Innovative Projects Realized

Transport phenomena inside and across membrane inpolymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has emerged as an eminent technology to address today’s growing energy crisis and environmental issues. PEMFC technology faces multiple challenges before widespread commercialization. Water transport inside a PEMFC has a significant impact on the cell performance and durability. In this internship a numerical model is implemented to study the transport phenomena inside and across the membrane of a PEMFC. The numerical model will be used to investigate the effects of cell operating temperature and current on water distribution on both cathode and anode sides, as well as inside the membrane. The present internship will expand the modelling capabilities of FC-APPOLO, an in-house open-source application package for simulation of performance and durability of PEMFC developed by Ballard power systems

Low-temperature spectroscopy and quantum memory in molecular lanthanide crystals

Applications of quantum communication and computers range from cybersecurity to vastly increased computational capability. In most realizations of these, Quantum Memory (QM) is a key component. A promising platform for QM is Rare-Earth-Ion doped materials (characterized by their unique long-lived and well-isolated electronic states), with crystals made of molecular complexes being a recent appealing sub-category. The group at the PSL university have performed comprehensive spectroscopic analyses and implemented QM in a europium molecular complex. During this project we will characterize new molecular hosts containing Eu using low-temperature spectroscopic techniques mastered by the host team. These include photon echoes and spectral hole burning in crystallites at temperature from 40 mK to 20 K, with the goal of understanding the mechanisms limiting the optical coherence. Since the host group are leaders in research on this novel platform, which is aligned with my PhD project on molecular complexes, I anticipate gaining a deeper understanding of the theoretical and experimental background, gaining techniques that I can later apply to my own project. The project will allow strengthening the collaboration and foster future work based on synergies between the involved Canadian and French institutions.

Using Multi-Material 3D Printing to Strengthen Biocomposites with Superhydrophobic Plating

This project will focus on reinforcing biocomposite materials with a superhydrophobic plating to help improve the mechanical properties and industrial feasibility. Biocomposites are currently being widely researched because of their numerous advantages over materials traditionally used in manufacturing such as being easily recyclable, being made from materials which are found abundantly in nature, and having low environmental impact. Although there are advantages to using these materials over the more traditional ones, there are still a number of issues that need to be addressed before they can be widely used, with one of the largest ones being their tendency for moisture uptake due to the hydrophilic nature of biomaterials and additives. Absorbing moisture causes biocomposites to deform and loose mechanical strength, meaning this problem is important to address for biocomposites to be integrated into industry. This project looks to use an innovative multimaterial 3D printing approach to add a superhydrophobic layer directly onto the biocomposite surface to decrease moisture uptake and improve mehchanical properties. This project will help bolster both institutions involved by resulting in research that is novel and can be published in high impact journals.

Innovation Policy in Korea, Sweden and Canada: A Comparative Perspective

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Development of the Bridge Healing Implementation Manual

First implemented in January 2023, the Bridge Healing Transitional Accommodation program offers transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness who have been discharged from hospital emergency departments. The program provides wraparound community supports such as mental health and addiction services to help clients transition to permanent housing. In doing so, the program bridges the gap between hospital emergency departments and community-based social services, thereby better supporting people experiencing homelessness and preventing reoccurring emergency department visits. This project will build upon the existing success of the Bridge Healing program by developing an implementation manual which involves extensive stakeholder engagement with health professionals, social workers, hospital administrators, people with lived experiences of homelessness and other institutional partners. This manual will enable Jasper Place Wellness Centre and other agencies serving unhoused populations to effectively partner with communities and implement Bridge Housing across Alberta and Canada in an effective, sustainable and trauma-informed manner.

holistic and interdisciplinary knowledge integration framework onwater management and research in China

Due to massive population, rapid urbanization, and threats of climate change, China is facing serious water problems now and in the future. It is timely and relevant to establish an overall and inclusive framework for evaluating water management and research that will guide more efficient and easily integrated work between researchers and water managers. Ideally, this framework will more easily provide a big-picture view of China’s water management system than the current multitude of discipline-specific
work. Thus, managers and researchers will be able to connect the big and small features of the system. This framework should: (i) be easy to follow; (ii) provide specific roles for the key players on water management and research; and (iii) provide a feedback mechanism for continuous improvement of the framework. After detailed investigation of two water management systems (the Water Resource Assessment and Water Abstraction Permit systems), this research proposes to develop a new water management and research framework for China based on system theories and natural resource public management.

Developing partnerships to investigate and address the processes and outcomes of criminalization and incarceration in Canada

People in prisons and on parole in Canada face extreme barriers to health, wellbeing and social belonging. However, there is limited research on the specific processes and outcomes of criminalization and incarceration, and gaps in understanding can lead to policies and laws that do more harm than good. Given this, this project will support partnership development to create a strong national network of academics, students, NGO and government stakeholders focused on learning about and addressing these processes and outcomes, including by centering and uplifting the voices of experts who’ve been incarcerated in the past. This project is based out of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS), a national non-profit that believes in a world where prisons do not create so much harm. This partnership development will support the eventual founding of a CAEFS national research centre to support their mandate.

Quantum Information metrics for Gaussian states

Quantum information metrics including fidelity, quantum divergences, and the trace norm provide the mathematical foundation for studying and understanding quantum states and processes. As such, quantum information metrics play a crucial role in quantum computing, simulation of quantum systems, and quantum machine learning (including quantum clustering, generative models, and machine learning of, and by, quantum states). Unfortunately, these metrics are limited: they are highly sensitive to experimental noise and phase differences. In the context of quantum machine learning, conventional metrics often suffer from vanishing gradients, barren plateaus, and poor local minima in the loss landscape.

This project focus on to develop the mathematical, physics and computational aspects for a novel class of Quantum Information metrics based on Optimal Transport focus on Gaussian states.

Quantum Gaussian states are fundamental in the field of quantum optics and quantum information theory. In the context of continuous-variable quantum systems, such as electromagnetic fields, quantum Gaussian states play a crucial role in various quantum communication and computation tasks. They possess unique properties, such as being stable under linear operations and easily manipulated by linear optical elements.

Estuarine reliance of juvenile salmonids in the Skeena River

Research on salmon in the Skeena River estuary in 2007 and 2013 quantified the abundance of different species of salmon in different locations of the estuary over time. These results indicate that the region where industrial development is proposed contained the highest abundances of Chinook and sockeye in both years surveyed, and coho in 2007. Furthermore, genetic analyses identified that the sockeye and Chinook salmon that were captured in the estuary originated from dozens of locallyadapted populations throughout the Skeena and Nass watersheds, highlighting the vast connections of these estuaries habitats to fish and their commercial, recreational, and First Nations fisheries. While our previous research illuminates the relative abundance of different populations and species in the estuary, the next step, proposed in this project, is to quantify their reliance on these estuary habitats.

NeuroCSF: development of a novel fMRI method to measure contrast sensitivity function in the amblyopic visual cortex

This research project centers on exploring the Contrast Sensitivity Function (CSF), a fundamental concept in visual perception that determines the perception of spatial frequencies at varying contrast levels. Existing CSF measurement methods relying on behavior are constrained by time and patient-related factors, necessitating an alternative approach. To address this challenge, we introduce the “neuroCSF,” which utilizes functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to directly estimate the CSF from brain activity, bypassing the need for behavioral data. In our initial assessment, the neuroCSF demonstrated robust and interpretable estimates of cortical CSF parameters, marking a groundbreaking achievement in comprehensive CSF characterization. Moving forward, our research aims to expand the neuroCSF methodology to clinical populations, with a particular focus on amblyopia, a neurodevelopmental visual disorder. With this current project, we aim to identify neurometrics that correlate with the reduced behavioral CSF measures in amblyopes. Collaboration with Dr. Miguel Castelo-Branco and Coimbra Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Translational Research will provide access to advanced imaging resources and essential clinical expertise that are central to our efforts. The application of fMRI to create a comprehensive visuocortical map of the CSF holds great promise for improving amblyopia diagnosis and deepening our understanding of the disorder’s underlying mechanisms

Evaluating Algorithmic Prediction of Emotion in Music

Algorithms play an increasingly important role in our interactions with digital services. Companies like Spotify and Pandora use algorithms to identify mood-relevant music from massive databases of over 100 million tracks and deliver them to users through personalized playlists. To achieve this, they rely on software tools to analyze relevant musical properties—like timing (slow–fast), intensity (soft–loud) and pitch (low–high). However, validation studies of common music analysis tools reveal inaccuracies in their performance—raising question to their value for emotion-based music recommendation. To improve the quality of mood-based personalization, this project will evaluate the reliability of music analysis tools with statistical modeling—clarifying their accuracy at predicting participants’ perceived emotions from listening experiments. The project outcomes will provide an important step toward improving algorithms’ predictions of emotion in music, along with users’ experiences with online music services.

Urushiol Synthesis Based on Iron-Catalyzed Cross-Couplings

In this project the compound urushiol will be synthesized using catalysts containing the earth abundant metal iron through the use of chemical processes known as cross-coupling reactions. Urushiol is the natural compound responsible for Asian lacquer used for coatings and adhesives on wood or metal products, however obtaining it naturally currently is an expensive and time consuming process requiring specialized labour for proper extraction. While we currently have modern equivalents, their ability to withstand the test of time and overall resistant quality is lacking compared to the original urushiol-based lacquers. Therefore, synthesizing urushiol in a cheap, energy and time efficient manner would benefit both industry and society as it will allow further use of this more advantageous lacquer compound and further studying of the compound so that it may be eventually derived naturally once again but in a cheap and efficient manner. We expect urushiol can be synthesized by using iron-catalyzed cross-coupling based on both Dr. Nakamura’s and Dr. Kozak’s related previous works using this process and iron catalysts to form similar compounds.