This study seeks to work towards a restoration plan for one of the most significant coastal dune ecosystems ties remaining on Vancouver Island. The dune ecosystem at the Cordova Spit represents a unique and fragile environment that offers vital habitat to a number of plants and animals that are at-risk in BC, including several different […]

Sandhill cranes are a blue-listed (vulnerable) species in BC, requiring special management of their habitat. Very little is known about the coastal population of cranes or their habitat requirements in BC. The intern will work with the BC Ministry of Environment to conduct an inventory to locate Sandhill cranes and their nests on the central […]

The project with the Canadian Federation of the Blind, an organization working to establish positive and productive roles for blind people in Canada, will include the researching, development and implementation of a mixed-methods survey providing accurate statistics on the employment of blind people in the Greater Victoria area and narratives on their experiences in seeking […]

The internship will be conducting two research projects related to historical Kwakwaka’wakw root gardens. The first experiment will measure the effect of traditional management on the productivity of one of the native roots (silverweed or potentilla anserine ssp. pacifica) grown in these gardens. The intern will test the effect of two traditional management activities, tilling […]

In another project directed by Carmanah, the engineering intern devised a strategy that would maximize the operating efficiency of the LEDs over the life of the product they were integrated into. The net effect would be to maintain a brightness that complies to the end user's expectations while broadening the number of sites the product […]

Yield Management refers to a method of dynamically-pricing products such as airline seats and hotel rooms in such a way as to optimize revenues. While this technique is best known to the public from its application in the airline industry, it has a fact been employed in the hotel business since the early 1990s, managing […]

Tidal currents can provide a significant and predictable source of renewable energy. This project will research the use of composite materials for the blades of a tidal turbine to harness this energy. The rotor blades are currently made of steel, which leads to several problems in the marine environment, expensive manufacturing processes and difficulties in […]

The project will research advanced theories and applications for the integration of biomedical research data and clinical data from electronic health record databases for the purpose of advancing the state of research and health care. The results of the project will inform the company partner in their strategic move to expand their product palette on […]

Results from a state-of-the-art regional climate model will be used to analyze properties of near-surface winds (speed, direction, power, and variability in time) in selected regions of southern British Columbia. Station observations taken over recent decades will be used to develop a relation between model output fields and wind characteristics that can be used to […]

This project will consist of searching the Times Colonist card catalogue and index to select appropriate dates in BC history, researching the historical context of these topics and writing research reports to assist the Times Colonist newspaper with commemorating its 150th anniversary in 2008.

An online game allows players to earn virtual currency and to collect, sell and buy online prizes, in effect creating a self©contained virtual economy. There are indications that virtual gaming economies generate currency instabilities, increases in prices, and the accumulation of large virtual wealth holdings by some players. Such distortions can threaten the sustainability of […]

Coal-fired and base-load natural gas power plants often continue to operate at a high capacity even when there is no demand for their electricity, because it is too expensive to reduce output only to increase it when demand picks up. This occurs primarily at night, when excess power needs to be dumped at whatever price […]