Latest BCKDF funding awarded for eight campus projects
UBCO was awarded eight successful BCKDF projects in the latest round of provincial funding, totalling $1.68 million in infrastructure support.
UBC Okanagan researchers have received $1.68 million in infrastructure funding support from the Government of BC.
A total of eight projects were funded, exploring everything from the use of robots in the construction of affordable housing to patient-centred research into the development of treatments for deadly brain injuries.
The investment comes via the BC Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF), the Province’s primary source for capital investment in research infrastructure, and represents a matching component to federal funding already received for these projects from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.
“We’re delighted and grateful to see this provincial investment in UBCO research infrastructure,” says Dr. Suzie Currie, Vice-Principal and Associate Vice-President, Research and Innovation. “This financial support is essential to strengthening our research as our talented experts continue to answer important questions and develop critical knowledge to positively affect people’s lives in BC, and beyond.”
In total, 71 projects received provincial funding across both UBC campuses.
UBCO BCKDF recipients and projects
Dr. Qian Chen, School of Engineering
Digital Integration for Robotic Fabrication in Construction (DIRFIC) to facilitate rapid affordable housing in Canada
Dr. Qian Chen’s research is working to address Canada’s housing crisis, safeguard construction workers during construction projects and position Canada as a leader in manufacturing and construction innovations. By developing a scalable and digitally integrated technology framework for robotic fabrication in construction, her lab aims to address the need for rapid, sustainable and affordable housing across the country. Part of her project includes an industrial-sized robotic arm to help model the complex constraints of robotic assembly and test the integration algorithm in real-world case studies.
Dr. Renelle Dubosq, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
From nano to tectonic: A centre for nanogeology research
Dr. Renelle Dubosq’s funding will develop a Centre for nanogeology research within UBCO’s existing FiLTER laboratory and enhance existing electron-beam facilities. These upgrades will allow for nanoscale analysis of geomaterials. Dr. Dubosq’s research will study the feedbacks between element mobility, fluids and structural defects at the nanoscale to assess their role in deformation of minerals and apply these processes to a tectonic scale. By improving the baseline knowledge of Canada’s natural mineral resources, this project could help address the demand for critical minerals crucial for green energy transitions and contribute to a better understanding of seismic rupture, which is essential for seismic hazard assessment in earthquake-prone regions.
Dr. Laura Grieneisen, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
Wild Animal Microbiomes & Stress (WAMS)
Gut microbial communities affect many aspects of health including stress response. Most microbiome studies are over short time scales, but this research aims to create the first lifetime profiles of microbiome and stress response trajectories in wildlife. Funding will build a comprehensive research space for the collection, processing, long-term curation and modeling of wildlife data. This investment allows for the long-term monitoring of Canadian wildlife populations that are experiencing climate-change related population declines and range shifts.
Dr. Klaske van Heusden, School of Engineering
Data-driven control for safety-critical applications
Control technology, used in everything from cell phones to aircraft, buildings to manufacturing, is becoming more complex with increased levels of autonomy. Dr. Klaske van Heusden’s research focuses on the algorithms required to make the next generation of automated systems safe. Her program works to overcome the shortcomings of current methodology and develop data-driven methods for safe control. This project will provide the necessary equipment to develop and evaluate safe control methods compatible with learning control algorithms needed to empower autonomous systems. Her research aims to bridge the gap between current methods and real-world safety-critical control.
Dr. Ryan Hoiland, Southern Medical Program
The translational acute brain injury laboratory
According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, about 60,000 Canadians suffer a cardiac arrest every year, with only five to 15 per cent of patients surviving. When someone’s heart stops beating, blood flow and oxygen delivery to the brain stops too, and oxygen levels in the brain remain low after resuscitation. The resulting hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HIBI) is the main cause of death in post-cardiac arrest patients. Currently, there are no effective treatments for HIBI. By using the equipment and infrastructure acquired with this funding to address key gaps in HIBI research, Dr. Ryan Hoiland will conduct research to develop new approaches that restore normal levels of oxygen in the brain as efficiently as possible following a HIBI. His lab will be uniquely positioned to accelerate progress and generate desperately needed knowledge to advance clinical care and develop new therapies for HIBI patients.
Dr. Alessandro Ielpi, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
Development of river survey capability for assessment of fluxes of sediment and organic-carbon across watersheds
Dr. Alessandro Ielpi is researching remote watersheds to better understand the impact of changing temperature on how water moves from uplands to oceans. Currently, our understanding of fluxes in sediment and organic matter along watersheds is centered around altered rivers in densely populated lowlands. Little is known about these processes in remote pristine watersheds not impacted by urban development. Dr. Ielpi’s research aims to fill essential knowledge gaps and scale up site-specific measurements to watershed scales. Ultimately, this will help develop new models linking watershed disturbance to downstream effects like increased erosion or flooding. In BC, this will mean better understanding of stressed watersheds’ responses to disturbances like wildfires, intensive timber harvesting and extreme weather events.
Dr. Muhammad Hashim Islam, Faculty of Health and Social Development
Real time assessment of metabolism in distinct human cell types across the health-disease continuum
Most chronic diseases affecting Canadians, such as heart disease and diabetes, involve disordered metabolism. However, how metabolism within different human cells and tissues is impacted with these diseases is poorly understood. Dr. Muhammad Hashim Islam’s research aims to advance this understanding and apply the information towards optimizing lifestyle interventions that are aimed at improving disease-related metabolic defects. This funding will help acquire an analyzer to enable real-time measurement of major metabolic pathways in various human cells and tissues. This technology will help Dr. Islam in developing new approaches for combatting chronic disease by targeting metabolic pathways, with the overall goal to improve the lives of millions of Canadians impacted by chronic disease.
Dr. Gema Rodriguez-Perez, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
A core technology to improve EDI in collaborative environments
Open Source software (OS) is a vital component in many applications including high-tech industries and essential systems in health care, finance and public services. Yet it often struggles with issues of equity, diversity and inclusion in software development from a lack of diversity in developers, resulting in software failing to meet the needs of diverse users and reinforcing existing inequalities. Dr. Rodriguez-Perez’s research aims to address these inequalities, creating a toolkit designed to help OS communities monitor and improve their EDI practices.