Industry Projects

Kate Stanley

Winter 2026

This course considers what kinds of work that graduate students in the humanities learn to do as they progress towards their degrees and explores the varieties of paid employment that might be viable choices going forward. Students investigate how and why higher education and the economy as a whole are changing in ways that make it increasingly difficult for students to secure full-time tenure-track teaching positions, and focus on what students might do while in graduate school to become plausible candidates for different kinds of positions, both within and beyond the university. Guest speakers will join to offer a sense both of work students might be interested in and of the soft and hard skills employers seek when looking to fill specific positions. By the end of the course, students will leave the class with a strong resume (and/or academic CV), a fuller understanding of how and why to cultivate professional networks, a career portfolio, and improved wherewithal for identifying possible jobs and writing cover letters that will garner interviews. At the same time, they will develop skills for successfully meeting the conventional requirements of a humanities graduate program, cultivating the kinds of habits that help balance writing, teaching, and others forms of work.

Laura Cayen

Fall 2025

This course is intended to assist graduate students in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies with their professional development. The emphasis will be on developing practical skills for being successful as a graduate student, including developing pedagogical skills as a teaching assistant, literature reviews, grant writing, cv development, abstract writing and submission, knowledge mobilization, and the peer-review process for publishing in journals and edited collections. The course also highlights opportunities for alt-academic and non-academic career skill development.

Barbara Bruce

Full Year 2025-26

This online course introduces students within the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts & Humanities (SASAH) program to the critical research techniques and practical skills required to 1) engage in experiential learning; 2) comport oneself in a professional manner in preparation for the job market and related contexts; 3) plan a community-based, fourth-year group project; and 4) plan an individual research or creative fourth-year project.

The SASAH program emphasizes Experiential Learning (EL) through both integrated projects and required courses. The first half of this course introduces students to the skills and tools required to engage successfully in EL in those projects and courses, and helps them develop the skills and tools they need to present themselves professionally. The second half of this course facilitates students' research and advanced planning for the individual and group projects they will undertake in their fourth-year capstone seminar.

Previous Project: Provided feedback on prototype educational modules and recommended improvements based on existing source material for Better Together Inc.

Michael Boutilier

Winter 2026

The purpose of this course is to introduce chemical engineering students to the basics of momentum transfer and fluid flow in part through the application to real-world engineering problems. Topics include: conservation of mass, momentum and energy, flow of fluids, measurement of fluid flow, laminar and turbulent flow, compressible and incompressible flow, pumps, nozzles, flow meters, and turbines.

Previous Project: Aided Carriff Canada with their product marketing by using laboratory resources to provide accurate flow rate data.

Instructor TBD

Full Year 2025-26

In this course students develop and practice engineering design skills by working on an interdisciplinary team-based project. The students experience all phases of the design process, including: problem definition, generation and evaluation of concepts, engineering analysis and testing, and preparation of design documentation. Project-management and communication skills are also emphasized.

HaoTian Harvey Shi

Fall 2025

This course introduces students to the modern industrial processes common in the manufacturing of various engineering products. The relationships between materials properties, manufacturing processes, and the performances of the finished components are studied. The course combines theoretical principles with practical applications to equip students with the skills necessary for addressing contemporary challenges in manufacturing industries.

Previous Project: Evaluated current designs and recommended changes to materials selection for one of Maglin Site Furniture’s products to reduce associated environmental impacts.

John Makaran

Full Year 2025-26

This full-year capstone course is the culmination of everything MME students have learned in their program. Students develop and practice engineering design skills by working on a team-based project. Students experience all phases of the design process, including problem definition, generation and evaluation of concepts, engineering analysis, prototyping, testing, and preparation of design documentation. Students are evaluated on their technical deliverables, but also on their project management, time-management, and communication skills.

Daniel Jeffery

Fall 2025

This course uses project-based inquiry to give senior genetics students hands-on experience with molecular biology techniques allowing them to refine their laboratory skills, practice analyzing and reporting results to academic and lay audiences, and cross-referencing outcomes to the scientific literature. Experimental approaches include bisulfite sequencing, quantitative reverse-transcription PCR, and CRISPR-mediated gene knockout.

Ashley McAlpine

Fall 2025

In this course, students develop the important business skills that are often not emphasized in the formal education of quantitative financial professionals. The course focusses on how businesses work, financial statement analysis, oral and written communication, and leadership/people management.

Previous Projects:

• Developed frameworks for a new work order, customer, & product tracking application for Hetek Solutions Inc. using software available in-house.
• Researched new markets for GreenTech Painting and recommended strategies for franchise expansion using risk assessment, financial modelling, and more.

Ashley McAlpine

Fall 2025

In this course, students develop the important business skills that are often not emphasized in the formal education of quantitative financial professionals. The course focusses on how businesses work, financial statement analysis, oral and written communication, and leadership/people management.

Previous Project: Researched potential new markets for the deployment of proprietary technology developed by Konnexio Inc. including a comprehensive overview of associated benefits and risks.

Lindsay Bell

Winter 2026

This course serves as an introduction to how anthropologists study everyday life to reveal the meanings and consequences of what often seem like mundane, routine actions. Shopping is a ubiquitous activity that we may take for granted as “normal”. Indeed, our daily lives involve the purchase and consumption of “lots of stuff.” More than simply being about individual materialism, this course explores how shopping is a cultural practice. We will learn how to closely observe shopping environments to discover what people’s procurement practices reveal about their social relationships and identities. We will explore the diversity of ways in which people shop as well as what they shop for. We will think about local and global consumer culture with an eye towards a better understanding of both human creativity and social inequality.

Wes Kinghorn

Fall 2025

This course is an examination of geographical theories of local and international trade. Topics include the relationships between the location of production and flows of goods, services and factors of production among countries and regions, and the geographical patterns of world commerce.

Wes Kinghorn

Fall 2025 and Winter 2026

This course is an examination of tourism as a global, national, and local phenomenon, with economic, social, and environmental impacts. The emphasis of this course is on tourism as placemaking. Topics include tourism theory, major tourist destinations, climate change impacts, media influences, hosts, guests, local tourism, and tourism of imaginary places.

Previous Projects:

• Researched organizations located along the Thames Valley Parkway for London Bicycle Café to identify potential opportunities for growing the city’s active transportation community.
• Researched restaurants, grocery stores, and food manufacturers located in London for Ukrainian Pierogies Inc. to identify potential collaborators in the establishment of a multicultural tourism route.

Mike Dove

Winter 2026

This course focuses on how the use of digital technology affects the production and communication of history within the public sphere. HIS9808B supplements the other two mandatory courses (9800A; 9801B) for students enrolled in the public history field of the History MA. It is a combined seminar and project-based course, examining history as it is communicated to, and understood by, the public. Students will explore the theory, history and practice of digital public history, and learn the digital methods and skills used by public historians through site visits, workshops and projects.

Jacqueline Book

Fall 2025

This course will focus on current issues in the aviation industry. It will better prepare students for aviation leadership and management. It is intended to broaden thinking on current topics such as environmental, EDI, industry projections, and issues facing todays airlines, airports, workforce and businesses.

Bonnie Simpson

Fall 2025

This course introduces principles of sustainability in the global marketplace. The focus is on an international experiential approach to building knowledge and critical thinking skills to evaluate the role of marketing in creating, facilitating, and communicating sustainable marketing activities, including barriers for sustainable consumption practices and tools to overcome them.

Samantha Hancock

Fall 2025

This course focuses on theory, methodology, and implications of EDI-D research in the workplace. Students will learn how to apply theories and research techniques to understand practical problems in EDI-D in the workplace.