Success Stories
ACCELERATE BC Internships connect graduate students with business
Transferring the theoretical research and mathematical knowledge acquired in university to industry innovation is the main goal of MITACS—the Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems. MITACS, Canada’s Network of Centre of Excellence for the Mathematical Sciences, partners graduate student with companies to investigate and solve research challenges through ACCELERATE BC—BC’s Graduate Research Internship Program.
ACCELERATE BC gives graduate students the chance to gain exposure to industrially-relevant research, to increase their employment opportunities, and to create new professional relationships with industry. Companies benefit from the leading-edge research conducted by their interns and gain an enhanced understanding of the contribution that innovative research can make to their organizations. Thanks to $10 million provided by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development, MITACS will offer 650 internships in BC from 2007 to 2011.
Interns are currently working in a wide variety of areas, ranging from health to small business. Their research includes:
- Establishing a National Archives for the Nisga’a nation.
- Developing algorithms, methodology and software for the rapid processing of large volumes of resumes, which will result in better matching and ranking of candidates for particular job descriptions.
- Increasing the efficiency of fluorescence-based and light emitting diode-based signage.
- Creating computational models for the analysis of aircraft structures.
- Combining theoretical modelling of ecological resilience and ecosystem diversity to predict how ecological resilience varies.
Aboriginal Partnerships
ACCELERATE BC interns are working in partnership with Aboriginal groups on a wide variety of issues—including the archaeological side of the Chehalis First Nation’s effort to have Kweh-Kwuch-Hum (Mt. Woodside) designated a “Spiritually Sensitive Area” and a study with the Tsawout First Nation to examine one of the most ecologically and culturally significant coastal dune ecosystem sites on Vancouver Island. Potential future projects for ACCELERATE BC interns could include a study with the Tsawataineuk First Nation to support the renewal of traditional food culture, as well as work to assist the Nisga’a Nation in the creation of its own national archives. Read more >>
Climate Action
The ACCELERATE BC Internship Program looks at a number of areas impacting climate change—one of British Columbia’s top priorities. ACCELERATE BC interns from the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria are working on projects such as the monitoring of emissions from cruise ships, development of mathematical models to measure ecological resilience, and research on trapping greater levels of carbon in the forest floor through nitrogen fertilization. Read more >>
Economic Competitiveness
ACCELERATE BC interns gain the opportunity to develop highly innovative solutions for their partner companies—solutions which help build the Province’s economic competitiveness. An intern from Simon Fraser University, for example, is involved in the researching and developing of hardware for quantum computing technology, which could potentially allow for an increase in the computational complexity of problems. Another intern, from the University of British Columbia, is working on creating CPUs (central processing units) that can perform simultaneous calculation, enabling increasingly complex video game systems. Read more >>
Ecosystems, Marine Life and Wildlife
The MITACS ACCELERATE BC Internship Program has facilitated a number of research initiatives that help protect British Columbia’s biological diversity. Interns’ projects include the measurement of the ecological resilience of the Province’s central forests, a study on the responses of songbirds and woodpeckers to changes in habitat, and a study on the number of different types of viruses and bacterial species in Canadian Arctic waters. Read more >>
Electricity and Alternative Energy
With ambitious targets for reductions in carbon emissions and an advanced research base, British Columbia is a leader in green technology. Furthering the Province’s position, MITACS has partnered ACCELERATE BC interns with companies to work on projects involving green energy generation, power resources, hybrid technology, and fuel cells. Read more >>
Health
From improving disease prevention capabilities to developing new health technologies, ACCELERATE BC interns are gaining diverse, practical experience that will not only contribute to the economic competitiveness of the Province, but will also improve quality of life for countless British Columbians. Read more >>
Mining and Minerals
British Columbia’s mining and minerals resources industry plays a key role in the economy, and MITACS has organized numerous projects to help improve the industry’s competitiveness. ACCELERATE BC interns are finding ways to improve environmental assessments, developing a model to capture soil movement in mine slopes, and analyzing copper-gold mineralization in the Iron Range Region of British Columbia. Read more >>
Small Business
ACCELERATE BC interns are working to solve a diverse set of challenges for their small business partners. Projects include work to deliver a weight loss gene, to reduce industrial noise in marine environments, and to create solutions for challenges associated with the automated processing of résumés written in natural language. Read more >>
For more information about current ACCELERATE BC research, please visit http://www.acceleratecanada.ca/?lang=en®ion=bc&page=overview
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