Innovative Projects Realized

Focus group execution as a step to Integrating Critical Design for Responsible Innovation

The project focuses on integrating critical design methods into the tech development workflow to address ethical concerns and promote inclusivity, diversity, and equity. As an intern, I will contribute to designing focus group questions, conducting focus group sessions, documenting the research group’s activities, and coding data from focus groups. Additionally, I will assist in organizing events such as critical design showcases and will participate in visits from guest lecturers.

Moreover, I will collaborate with the research team on developing educational tools to teach students and tech professionals about responsible innovation and the integration of critical design, contribute to cataloging interdisciplinary critical design projects created by students and faculty in the Critical Media Lab.

RBC Patient and Family Learning Space Summer Practicum: Policy, Program and Evaluation Development

The RBC Patient and Family Learning Space (PFLS) at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is a
non-clinical educational program that aims to increase mental health literacy through workshops, patient education resources, and navigational support. The PFLS is open to CAMH patients, families, and the general public. The PFLS launched in November 2021 with 3 staff and limited resources. As the number of people entering the space and accessing our programming grows, the demands on our staff also grows,
highlighting the need for standardizing our processes, increasing programming opportunities and developing a robust program evaluation plan. We are looking to support two interns, one student from the University of Toronto and one from Western University, to help us create new programming, evaluate the overall program and draft an onboarding manual for new staff, volunteers and students joining the program.

Growth Strategies for DTC clients

Counter Culture Agency stands out as a premier marketing and influencer agency in Canada, specializing in a diverse range of activities aimed at enhancing brand presence and engagement. Our core services encompass branding and design, content creation, and community management across various social platforms. Additionally, we excel in forging strategic partnerships and impactful collaborations with influencers. Our client portfolio primarily consists of scaling Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) and Software as a Service (SaaS) companies, like GUAP, alongside a curated list of creators who are scaling internet communities.

The primary challenge that Counter Culture Agency seeks to address through this project revolves around building a robust top-of-funnel strategy for two of our key clients. In today’s highly competitive landscape, increasing brand awareness is paramount to driving sales and fostering sustained growth. Recognizing the evolving dynamics of the digital marketplace, our clients are keen on amplifying their reach and making a significant impact on potential customers. The challenge lies in creating a comprehensive and effective top-of-funnel approach that not only captures the attention of the target audience but also converts awareness into tangible business outcomes.

Building an AI-powered semantic search for historical records

The Royal Canadian Numismatic Association (RCNA) is a non-profit educational organization, founded in 1950 and incorporated in 1963. It provides a national platform for coin collectors to connect, share knowledge, and celebrate the rich historical and cultural significance encapsulated in coins. Coin collecting provides a unique lens through which to explore the evolution of societies, art, and economics. Since 1956, the RCNA has published the Canadian Numismatic Journal (CNJ), which has published seminal papers related to Canadian numismatics. Unfortunately, access to them is restricted to members due to reproduction rights, and limited to lexical search, which requires searchers not only to identify relevant keywords, but to correlate them with more than 60 years of linguistic changes. Finding detailed information within the CNJ archives is time-consuming and difficult.

In this project, a Mitacs Intern at Mohawk College will create a publicly accessible, more intuitive interface to RCNA’s knowledge base integrating Natural Language Processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis (SAn) to refine search accuracy, ensuring users receive the most pertinent information. The intern engaged in the project will apply and further develop their technical skills in programming, machine learning, and language processing within a business context.

The immediate impact of this project is expected to be a repositioning of the RCNA in the Canadian Numismatics digital landscape. The website will be positioned to become a destination for users of many skill levels to engage in the hobby, simply by leveraging the information it already holds and making it available appropriately.

rTMS for post-covid-19 condition: A sham-controlled case series involving iTBS-300 and iTBS-600

The objective of the “rTMS for post-covid-19 condition: A sham-controlled case series involving iTBS-300 and iTBS-600” project is to determine the efficacy, feasibility, and tolerability of several iTBS variants (iTBS-300, iTBS-600) and sham stimulation in PCC patients. Secondarily, the aim is to examine signs of improvement in cognitive, affective, and functional symptoms following each iTBS variant.

This project is going to be an extension of an existing case serias which included 4 participants. The objective is to extend the number of participants to 30. The purpose of this study is to further examine the potential of non-invasive brain stimulation for improving symptoms of PCC. It is hypothesized that rTMS will be well-tolerated and safe in this population, and that positive trends in cognitive, psychiatric, functional and quality of life domains will be evident following excitatory stimulation of the prefrontal cortex. The primary outcome will be data on the efficacy of rTMS for improving post-COVID-19 conditions, as well as the extent to which it is tolerable and feasible for use with the PCC population.

Functional Cost Methodology for Automotive Lightweighting

To meet CAFE standards for fuel economy, many new projects are being undertaken. One such method being investigated to achieve these standards is vehicle lightweighting. Each lightweighting project has an associated cost and will have an impact on various functional groups of the vehicle. During this internship, the related functional benefits of lightweighting will be analyzed, with a focus on location (zone) based effects. The zones will be accessed and a value to weight reduction ratio will be assigned to each. The results will be compiled into a set of technical guidelines to be used for future lightweighting projects. These guidelines will allow projects to be appropriately selected by comparing their functional benefits with their financial impact. In turn, additional investments can be made to meet the CAFE standards.

Avion sans pilote dans l’atmosphère martienne

L’idée du projet est de concevoir à un niveau préliminaire un avion qui volerait dans l’atmosphère martien. La pression au « niveau de référence » de la planète – la surface fictive qui sert de niveau de la mer sur Mars sans mer – s’avère n’être que d’environ six millibars, soit six millièmes de la pression atmosphérique au niveau de la mer sur Terre. La pression martienne ne monte jamais beaucoup au-dessus d’un pour cent de la pression au niveau de la mer de la Terre. Il n’y a tout simplement pas beaucoup de gaz (CO2) pour faire voler un aéronef. À travers cette activité de conception préliminaire, différents verrous technologiques pourraient être identifiés, et des activités de recherche pourraient y être consacrées ultérieurement.

Elevate Screen Ads Business Developer

Elevating Digital Advertising: Market Adaptation and Strategic Development at Elevate Screen Ads Inc.

Elevate Screen Ads Inc. (ESA) is redefining digital advertising within condominium communities by installing free monitors that display curated content. This innovative startup provides local businesses a unique advertising platform in high-visibility residential areas. As the digital advertising landscape rapidly evolves, ESA, in partnership with Mitacs, is focused on enhancing its business model to better meet market demands and leverage technological advancements.

The project is structured around three main objectives:

Comprehensive Market Analysis: Led by intern Anthony Saracino, this objective involves a deep dive into the dynamics of the digital advertising industry, analyzing customer preferences, and exploring the competitive environment to refine ESA’s strategic market presence.
Client Engagement and Business Development: Managed by intern Ilya Radyushin, this part focuses on developing and implementing outreach strategies that aim to build solid partnerships and expand ESA’s reach into new markets.
Technological Enhancement and Platform Development: Conducted by intern Yuchen Huang, this component includes the creation of an integrated web platform and the development of technological solutions that enhance ESA’s advertising services, ensuring efficiency and scalability.
This team effort is designed to bolster ESA’s market position and contribute significantly to the growth of the digital advertising sector in Canada. By facilitating community engagement through localized advertising and supporting economic growth by increasing local business visibility, ESA is set to improve the connection between businesses and condominium residents through targeted advertising, benefiting both advertisers and the community.

Conception d’un logiciel pour un système de commande de portes palières (PDI)

Les portes palières sont des portes automatiques que l’on retrouve en bordure de voie au niveau des quais des stations de métro et qui séparent physiquement les quais et la voie de métro, dans le but d’empêcher toute intrusion non désirée.
Le projet vise à développer un système autonome de communication trains/portes-palières, nommé PDI (Platform Door Interface), dont le rôle est de commander les ouvertures/fermetures des portes de manière synchronisée.

Youth-Centered Safe Spaces

In 2023, the City of Regina consulted Aboriginal Consulting Services to engage youth and create an Implementation plan called ’Centering Our Youth.’ The focus of this plan is on the safety, belonging and wellness needs of youth, especially Indigenous youth who live in Regina’s North Central neighbourhood. One of the action items in this plan is to develop a 24/7 youth-serving safe space.

According to the ’Centering Our Youth’ Implementation plan, the safe space should be operational by March 2025. The intern will support the project team in the necessary engagement, environmental scan, and program planning work needed to implement the safe space.

Effect of solar photovoltaics (PV) on green roof vegetation and performance

Green roofs contribute to numerous social, economic, and environmental benefits and as components of green infrastructure planning are becoming increasingly commonplace. Less is known though about how green roofs perform when integrated with other sustainable designs, such as photovoltaic (PV) panels that share the roof space, which could experience higher energy efficiency through increased cooling by the green roof vegetation. Vegetation cools green roofs through a process called evapotranspiration, a component of photosynthesis, which increases with exposure to sunlight. Since PV arrays shade vegetation, efficiency of PV through cooling might change with different plant types and arrangements. In this study we will examine the impact of shading by PV panels on the evapotranspirative cooling potential of green roof vegetation. The work will be conducted at the Green Roof Innovation Testing (GRIT) lab, At the heart of downtown Toronto, the lab is the first and only green roof integrated PV research site in Canada.

Sustainable Finance, Impact Investing, and ESG – Queen’s University

This project will support Propel Impact in engaging and building relationships with organizations advancing sustainable finance, impact investing, and ESG within British Columbia and beyond.