Industry Projects

Barbara Bruce

Full Year 2024-25

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.

Benjamin Hill

Fall 2024

This course provokes students to think critically and philosophically about the inherent problems with our dominant food systems. Few things we do, day-in and day-out, are as value-laden as eating. Intentionally or not, most of these values are hidden from us, and we are often complicit in hiding these values from others as well as ourselves. Topics covered in the course include the industrialization of food production and processing, the corporatization of our food system in the hands of Big Ag and Big Food, the marginalization of family farmers and rural communities, environmental degradation, gender and gendered exploitation built into the structure of the food system, human rights and the exploitation of farm labour and farming communities, modern slavery and human trafficking, food justice, hunger and poverty, and climate change and agriculture.

Michael Boutilier

Winter 2025

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.

Kevin McGuire

Full Year 2024-25

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 2024

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.

John Makaran

Full Year 2024-25

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 2024

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 2024

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.

Wes Kinghorn

Fall 2024 and Winter 2025

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.

Mike Dove

Full Year 2024-25

This course provides an overview of public history- applied history, or the many and diverse ways in which history is put to work in the world. The theory and practice of public history are examined through a variety of sources, including historical novels, websites, apps, television, film, exhibits, artifacts, graphic novels, computer games, guest speakers, and physical sites.

Students are acquainted with the wide range of history-related professional opportunities available outside of academia, namely: archives and records management, film and documentary production, museums, parks, historic sites, historic preservation, heritage tourism, editorial services, digital history, oral history, genealogy, and public policy research and consulting. Students meet with practitioners in the field, visit several public history-related sites, and experience hands-on learning.

Blair Evans

Fall 2024

This course introduces students to the theories, methods, and findings of industrial psychology, with a focus on their applications to better understanding workplace experiences. As aptly described by Adam Grant in his podcast WorkLife, industrial and organizational psychology is all about understanding “how to make work not suck”. Students in this course explore how to optimally select employees and monitor their performance, how to design social environments to create a workplace that employees want to spend time in, and everything in between. This course ultimately helps students leverage an understanding of psychology to improve their future workplaces while laying the foundation for careers in Industrial and organizational consulting for those who choose this path.

Joseph Turnbull

Winter 2025

In this course, students learn various approaches for solving complex problems and then apply them to a group-based analytics project executed in collaboration with a not-for-profit, educational, private, or government partner. Students connect approaches to research in cognitive science, behavioural economics, numerical methods, and aligned fields to develop problem-solving processes that are effective for ill-defined problems, as well as problems for which there is no established framework or template.

Hybrid course with Community Engaged Learning

John Dickinson

Industry Partner: Various

Challenge: Design a solution to improve the lives of the aging, impaired, and their caregivers.

Solutions included:

• Aquafit aids for low impact physical activity
• Phone warmer to keep phone in operable temperature range in winter climate conditions for individuals with physical disabilities
• Treat dispenser to help individuals with physical disabilities provide treats to their pets
• Solution to slippery floors in hospital showers
• Medicine dosing device for individuals with visual impairment

Wes Kinghorn

Industry Partner: Proof Line Farm

Challenge: How can Proof Line Farm create an engaging tourist experience on their farm? How could one of their products form the basis of a regional brand and spark the growth of other agricultural business in London and surrounding area?

Hybrid course with Community Engaged Learning

Melissa Adler

Industry Partner: Wilma Technologies Inc. (featured alongside various community partners)

Challenge: How can Wilma reach target audience segments to promote their ride hail service and convert them to loyal users?

Bonnie Simpson

Industry Partner: Reya Health

Challenge: How should Reya Health market their birth control matching and tracking app to new users?

Benjamin Hill

Industry Partner: Forest City Microgreens

Challenge: How can Forest City Microgreens, an indoor farm in downtown London, advance their marketing strategy to reach new audiences and potential subscribers?

Blair Evans

Industry Partner: interVal

Challenge: How can a small tech start-up embed mentorship concepts without having formal mentors?