Backbone is about business, technology, lifestyle, innovation, bold ideas, trends and events
B.C. Graduate Students Making Key Contributions to Province’s Companies, Communities | June 12, 2008
Vancouver, B.C., June 11, 2008 – From designing a user-friendly interface for a new social networking program for cell phones, to developing revolutionary software to help roofing companies provide more accurate estimates, to analyzing recently uncovered First Nations artifacts, B.C. graduate students are making a tangible difference to companies and communities province-wide thanks to the ACCELERATE BC internship program launched one year ago.
Implemented last June with a $10 million infusion from the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education, ACCELERATE BC has already placed 140 students in research internships across the province. That’s 40 per cent more than the 100 students targeted during the first year of the program.
As well, dozens more internships have already been secured for the coming months, said Dr. Arvind Gupta, Scientific Director of MITACS, a research network based at Simon Fraser University that manages the ACCELERATE BC program.
ACCELERATE BC connects the province’s up-and-coming graduate student researchers with B.C. companies for short-term, applied research projects that are generally four-months in duration. The focus and scope of the project is developed in partnership between the intern, company and the intern’s supervising professor; each project addresses a key business or technology challenge. Participating companies – from a range of industry sectors, including the life sciences, technology, clean technology, natural resources, energy and business services – co-fund the internships.
“The government’s $10 million investment is allowing ACCELERATE BC to build the province’s base of highly-skilled graduates while encouraging innovation and commercialization in B.C.’s knowledge-based economy,” said Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell who is also Minister Responsible for Research and Technology. “We are pleased to work with MITACS in supporting their unique, one-of-a-kind program they began in 2003.”
Examples of companies that have hosted ACCELERATE BC interns during the last year include Azure Dynamics, British Columbia Transmission Corporation, CrowdTrust Technologies, Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, Eagle Plains Resources, Elastic Entertainment, JASCO Research, Kinexus Bioinformatics Corp., Next Level Games, ParetoLogic, Radical Entertainment, SyncWave Energy and Viking Air Limited.
“ACCELERATE BC has exceeded our expectations despite our aggressive, first year targets,” said Dr. Gupta. “We believe the reason for the program’s huge success is the tangible benefits for not only the graduate student – who gains valuable industry contacts and applied research experience – but also the company, which is able to further a research area for which they do not have in-house staff or expertise.”
Automated Systems Research (ASR), a Coquitlam-based company specializing in estimation software for the roofing industry, partnered with a Simon Fraser University computer science graduate student, Joe Kahlert to tackle a technology challenge they were facing.
“A key part of estimating the cost of the roof is being able to create a picture of the entire roof, including all of the little nooks and crannies,” explained Kahlert. “Something was missing in ASR’s software as it wasn’t able to create the complete picture all at once.”
After talking to a fellow graduate student at SFU about his internship research project with ASR, Joe learned about a computational geometry technique which, when incorporated into the company’s software package, solved the problem that had been causing many sleepless nights. The novel technique has been incorporated in ASR’s new software which will be available to customers in the near future.
“We were very pleased with the results of the ACCELERATE BC internship program as it allowed ASR to conduct research into the latest 3D geometry techniques,” said John Gudaitis, President of ASR. “This program allows small B.C. companies to cost-effectively compete with much larger international players.”
MITACS has connected ACCELERATE BC interns with First Nations communities through research projects dealing with aboriginal land-use, conservation, restoration of ecosystems and cultural governance systems.
Emily Dean, an anthropology masters student from the University of British Columbia, worked closely with the Katzie First Nation, an aboriginal community located in the Fraser Valley. During her internship, she developed a model of how a local archaeological site was used by the Katzie nearly 4,000 years ago. Emily studied patterns of how stone tools were distributed at the site to determine what activities took place and where they occurred within the site.
“My internship experience not only allowed me to further develop my knowledge of Northwest Coast archaeology, but it enabled me to develop leadership and project organization skills outside of the academic sphere,” she said. “I am also grateful for the opportunity to work closely with the Katzie First Nation; their collaboration is key to generating a successful archaeological project in their territory.”
Emily has accepted a full-time position with the Katzie which will allow her to continue the work undertaken during her ACCELERATE BC internship.
The program has also had an impact in the new media industry as evidenced by Emily Carr Master of Applied Arts student, David Humphrey’s internship with Elastic Entertainment, a Vancouver-based technology, interactive and design company. Elastic had conceived the idea of creating a cutting-edge social networking platform called SQWhere that would revive the essence of the town square for the 21st century. SQWhere would turn the average cell phone into a customizable information and media exchange tool, enabling people in the same network to exchange information about upcoming music performances, a party at a friend’s house, historical information on the surrounding area and much more using video, images and blogs.
“In my internship, I designed a user-friendly interface for SQWhere which meant I designed the look and feel of the program from the point of view of the cell phone user,” said David.
Collaborating with David and Emily Carr through ACCELERATE BC helped Elastic Entertainment to further the development of SQWhere. Said Jennifer Ouano, president of Elastic: “Dave has been an integral part of our team and was instrumental in research and development, conceptual and creative visioning, interface development and design.”
The internship also helped Elastic weather many of the classic challenges experienced by technology start-ups. “We’ve had to deal with scalability and go-to-market issues pertaining to SQWhere and Dave worked closely with the team to re-tool and re-think our approach as well as participate in meeting with investors, partners and stakeholders. His contributions have helped shape the project and push it forward towards market readiness.”
In an ACCELERATE BC internship, interns from any faculty or department at a B.C. post-secondary institution spend half of their time over a four-month period on site with a B.C. company or other organization, undertaking research on a mutually-agreed upon project. The balance of their time is spent at their university, developing the techniques or approaches to accomplish the project's goals. ACCELERATE BC allows graduate students to conduct applied research in partnership with companies whose business is relevant to their studies. The internship is co-funded by the partner company and MITACS, through the support of the Ministry of Advanced Education, with each party contributing $7,500.
About ACCELERATE BC & MITACS
ACCELERATE BC grew out of an existing internship program in the mathematical sciences created by Burnaby-based MITACS, a federally-funded Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) hosted by Simon Fraser University. Based on the success of the mathematical sciences internship program established by MITACS in 2003, the program was expanded in 2007 to include all university departments and faculties in B.C. and all industrial and social sectors through a $10 million investment by the Ministry of Advanced Education of the Province of British Columbia. This funding will provide more than 650 internships over the next four years in B.C. For more information about ACCELERATE BC, visit www.acceleratecanada.ca and click on “B.C.”. For more information about MITACS, visit www.mitacs.ca.
Implemented last June with a $10 million infusion from the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education, ACCELERATE BC has already placed 140 students in research internships across the province. That’s 40 per cent more than the 100 students targeted during the first year of the program.
As well, dozens more internships have already been secured for the coming months, said Dr. Arvind Gupta, Scientific Director of MITACS, a research network based at Simon Fraser University that manages the ACCELERATE BC program.
ACCELERATE BC connects the province’s up-and-coming graduate student researchers with B.C. companies for short-term, applied research projects that are generally four-months in duration. The focus and scope of the project is developed in partnership between the intern, company and the intern’s supervising professor; each project addresses a key business or technology challenge. Participating companies – from a range of industry sectors, including the life sciences, technology, clean technology, natural resources, energy and business services – co-fund the internships.
“The government’s $10 million investment is allowing ACCELERATE BC to build the province’s base of highly-skilled graduates while encouraging innovation and commercialization in B.C.’s knowledge-based economy,” said Advanced Education Minister Murray Coell who is also Minister Responsible for Research and Technology. “We are pleased to work with MITACS in supporting their unique, one-of-a-kind program they began in 2003.”
Examples of companies that have hosted ACCELERATE BC interns during the last year include Azure Dynamics, British Columbia Transmission Corporation, CrowdTrust Technologies, Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, Eagle Plains Resources, Elastic Entertainment, JASCO Research, Kinexus Bioinformatics Corp., Next Level Games, ParetoLogic, Radical Entertainment, SyncWave Energy and Viking Air Limited.
“ACCELERATE BC has exceeded our expectations despite our aggressive, first year targets,” said Dr. Gupta. “We believe the reason for the program’s huge success is the tangible benefits for not only the graduate student – who gains valuable industry contacts and applied research experience – but also the company, which is able to further a research area for which they do not have in-house staff or expertise.”
Automated Systems Research (ASR), a Coquitlam-based company specializing in estimation software for the roofing industry, partnered with a Simon Fraser University computer science graduate student, Joe Kahlert to tackle a technology challenge they were facing.
“A key part of estimating the cost of the roof is being able to create a picture of the entire roof, including all of the little nooks and crannies,” explained Kahlert. “Something was missing in ASR’s software as it wasn’t able to create the complete picture all at once.”
After talking to a fellow graduate student at SFU about his internship research project with ASR, Joe learned about a computational geometry technique which, when incorporated into the company’s software package, solved the problem that had been causing many sleepless nights. The novel technique has been incorporated in ASR’s new software which will be available to customers in the near future.
“We were very pleased with the results of the ACCELERATE BC internship program as it allowed ASR to conduct research into the latest 3D geometry techniques,” said John Gudaitis, President of ASR. “This program allows small B.C. companies to cost-effectively compete with much larger international players.”
MITACS has connected ACCELERATE BC interns with First Nations communities through research projects dealing with aboriginal land-use, conservation, restoration of ecosystems and cultural governance systems.
Emily Dean, an anthropology masters student from the University of British Columbia, worked closely with the Katzie First Nation, an aboriginal community located in the Fraser Valley. During her internship, she developed a model of how a local archaeological site was used by the Katzie nearly 4,000 years ago. Emily studied patterns of how stone tools were distributed at the site to determine what activities took place and where they occurred within the site.
“My internship experience not only allowed me to further develop my knowledge of Northwest Coast archaeology, but it enabled me to develop leadership and project organization skills outside of the academic sphere,” she said. “I am also grateful for the opportunity to work closely with the Katzie First Nation; their collaboration is key to generating a successful archaeological project in their territory.”
Emily has accepted a full-time position with the Katzie which will allow her to continue the work undertaken during her ACCELERATE BC internship.
The program has also had an impact in the new media industry as evidenced by Emily Carr Master of Applied Arts student, David Humphrey’s internship with Elastic Entertainment, a Vancouver-based technology, interactive and design company. Elastic had conceived the idea of creating a cutting-edge social networking platform called SQWhere that would revive the essence of the town square for the 21st century. SQWhere would turn the average cell phone into a customizable information and media exchange tool, enabling people in the same network to exchange information about upcoming music performances, a party at a friend’s house, historical information on the surrounding area and much more using video, images and blogs.
“In my internship, I designed a user-friendly interface for SQWhere which meant I designed the look and feel of the program from the point of view of the cell phone user,” said David.
Collaborating with David and Emily Carr through ACCELERATE BC helped Elastic Entertainment to further the development of SQWhere. Said Jennifer Ouano, president of Elastic: “Dave has been an integral part of our team and was instrumental in research and development, conceptual and creative visioning, interface development and design.”
The internship also helped Elastic weather many of the classic challenges experienced by technology start-ups. “We’ve had to deal with scalability and go-to-market issues pertaining to SQWhere and Dave worked closely with the team to re-tool and re-think our approach as well as participate in meeting with investors, partners and stakeholders. His contributions have helped shape the project and push it forward towards market readiness.”
In an ACCELERATE BC internship, interns from any faculty or department at a B.C. post-secondary institution spend half of their time over a four-month period on site with a B.C. company or other organization, undertaking research on a mutually-agreed upon project. The balance of their time is spent at their university, developing the techniques or approaches to accomplish the project's goals. ACCELERATE BC allows graduate students to conduct applied research in partnership with companies whose business is relevant to their studies. The internship is co-funded by the partner company and MITACS, through the support of the Ministry of Advanced Education, with each party contributing $7,500.
About ACCELERATE BC & MITACS
ACCELERATE BC grew out of an existing internship program in the mathematical sciences created by Burnaby-based MITACS, a federally-funded Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) hosted by Simon Fraser University. Based on the success of the mathematical sciences internship program established by MITACS in 2003, the program was expanded in 2007 to include all university departments and faculties in B.C. and all industrial and social sectors through a $10 million investment by the Ministry of Advanced Education of the Province of British Columbia. This funding will provide more than 650 internships over the next four years in B.C. For more information about ACCELERATE BC, visit www.acceleratecanada.ca and click on “B.C.”. For more information about MITACS, visit www.mitacs.ca.
