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| $8.6 Million in Funding for Graduate Students Means Increased On-the-Job Experience for Young Researchers Across Canada |
April 22, 2008 |
Canadian companies to benefit from access to superstars of tomorrow
Burnaby, B.C. – April 22, 2008 – A new program launched today will provide unique research and training opportunities for graduate students across Canada, thanks to an $8.6 million funding boost from the Government of Canada.
The program, called ACCELERATE Canada – Canada's Graduate Research Internship Program – will connect up-and-coming researchers with companies across the country through research internships. The program is managed by MITACS, a federally-funded national Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) based at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C. that brings together university researchers and companies in a collaborative effort to solve industry challenges and is delivered in collaboration with 14 other national organizations and NCEs.
This funding will support 1,200 internships nationally over the next two years. The announcement follows a pilot project conducted by MITACS over five years which saw the organization successfully place over 530 graduate students in internships from coast to coast.
"Canada's graduate students are the research leaders of tomorrow and the natural conduit between the academic and industry communities," said Dr. Arvind Gupta, Scientific Director of MITACS. "Our pilot program has demonstrated that student interns are making important contributions to companies, bringing new ideas and a fresh perspective on business challenges which, in turn, is contributing to the economic competitiveness of Canada."
Under ACCELERATE Canada, internships are four months in length. Graduate students spend about half of their time on site at a Canadian company, undertaking research on a project of mutual interest to the student, a supervising professor and the company. Their goal is to develop an in-depth understanding of the identified research challenge, collect data and interact with company employees. The balance of the student's time is spent at the university, developing techniques, tools or approaches required to accomplish the project's goals.
Each four-month internship is valued at $15,000 which is co-funded by the partner company, the province where the company is situated and the Government of Canada through the Industrial R&D Internship Program (IRDI).
"Companies not only benefit from gaining access to the latest research developments taking place within Canada's universities but they have the opportunity to collaborate with high-quality potential employees who possess the skills and drive to help these companies take their business to the next level," said Dr. Gupta. The benefits are not one sided, however, he added, explaining that graduate students and post-doctoral fellows have the chance to apply their research skills to real-world challenges, broadening their career horizons and better linking the worlds of academia and industry in Canada.
An additional benefit of this national program is that ACCELERATE Canada's business development team will be connecting highly-skilled graduate students with companies across Canada – not simply those companies in the intern's home province. This will ensure that the right research expertise is matched with the right company challenge regardless of location.
"This Government believes that to be globally competitive, Canada must develop the best-educated, most skilled and most flexible workforce in the world," said the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry of the Government of Canada. "These internships are another example of our commitment to support Canadian research and innovation and invest in our future economic success. The students will get valuable private sector experience, while Canadian business partners can tap into the skills, talent and creativity of our next generation of R&D superstars who will excel in our increasingly competitive world."
Examples of internships completed through MITACS' pilot project include:
· In B.C., two interns from the University of Victoria undertook research projects with Azure Dynamics of Burnaby, B.C. to create leading edge technology that will lead to better fuel efficiency in hybrid vehicles.
· In Alberta, an intern from Simon Fraser University's Department of Statistics has begun a project with Bighorn Wildlife Technologies of Hinton, Alberta to develop a statistical model to help the company determine the abundance, and survival rate, of Harlequin Ducks located in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies.
· In Manitoba, an intern from the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of Manitoba completed an internship with Vidir Machine Inc. of Morris, Manitoba where he developed a 3-D model of the company's biomass gasifier – a machine which breaks down straw to produce green energy – enabling Vidir to use the machine to efficiently heat their factory at low cost while reducing its carbon footprint.
· In Ontario, Alcatel-Lucent of Ottawa has to date supported nine internships with graduate students at Carleton University. The students have researched such issues as how to improve network security and how to speed the flow of internet traffic through routers and other network equipment.
· In Quebec, an intern from l'Université du Québec à Montréal is in the final phase of an internship with Desjardins Global Asset Management (DGAM) in which she implemented and tested new methods for creating more efficient portfolios. Once fully implemented, this new method will allow DGAM to offer advanced portfolio products with yield-to-risk ratios that are superior to what is presently available on the market.
· In New Brunswick, Q1 Labs, a network security company, is collaborating with a University of New Brunswick intern to develop a program that tests for security holes in a company's computer network. This program will help network administrators who are constantly looking for ways to stop viruses and other attacks from disabling computer networks.
All Canadian post-secondary institutions that offer graduate programs are eligible to take part in the ACCELERATE Canada program. For more information or to apply for an internship, please visit www.acceleratecanada.ca.
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