Universal NanoSensor Technologies (UNS-Tech) develops and commercializes microfabricated conductivity detectors. In this MITACS cluster, UNS-Tech will partner with Prof. Young-June Kim to test UNS-Tech’s patented silicon microchip conductance detectors and to explore new detector architectures based on micro- and nano-patterned thin metal films. The results will be analyzed and the findings will be published in […]

The focus of this project is focused on developing thermal transport coatings, which makes use of a new proprietary graphene-like material developed by 3M Canada. The need for improved thermal transport coating is important to numerous optoelectronic applications, photovoltaics and in particular the semiconductor industry as computing power continues to increase. The proposed research will […]

MixGenius works on automated musical production by real-time musical genre detection. High accuracy of genre detection for a variety of sub-genres is required for quality production and has yet to be achieved. The project involves researching available real-time high-accuracy musical genre detection methods and improving upon them, extracting each genre’s audio features, calibrating the algorithm […]

Carbon nanopearls are an exciting novel class of materials that present unique characteristics, and they turn out to be an excellent alternative to carbon nanotubes for different applications. Presently, they are experimented with success as material for cold cathodes for electron?beam based instrumentation applications and they can be used for the development of polymer nanocomposites […]

Current and near-future D-Wave processors implement optimization using quantum effects on a fixed processor layout. This layout can be modeled as a graph with certain constraints, and the optimization is applied to a specific problem: fixed-topology Ising spin optimization. It is therefore important to study how best to use this hardware to solve combinatorial optimization […]

We aim to optimize advanced Computed Tomography (CT) imaging to provide non-invasive and accurate assessment of early lung fibrosis. Lung fibrosis causes inflammation and scarring of lung tissue and can be progressive, even fatal. Currently, detection of lung fibrosis relies on relatively insensitive tests, such as pulmonary function tests and static lung CT. Alternately, microscopic […]

With the advances of medical imaging, cardiac images have posed great challenges in processing and analysis due to the large amount of data generated. Dynamic Computer Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images, also referred to as 4D (3D+time) imaging, for example, have great capacity for screening, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cardiac diseases. […]

Our previous work has shown the promise of monodisperse phytoglycogen for many applications. However, these experiments only scratch the surface of potential uses since the chemistry of the particles (as extracted) is fixed. Nanoparticles offer very high surface areas, and glucose units are easily modifiable, thus there exist a multitude of ways to chemically modify […]

Geothermal energy extracts heat from the ground which can be used directly, or converted into electricity. In a geothermal power plant hot water is extracted from an underground reservoir with a borehole, and geophysics is used to locate these reservoirs. In the planned research, a geophysical method called magnetotellurics (MT) will be used to image […]

Despite the monumental advances made in classical computing technology over the past decades, computationally expensive tasks are still presenting daunting challenges to researchers and industry. Quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize many facets of information technologies by pushing the frontiers in various fields ranging from machine learning to cryptography. This research project aims at […]

SHAPE will work alongside an initiative called Ever Active Schools, who is involved with promoting and supporting healthy and active school communities through a comprehensive school approach. One of the projects SHAPE and Ever Active Schools is working on is a professional mentoring opportunity named Physical Literacy in Residence that is being implemented in 72 […]

Quantum computers are believed to offer significant advantages over classical computers, specifically in solving non-deterministic polynomially hard problems. One of the known schemes of quantum computation is quantum annealing, which is suitable for solving many types of hard optimization problems with a wide range of applications including machine learning, finance, security, and healthcare. D-Wave Systems […]