Research Week

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science

Research Report

ANNUAL RESEARCH DAY 2021

Virtual celebrations showcase groundbreaking FEAS research

Every year, the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial University hosts a Research Day which encourages collaboration with like-minded researchers in other disciplines and explores research funding opportunities. Despite continued COVID-19 restrictions on staff and students, the 2021 Research Week was a resounding success with the Annual Research Day videos receiving more than 1500 views within the first month. For many engineering students, the highlight of Research Week is the contest that determines who can best describe their research in three minutes. In pre-COVID days, research posters were displayed in the corridors of the engineering building with students and professors mingling with members of the public to learn about novel student research. Since last year, the Engineering Research Office has pivoted to online video presentations. This has proven to be one of the best things to come out of the pandemic because student research can now be viewed by anyone anywhere in the world at any time

VIDEO CONTEST WINNERS

Alice Faisal

This year, master’s student Alice Faisal won the contest with her video entitled Deep Reinforcement Learning for Optimizing RIS-Assisted HD-FD Wireless Systems.

https://youtu.be/MVHdc0GC9xE

In the video, Ms. Faisal explained her research which involves a wireless system capable of handling the demands of future wireless communications systems. Once the Internet-of-things (IoT) becomes commonplace, 5G networks and whatever comes after, will be expected to connect sensors, tablets and cameras in a continuous network.

“My research focuses on optimizing the Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) technology using deep learning. The recent advent of RISs helps smart radio environments help overcome large power consumption and the probabilistic nature of electromagnetic (EM) wave transmission,” said Ms. Faisal. The RIS acts as an intelligent mirror, improving signal quality and connectivity. RISs have other unique features, such as providing relatively high energy efficiency, and they are easy to deploy in diverse environments at a low cost, allowing integration into different application scenarios. Ms. Faisal is concentrating on optimizing the reflection coefficients of the RIS using deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to improve the communication system performance. DRL has emerged as a powerful approach to optimize the RIS phase shifts in wireless communication systems. It allows building efficient algorithm designs by learning, interacting, and observing rewards from the communication environment, thus, finding solutions to complex optimization problems.

“Winning this contest makes me feel grateful to contribute to science and wireless communications. I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr. Octavia Dobre and Dr. Telex Ngatched, as well as my mentor, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Nahhal, for their continuous support and efforts to develop this work.”

Tom Browne

Second place went to Tom Browne, Ph.D. candidate in Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering, who presented a method for evaluating operational costs incurred while operating under Arctic maritime regulations. His research compared optimal routes for a ship operating under two different regulatory guidelines - AIRSS and POLARIS - while navigating the Northwest Passage between Lancaster Sound and Tuktoyaktuk.

“My research is focused on managing safe and efficient Arctic shipping operations,” he said. “Ships operating in the Arctic pose several different risks. I am investigating ways in which scientific evidence can be used to better manage risk, while also enabling efficient and economic shipping operations. Safe Arctic ship operations protect the ship and those on board, the environment, Arctic communities, and other Arctic stakeholders.”

Mr. Browne enjoyed the challenge of describing this technical research in three minutes. “Being acknowledged in this contest encourages me to continue developing strong research communication skills,” he said, adding he received many congratulations from his colleagues. https://youtu.be/gcwocmwmWLw

Sylvester Aboagye

Sylvester Aboagye, Ph.D. candidate with a master’s in Electrical Engineering/ Communications, won third place for his video illustrating research into how to overcome line-of-sight blockage issues in indoor visible light communication systems using Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRS). "You can think of visible light communication (VLC) as a kind of home WiFi connection that uses light sources to transmit data,” said Mr. Aboagye. “However, there is no data transmission when the direct path between your device and the light source is blocked. In this research, we propose using intelligent reflecting mirrors to solve this blockage problem so that you can enjoy an uninterrupted internet connection.”

“It is a great honor to be among the winners for this competition,” he said, thanking his supervisors, Prof. Telex Ngatched and Prof. Octavia Dobre, as well as Dr. Richard Ndjiongue. https://youtu.be/e3XvZEyGJAw

Honorable mentions

Honourable mentions went to Yuhui Song and Ahmed Elruby.

Yuhui Song, a third-year Ph.D. student in ECE engineering, submitted a video entitled Tensor Based Sparse Bayesian Learning with Intra-Dimension Correlation. Tensor is a powerful data representation that breaks down data into a core and set of matrices. https://youtu.be/QeN2debteHY Ahmed Elruby, a post-doctoral fellow in naval and architectural engineering, works with Drs. Bruce Quinton and David Molyneux on the characterization and degradation of steel in the Kulluk, an Arctic drilling barge that served in the Arctic for almost forty years. https://youtu.be/pLDRUer3YT4

LUNCH & LEARNS

As part of Memorial’s Research Week, the Engineering Research Office hosted three live Lunch & Learn sessions.

Dr. Ashutosh Sutra Dhar: Integrity of Buried Water Mains and Energy Pipelines

https://youtu.be/Sr6RQCOiKXc

Dr. Hodjat Shiri: Offshore Construction Challenges in Very Shallow Arctic Regions

https://youtu.be/9VjZtzdPnWI

Dr. Sohrab Zendehboudi: Sustainable energy and environmental remediation in Canada: Challenges and future research directions

https://youtu.be/lun2JukOEJg

ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS

The Engineering Research Office introduced a new series in 2021 where faculty experts share their advice. The first lecture in the series was presented by Dr. Octavia Dobre. She provided an overview of the publication process and provided useful tips to get through the submission and review process successfully. She described the different types of publications and steps required to go through the publications process. Some of the advice she provided included considering the timeliness of your research, being careful of plagiarism and using text similarity solutions, ensuring the references are relevant and styled to your publisher’s preference, and asking your peers to scrutinize your manuscript prior to submission.

On Nov. 24, the second session included a panel of editors that shared their experiences on what makes a paper impactful. Drs. Bruce Quinton, Cheng Li, Greg Naterer, Helen Zhang and Salim Ahmed shared their insights on how to write impactful papers. The experienced panelists provided advice on the differences and similarities between publication standards in their respective fields. Some of the advice shared included developing an outline before you begin writing, having clear research objectives, conducting thorough literature reviews, picking the right publication venues and always address any reviewer comments directly and clearly. https://youtu.be/otjUYee0cQY

NETWORKING SESSIONS

A virtual networking event was held for researchers from FEAS and the College of the North Atlantic to share their research interests and form inter-institutional teams. Researchers provided short elevator-style pitches of their research interests and described what their ideal collaborator looks like.

A second networking session, Dynamic Research: Topics and Tools for Interdisciplinary Excellence, was jointly hosted by the Faculties of Engineering and Applied Science, Education and the School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, to provide an opportunity to form unconventional research teams to tackle interdisciplinary research challenges.

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