. The key to these products is that while they are made from 100% biobased material, as certified by USDA BioPreferred® program, they are completely biodegradable when planted in the soil, with the innovative material enhancing the growth of the plant/tree. Because the Plant-EE containers are plantable there is zero plastic waste during tree planting, there is NO root circling, the roots are not disturbed on transplanting and the material is favourable to the growth of the plant. End result is a healthy tree with better ability to survive and flourish. The aim of this project is to develop a Business plan for full commercialization of NAI products.

An Examination of Social Space in Rural Nova Scotian Municipalities

This research project will apply a theoretical analysis of social space in rural areas in Nova Scotia in order to examine how municipalities design space, and how citizens interact with and within it. Much of the existing literature in the field focuses on social space in urban areas, like populated downtown areas of cities. This project attempts to close a gap in the literature by examining rural space using its character, design, and history, in order to assess its impact on engagement in the community. This project fits perfectly with Colibri Software, as its technology has the potential to be of huge use to small municipalities hoping to get people interacting and engaged in public space. Using “mobile application technology” (apps), they can collect useful data for the research aspect of the project, while also helping municipalities interact with their citizens, and thereby creating avenues for them to improve their public space design, planning procedures, and development policies.

Building a comprehensive online library of various state-of-the-art algorithms in network science

The study of complex systems using networks has become a central theme across disciplines, from social sciences and economics to biology and information systems. Graph theory, which models entities as nodes and their pairwise relations as edges, has provided a powerful framework for analyzing such systems. Graph-based methods have enabled advances in tasks such as community detection, link prediction, and anomaly detection.

The main objective of the internship is to develop and expand a comprehensive online library that consolidates algorithms for mining graphs and hypergraphs, with the focus on synthetic graphs and hypergraphs. This platform will function as a central resource for researchers and practitioners, improving usability, reproducibility, and collaboration across the community.

Études hydrologiques du bassin versant de la rivière Cedeño dansl’état de Veracruz au Mexique

Le bassin versant de la rivière Cedeño au Mexique est un bassin d’importance pour la région de Veracruz. Ce bassin est cependant caractérisé par des problématiques liées à la gestion de l’eau ainsi qu’à la qualité de l’eau. Ces problèmes influencent non seulement l’alimentation en eau de la ville de Naolinco mais aussi plusieurs producteurs agricoles habitant plus bas que la ville. Le projet de recherche aura pour but d’évaluer la quantité d’eau disponible et acheminée à la ville de Naolinco et provenant du bassin versant de la rivière Cedeño, afin de proposer une solution adaptée d’alimentation en eau de la ville. Étant sur un site n’ayant aucune valeur de débits observés, la modélisation hydrologique devra se baser sur plusieurs études de cas similaires afin d’obtenir des résultats, soient les débits acheminés vers Naolinco, de la meilleure qualité possible.

Digital Media & Membership Innovation Intern

The Educator Experience is creating an innovative private podcast platform designed to deliver exclusive, high-value content to a dedicated educator audience while fostering community engagement and long-term member relationships. This internship will focus on building the foundation for the platform, including researching best practices for private podcast delivery, designing the member experience, developing content access strategies, and integrating monetization pathways. The intern will work closely with the founder to craft a unique, niche-specific experience that goes beyond traditional podcasting—transforming it into an interactive, membership-driven learning community.

Development of the Market-Ready Next-Generation Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Data Collection & Analysis System

This project focuses on developing a ready-to-market Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Data Collection & Analysis System to improve the accuracy and efficiency of NDT assessment. By automating data collection and analysis, the system will reduce assessment costs by over 50%, making inspections faster and more reliable as well as providing asset maintenance advice and lifespan prediction. The project will finalize the design, test performance, and prepare for production, helping Archirit bring an innovative and cost-effective solution to the industr

Conception et création d’un nouveau matériau issu de la fusion du verre et d’un autre solide (céramique, verre…)

Les verres d’oxydes occupent présentement une place considérable dans tous les secteurs industriels. L’intérêt majeur de ces verres réside dans leur large éventail de propriétés grâce à la possibilité de créer des objets personnalisés pour répondre aux demandes d’une application particulière. De ce fait, l’innovation est essentielle pour découvrir des nouveaux verres qui peuvent être utilisés dans diverses applications où les verres de silice classiques ont déjà atteint leurs limites de performance. C’est dans ce contexte qu’est né ce projet qui s’intéresse au développement d’un nouveau verre d’oxyde de nouvelles compositions vitreuses basées sur la présence de composés fortement ioniques de formule SiO2-Na2O-Al2O3-MxOy (M = B, La, Ba, Sr…). La synthèse de ce matériau sera effectuée tout en apportant des modifications dans les compositions de verre pour le rendre plus résistant au choc thermique, facile à utiliser et opérationnel. Les propriétés thermo-mécaniques, la durabilité chimique envers des milieux agressifs et la capacité à générer des cristaux de façon contrôlable de compositions vitreuses spécifiques seront étudiées. Dans le but de déterminer les énergies d’activation et les coefficients d’Avrami et d’optimiser les paramètres thermiques, des études de dévitrification seront effectuées également.