CREATE (ing) Opportunities

New NSERC initiative opens new possibilities for engineering research—and student careers

Young engineering researchers will soon be addressing sustainability issues in the far north. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council recently announced that it will provide $1.65 million to fund the new Sustainable Engineering in Remote Areas (SERA) program over six years through its Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) program.

“I am extremely happy and excited about the grant,” says Civil Engineering professor Mark Green. “The CREATE program is particularly interesting because it encourages doing more in graduate education than is traditionally done. It’s also a great platform for encouraging coordinated research over a sustained period.”

The SERA program, which Green designed, is “an excellent opportunity to support important research in sustainability and enhance educational opportunities for graduate students, including Aboriginal students,” he says.

The program will provide specialized seminars in Aboriginal culture and the cross-cultural aspects of engineering projects in Aboriginal territories. “We are

PhD candidate Elodie Lugez

currently developing new educational modules on Aboriginal culture, sustainability, and business skills to be offered to students next year,” Green says. “At the same time we are recruiting MSc and PhD students to join the team to start the research topics.”

Research projects will either be in renewable energy or sustainable building. Students will investigate topics such as the effects of snow on solar panels, innovative materials for wind turbines, lightweight building systems, and new and sustainable materials for housing.

The projects will also encourage partnerships with Aboriginal communities and industry, Green says, as well as collaborations with the Aboriginal Access to Engineering (AAE) initiative at Queen’s to extend the objectives of the AAE to the graduate/research level.

The Human Mobility Research Centre (HMRC), a collaboration between Queen’s and the Kingston General Hospital, was among the first CREATE awardees in 2009. The centre received $1.65 million to give graduates in the Bone and Joint Health Technologies program a head start in their careers by providing a unique opportunity to work with colleagues, enhance translational research skills, and transition from the lab to the workforce.

Mechanical and Materials Engineering professor Tim Bryant says the CREATE grant allows students to learn professional skills that are not part of their normal academic training. This includes understanding health policies, learning best practices for working with the media, and looking at business models for commercialization.

“Students might explore, for instance, ‘How would my research results be used if a commercialization person wanted to move ahead with this?’ So they know how that would impact their work, and can build this in from the start.”

The CREATE program has allowed the HMRC to foster existing integrated research teams and expand them into new areas. “It’s also provided the resources for new teams, which has had the biggest impact,” says Bryant.

One new team, for example, is looking at biomechanical modelling of pediatric knees. “Existing research was based on analysis of adult knees,” says Bryant. “So a physiotherapy colleague teamed up with a researcher in biomechanical modelling and a clinician in orthopedic surgery to work on predicting joint loading in the pediatric population. In the future, this will dictate alternative prevention and treatment strategies.”

Students who participate in this program have a big advantage, Bryant

HMRC-CREATE students

adds. “They have a unique background in a multi-disciplinary environment and the beginning of a toolkit that’s going to allow them to take on multiple career paths depending on their interests, whether they stay in academia or choose to work in industry or in health care policy for government.”

Elizabeth Hassan, a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering, is conducting research at the HMRC to develop functional outcome measures to assess performance after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction—a commonly injured knee ligament, particularly for young athletes.

“I have two established surgeons involved at every stage of my project, which means that I know my work will be directly useful to doctors and their patients,” Hassan says. “The CREATE program made this collaboration possible. When I talk to colleagues at other centres they can’t believe how lucky I am to have such a direct, open relationship with the clinicians. It’s something really unique about Queen’s and it’s the big reason I didn’t even apply anywhere else for my PhD; for me Queen’s is the best place in the country to study biomechanics.”

Elodie Lugez, a PhD candidate in Computer Science, works in a close collaboration with the HMRC to improve the quality of computer-assisted

surgeries. Thanks to the HMRC-CREATE grant, which has been, she says, “highly beneficial,” she has learned from many established professionals working in her area and expanded her network. “Meeting regularly with other “ ” The CREATE program is particularly interesting because it encourages doing more in graduate education than is traditionally done. It’s also a great platform for encouraging coordinated research over a sustained period.

HMRC-CREATE trainees enabled me to share ideas and collaborate,” she says.

“There is also a professional training aspect, as this grant gave us access to some privileged preparation for various tasks, such as media interviews.” As well, the grant enables her to attend conferences, where she can present her work, receive feedback, and meet and learn from other peers.

Valerio Russo is a PhD candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering who works at the HMRC on a project related to heart tissue regeneration following myocardial infarction. “I use stem cells extracted from human fat,” he says. “It is a very abundant cell source and it is usually discarded after medical procedures such as abdominoplasty— basically like taking gold out of garbage.”

In addition to the welcome financial support, Russo says, the collaborative aspect of CREATE has been helpful. “I got to work with a cardiac surgeon and many other experts. I was also able to observe cardiac surgeries—two of the fat depots I used are around the heart— which gave me a real-life view of the

PhD candidate Liz Hassan, Sc’03

conditions I’m trying to treat.”

He’s learned to look at the big picture, which helps in designing his studies, Russo adds. “Collaborations and goal orientation have been the great gifts CREATE has given me, and they’ve helped a lot in my research.”