Applied Research Publication - Centennial College · ARIC is also interested in projects that fall outside these sectors. Every project has its own special needs. Collaboration is

See where experience takes you.

APPLIED RESEARCH

2013P.O. Box 631, Station A, Toronto, ON M1K 5E9p 416-289-5000 f 416-289-5070centennialcollege.ca

President & CEO Message

DRIVING INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Innovation and entrepreneurship have taken on new importance

in our society both as engines of economic prosperity and as

sources of social advancement and social enterprise. At Centennial

College, we believe that innovation and entrepreneurship are

relevant to every sector of our economy and are therefore

everyone’s possibility.

By expanding our capacity in applied research, innovation and

entrepreneurship, with a dual focus on commercialization and

social innovation, we are accelerating opportunities for our

students, employees and graduates to collaborate with industry

and community partners. We aim to bring great ideas to life.

In the pages of this book, you will fi nd an astonishing array

of success stories demonstrating our work with business and

community partners to create and market innovative new products, services and processes. The results tell a

powerful story of how we have increased local and international business competitiveness, productivity and

growth, and strengthened our social fabric through fostering collaboration, creativity and resilience.

Engaging in experiential learning, innovation and entrepreneurship at Centennial College – as a

student, a mentor, a business or community leader, as a small or large enterprise – reveals possibilities for

transformation and growth. I invite you to contact our Applied Research and Innovation Centre and come

see where experience takes you.

With respect and appreciation,

Ann Buller,

President and CEO

Contact Us

ARIC invites everyone with a passion for learning and discovery to

fi nd ways to take ideas to the marketplace.

To learn more about our projects, people and potential, contact:

Applied Research and Innovation CentreCentennial College,P.O. Box 631, Station AToronto, OntarioCanada M1K 5E9

Tel: 416-289-5000, ext. 8136Fax: 416-289-5070E-mail: [email protected]

“I appreciate the opportunity that Centennial

has given me to work on this project. It helps to

fi ll the gap between college and the real world

that students face when they graduate. This

opportunity has provided me with communication

and team work skills, and taught me how to

approach faculties, managers and people from

the business sector,”

Fernando A. Chung, Student, Centennial College

“Students and professor at Centennial have

been instrumental in helping SMARTeacher to

bring the world’s fi rst emotion-sensing educational

game to market. They have designed the bio-sensor

wristwatch that picks up on emotions such as

frustration and boredom.”

Rohan Mahimker, Co-CEO, SMARTeacher Inc.

CONTACT

1

Associate Vice President, Research and Corporate Planning MessageMatching our talented students, faculty and staff with our

remarkable industry and community partners to find innovative and

commercializable solutions to complex problems – is what we do –

across sectors, across disciplines and across borders.

Innovation thrives without borders by embracing openness and

diversity of creativity and thought, of place and culture, especially

when matched with pragmatic business and marketing skills and the

capacity to define and measure impact – social and economic.

We bring together innovative interdisciplinary teams and provide a

concierge service to our clients – to help grow businesses, to start new

ones, to develop new processes, new products, and new markets –

around the corner or around the world – with expertise in:

» Sustainable energy and environmental science

» Information Communication Technology (ICT) wireless networking, digital media and technology

» Aviation and aerospace

» Community health and life sciences

» Business and entrepreneurship

» Children’s entertainment media

» Hospitality and cultural tourism; and

» Global citizenship and equity

We are ready to help you to connect, create, collaborate and commercialize.

Trish Dryden,

Associate Vice President, Research and Corporate Planning

Vice President, Academic and Chief Learning Officer Message

Our new Academic Plan 2013-2020: Leading through Learning

highlights a theme, “Inquiry, Innovation and Scholarship’ to

platform our goal to foster a community of inquiry and scholarship

at Centennial College.

This goal will lead us to even greater levels of excellence in

learning, teaching, and innovation for a better society. We will

co-construct knowledge and learning among students, faculty, and

external partners to bring about a more fluid and interconnected

model of education.

The real value in developing scholarship in faculty is that more

students will engage in applied research and innovation and

therefore be better qualified for future careers. We will provide

leadership in advancing the scholarship of teaching and sharing our

best practices and accountability metrics to determine the impact

of learning. It is one thing to claim to value scholarship, it is quite

another to actually create the conditions to support that work.

Our unique value proposition include industry and community access to the skills of hundreds of expert faculty,

over 16,000 full time students and 22,000 part time students, that span over a hundred and twenty programs and

across eight schools.

This publication is meant to lead the conversation by showcasing our strengths in research, to share our findings

and our best practices with others and to demonstrate our support for and dedication to developing research

and scholarship capacity within all our learners.

Dr. Sandra Murphy,

Vice President, Academic and Chief Learning Officer

2

Director, Applied Research and Innovation Centre MessageThe Applied Research and Innovation Centre (ARIC) at Centennial

College is one of the best research offices in Canadian colleges.

Our office acts as the central research and innovation office for all

schools, departments and programs in Centennial College. ARIC

is the primary points of contact for industry, funding agencies,

government and community stakeholders interested in research,

innovation and outreach activities.

ARIC coordinates, manages and administers a broad range of

applied research and innovation projects that help Ontario’s

industry and community in designing, developing, implementing

and launching real-world solutions. To do these activities, we utilize

an outstanding team of talented faculty, staff and students from all

schools and programs of Centennial College.

As the Director of ARIC, I am proud of breadth and depth of applied

research and innovation projects going on across Centennial

College through our office. This showcase book reveals evidence for

high degree of collaborative research activities happened as well as happening at Centennial with internal and

external collaborators and partners along with our world-class leading-edge research facilities and resources.

All these achievements have been realized due to the dedication of talented staff at ARIC.

I invite you to explore this showcase book and contact one of the ARIC staff (www.centennialcollege.ca/programs-courses/centres-institutes/applied-research-and-innovation.aspx) to discuss how we may be able to help assist you.

Deepak Gupta,

Director, Applied Research and Innovation Centre

3

Centennial College

Centennial College is Ontario’s first community college, established in 1966. Our mission is to

educate students for career success.

Primarily serving the eastern portion of the Greater Toronto Area through four campuses and

seven satellite locations, Centennial is home to 16,000 full-time students and 22,000 part-time

learners annually. The College is proud to produce future leaders, with programs in advancement,

business, communications, media and design, community and health studies, engineering

technology and applied science, hospitality, tourism and culture, and transportation.

Along with an exemplary record in teaching, innovative programming and extensive partnership

building, Centennial is also recognized as one of the most culturally diverse post-secondary

institutions in Canada. Almost 100 ethno-cultural groups are represented and 80 languages are

spoken on campus.

We have recognized that in the coming years our students will be asked to play many roles

and take on many responsibilities, both as individuals and as citizens finding their place in the

community and the world. In their work and their lives, they may be asked to deal with everything

from cultural issues to global ones.

They will likely face the responsibility of addressing social injustice at the personal, professional

and global level. They will be asked to think critically about their commitments and to choose

actions that can bring about progressive change.

They must, in short, be ready for their roles as global citizens. That’s where the Signature Learning

Experience (SLE) comes in. Centennial College’s SLE is our promise to our students, that their

education will open up a world of knowledge and insight that reaches beyond the skills of the

career for which they are studying. Specifically, the SLE is a distinctive educational experience that

integrates the principles of global citizenship, social justice and equity.

PROGRESS 941 PROGRESS AVENUE, TORONTO

ABOUT

4

ARIC

Centennial College created the Applied Research

Centre in 2004 through funding received from

an Ontario Innovation Trust infrastructure grant. 

Because of its unique alliances with industry and the

innovation so essential to success in applied research,

the Centre became known as the Applied Research

and Innovation Centre (ARIC). ARIC’s commitment to

industry innovation was further strengthened in 2006,

when Centennial became one of the ten founding

Ontario Colleges in the formation of the Colleges

Ontario Network for Industry Innovation

(http://www.conii.ca/).

For our society and economy, future prosperity

depends largely on our ability to be innovative.

Our students require the skills and knowledge to

think critically and creatively, the experiences to

showcase their ingenuity, and the ability to learn and

discover what will serve them well in any workplace.

Our industry partners, meanwhile, need to be able

to continually improve their products, services and

processes, and commercialize them in a timely

manner.

The Applied Research and Innovation Centre (ARIC) at

Centennial College delivers in all areas.

ARIC works with a broad range of partners, but

focuses on helping Ontario’s SMEs (small and medium-

sized enterprises) to design, develop and launch

market-ready solutions. To do so, we draw on an

incredible pool of talent from among Centennial’s

faculty, staff and students, across all disciplines and

specializations.

For our people and partners, ARIC is a catalyst for

growth. Through exciting alliances, we support and

advance learning, applied research, innovation and

solutions that transform lives and communities.

We are proud of ARIC’s impact on Ontario’s and

Canada’s social and economic prosperity. We invite

you to learn more about the power of applied

research, and how ARIC is fostering creative minds

to discover innovative answers to complex problems.

You’ll discover what we do and why it matters – to

our students, our faculty, our partners, and our social

and economic well-being.

APPLIED RESEARCH

In a way, applied research is about making

connections. It’s about finding solutions to complex

problems, and turning inspiration into innovation.

It’s also about connecting businesses and other

organizations with the unique skills available within

a college – what we call “angel research”.

Students acquire the skills and knowledge to become market ready to employer’s looking for their skillset.

At Centennial College, ARIC is that link. We work with

our partners to develop, design, test and bring results

to market. Our efforts to facilitate knowledge and

technology transfer, and commercialization include:

» Improving existing products, services and processes, and creating new ones;

» Reviewing standards and guidelines;

» Developing, managing and administering research grants; and

» Supporting partnerships development between academic, government, community and industry sectors.

Today, ARIC focuses on Centennial College’s nine

strategic areas:

» Sustainable energy and environmental sciences

» ICT wireless networking, animation and gaming

» Aviation and automation

» Community, health and life sciences and related technologies

» Children’s entertainment media

» Digital media and technology

» Business and entrepreneurship

» Hospitality and culinary science

» Humanities, social innovation, global citizenship and equity

ARIC is also interested in projects that fall outside

these sectors. Every project has its own special needs.

Collaboration is the key. For each project, ARIC will

assemble the best team of faculty, staff and students

from across Centennial’s diverse fields of study, as well

as the appropriate facilities and equipment. We bring

our expertise and infrastructure to carry each project

to a successful completion.

Projects are largely supported by federal and Ontario

government funding. Significant funding also comes

from Centennial’s own ARIC Fellowships.

5

INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION

As a driver of innovation, ARIC is at the leading edge

of a powerful trend. As the Conference Board of

Canada http://www.conferenceboard.ca/ states:

“Ontario colleges’ applied research activities are

improving firm performance, stimulating new

business R&D spending, contributing to local

economic and social development, and providing

students with industry-relevant education and

training.”

In a report on “The Impact of Ontario Colleges’

Applied Research”, the Conference Board said that

entities such as ARIC are helping enterprises to create

and improve their goods and services “much more

quickly, and with greater quality, than they otherwise

would have been able to achieve without college

support.”

For companies, applied research collaborations

proved to reduce time-to-market for products (in

half the cases), increase sales and revenues (80% of

the time), improve market position (79%), open new

markets (58%), add customers (76%), and improve

customer satisfaction (59%).

Further, over 40% of firms improved their capacity

and motivation to pursue further innovation and

R&D as a result of the college collaboration.

Just as important is the impact on students. The

Conference Board reports that “participation in

applied research projects improves students’ technical

and employability skills, innovation literacy, and

entrepreneurial ambitions, thereby contributing to

the innovation-readiness of the future workforce.”

ABOUTARIC’S RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Academic » Contributions to the scientific literature

» Technical infrastructure and capacity

» Training of highly qualified personnel and teams

» Building expertise and resources for applied research and innovation

Economic » Intellectual property – processes and products

» Licensing technologies

» Start up and incubate companies

» Knowledge and technology transfer

» Commercialization

» Social innovation (benefits to Canadian society and economy)

OUTREACH

ARIC has regular outreach events by inviting local

industries, communities, funding agencies, and

government representatives to investigate potential

collaborative opportunities. ARIC conducts an annual

Applied Research and Innovation Symposium (ARIS)

each year. Since 2006, ARIS has brought together

industry, faculty, staff and students to highlight and

explore Applied Research at Centennial College.

Networking opportunities provided at the Symposium

also lead to creative partnerships.

The School of Engineering Technology and Applied Science offers well-equipped, high-tech laboratories.

6

Nexas Network

Lean Manufacturing for Aerospace

7

SHOWCASEPROJECT SHOWCASE

When business, academia, government and other

partners team up on a research project, how does

it affect the outcomes? Suzanne Fortier, President

of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research

Council of Canada (NSERC) once put it this way:

“Innovation is a race – but more importantly, it is a

relay race. Increasingly, collaboration across sectors

and disciplines is essential to bring ideas to society

and the global marketplace.”

The projects highlighted here illustrate ARIC’s

essential role in this relay. Find out how ARIC

contributed to successful results, and what the

participants – industry and other partners, students,

and faculty – gained from the experience.

LEAN MANUFACTURING FOR AEROSPACE

Nexas Network is a small company that specializes

in designing advanced manufacturing systems for

the aerospace industry. The CEO of Nexas Network,

Tom Gaasenbeek, approached one of Centennial

College’s professors Glen Taylor to help reverse

engineer and manufacture a prototype of a memory

card for computer numerical controllers. The

methodology of this project is to reverse engineer

the currently marketed printed circuit board (PCB)

memory card and apply cutting edge lattice complex

programmable logic device (CPLD) technologies.

With the leveraging of new technology, this will

help students and faculty develop a skill set for this

project but also for subsequent projects. The students

working on the project will reverse engineer the card,

design the new card, build prototypes of the new

card, test and validate the design of the new card.

Nexas Network’s aerospace customers would like to

upgrade their machines due to increasing demands

for additional memory space thanks to advances

in CADCAM software. The part programs exceed

the memory size and there is renewed interest in

maximizing the machine tool’s capabilities for lean

manufacturing and process optimization purposes.

This project, albeit small in scale, is of critical

importance as it is aimed at building a relationship

that will foster other projects in the advanced

manufacturing field tailored to aerospace companies.

Nexas Networks has an ambitious plan to develop

new technologies in this field and Centennial College

hopes to be the applied research partner of choice

in this development and leverage the success of this

project.

“BIT” PART FOR FACEBOOK APPLICATION

Bitstrips (www.bitstrips.com) is the biggest comic-

making website in the world. It has proved hugely

popular within elementary schools, where the comics

are used as a teaching tool to engage digital-savvy

youth and foster media literacy and creativity.

When the Bitstrips team decided to re-purpose their

technology for Facebook, they turned to Centennial

College for support in developing a whole new

application.

Bitstrips for Facebook will enable users to make,

share and collaborate on comics and communicate

in a uniquely fun and personal way. In the ARIC

project, funded by FedDev Ontario’s ARC Program,

four Centennial students created a new library of

over 800 pieces of interactive 2D and 3D artwork and

templates. The principal investigator at Centennial

was Debbie Gordon, Director of the Kids Media

Centre.

Much of the Flash work for the project isn’t taught at

Centennial, so the students had a chance to broaden

their skills. That was one of many benefits, says

student Karen Lu of Centennial’s Digital Animation

program. “I learned how to collaborate with

other artists, and shape my work according to the

supervisor’s feedback,” says Lu. “This project helped

me improve as a graphics artist, and taught me to

work efficiently in a team environment. You also feel

more confident about your abilities as you go into

the workforce. In the end, I feel I was successful in

delivering quality work that met with the technical

and artistic requirements.”

It certainly did, confirms Jacob Blackstock, CEO

and Creative Director of Bitstrips: “Working with

Centennial has been great. The students were pros

and made an integral contribution to this project. We

look forward to teaming up with Centennial again.”

Karen Lu of Centennial’s Digital Animation program engaged in working on an industry partner project.

8

Bringing Genomics to Life in the Classroom

Ontario Genomics Institute

9

BRINGING GENOMICS TO LIFE IN THE CLASSROOM

Many exciting advances in disease diagnosis and drug

treatments result from the field of genomics. High

school teachers are eager to demonstrate the basics

of DNA and gene expression in their science classes, to

stimulate curiosity in genomics research. One obstacle

– the technology required to work at the molecular

level has made microarray teaching tools prohibitively

expensive.

Not any more, thanks to a project at ARIC in

conjunction with the non-profit Ontario Genomics

Institute, or OGI, (http://www.ontariogenomics.ca/),

funded through an ARIC Fellowship. The Centennial

team created a simple wet-lab microarray simulation

kit – safe, quick and easy to use.

Here’s how it works. The simulated genes change

colour due to the pH level. In essence, the kit uses

chemistry to mimic the indicators that geneticists look

for in their microarrays. The slides display six genes,

and no microscope is needed to see them.

The ARIC team was tasked with developing the

simulation, performing a cost analysis on the kits

($14), determining the shelf life (six months),

and developing a curriculum module. Principal

investigator was Maria Calimano and co-investigator

was Paula Demacio, both Centennial faculty with

Applied Biological and Environmental Sciences (ABES).

The kits will be used in tandem with an OGI

curriculum to create novel learning experiences for

grades 11-12 classes across Ontario. Some of the first

educators to see the microarray kits, at the annual

conference of the Science Teachers Association of

Ontario, raved about the chance to incorporate the

tool in their lessons.

SHOWCASE“It is essential that the next generation of scientists

have access to state-of-the-art educational tools,”

says Dr. Alison Symington, Vice-President, Outreach

at OGI. “Centennial College provided a microarray kit

that brings the lab experience to the classroom in an

exciting and relevant way.”

DATA PORTAL IS KEY TOOL IN INFECTIOUS DISEASE FIGHT

To help prevent and control infectious diseases, and

protect and promote public health, one of the most

important resources is data. For many reportable

and communicable diseases, Public Health Ontario

Laboratories (PHOL) provides most or all of the

associated laboratory testing, including complex

reference tests.

Dr. Frances Jamieson, Associate Director and Medical

Microbiologist at Public Health Ontario (http://www.

oahpp.ca/), notes that these testing procedures

create large quantities of diversified data sets. What

was needed – a data web portal to integrate it

all, providing a better means of analysis related to

disease management.

The PHOL turned to Centennial for an ARIC

Fellowship-funded project. Student Asmaa

Abedbaqer, of the Bioinformatics for Software

Professionals program, created a data schema for

all the tuberculosis (TB) data sets, created business

rules to convert these specimen-centric data sets

into patient-centric data sets, and did operations to

extract, transform and load the sets into a flexible

database. Principal investigators were faculty member

Patrick Gignac, Information and Communication

Engineering Technology (ICET), and Paula Demacio,

Applied Biological and Environmental Sciences (ABES).

Dr. Jamieson was impressed with Abedbaqer, who she

called “technically capable, knowledgeable in data

modeling, and able to grasp concepts and methods

easily.”

This process has helped the PHOL to understand the

complexities and identify the inconsistencies found

in the current data sets. Dr. Jamieson says the project

also succeeded as a proof of concept study, and stands

as a good model to work on other data sets to create

an Ontario-specific infectious disease data and web

portal.

“We appreciated working with the group at ARIC,

and were greatly pleased with the outcome of the

project,” says Dr. Jamieson.

Dr. Frances Jamieson, Associate Director and Medical Mircobiologist at Public Health Canada.

10

DMTI Spatial

Team Maps Out Location Solution

11

TEAM MAPS OUT LOCATION SOLUTION

Location, location, location – it matters for countless

decisions about customers, markets and services. For

example, the distance of a house to a retail store

influences buying patterns. In Canada, DMTI Spatial

(http://www.dmtispatial.com/) is a leader in “location

intelligence”. The company sets the standard for

using Geographic Information Systems, a computer-

based technology to retrieve, store, and organize

data based on its location on a map.

DMTI Spatial approached Centennial College to

partner on improving their suite of location content

solutions. With funding by FedDev Ontario’s ARC

Program, the project resulted in the creation of a

national database of multiple dwelling buildings, a

first in Canada.

“This work accelerated our goals because it offered

an opportunity for us to extend our innovation

capabilities,” says Robert Szyngiel, Director of Data

Engineering at DMTI Spatial. “The most important

outcome was the increase in intellectual property

development, the result of mentoring by senior

associates with students.”

The project was led by principal investigator Paula

Demacio of Applied Biological and Environmental

Sciences (ABES) at Centennial, and carried out by

Centennial students Vikas Gupta and Calvin Sung of

the Environmental Protection Technology program.

“This job gave me a chance to test my skills and

competencies against the industry standard and

to improve upon it,” says Gupta. For employment

prospects, he adds, the ARIC project “is like a golden

gate which opens up further options.”

In fact, Gupta became a contractor at DMTI Spatial,

next in line for a full-time position. The company was

delighted with the quality of the Centennial team.

“We chose to work with ARIC because of the research

capacity it made available,” says Arthur Berrill,

Vice-President, Technology at DMTI Spatial. “The

contribution and talent of the students was in many

cases superior to our expectations.”

SHOWCASE

DATA TO DECISIONS

Leading organizations are increasingly using analytics

to gain an advantage over competitors, driving

the need for new mapping technology and data

visualization tools. Addressing that need, DataAppeal

provides a user-friendly, web-based visualization

application that offers research-based, visually

appealing, three-dimensional animated maps and

graphics that transform data into business insight. It

provides clients with striking visual interpretations of

their data to make business decisions faster.

But initially, the DataAppeal platform was lacking in

performance, which led to the company working with

Centennial College to boost the program’s analytic

capabilities while keeping it simple for the end user.

Together, the college and company developed a

revamped product that allows the company to pursue

new clients, partnerships and distribution channels.

With a market base of almost 2,000 users and

growing, the company has also been busy promoting

these new and improved features in popular

technology blogs to attract more users and potential

clients.

DataAppeal is also preparing to double its workforce

over the next year and is planning to hire the

Centennial College students who worked on this

project.

“Some of the features developed by the Centennial

team have been requested by prospective clients,

accelerating DataAppeal’s capacity to meet market

need,” says Haim Sechter, CEO, Data Appeal Inc.

“The new features developed have allowed

DataAppeal to enter new distribution channels,

building the bottom line and creating new jobs.”

Transforming business insight with three-dimensional animated maps.

12

Interdev Technologies

Technology Cuts Paramedic Response Time

13

TECHNOLOGY CUTS PARAMEDIC RESPONSE TIME “In a medical emergency, seconds count,” says

Terence Kuehn, CEO of Interdev Technologies

(http://www.interdev.ca/).

The company is a leading developer of solutions for

emergency medical services. One solution is called

iMedic ePCR, a dispatch interface for the computer

tablets used by paramedics. Using GPS positioning,

the technology sends the address for a call to the

tablets much more quickly than the current standards.

“This system can cut 60 to 90 seconds off response

time, so that’s a significant reduction,” says Kuehn.

With project funding from the NSERC College and

Community Innovation Program, Centennial College

and Interdev have started to test and improve

a prototype. The Principal investigator was Hao

Lac, Information and Communication Engineering

Technology department.

“We wanted it to be groundbreaking and leading-

edge,” says Kuehn. “The students provided us with

fresh thinking and ways to enhance the software and

user interaction with the technology.”

Interdev ended up securing contracts to implement

the system across Ontario. To help bring the

technology to the field, the company hired one

of the students, Maria Seastres, who had been in

Centennial’s Computer Programmer Analyst program.

“I worked on many projects while studying at

Centennial, but it’s different when you’re on a real-

life project,” says Seastres. “It will affect people, and

could even save lives. That’s when I came to develop

a real appreciation for what I learned in school and

how it can be applied in the real world.”

SHOWCASE

NURSES PUT OPERATING ROOM CONTROL SYSTEM TO THE TEST

OASYS Healthcare (http://www.oasyshealthcare.

com/) provides innovative audio and video solutions

for the medical marketplace. Among their offerings:

the V300 Operating Room (OR) Control System.

How would nurses respond to the graphical user

interface design of the new system? To find out,

OASYS collaborated with researchers at Centennial

College, led by principal investigator Merritt Burstein,

Coordinator and Professor, Perioperative Nursing;

Faculty, Collaborative Nursing Degree Program.

The project received funding from NSERC’s College

and Community Innovation Program. Fifteen

perioperative Registered Nurses were recruited

to take part in a usability study. It validated three

important findings: the V300 added value to the

surgical process, the system was easy to use and could

be operated by a circulating nurse with little or no

training, and continued improvement on the usability

of the interface would be beneficial.

OASYS embraced the study, and used it for the next

stage of product development. The company said the

data will help it to provide OR control systems that

increase efficiency, improve patient outcomes, and

ultimately have a positive impact on patient safety.

Trish Dryden, Centennial’s Associate Vice-President,

Research and Corporate Planning, notes that because

the college trains nurses and has a simulated OR,

it was able to help OASYS test the interface using

students as well as working nurses. Beyond assisting

with the company’s evaluation, Dryden says this gives

students experience with the state-of-art technology

they can expect to use on the job.

OASYS brings advanced technology into the operating room.

14

Emergency Management and Public Safety Institute

Mass Gatherings – Risks and Perceptions

15

MASS GATHERINGS – RISKS AND PERCEPTIONS

Whether attending a music concert or participating in

a demonstration, mass gatherings are a phenomenon

that arise from the unique interactions of people,

places and activities. The key to providing a

comfortable environment for crowds is planning, and

understanding human behaviour dynamics and public

perception.

This project, funded by a Centennial College Applied

Research and Innovation Fellowship grant, saw a

collaboration between Centennial’s Culture and

Heritage Institute, the Emergency Management and

Public Safety Institute, and Toronto Police Service

and EMS. Together they examined hallmark events

of mass gathering in Toronto and delivered a survey

to key stakeholders that gauged the awareness and

perception of public event organizers on risk and

public safety settings as they relate to planning future

hosting events.

Among the nine key areas analyzed, results indicated

that safety and security were the greatest challenge

when planning for mass events with alcohol and

drugs being a key factor influencing public behaviour.

Riots were rated as the biggest negative factor

impacting a city’s profile; however, most mass

gatherings raise the profile of a city as a tourist

destination. The results of the project will be used to

assist in the planning of future mass gatherings.

Student research assistant, Greg Watkinson had this

to say about the project: “This project was a great

introduction to qualitative research techniques

and the work that goes into publishing an article.

It also enlightened me about the vast number of

opportunities to expand on current knowledge in the

fields that interrelate with paramedicine.”

SHOWCASE

SMALL SCALE HYDRO-DISTILLATION

Principal Investigator Andrew Baer and student

Emily Prowse teamed up with industry partner Cyrus

Borja to determine the feasibility of establishing

smaller and more environmentally friendly distillation

laboratories. This project, funded by a Centennial

College Applied Research & Innovation Centre (ARIC)

Fellowship grant, specifically looked at extracting

essential oil from Elemi resin, a product that is used

by manufacturers in a variety of soaps and perfumes.

If found technologically and economically feasible,

results of the project would allow small-scale

independent manufacturers to buy raw materials and

undertake the distillation themselves.

Results concluded that the extraction of Elemi oil

through small scale hydro-distillation was feasible,

purity was not sacrificed in the process, and that

small scale distillation was an extremely viable

business opportunity. “The project provided valuable

information necessary to determine the business

potential of pursuing the project on a bigger scale,”

said Borgia. “Specifically, the project provided the

following information: establishment of production

parameters for elemi essential oil distillation,

including the yield vis-à-vis production period;

establishment of benchline data for quality control,

including GC analysis of elemi essential oil from

potential contract suppliers.”

Student research assistant Emily Prowse gained

valuable employability skills. “The value of the project

to me was in further developing my chemistry and

analysis skills as well as seeing a project through all

the important key components; hypotheses stage,

preparation, performing, analyzing and conclusion.”

Student Emily Prowse establishing smaller and more environmentally friendly distillation laboratories. Professor Andew Baer looks on.

Collaboration between Centennial’s Culture and Hertiage Institute, the EMPSI, and Toronto Police Services and EMS.

16

CLEARBLUE TECHNOLOGIES TESTING AND ANALYSIS SKILLS SHINE

In the drive for cleaner and more efficient energy

use, what role could the streetlight play? Centennial

College helped to provide the answer through a

project with Clear Blue Technologies of Toronto, with

additional funding from FedDev Ontario.

The main aim was to produce a validated design

of an off-grid hybrid streetlight that can be

commercialized. Hybrid streetlights are powered

solely by a wind generator and solar photovoltaic (PV)

panels. One was installed at Centennial’s Progress

Campus in September 2011 and data was collected

until March 2012

Off-grid hybrid street lights can be used as a solution in under serviced areas.

The project team included professionals and students

from the Advanced Manufacturing and Automation

Technology Department, School of Engineering

Technology and Applied Science. They tested a range

of options for the solar PV panels, lighting loads and

batteries. Only one wind generator was tested, but a

provision was made on top of the pole to install and

test other generators in the future.

Centennial also tested and validated the unique

wireless communications and control system to

determine the impact of various lighting profiles

on performance. Overall, this project optimized the

system design in a way that will increase Clear Blue

Technologies’ market readiness.

“ARIC offers students a tremendous opportunity to

work with companies on real-life problems,” says

Mihail Plesca, co-investigator on the project and a

Renewable Energy Researcher. “The students got

hands-on experience and learned how to work with

different simulation programs and how to measure,

collect and analyze different environmental data.”

Plesca says he also gained important skills in

managing research projects and working with

industry partners.

Having the hybrid streetlights on site helped to make

visible Centennial College’s growing reputation as

an innovative educator in the sustainable energy

sector. As yet another benefit, the HOMER renewable

energy simulation software used in the project will

be incorporated into Centennial’s Energy Systems

Engineering Technology Program curriculum.

President & CEO Message

DRIVING INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Innovation and entrepreneurship have taken on new importance

in our society both as engines of economic prosperity and as

sources of social advancement and social enterprise. At Centennial

College, we believe that innovation and entrepreneurship are

relevant to every sector of our economy and are therefore

everyone’s possibility.

By expanding our capacity in applied research, innovation and

entrepreneurship, with a dual focus on commercialization and

social innovation, we are accelerating opportunities for our

students, employees and graduates to collaborate with industry

and community partners. We aim to bring great ideas to life.

In the pages of this book, you will fi nd an astonishing array

of success stories demonstrating our work with business and

community partners to create and market innovative new products, services and processes. The results tell a

powerful story of how we have increased local and international business competitiveness, productivity and

growth, and strengthened our social fabric through fostering collaboration, creativity and resilience.

Engaging in experiential learning, innovation and entrepreneurship at Centennial College – as a

student, a mentor, a business or community leader, as a small or large enterprise – reveals possibilities for

transformation and growth. I invite you to contact our Applied Research and Innovation Centre and come

see where experience takes you.

With respect and appreciation,

Ann Buller,

President and CEO

Contact Us

ARIC invites everyone with a passion for learning and discovery to

fi nd ways to take ideas to the marketplace.

To learn more about our projects, people and potential, contact:

Applied Research and Innovation CentreCentennial College,P.O. Box 631, Station AToronto, OntarioCanada M1K 5E9

Tel: 416-289-5000, ext. 8136Fax: 416-289-5070E-mail: [email protected]

“I appreciate the opportunity that Centennial

has given me to work on this project. It helps to

fi ll the gap between college and the real world

that students face when they graduate. This

opportunity has provided me with communication

and team work skills, and taught me how to

approach faculties, managers and people from

the business sector,”

Fernando A. Chung, Student, Centennial College

“Students and professor at Centennial have

been instrumental in helping SMARTeacher to

bring the world’s fi rst emotion-sensing educational

game to market. They have designed the bio-sensor

wristwatch that picks up on emotions such as

frustration and boredom.”

Rohan Mahimker, Co-CEO, SMARTeacher Inc.

CONTACT

See where experience takes you.

APPLIED RESEARCH

2013P.O. Box 631, Station A, Toronto, ON M1K 5E9p 416-289-5000 f 416-289-5070centennialcollege.ca