Lassonde hosts second annual Research Day
On May 1, the Lassonde School of Engineering hosted its second annual Research Day, a micro-conference showcasing the innovative research projects across a range of disciplines at the School including artificial intelligence (AI) application, sustainability, infrastructure and data management, space exploration and smart grid design.
Faculty members and graduate students submitted scientific abstracts, presenting to over 250 attendees from industry, academia and government partners over the course of the day.
Lassonde Research Day was held in collaboration with the Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN) with a variety of projects highlighting autonomous, connectivity and transportation-related research. Guests also had the opportunity to attend a focus session hosted by the Regional AVIN AI hub and OCE to learn more about the opportunities and challenges in the field of autonomous vehicles.
The day opened with a presentation by Professor James Elder, York University’s Research Chair in Human and Computer Vision where he discussed university-industry collaborations in intelligent systems research highlighting the importance of research collaborations with industry and community partners are to the success of large-scale research projects.
Professor Elder’s research together in collaboration with such partners as ESRI and TransPlan is advancing the field of mobility and transportation through the innovative network for Intelligent Systems for Sustainable Urban Mobility (ISSUM) Project. This project is just one of the many examples Lassonde has of interdisciplinary research working to solve real-world problems.
In addition to keynotes, focus sessions and research presentations, guests had the option to attend lab tours in seven laboratories at Lassonde, including the newly opened Autonomous Systems Lab, featuring an area for drone operation. Three electrical engineering labs were included in the tour as well as the High Bay Structures Lab, the Human and Computer Vision Lab and the Innovative Design and Engineering Analysis Lab (IDEA Lab).
The day concluded with the Best Poster Award going to the poster titled Development of Novel Resilient Structural Systems presented by Civil Engineering Professor Dan Palermo and his research team Mena Morcos, Adrien Sparling, Michael Soto and Marina Maciel. Their research aims at developing materials that can withstand wear and tear as well as disasters while leaving a smaller environmental footprint and costing less. The team won for their creativity in presenting their research using visually appealing poster boards complete with to-scale models and images illustrating their work.
Thank you to everyone who worked to make this event successful. We look forward to being even bigger and better next year.