Lassonde showcases cutting-edge research at student conference

On August 13, the Lassonde School of Engineering hosted the 5th annual Lassonde Undergraduate Summer Student Research Conference. Despite the ongoing pandemic, the Lassonde was thrilled to showcase the research of 57 undergraduate students taking part in summer research programs.

For the first time, the annual research conference was delivered in an entirely virtual format. The conference was an immersive and interactive experience that included a virtual fair of research projects where guests could connect with student researchers in real-time. The research projects ranged from the construction of 3D maps and models for urban traffic, online engineering education, artificial intelligence, microfluidic devices, and deep learning in space. The full conference program can be found here.

Caroline Floyd (BSc ’01, Earth and Atmospheric Science) delivered a keynote presentation entitled Being ‘They’ in “They say it’s going to rain”: Thoughts from 20 Years in Weather, which provided an engaging overview of her career in weather as the lead forecaster for coverage at two Olympic games and producing hour-by-hour forecasts for every continent (excluding Antarctica – so far).

The virtual research conference also included remarks from:

• Jane Goodyer, Dean
• John Moores, Associate Dean, Research & Graduate Studies
• Amir Asif, Vice-President Research & Innovation
• Brenden Schulz, Executive Director, Student Success
• Gerald Audette, Associate Dean, Faculty, Faculty of Science

The conference closed with a presentation on graduation studies from Professor and Graduate Program Director Usman Khan and the highly anticipated awards ceremony. The awards were presented by Dean Goodyer and John Moores, Associate Dean, Research & Graduate Studies.

The oral presentation winners, announced at the event, are:

• Student’s’ Choice Oral Presentation Award: Melissa Spiegel
• 2nd Place Oral Presentation Award: Jack Wawrow
• 1st Place Oral Presentation Award: Aryan Nabidur Rashid  

The video research presentation winners, announced at the event, are:

• 3rd Place Students’ Choice Award (Morning Session): Chester Wyke
• 2nd Place Students’ Choice Award (Morning Session): Daphne-Eleni Archonta
• 1st Place Students’ Choice Award (Morning Session): Sara Kashanchi

• 3rd Place Students’ Choice Award (Afternoon Session): Rashiq Shahad
• 2nd Place Students’ Choice Award (Afternoon Session): Karen Abogadil
• 1st Place Students’ Choice Award (Afternoon Session): Mohammad Sotoudehfar

• 3rd Place Video Award: Julia Ferri
• 2nd Place Video Award: Sara Hajari
• 1st Place Video Award: Koko Nanahji

Best Booth Graphic Award: Daphne Archonta

All in all, it was a successful virtual event and we are so proud of all the student researchers. Join us in congratulating the 2020 winners!   

More about Undergraduate Research at Lassonde

This year, Lassonde awarded 19 NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) and 35 Lassonde Undergraduate Research Awards (LURA). Incoming students are from multiple programs at York University, but also Carleton University and Western University. Want to learn more about these programs? Check out the promo video here.   Students spent the summer working alongside professors and their teams to develop potential solutions, further knowledge and get hands-on experience in their respective fields. The Professors have worked tirelessly to flip the program to a remote setting so as to provide the same value to our student participants, re-creating professional research environments online to give students the chance to hone their laboratory skills, solve problems associated with their project, write reports and disseminate their findings.  

For more information, please visit the Lassonde undergraduate research page.