Innovative Projects Realized

BRIGHTLANE: Creating a Home for a Community of Entrepreneurs

BRIGHTLANE: Launching an Incubator” is a research project that will explore and evaluate different traditional approaches to creating supportive environments for startup business. Co-working spaces have seen enormous growth in recent years and people seek the support and savings associated with a shared workspace. This project will provide foundational research to facilitate the launch of a new co-working environment in downtown Toronto that will have a specific focus on the creative industries. The intern will be responsible for writing a matrix of best practices for business incubators based upon a thorough literature review and interviews with incubator clients and potential clients. This project will assist BRIGHTLANE to determine best methods to create a space to meet the needs of startups in the creative industries.

Anodyne<>ECU

Anodyne clearly states in its mission statement that it exists to solve one problem: climate change. They do this by engineering scalable, modular technology that harnesses the power of nature to help industries reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The engineers and chemists who comprise the company continue to innovate and produce Anodyne’s product line. Anodyne’s ultimate message is to revolutionize the entire chemistry industry by harnessing the power of enzymes. However, as the company brings its products to market it faces its biggest challenge. How to articulate its message in a compelling, visually engaging and thoughtful way. Thus Anodyne wants to collaborate with a full stack of Emily Carr designers. These student designers will immerse themselves in the culture of the company, synthesize the message that the company wants to share and communicate it in an engaging and memorable way.

Client Success Story Campaign Marketing Innovation Project

The Client Success Story Campaign is designed to boost the marketing efforts of Penrose Partners by showcasing the real-world impact and success of their blockchain consultancy services. Through this project, the intern will gather and present detailed case studies and testimonials from clients who have benefited significantly from Penrose Partners’ expertise. This content will be leveraged across various media platforms to highlight the firm’s problem-solving capabilities and successful project outcomes. The anticipated benefit for Penrose Partners is an enhanced reputation as a trusted leader in the blockchain industry, which will attract new clients and strengthen relationships with existing ones, ultimately driving business growth.

Website Refresh for The UBC Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (UBC-CeMCOR)

The objectives of this project are to enhance the user experience of CeMCOR’s website by implementing creative
knowledge translation strategies by refreshing the design of the current website which will contribute to enhancing the
dissemination of research findings by providing a seamless and engaging online platform for users to access
CeMCOR’s resources and information.

Development of novel isolator for seismic application

The proposed semi-active rolling seismic isolation system offers an innovative solution to address limitations in passive isolators when exposed to near-fault seismic waves with velocity pulses. Passive isolators effectively control acceleration responses against typical far-field seismic waves but can allow excessive displacement responses during near-fault events, risking collisions and structural damage.

This system integrates sloped rolling-type isolators (SRI) with magnetorheological (MR) dampers and earthquake early warning technology. Utilizing the initial acceleration time history after P-wave arrival, it estimates peak floor velocity. A predictive model then applies control laws to determine the optimal voltage for the MR dampers. This proactive approach regulates the SRI displacement response below a predefined threshold prior to intense seismic wave impacts.

Experimental shaking table validation confirms the prototype system’s effectiveness in constraining SRI displacement within acceptable limits. While Canada may experience lower seismic activity than Taiwan, this technology offers wide-ranging applications for general building seismic isolation design and critical infrastructure protection. It presents opportunities for academic collaboration between the two countries, enhancing research capabilities. As climate change impacts intensify, improving disaster resilience becomes crucial, making this system valuable for proactive preparedness. Successful development could also lead to commercial potential in global seismic protection markets.

The Connected Workplace: Private Industry

This project will focus on the use of wireless technologies in the Canadian private sector work environment. Wireless is the fastest growing area of Canadian communications. Despite enormous growth for personal use, recent market data demonstrates the workplace remains a largely underdeveloped market for wireless service providers. The overall purpose of this project is to better understand the obstacles to technology adoption in the workplace, and offer actionable recommendations on how to mitigate them. The student intern will be charged with conducting a literature review of this field, conducting interviews with management officials, creating and compiling surveys involving workers in private sector work environments, and drafting a report that will be delivered to Rogers. The intern’s work will be done in conjunction with a team from Rogers Communication. The partner organization will gain valuable insight to expanding market share in the Canadian workplace.

Oxidative stress-induced Nrf2 misfolding in Parkinson’s disease

Oxidative stress and aging are the primary risk factors for Parkinson’s disease (PD). The protein Nrf2 is particularly important in fighting oxidation and the associated damage in the brain as it activates antioxidant enzymes. Nrf2 is regulated by another protein called Keap1. These two proteins can get damaged under excessive oxidative stress conditions and thus contribute to neuronal death. In my study I will delve into how exactly Nrf2/Keap1 malfunction contributes to PD. I will study the different expression levels, localization, and activation of Nrf2/Keap1 in brain samples of PD patients using biochemical approaches and microscopy. Furthermore, by using well-established PD cell models co-expressing Nrf2/Keap1 with the PD-associated protein a-synuclein, we will study their interactions in PD. Cannabidiol (CBD), one of the main non-psychoactive molecules of Cannabis sativa, is a strong antioxidant that may mitigate the damage to Nrf2/Keap1, activate the Nrf2 pathway and thus slow down or even prevent neurodegeneration in PD. In sum, our study will elucidate the Nrf2 and Keap1 pathway in PD and assess CBD as a potential therapeutic for PD.

Investigating Parkin Oxidation and its Impact on Parkinson’s Neurodegeneration

Parkinson’s disease (PD), a devastating neurodegenerative condition, is becoming increasingly prevalent in our aging population, yet the events leading to neuron death remain unclear. Current treatments aim to alleviate symptoms, but none address the cause of neurodegeneration, leaving a cure for PD elusive. Disease progression is marked by significant neuron loss in the brain region responsible for mobility, caused by oxidative damage to the neurons’ energy-producing mitochondria. During oxidative stress in PD, the enzyme parkin prevents cell death and neuron loss. However, the structure of parkin is inherently vulnerable to oxidation, and its protective role in PD requires recruitment to a highly oxidizing environment. The objective of this research is to determine the mechanism and consequences of parkin oxidation at the molecular and cellular levels. Understanding parkin oxidation in relation to its neuroprotective activity is essential for identifying the events that link oxidative stress to the death of motor neurons. This groundwork has the potential to advance the development of new and effective PD treatments aiming to slow neurodegeneration. In partnership with Parkinson Society Southwestern Ontario, this work aims to boost community awareness of scientific findings and provide an underserved population with educational resources to strengthen support systems.

TimelyGrader BSI (McGill) – Improving formative learning and feedback for written assignments in the university classroom

This BSI project aims to determine the effectiveness of using GenAI tools to provide students with formative feedback as compared to traditional methods of instructor feedback and peer to peer feedback. Proving the effectiveness will allow educators more ways to provide their students with formative learning opportunities.

Visiting Graduate Student at UCSD- Rady School of Management

Our research leverages large language models (LLMs) to analyze text data from Reddit and StockTwits, exploring differences in investing styles between Republican and Democrat retail investors. Building on Cookson et al. (2020), we will use advanced LLM techniques to classify political affiliations based on language patterns and analyze retail investor sentiment from 2010 onwards. Cookson et al. revealed partisan Republicans’ relative optimism about the stock market during the pandemic, showing specific biases in stock preferences. We expand this by incorporating broader social media data, capturing a wider spectrum of sentiment and political discourse.

Literature on partisanship and belief formation (Milner and Judkins, 2004; Gaines et al., 2007) and studies by Gentzkow et al. (2019) and Kaplan et al. (2019) highlight political identity’s impact on economic perceptions. Our study examines how partisan-driven narratives influence retail investors, particularly during uncertainty, using frameworks like motivated reasoning (Brunnermeier and Parker, 2005; Benabou, 2015) and uncertainty identity theory (Hogg, 2007).

By analyzing sentiment in user-generated content, we aim to identify belief divergences between Republicans and Democrats, providing insights into the intersection of political identity and market behavior. This research contributes to behavioral finance and political economy, offering practical insights for policymakers and financial analysts.

Dutch Neo-Calvinist Herman Bavinck’s Reception of Protestant Reformer John Calvin within the Doctrine of Christ’s Descent into Hell

This research project aims to explore the Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck’s reception of Protestant reformer
John Calvin’s theology within the Christian creedal doctrine of Christ’s descent into hell. Following Calvin and other Reformed theologians, Bavinck saw Christ’s descent into hell as an expression of the spiritual agony which he endured on the cross, and thus an indispensable aspect of the Christian theology of Christ’s atoning work. This project aims to contribute to scholarship on John Calvin’s theology, which remains indispensable to ongoing research on the Protestant Reformation (research which is taking place both at McGill University and at the University of Edinburgh). Additionally, this project seeks to join in a renewed wave of research on Herman Bavinck, a central figure in the Neo-Calvinism of the nineteenth to twentieth centuries (an area of research on which the University of Edinburgh has produced outstanding scholarship of late). More broadly, this research informs continuing scholarship on the history of the Reformed Protestant Church and the development of its view of the purpose of Christ’s death.

BC Camper’s Code

The demand across British Columbia (and Canada) for access to outdoor spaces and outdoor recreation opportunities has skyrocketed. As a result of recreation-related impacts and the increase in visitation nature-based recreation managers have looked for new and innovative communication interventions to support responsible recreation practices. Specifically, the use of pledges has recently increased across the nature-based tourism and recreation sectors. However, to date, there lacks a substantial body of evidence supporting the efficacy of these pledges or a clear understanding of the mechanisms of success. It is therefore the purpose of this research to target the use of the “BC Camper’s Code” pledge and multi-media communications campaign delivered through the BC Camper’s Code coalition in British Columbia. This research will evaluate the effectiveness of pledges/commitments in influencing behaviours of outdoor recreationists, specifically those who camp overnight for at least 1 night in British Columbia parks and or campgrounds. Visitors will be shown a multi-media (video) outlining the ethical, social, and environmental rationale behind the BC Camper’s Code with a commitment action (online pledge) and written communication regarding the code with a commitment action (online pledge). The findings of this research will increase our understanding of innovative environmental communication techniques.