Thank you to all the participants for showcasing the results of your work at our special event.
Your talent and charisma have made this day truly amazing!
Creative Computing Showcase Gallery
Farhana Zulkernine and Parvin Mousavi Awarded NFRF-E Grants
Queen’s School of Computing would like to extend our congratulations to Dr. Farhana Zulkernine and Dr. Parvin Mousavi, who were awarded funding from the New Frontiers in Research Fund – Exploration Stream (NFRF-E)!
The NFRF Exploration stream is one of the three NFRF competitions announced by the Government of Canada in a news release on April 25, 2023. This investment aims to support research teams pushing the boundaries of innovation and cement Canada’s position as a leader in science and innovation.
Dr. Zulkernine and Dr. Mousavi’s successful applications were among nine Queen’s programs that were granted a total of $3 million through the NFRF in this round.
The NFRF Exploration stream supports projects that bring disciplines together to reach beyond traditional disciplinary or common interdisciplinary approaches by research teams. Interdisciplinary research is often risky, but worthwhile, given the potential for significant, groundbreaking impact.
Dr. Farhana Zulkernine is the PI behind the project titled Companion: A Cognitive Voice and Video Assistant Bot for Safe Aging. Her team includes co-applicants from the Department of Psychology and the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care. The project includes participation from industry Collaborator Markitech Canada.
The team will work with long-term care facilities to adapt voice assistant bots (e.g., Amazon Alexa) to the needs and preferences of senior citizens.
Dr. Parvin Mousavi is the PI of the project titled Towards Actionable AI in the ICU. The team behind the project includes Dr. Mousavi’s co-PI Dr. David Maslove from Queen’s Departments of Medicine and Critical Care Medicine, and four co-applicants, including QSC’s Dr. Gabor Fichtinger.
With this project, the team aims to improve the management of intensive care unit (ICU) patients across Canada using machine learning methods coupled with large-scale physiologic data.
Mohammad Zulkernine Awarded Funding for ORF-RE Project
Dr. Mohammad Zulkernine was awarded research funding support as a co-applicant on the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellent (ORF-RE) project CyPreSS: Software Techniques for the Engineering of Cyber-Physical Systems. The project is led by Dr. Kostas Kontogiannis from Western University, and includes collaborators from the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, and York University.
Dr. Zulkernine’s current research team at the Queen’s Reliable Software Technology Laboratory (QRST) Group focuses on building reliable and secure software systems for cloud, connected vehicles, mobile operating systems, and internet of things.
Click on the link to the QRST group website below to learn more about their research projects:
Steven Ding Receives Mitacs Accelerate Funding
QSC is happy to congratulate Dr. Steven Ding on his recent funding from the Mitacs Accelerate program. This funding will support a graduate student internship with partner Springboard Atlantic Inc.
Dr. Ding and his team at the Artificial Intelligence and Security Lab (L1NNA) focus on both the research and the development aspects of cybersecurity systems. Their research portfolio bridges the area of machine learning, data mining, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.
Visit the L1NNA website to learn more.
Catherine Stinson’s Team Helps Launch the Tracking (In)Justice Portal
Dr. Catherine Stinson and their research team at the Ethics and Technology Lab were involved in building the website for the Tracking (In)Justice portal, launched in the end of February. Tracking (In)Justice is an accessible online database tracking police-involved deaths in Canada. Based on publicly available sources including government reports and reliable Canadian media sources, the database includes information on date, location, police service, level of force used, and when known, age, race, and gender of the victims.
This collaborative project involves many organizations, such as the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), Carleton University, University of Toronto, Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre, JusticeTrans and Aboriginal Legal Services and many more.
You can access the full list of collaborators and more information on the database on the portal website www.trackinginjustice.ca
Sara Nabil Presented at TEDx QueensU
Dr. Nabil’s great passion for interior design coloured her research in interaction design, and is driving her innovation of smart homes and interactive furniture in novel ways. To do so, Sara and her team develops soft sensors, fabric circuits, e-textiles and smart materials that are malleable, shape-changing, and colour-changing. Her work aims to support the living quality of marginalized groups such as refugees, people with dual-identities, and people with physical disabilities.
TedxQueensU
This February, Dr.Sara Nabil was one of the speakers at the 13th Annual TEDxQueensU Conference: Revive! Sara spoke about the interdisciplinary nature of her research with her team at iStudio Lab, which often blends science, art, and technology.
One of the latest projects of iStudio Lab is the Borrowable Museum (BM), a portable interactive physical display based on the artifacts from the Wearable exhibition at the Canada Museum of Science and Technology. This portable interactive installation prototype is part of the research by Alaa Nousir, which aims to address the inaccessibility of museums in remote communities. You can hear Alaa describe the project in the video below!
Parvin Mousavi speaks to Global TV about AI use in cancer treatments
Queen’s School of Computing is excited to share with you the latest news about Dr. Parvin Mousavi, who was interviewed on live news about a cancer research trial she is currently leading.
Dr. Mousavi and her team study the smoke created by burning tissue in cancer biopsies and analyze the profiles of molecules using AI. By doing so, they can create a model that can correctly identify what type of tissue has been burnt, whether it is cancerous or not. This technology can be used to help surgeons make informed decisions in real time while the patient is still in the operating room.
The research has been focused on breast cancer surgery for the last five years and is still in the trial phase. While it is difficult to say when these methods will be fully adopted, Dr. Mousavi is optimistic that with the cooperation and generous participation of patients themselves, it is possible to further advance these technologies. “This innovative technology could change the way we treat cancer patients, giving doctors the ability to make informed decisions and perform better surgeries. With this development, we can hope for better outcomes for cancer patients and a brighter future for cancer treatment.”
CS ’24 Student Olivia Xu is a 2023 Cansbridge Fellow
Olivia Xu, a 3rd year Computer Science student at QSC, has been accepted to the Cansbridge Fellowship!
The Cansbridge Fellowship is awarded yearly to a cohort of highly ambitious Canadian students and consists of a week-long conference in the Silicon Valley, followed by a $10,000 sponsorship to experience a summer internship in Asia.
This is not Olivia’s first accomplishment at QSC – in 2021 Olivia was one of the recipients of Canada’s most coveted STEM scholarship, the Schulich Leaders Scholarship, and she is currently the Managing Director of QMIND.
Olivia is one of the two students from the Faculty of Arts and Science to be selected for the fellowship, along with Samantha Lin (Global Development Studies).
Congratulations to Olivia and Samantha, on this exciting opportunity to travel, network, and contribute your talent to solving global challenges!
QHacks 2023 List of Winning Teams
WINNER QHacks 1st Place Prize
WINNER Leading Learners x QHacks Prize
Snap a pic and learn to sketch it quick! Here at Sketch-it, we believe in re-discovering the joy of creation. With just a photo, we’ll give you 15 easy steps to help you bring your vision to life!
WINNER QHacks 2nd Place Prize
WINNER Leading Learners x QHacks Prize
Your pitch with one click!
WINNER QHacks 3rd Place Prize
WINNER MLH Best Accessibility Hack sponsored by Fidelity
WINNER Leading Learners x QHacks Prize
We created a device to help visually impaired people “see” the world around them! Our WEARABLE TECH uses computer vision to recognize objects and the ultrasonic sensor provides the distance from user
WINNER Mayor’s Innovation Challenge Prize
WINNER MLH Best Domain Name from Domain.com
Your guide to the city of Kingston.
WINNER Mayor’s Innovation Challenge Prize
Waste Notify helps garbage disposal employees communicate with citizens on how to maintain a better waste organization system.
Food4All – End Food Insecurity
A fully-functional web application designed to diminish the prevalence of food insecurity around the world through food redistribution.
WINNER QHacks 23 Theme Prize – Designing the Digital World
Our mission with X–To-Speech is to improve safety and inclusion for sensory-impaired members of society using machine learning.
WINNER Environmental Impact Prize – Presented by Utilities Kingston
EcoScan educates people about the environmental impact of their food.
WINNER DDQIC Sponsored Prize
ConcussionMD is an online concussion diagnosis tool. It determines if the patient has a concussion by analyzing the patient’s pupil radii and comparing their dilation.
WINNER MLH Best Blockchain Project Using Hedera
Understand a vehicle, before getting to know it.
WINNER MLH Best Use of Velo by Wix
A website to track your caffeine intake and get informed on all things coffee related!
WINNER MLH Best Use of Appwrite
Your smart note-taking companion that can organize, summarize and search through your documents! Who needs friends with software like this ヽ(°◇° )ノ
Dr. Ahmed Hassan Named Fellow of the ACM
Queen’s School of Computing is excited to announce that the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) has named Ahmed E. Hassan as an ACM Fellow for his accomplishments in 2022. ACM is the world’s largest computing society that brings together computing educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address challenges in the field.
The ACM Fellows program recognizes the top 1% of ACM Members for their outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology and/or outstanding service to ACM and the larger computing community. Fellows are nominated by their peers, with nominations reviewed by a distinguished selection committee.
On January 18, 2023 Dr. Hassan became one of the 57 newly appointed ACM Fellows, who were chosen for wide-ranging and fundamental contributions in disciplines including cybersecurity, human-computer interaction, mobile computing, and recommender systems among many other areas. As stated in the full press release, “the accomplishments of the 2022 ACM Fellows make possible the computing technologies we use every day.”
Congratulations, Dr. Hassan!