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Graham Seed Fund strengthens partnerships with regional hospitals and health-care providers
The University of Waterloo’s Health Initiatives team designed the Graham Seed Fund (GSF) for researchers to submit their proposals for innovative health-care solutions that address the world’s most pressing challenges.
The GSF seeks to leverage and build health system partnerships that extend beyond academia. Empowering interdisciplinary teams of Waterloo researchers to collaborate directly with a full range of health providers and clinicians to develop transformative health technologies that are made for real-world impact.
“Waterloo researchers continuously deliver innovative health-care solutions for real-world impact. There has never been a more important time to look at how technology can improve how we deliver health care. Collaborating with the local hospitals and Ontario Health Team shows our commitment to our community and making a difference right here where we live,” says Dr. Catherine Burns, associate vice-president of Health Initiatives.
Waterloo’s Health Initiatives task force was created as part of the University’s commitment to leading globally and nationally at the interface of society, health and technology. Aligned with the Global Futures, Waterloo researchers are tackling Canadian and Global health challenges by working in collaboration with local hospitals and provincial health-care providers, industry partners, international universities and organizations.
This round of the GSF centers on strengthening Waterloo’s position in the community by emphasizing partnerships with the Grand River Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital and the KW4 Ontario Health Team (KW4OHT). Our deep connection and commitment to our local region and community traces back to the University’s founding.
Here are the eight recipient projects and their team leads:
Good data housekeeping: Building data strategies to make Canadian hospitals AI-ready
- Sirisha Rambhatla (Researcher)
- Grand River Hospital (Partner)
Newcomer app for health and social service navigation: A field study
- Edith Law (Researcher)
- KW4OHT (Partner)
Improving door-to-needle time in acute stroke at Grand River Hospital
- Fatma Gzara (Researcher)
- Grand River Hospital (Partner)
Optimal operating room scheduling at the Cambridge Memorial Hospital
- Houra Mahmoudzadeh (Researcher)
- Cambridge Memorial Hospital (Partner)
Multisensory perception and control for robotic biohazardous material handling
- Soo Jeon (Researcher)
- Cambridge Memorial Hospital (Partner)
Pre-surgical appointment scheduling
- Saeed Ghadimi (Researcher)
- St. Mary’s General Hospital (Partner)
Enhancing senior care with social robots: A remote health monitoring initiative
- Yue Hu (Researcher)
- KW4OHT (Partner)
Quantifying skin thickness across populations to improve delineation of the skin during radiation treatment planning of breast and head & neck cancers
- Adil Al-Mayah (Researcher)
- Grand River Hospital (Partner)
The GSF is made possible by the J.W. Graham Trust Endowment Fund. Visit the Transformative Health Technologies website to learn more about the fund.
Graduate students' confidence climbs after centralized work-integrated learning course
By Matthew King.
Students often seek more than just knowledge—they also crave confidence. The kind of confidence that can propel them successfully into the real world of work. For graduate students, that’s where the centralized work-integrated learning (WIL) pilot course comes in. In the course, theoretical concepts meet practical application to foster both skills and self-assurance.
The centralized WIL course evolved from the WE Accelerate learning model:
- For the first few weeks, a faculty instructor delivers the course content
- The remainder of the course is the project experience portion. Students work in interdisciplinary teams to approach a real-world problem for a client
- The course threads in critical reflection using CEE frameworks including the Future-Ready Talent Framework and Co-operative and Experiential’s (CEE) frameworks including the Future-Ready Talent Framework and meaning-making framework for purposeful work.
Ben McDonald, senior manager of WIL programs at the Centre for WIL, points out that this type of WIL offering is beneficial to graduate students who wouldn’t normally have a WIL experience in their program.
“This approach to interdisciplinary work-integrated learning creates an opportunity for graduate students to learn in unique ways and that only becomes more important at the graduate level, where they're deeper in their discipline,” says McDonald. “Breaking through that barrier to the other disciplines is meaningful and provides a unique opportunity for students to engage.”
The pilot offering of the course received plenty of interest from students with more than 500 inquiring and well over 100 signed applications for just 20 openings.
“I believe this opportunity is inherently valuable for grad students,” says McDonald. “They're seeing themselves in it. They're seeing how it can offer them value. We’re continuing to explore other ways in which we can engage graduate students in our WIL offerings.”
Fostering confidence through collaboration
The benefits of the centralized WIL course are in the delivery and in the collaboration. This is exemplified in the students’ experience with Clean Energy Canada; tasked with analyzing the future of nuclear electricity in Canada. The student team from multiple disciplines across UW provided essential background knowledge to shape their organization’s strategy regarding nuclear electricity.
“Working with my peers from other faculties allowed us to identify and leverage each other’s strengths for the best result,” says Piyush Garg, a PhD student in Vision Science at the Centre for Ocular Research and Education (CORE). “The experience was a great representation of the real world, working with an interdisciplinary team, accepting each other's thoughts because they can differ greatly when people have different backgrounds.”
Despite Garg’s extensive academic knowledge, the result that resonated the most with him was a profound shift in his confidence.
"Completing this course, I feel more confident," says Garg. “This course helped me realize I can use my experience from my area of study to benefit the entire team.”
BioBlitz coming up in May
A message from the Sustainability Office.
From May 6 to 12, the Sustainability Office will be hosting the second-annual BioBlitz: a community-led effort to identify and record species across campus. Whether you are a biodiversity novice, enthusiast, or expert, there are ways for everyone to get involved. All members of the campus community – students, staff, faculty, family, and friends – are welcome to join!
Here are different ways you can participate:
- Community Fair (May 6): Stop by the SLC to learn about local organizations who focus on nature via monitoring, stewardship, and education. Light refreshments provided – please bring your own mug!
- Guided walks (May 6-10): Sign up for a guided walk with local experts to learn how to identify specific plant and animal species across main campus, such as birds, plants, insects, and more.
- Tree planting (May 8-9): Support restoration efforts on campus by volunteering for a tree planting activity.
- Independent ID (May 6-12): Individuals and small groups can also identify species independently on the iNaturalist platform under the “University of Waterloo BioBlitz” project. Prizes to be won for most observations!
To learn more and register, please visit the BioBlitz 2024 event webpage. If you have any questions, please contact Patricia Huynh.
Wednesday's notes
The Fine Arts department is exhibiting the MFA thesis works of graduate students Behnaz Fatemi and Jill Smith at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery from Thursday, April 18 to May 4.
Behnaz Fatemi - We will lose our beloveds — ما عزیزانمان را از دست خواهیم داد
We will lose our beloveds — ما عزیزانمان را از دست خواهیم داد is a body of interdisciplinary works which uses feminist autotheory to transcribe lived experience under the Iranian theocracy. "The works highlight the complexities of migration: what self-exile feels like, along with my connection to the greater Iranian diaspora after moving to Canada in 2018," says the artist's statement. "Artmaking allows me to unpack the emotional landscape of my in-betweenness (neither here nor there), to process grief and loss (both personal and collective), while also pacifying my quest for belonging. Using paper, graphite, and my body in nonverbal dance and performance, I use mark-making as a methodology for healing, a strategy for resistance, and a source of agency while inhabiting the discomfort of this in-betweenness."
Behnaz Fatemi is an Iranian interdisciplinary artist based in Waterloo who investigates diaspora and trauma through performance, drawing, installation, and video.
Jill Smith - kupferschmidt / kupferschmid / kupferschmidte
kupferschmidt / kupferschmid / kupferschmidte is a sculpture and installation-based exhibition that uses materiality and autobiography to question the role and success of self-preservation amid a disruption to identity. The works in this exhibition use materials including those associated with Jewish culture to demonstrate the paradoxical nature of preservation.
Jill Smith is a queer, Jewish multi-disciplinary artist born and based in Toronto. Working primarily in sculpture, her practice explores archival properties of materials, objects, and rituals.
The opening reception takes place on Thursday, April 25, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The Inclusive Research Team in the Office of Research is presenting The Foundation: Building Inclusive Research Teams webinar that will take place on Thursday, April 18 from 10:00 a.m. to 11: 00 a.m. "Research shows that building inclusive research teams promotes research excellence," claims the Office of Research. "This presentation takes researchers through the necessary steps to identify EDI barriers on their teams, make a plan to address the barriers, and to review the outcomes of the actions they have taken and plan for the future. This presentation focuses on Inclusive Research Practice." Register here for the webinar.