Friday, November 26, 2021

Innovation at the intersection of research and athletics

By Jon Parsons. This article was originally published on Waterloo News.

As a graduate student in the Cheriton School of Computer Science, Cameron Seth studies graph theory algorithms and complexity theory.

As an athlete, he is among the top Canadian men’s squash players. He has been playing on the international professional tour since 2015, and during his undergrad, Seth was a mainstay on the University of Waterloo varsity team.

He won the OUA individual title numerous times and led the squad to a few second-place finishes in the team event, losing to rivals Western.

Now, he’s found a way to marry his passions of computer science and squash in a new venture launching as part of the Concept $5K challenge, the bi-annual entrepreneurial contest hosted by the Waterloo-affiliated Velocity startup incubator.

The new platform is called SethSquash.

“One of the reasons I started this was because of the pandemic,” Seth said. “When everything shut down, I had to find ways to train without having a squash court. I did fitness work on bikes and running, but what was lacking was a way to improve squash skills without getting on court.”

An essential aspect of squash is the ability to “read” the game. By watching an opponent’s body language and movement, a player can anticipate the next shot and take advantage. Players intentionally disguise their shots and use deception to confuse any straightforward reading of the game.

“The tough thing about learning to read the game is that it’s not like practicing hitting the ball,” he said. “I can go on court and hit the ball for hours to improve my shots, but there’s no repeatable way to practice reading the game.”

“So our trainer has thousands of clips from just one position. You can play the clips within our app to improve your read of where the shot is going. You can get a thousand repetitions in an hour, whereas if you’re playing a match, you might only get ten repetitions of that shot placement.”

The SethSquash platform also has a functionality that uses a machine learning algorithm to track player statistics and analyze the game. Squash is a fast-paced sport, and it has proven difficult to track statistics using computer programs. Seth and his team developed heuristic models to track the shots and movement patterns of players accurately.

Cameron Seth (front) in action on the glass court at Canadian nationals 2021, hosted in the Yorkdale Mall. Seth made it to the quarter-finals before losing out to the number one seed.

“It requires a little bit of manual input at the beginning,” Seth said. “You have to tell it, this is player one, this is player two. This is their shirt colour. And then it just runs. The program runs so fast that we can essentially get the statistics in real-time.”

The team working to develop the SethSquash platform started with Cameron and his brother Ravi, who recently completed an undergraduate degree in mechatronics engineering. As the project grew, they were joined by their sister Natasha, who completed Waterloo’s math business program. And the Waterloo-SethSquash connection doesn’t stop there.

“We’ve been a squash family. I also have two other siblings, along with Ravi and Natasha, who are also squash players. My sister Marisa is, in fact, the University of Waterloo varsity coach. My sister Micaala played for the varsity team. And my parents also went to the university. So in our family, it’s all seven of us playing squash and Waterloo graduates. Squash and the University of Waterloo, it’s a part of who we are.”

As for the next steps, Seth says he’s most interested in getting some feedback on the business side of the new venture and some experience pitching the idea through the Concept $5K challenge. He also points to recent leads for potentials future partnerships with squash organizations in Canada and the US.

The match analysis software is set to be tested at the upcoming Squash Ontario Junior Championships. The University of Pennsylvania has expressed interest in using the platform as a training tool for their varsity squash program. 

“It’s a sport that’s set to grow, and we see some great potential to bring our tech skills to this beautiful game.”

Jonathan Li named CIG 2021 Geomatica Award winner

This article was originally published on the Faculty of Environment's website.

Jonathan Li, Professor of geospatial data science and remote sensing at the Department of Geography and Environmental Management and cross-appointed at the Department of Systems Design Engineering was selected as the 2021 winner of the Geomatica Award granted by the Canadian Institute of Geomatics (CIG). He received the prestigious award during the GeoQC 2021 conference held in Quebec City on October 21, 2021.

The Geomatica Award is presented by CIG to someone who has contributed to the advancement of geomatics in Canada in an exceptional manner. Li’s extensive research and contributions in urban remote sensing and geospatial data science, especially in intelligent extraction of geometric and semantic information from earth observation images and LiDAR point clouds using artificial intelligence algorithms have significantly impacted the geomatics industry in Canada.

His most recent research assists the generation of HD maps and digital terrain models supporting the global development of sustainable smart cities and autonomous vehicles. “The overall focus of my work with collaborators is to develop and commercialize innovative sensing techniques and analytical methods for processing, visualizing, and applying geospatial data acquired by various passive and active imaging and ranging sensors,” said Li.

Li co-invented technologies with his students that have been commercialized in two Waterloo start-ups, such as WatXtract.ai that provides AI (Artificial Intelligence) software systems to produce dense 3D point clouds from the stereo images acquired by aerial and satellite optical sensors for automated generation of digital surface/elevation models; and Ecopia Tech that specializes in AI solutions to convert high-resolution earth observation imagery into building footprint maps, which are embedded into critical applications. These have positively impacted and improved the modeling of buildings and roads, development of eco-friendly environments and reduction of carbon footprints globally especially in Canada.

“We have partnered and provided services to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Environment Canada (EC), Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO) amongst others,” said Li.

Li has received over 20 prestigious awards from various international and national organizations in Canada, US, China, and UK for his pioneering contributions in developing and promoting mobile LiDAR mapping technology and significant contributions to the development, organization or professional activities of the photogrammetry, remote sensing, and spatial information sciences.

The list of past winners of the award can be found online.

Vote in the GreenHouse People's Choice Awards

A message from St. Paul's GreenHouse.

Each term, the GreenHouse social impact incubator at St. Paul’s University College hosts its Social Impact Showcase. It celebrates the amazing work GreenHouse students accomplish through their journeys of social innovation and entrepreneurship, while also providing an opportunity for students to acquire seed funding for their ideas. While the initial adjudication decisions have already been made, there is still time to vote for your favourite student-led social venture in the People’s Choice Awards.

The People’s Choice Award will be given to the social venture with the most online votes, alongside an additional $1,000. Some of the problems the ventures aim to address include reducing horticulture’s dependence on peat-based soils, providing cost-effective solar energy storage for businesses, offering care for caregivers by providing resources and supports, and removing barriers to professional communication for people with English and an additional language.

Voting opens today, November 26 and goes until November 29.  The winners of the People’s Choice Awards will be announced on November 30th, at 2:30 pm via the GreenHouse Instagram account and in person at the Social Impact Showcase.

Learn more and vote for GreenHouse’s People’s Choice Awards today.

Student Success Office, AccessAbility Services collaborate on anti-racism initiatives

Members of the SAARI Steering Committee (from left) Pam Charbonneau, Director Student Success Office; Jennifer Gillies, Associate Director, AccessAbility Services; Jazz Fitzgerald, Student Equity Specialist; Sacha Geer, Manager International Mobility and Intercultural Learning.

This article originally appeared in the Catalyst e-newsletter.

With heightened global solidarity around anti-racism, several academic support units have pledged to take proactive measures to confront racism and discrimination and support inclusivity. The Student Success Office (SSO) and AccessAbility Services (AAS) Anti-racism Initiative (SAARI) was created with the vision of ensuring that their work is meaningfully anti-racist and that Black, Indigenous, and other racialized students and staff are actively engaged as integral contributors to the units, fully supported, and able to thrive. 

Sacha Geer, manager, International Mobility and Intercultural Learning (SSO) is a member of SAARI’s steering committee. Geer, who holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology with a focus on issues related to historical and contemporary structural racism, brings in-depth subject matter expertise to the work. Jazz Fitzgerald, student equity specialist in the SSO, is also a member of SAARI’s steering committee and brings significant experience and expertise within equity spaces, including anti-racism. Senior leadership teams from both units round out the steering committee.

To achieve its goals, SAARI has thus far formed two working groups: Baseline Education and Onboarding, which will identify and make recommendations that will cultivate an anti-racist culture change, and Strategic Plan Review, which will work with managers to integrate anti-racism goals into strategy and planning  

“We envision this work as the first step toward a culture change,” Geer said. “The SSO and AAS’s ethic has always been to meet students and our teams where they are and to give them the tools and education necessary to grow. In this way, we are better positioned to ensure that the work we do is informed by anti-racist principles and actions.”

Pam Charbonneau, director, Student Success Office, added “As a white leader, I am humbled by the expertise that exists within our staff and students. As a leadership team we are beginning to understand the possibilities that exist when we consider the work we do differently. Our first guiding principle for this initiative is to centre and celebrate voices of Black, Indigenous and racialized people. We understand that the success of this work depends on recognizing and acting on their experiences, contributions, expertise, and leadership. Transformational change is our goal, but this is not possible unless we foster trusting relationships with racialized people.”

SAARI has plans to form four additional working groups, namely: Human Resources and Hiring Best Practices, Equity-deserving Data Collection, Student/Staff Consultation Practices, and Program Review and Audit. Because both the SSO and AAS are student-facing, Geer and Fitzgerald see enormous potential to positively affect the experience of all students at the University through these anti-racism initiatives. 

“As we look toward the formation of future working groups addressing programming and services for students, as well as hiring and HR best practices, we know that the education we prioritized will lead to programming that will be better designed for the success of all students,” Fitzgerald said.

SAARI acknowledges that alignment is critical, and the group is committed to engaging and working collaboratively with others actively involved in anti-racism efforts across campus. 

“We are heartened by the considerable time, care, and focus that the President's Anti-racism Taskforce and others engaged in this work have invested. As we strive to uphold the UWaterloo value of 'we all belong,' we encourage others to commit to their own processes of learning and unlearning,” Geer concluded. 

Please visit SAARI to learn more about ongoing anti-racism efforts.

Sign up for the Catalyst e-newsletter.

Friday's notes

The SouthWestern Ontario Research Data Centre is hosting Professor Jennifer Robson of Carleton University today for a seminar entitled "Who doesn’t file a tax-return? Estimates of non-filing and implications for measuring and addressing poverty."

In her recent research, Professor Robson estimates "that 12 per cent of working-age adults did not file a personal income tax return in the 2012 tax year. This was despite the requirement to file to access several federal and provincial income-tested benefits. In 2012, working-age adults who did not file would have missed $1.7 billion across a handful of federal refundable credits alone. Because of the increased reliance on administrative records for measuring household income in Canada, non-filers may present a particular challenge for poverty measurement using either the Market Basket Measure and the Low-income Measure. Furthermore, non-filing presents a challenge for both federal and provincial policy-makers who may be relying on the Notice of Assessment to streamline eligibility processes."

The seminar takes place virtually from 2:00 p.m. 3:30 p.m. 

Hannukah, the Jewish festival of lights, begins at sundown on Sunday, November 28. The Rohr Chabad Centre for Jewish Life will be hosting a public event at Waterloo Public Square at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, after pausing public celebrations last year due to the pandemic.

The event will feature greetings from local elected officials, the lighting of a giant menorah, traditional Hannukah foods and songs, and menorahs, candles and dreidels (a spinning toy) will be available. In addition, there will be a collection drive for new items of winter gear such as toques, scarves, gloves, etc. for those in need. Fireworks will be lit from the roof of the UpTown Parkade, and there will be a Hannukah display as part of Waterloo's Wonders of Winter festival in Waterloo Park for the duration.