Innovative Projects Realized

Sélection de peupliers hybrides optimisant la productivité dans le contexte des changements climatiques: Analyses basées sur les caractéristiques écophysiologiques

Ce projet vise à anticiper l’impact des changements climatiques sur la performance des plantations de peupliers en Estrie et à soutenir des décisions de gestion plus résilientes. Les peupliers offrent des rendements supérieurs aux autres essences commerciales tout en présentant une grande variabilité génétique, ce qui permet de sélectionner des génotypes mieux adaptés aux conditions climatiques futures.
Dans un contexte où les sécheresses, les gels tardifs et la variabilité météorologique s’intensifient, la productivité des plantations devient plus incertaine. Ces extrêmes peuvent perturber la phénologie, endommager les tissus en croissance et réduire la vigueur des arbres.
Pour mieux comprendre ces risques, le projet combine un suivi terrain (phénologie, croissance radiale…) avec des projections climatiques couvrant les prochaines décennies. L’objectif est d’évaluer la sensibilité de dix hybrides aux gels printaniers et automnaux ainsi qu’aux épisodes de sécheresse, afin d’identifier les clones les plus performants dans les conditions climatiques futures et d’orienter les choix de plantation de la Domtar, contribuant ainsi à une foresterie plus durable et résiliente.

Designing Food for Improved Nutrient Intake for LTC Residents with Dementia

The project will aim to develop special meals for older adults living in long-term care facilities in partnership with Shannex nursing homes. One of the challenges related to long-term care facilities is the nutrition of older adults with dementia that is often accompanied with dysphagia (difficulty swallowing). The student will develop tasty food products that meet the requirements for foods for special dietary use and will have puréed texture to be safe for dysphagia. Using special molds, this puréed food will be shaped in various forms resembling actual food products. The sensory acceptance of the formulated foods will be tested first with older adults without dementia. The food prototype with the best sensory characteristics will be identified and then provided to the older adults with dementia. The food intake (i.e., the amount of food consumed) will be calculated and compared to their regular intake. It is expected that the formulated food will be appealing to older adults with dementia resulting in improved nutrient intake.

BSI – Multi-Projection Display graphics card-based architecture and software development

To develop a new hardware architecture and image and video distribution software for an ultrahigh resolution (100MPixel) multi-projection digital display. The solution will be based on an architecture employing multiple graphics cards and multiple PCs.

Genetic analysis of a new landrace panel for Atlantic Canada

Although wheat is one of the world’s most important food products and the largest field crop in Canada, there is still huge potential to boost wheat production in the Atlantic provinces. Ideally, Atlantic Canada could become an example of how to produce wheat in innovative and sustainable ways. However, modern breeding has left us with plants that are designed for unsustainable conditions (e.g., excessive nitrogen fertilizers) and not designed for the unique environments of Atlantic Canada. To solve these problems, we are developing a new genetic resource for the future of sustainable wheat production in Atlantic Canada. Our new collection comes from ancient wheat ‘landraces’ and harnesses the global diversity of wheat that existed before modern breeding. This project is an initial genetic study of the new landrace collection, aiming to identify genes for local disease resistance and the ability to survive the Atlantic Canada winter. More generally, with this project the Atlantic Grains Council aims to develop a new research tool for increasing the sustainability and profitability of wheat farming in Atlantic Canada.

From Photonic Integrated Chip to Quantum Network: Performance Validation of Integrated Entangled Photon Sources

This project addresses the characterization and validation of an integrated quantum photonic source emitting multiple channels of entangled photon pairs in the telecommunications C-band. The source is based on a silicon nitride microcavity generating a quantum frequency comb via spontaneous four-wave mixing [1-2]. A key research challenge is to ensure high spectral purity, long photon temporal duration, temperature tunability, and inter-device indistinguishability—parameters that directly impact the visibility of Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference between independent sources [3]. Achieving robust HOM interference is essential for scalable quantum networking and multi-user quantum applications.
Ki3 Photonics develops compact, rack-mounted quantum light sources compatible with standard fiber infrastructure. Its main activities include the design, fabrication, integration, and commercialization of quantum frequency comb hardware for quantum communication and networking applications [4]. The company aims to solve critical challenges related to source reliability, reproducibility across chips, and compatibility with telecom components. In this project, the Mitacs intern will support the experimental characterization of integrated photonic chips and assembled systems, including measurements of spectral purity (Schmidt number), photon temporal duration, temperature-dependent frequency tuning, spectro-temporal overlap between independent sources, and HOM dip visibility.
The anticipated economic and social benefits include strengthening Canada’s position in quantum technologies, accelerating the commercialization readiness of domestic quantum hardware, and supporting deployment of secure quantum communication infrastructure. Improved source performance and manufacturability will enhance product reliability, reduce integration risk for partners such as national laboratories, and position Ki3 Photonics to access global quantum networking markets. In the long term, the project contributes to secure communications, advanced sensing, and distributed quantum computing applications with strategic importance for Canada’s digital sovereignty and cybersecurity ecosystem.

Human Resources Co-op

The project aims to modernize Bravo Target Safety’s HR operations by documenting all HR processes, assessing data integrity across employee files, and identifying opportunities for digitization and automation. Through structured research—including interviews, workflow mapping, systems analysis, and technology assessment—the intern will evaluate current practices, uncover bottlenecks, and recommend improved, scalable workflows. Over a four-month period, the intern will immerse themselves in HR activities, conduct a comprehensive file audit, and produce a final report outlining findings, redesigned processes, and strategic priorities. The project is designed to strengthen organizational efficiency while providing the intern with hands-on experience in HR process design, digital transformation, applied research, and change management.

Advancing AI Innovation Through Cross-Functional Collaboration (3)

Cole Meikle will work alongside the Health Team on Primary and Preventative Health Services (PPHS) project.
Project Description: As part of the Health Team, Cole will work under the guidance of senior developers to support the design and evaluation of agentic workflows tailored for Primary and Preventative Health Services (PPHS). This collaborative effort involves exploring how autonomous AI agents and machine learning can be integrated into healthcare environments to improve operational efficiency, specifically focusing on complex domains like Grant Review and Workforce Planning.
Dominic Mao will work alongside the Health Team on the Primary and Preventative Health Services (PPHS) project
Project Description: As part of the Health Team, Cole will work under the guidance of senior developers to support the design and evaluation of agentic workflows tailored for Primary and Preventative Health Services (PPHS). This collaborative effort involves exploring how autonomous AI agents and machine learning can be integrated into healthcare environments to improve operational efficiency, specifically focusing on complex domains like Grant Review and Workforce Planning.
Philip William Ventura will work alongside the Health Team on the Primary and Preventative Health Services (PPHS) project
Project Description: As part of the Health Team, the Full-Stack ML Developer will work under the guidance of senior developers to support the design, training, and evaluation of machine learning models and agentic workflows tailored for Primary and Preventative Health Services (PPHS). This collaborative effort involves exploring how autonomous AI agents and predictive modeling can be integrated into healthcare environments to improve operational efficiency, specifically focusing on complex domains like Grant Review and Workforce Planning.
Eric Hu, Krishna Jawale, Nirvan Rabbani, and Ruby Zhou will join the Public Sector team. Unlike traditional single-project placements, these interns will operate as a cross-functional technical cohort supporting a diverse portfolio of Government of Alberta initiatives. This flexible model allows the team to deploy the interns across multiple high-priority use cases, such as document classification, workforce optimization, or policy research, depending on immediate operational needs and the stage of the project lifecycle.
The innovation challenge centers on integrating three core technical pillars into public service workflows:
? Agentic AI: Developing autonomous workflows to handle complex decision-support tasks.
? Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): Implementing intelligent search and interaction layers for large-scale government policy repositories.
? Classical Machine Learning: Building predictive models for forecasting staffing demands or service utilization.
Government of Alberta Initiatives include:
1. Wildfire Workforce Optimization: Interns will develop predictive models and agentic agents to optimize Duty Officer assignments. The goal is to reduce burnout risk and overtime costs through better decision support for wildfire leadership.
2. Research Assistant SWAT Team: Supporting the rollout of a production-ready AI product, the interns will join a dedicated team to streamline the deployment of RAG-based search and interaction layers across various GoA partners to accelerate program delivery.
3. Income Support Program Integrity: The cohort will deploy document intelligence and risk-scoring models to handle high application volumes. This initiative uses AI to rapidly flag potential fraud while fast-tracking low-risk applications to shorten decision timelines for vulnerable residents.
The anticipated economic and social benefits include significant cost savings through reduced manual administrative burdens and improved accuracy in resource planning. By modernizing information management and decision workflows, this project directly enhances the efficiency, transparency, and scalability of essential public services provided to Albertans.

Développement de méthodes d’intelligence artificielle destinées à la surveillance continue du SF6

Le projet porte sur le développement de méthodes d’intelligence artificielle (IA) destinées à améliorer la surveillance continue du SF6 et des mélanges SF6/CF4 dans les appareillages haute tension exploités par Hydro-Québec, notamment les disjoncteurs de 145 à 315 kV et les postes GIS. Le SF6, bien que disposant d’excellentes propriétés diélectriques et d’extinction d’arc, est un gaz à effet de serre à très fort impact, ce qui impose un suivi rigoureux de son état et de ses émissions. Les conditions thermiques complexes, la variabilité environnementale et les limitations des capteurs rendent cependant la détection de fuites difficile et souvent tardive. Le projet vise à répondre à cet enjeu en développant des outils IA avancés permettant d’améliorer la qualité des mesures et la précision du diagnostic.
L’organisation partenaire, Hydro-Québec – Expertise Diagnostic des équipements, assure la surveillance et le diagnostic des infrastructures haute tension. Ses activités comprennent la mise en place de stratégies de maintenance, l’analyse de données de capteurs multivariées et la validation de méthodes avancées de détection de défauts afin de renforcer la fiabilité du réseau. Le principal défi visé par ce projet est la capacité de distinguer, en temps réel, les variations normales d’exploitation des anomalies pouvant indiquer des fuites de SF6. La forte variabilité thermique, l’inertie des volumes de gaz et la dérive des capteurs constituent des obstacles majeurs à une détection précoce et fiable. L’utilisation de l’IA est identifiée comme un moyen de surmonter ces limitations en modélisant finement les comportements complexes des appareillages.
Les avantages attendus pour Hydro-Québec sont significatifs. Le projet permettra une détection plus rapide des fuites, contribuant directement à la réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre. Il améliorera aussi la fiabilité des équipements, réduira les interventions non planifiées et fournira des outils d’aide à la décision pour la maintenance conditionnelle. Le projet favorisera enfin le transfert technologique et le développement de solutions durables pour la gestion des équipements haute tension.

Integrating Users’ Perspectives in Paratransit Planning

Paratransit refers to a specialized, door-to-door, shared-ride public transportation service designed for those who experience functional barriers to conventional fixed-route transit due to disability. Paratransit plays an important role in fostering social and economic inclusion of people with disabilities, which includes a growing cohort of older adults. Indeed, as Canada’s population ages, demand for paratransit has grown in recent years. This is the case in the City of Hamilton, where older adults represent 18% of the population.

The City of Hamilton’s paratransit services are managed by Accessible Transportation Services (ATS), who have two research objectives. First, they wish to learn more about paratransit users’ travel experiences and travel satisfaction. Second, Hamilton is launching an integrated transit pilot, which could affect paratransit service planning, operational decision-making, and customer engagement. They wish to understand how best to incorporate paratransit users’ voices in integrated transit planning.

These two objectives will be achieved through a series of focus groups with paratransit users. Results will be analyzed through thematic analysis and disseminated through reports, presentations, and an academic article. This research will inform paratransit planning in Hamilton and beyond.

Méthode alternative pour l’évolution temporelle en finance quantique

1) La tarification de produits financiers complexes, tels que certaines options exotiques associées aux garanties de fonds distincts, repose sur la résolution d’équations aux dérivées partielles (EDP) de grande dimension, dont la complexité rend les méthodes numériques classiques coûteuses. Récemment, l’algorithme d’évolution temporelle quantique VarQITE [1] a été utilisé pour tarifer une option rétroviseur en reformulant l’EDP correspondante sous la forme d’une équation de Schrödinger, permettant d’exploiter un ordinateur quantique pour simuler l’évolution temporelle du système. Bien que compatible avec les machines quantiques actuelles, VarQITE présente des limites importantes : lente convergence, sensibilité aux optima locaux lorsque la profondeur des circuits augmente et difficulté à représenter les discontinuités propres à certaines fonctions de valeur. Le projet vise donc à explorer et comparer d’autres algorithmes d’évolution temporelle quantique existants, à en sélectionner un et à l’implémenter pour résoudre les EDP associées à différents produits financiers, tout en analysant l’apport de techniques fondamentales en informatique quantique pour l’évaluation financière.
2) L’Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) a pour mission de superviser les marchés financiers et les produits d’assurance et d’investissement, incluant les fonds distincts. Le défi principal du partenaire est d’anticiper l’impact des technologies émergentes, notamment l’informatique quantique, sur les méthodes de tarification, de gestion du risque et de supervision. Ce projet permettra à l’AMF de développer une compréhension concrète des capacités et limites actuelles des algorithmes quantiques appliqués à la finance, tout en renforçant le lien AMF–informatique quantique par le développement de connaissances.
3) Les retombées attendues incluent le développement d’une expertise stratégique à l’AMF sur l’utilisation potentielle de l’informatique quantique en finance, une meilleure capacité d’anticipation des évolutions technologiques affectant les marchés, et la formation de personnel hautement qualifié à l’interface entre finance quantitative et informatique quantique, contribuant ainsi à la mission de protection du public.

Evaluation of the recovery status of salt marshes undergoing restoration in Maritime Canada

The partner organization, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), is a nonprofit organization with their mission being to conserve, restore, and manage wetlands and associated habitats for the benefit of waterfowl, wildlife, and people. In Maritime Canada, DUC has been implementing salt marsh restoration projects for over 15 years. Salt marshes are intertidal wetlands, regularly flooded by tidal waters, and dominated by salt-tolerant vegetation such as cordgrass. Salt marshes are highly productive, providing foraging and nursery grounds for birds, fish, and invertebrates; stabilizing shorelines; protecting coastlines from storm surges and erosion; and sequestering atmospheric carbon. The problem to be addressed is the evaluation of the recovery status of different salt marsh restoration projects in Maritime Canada. This involves the recovery of the marsh platform vegetation community and associated invertebrate community, and of salt pools which are an essential microhabitat providing refuge to fish at low tide. The expertise needed – and for which the intern Tahmina Hoq Bhuiyan will be trained – is high-quality environmental monitoring and sampling, identification of all biota, and integration of collected data to assess recovery status. Such field assessments are time-consuming and require detailed biotic identification knowledge; the wealth of biological information that will be provided to our partner DUC goes beyond the day-to-day business activities. As well, the collected data will be integrated into a recovery status assessment (this is done by comparing restoring sites to reference sites). Together, the information (detailed biotic data and status assessment) will help the partner organization develop criteria for best practices in salt marsh restoration, understand the recovery trajectories possible in different coastal situations (e.g., macrotidal versus microtidal environments), and propose and plan future salt marsh restoration projects.

Vibe Check AI: Agentic Social Media Lead Platform

Vibe Check: Agentic social media insight platform for marketing applications and projects.