Innovative Projects Realized

Pathways to Prosperity: New policy directions and innovative local practices for newcomer integration and attraction

This project will aim to promote interagency collaboration in order to improve immigrant integration. In order to achieve this goal, the intern will be involved in clarifying employer and college/university needs, local settlement agency capacities, and the institutional mechanisms that would be needed to promote and govern interagency collaboration. The research process will involve interviews, focus groups, and reviews of the literature. The project will lay out a coherent, evidence-based set of ideas and propositions to be used by LASI to construct viable commercial relationships. These relationships would entail the provision of services and advice by LASI members or member coalitions to the following actors: colleges and universities, employers and employer associations, international students, and internationally trained workers

Entangled Memories and Divided Belongings: Politicization of Memory and Othering in Post-Conflict Northern Cyprus

This project explores how different groups within the Turkish-speaking Cypriot community in Northern Cyprus remember the island’s history of conflict and how those memories shape their relationships and the future of the unresolved conflict. It focuses on two groups: native Turkish Cypriots born and raised on the island and naturalized citizens of the de facto state TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) of mainland origin. Although these groups now live together, their memories and experiences often differ, creating misunderstandings, tensions, ontological insecurities, and a sense of “us” versus “them.” Through in-depth interviews, this research listens to how people talk about the past ethnic conflict, their sense of belonging, and their aspirations for the island’s future regarding reconciliation. Rather than focusing only on formal negotiations, this project examines intra-communal tensions and how everyday people experience and talk about conflict, identity, belonging, and life in a state not officially recognized internationally. The project aligns with the expertise of both the home and host supervisors and provides a unique opportunity to establish enduring collaboration between McMaster University and Eastern Mediterranean University. It will lay the groundwork for future co-authored publications, joint conference panels, and a digital archive on intergenerational memory narratives in Cyprus.

AI based Animal Behavior Recognition: Dog Pose and Labeling

This project will develop a real-time Artificial Intelligence based system that accurately estimates 3D skeletal pose from monocular video of dogs and reliably classifies fundamental behaviors to support veterinary health monitoring and behavioral assessment applications. Recent research has demonstrated significant progress in automated animal behavior recognition. The intersection of computer vision, animal behavior analysis, and veterinary health monitoring represents a rapidly evolving field with significant implications for both technological advancement and animal welfare. The project addresses the societal challenge of pet mental health and accessible veterinary care, the technology will benefit Canadian pet owners and support the domestic pet care industry.

Lululemon: Sports Bra Comfort Assessment

Female breasts experience large displacements during physical activities such as running and jumping. This can lead to problems such as breast discomfort, and even chronic neck and back pain. However, correctly designed sports bras can alleviate some of these symptoms, and enable women to exercise with greater comfort. lululemon Athletica strives to develop a sports bra with optimal support and comfort. Therefore, the objective of this collaboration is to understand the biomechanical and morphological variables that correlate with comfort under different activities and sports bra conditions. This will be done through a large scale experimental study of dynamic movements under a wide variety of bra design conditions. The results of this study will help us to understand the features of a sports bra that best provides user specific comfort, satisfaction and performance, so that these can be implemented and optimised for future designs.

Education, Community Engagement and Unconventional Oil and Gas Development: North East British Columbia

Through directed interviews and exit questionnaires information about baseline education levels associated with academic preparedness and skills training will be analyzed to determine what type of support is lacking in the Natural Gas development. The interviews will take place throughout the Monteny Region of NE British Columbia region to assist with Liquid Natural Gas development. This assessment will focus on what educational resources are currently in place, and assess their ability to meet and deliver program in support of specific skill development, their potential to enhance skills training in partnership with local authorities trough all phases of education K-12 to apprentice and/or colleague/university/certificate training programs. This activity will also identify critical limitations with existing education providers to provide skills training or industry ability to create a long term skills training strategy.

The Paternity Crisis and the Other Side of Turkish Modernity

My research project presents a unique perspective on the Turkish experience of modernity from the side of the discredited, disavowed and repressed, and thus contributes to a better understanding (and to a better identification of the failures) of the modernization in Turkey that predominated much of the twentieth century. It does this through an exploration of paternity crisis that hinges upon the traumatic inception of modernity. The killing of the father lies at the foundation of law which substitutes the abstract principles of equality, liberty, and fraternity for paternal/traditional authority—that resonates with the modern state born of the French Revolution.

GOWL-Edit, un assistant logiciel pour l’édition graphique d’ontologies OWL 2, de requêtes SPARQL et de règles SWRL (Semantic Web Rules Language) dans la syntaxe G-OWL étendue

L’Institut de Recherche en Électricité du Québec (IREQ), qui est le centre de recherche d’Hydro-Québec, a pris le virage des technologies du web sémantique depuis quelques années. L’IREQ doit gérer une quantité énorme d’informations provenant de ses équipements réparties dans tous le Québec. Les chercheurs de l’IREQ ont notamment choisis les technologies du web sémantique afin de faciliter la cueillette et la gestion des informations. Au coeur des technologies de web sémantique réside une pile langagière qui permet de textuellement coder les informations et la sémantique qui s’y rattache. Les chercheurs de l’IREQ souhaiteraient développer une solution afin de faciliter le processus de modélisation de la sémantique des données par la conception d’un langage graphique (G-OWL étendu) et d’un assistant logiciel de modélisation graphique (GOWL-Edit). Techniquement, GOWL-Edit sera en mesure d’assumer l’édition de fichiers dans le format : de l’Ontology Web Language version 2 (OWL 2), du langage de requêtes SPARQL et du langage de règles Semantic Web Rules Language(SWRL). Comme point de départ de la solution, il est envisagé d’exploiter le G-OWL, une syntaxe graphique de l’OWL 2 issus du résultat de l’une de nos recherches antérieures.

Developing an AI-Driven Personalization Framework for Menstrual and Chronic Pain Management

This project lays the foundation for the next stage of development of Juno Technologies’ medical and connected device: integrating artificial intelligence (AI) to provide personalized, adaptive menstrual pain management.

Preclinical characterization of medical marijuana cultivars with therapeutic efficacy and low side-effect liability

Medical marijuana describes the legal use of cannabis plants for treating health-related issues. In Canada, there are currently about 40,000 medical marijuana users, and this number is expected to increase by over 1000% during the next decade. The large majority of patients use medical marijuana for its psychological effects, such as for anxiety, depression, pain and insomnia. There is a concerning lack of knowledge about the effects of different strains (“cultivars”) of medical marijuana, including both therapeutic effects as well as unwanted side-effects. In the present application, we propose to study different cultivars for their therapeutic potential and side-effect liability using preclinical protocols. Working with our Industry partner, we will select their most promising cultivars and test them in a comprehensive behavioral test battery, using state-of-the-art animal models. Cultivars will be extensively screened for anxiolytic and antidepressant properties, while sedating and cognitive side-effects will also be evaluated. The results of these studies are expected to result in the identification of specific cultivars that can be used as promising candidates for downstream clinical trials involving the human patient population and who are often refractory to existing pharmacotherapies

Tailoring Microencapsulation Strategies for New Applications

The application of microencapsulation technology provides for separation between reactives and curatives, allowing 2-part systems such as adhesives, to be formulated and applied with the inherent stability of a 1-part system. Release and subsequent curing can be controlled to occur “on demand”, for example upon the mechanical fastening of a screw, which results in capsule rupture. This is often highly dependent on the careful design of a specific system. With the aim of capitalizing on new product opportunities that are not compatible with the current microencapsulation process, this project will involve a fundamental study of the encapsulation process and the role of materials sets in the properties of the resulting microcapsules. The effects of these material sets as well as processing conditions on the properties of the products including rate of curing, thermal and environmental stability, adhesive strength, and mechanical properties will be studied. This knowledge will lead to a new level of predictability in microcapsule formation, thereby enabling the rational design of microcapsules, which will in turn accelerate the development of new products.

Strategy Marketing Internship

StilwaterAI is a growing startup developing AI assistants to help businesses improve efficiency, decision-making, and productivity. While the company has strong technical capabilities and proven solutions, it faces challenges in reaching its target audience due to limited sales infrastructure, minimal brand visibility, and absence of a clear marketing strategy.
This project is designed to establish a scalable, data-driven sales and marketing framework that goes beyond day-to-day operations. Key focus areas include:
Targeted Marketing Campaigns: Identify high-potential customer personas and launch persona-specific campaigns using LinkedIn, email outreach, and content marketing.
AI-Enhanced Outreach: Implement AI-driven systems to segment audiences, personalize messaging, and automate follow-ups.
Standardized Sales Process: Build repeatable workflows with clear KPIs to improve lead conversion and shorten sales cycles.
Internal AI Assistant: Develop a single AI-powered tool to automate a repetitive internal task (e.g., lead capture, proposal creation, or content brand-conformance).

Expertise required: Marketing strategy, persona development, lead generation, CRM integration, and AI workflow development.

Optimisation numérique du site web de L’Interval

L’Interval est une coopérative de plein air située dans les Laurentides qui propose divers types d’hébergement (chalets, gîtes, auberge, terrains de camping) et de nombreuses activités en nature. Bien que très appréciée par ses visiteurs, l’organisation reste peu connue en ligne et son taux d’occupation varie fortement selon les saisons. Ce projet vise à accroître la visibilité de L’Interval et à faciliter les réservations en modernisant son site web. Les efforts porteront sur l’optimisation du référencement naturel, afin que l’organisation apparaisse plus facilement dans les moteurs de recherche, et sur l’amélioration de l’expérience utilisateur, pour simplifier la navigation et le parcours de réservation. Ces améliorations permettront d’attirer davantage de visiteurs, de fidéliser la clientèle et de soutenir la mission sociale de L’Interval, qui est de rendre l’accès au plein air plus inclusif et accessible pour tous.