Seneca College Alumni Magazine - Fall 2008 - (Page 18)
SENECA: A LEADER IN POLYTECHNIC EDUCATION Who ya’ gonna call? Applied research at Seneca is busting real life problems By Helena Moncrieff ou’re sitting in a classroom, taking notes, working through the textbook, solving problems that have been designed by the prof. You put your theories on paper, hand them in and move on to the next class. Now imagine how things would change if those problems were real. Welcome to the world of applied research. Strength in applied research is one of the fundamentals of a polytechnic education and Seneca, a member of Polytechnics Canada, has a jump start on the research side. It’s also the lead college for Colleges Ontario Network Y “Polytechnics conduct ‘applied research’ based on industry needs aimed at specific commercial objectives.” - polytechnicscanada.ca for Industry Innovation (CONII), a consortium of 10, formed to increase the capacity of colleges for applied research. Katharine Janzen is Seneca’s Associate Vice President of Research and Innovation. She says Seneca acted as soon as government funding was made available to colleges almost 10 years ago. Traditionally a university endeavour, getting in wasn’t easy. Although the competition for financing is the same, the focus of the research is quite different. “While universities tend to carry out curiosity-based research, depending on the interest of individual professors,” Katharine says, “work done through the colleges is usually conducted by teams of faculty and students and starts with real social or economic problems.” Here’s one: There aren’t enough caregivers to help the elderly and disabled carry on an independent life for as long as they would wish. Tertec Enterprises in Markham had begun work on a medical assistive device to help. Dubbed “Mon Ami,” the device is about the size of an encyclopedia or Wii console. Through voice interaction, it can remind users to get up, take medications, or get to appointments. It alerts human caregivers when there is no response and has been programmed to read to its “friends” using the CNIB’s talking books library. Tertec needed help testing the product. Enter Seneca. With funding from the Ontario Centre of Excellence and the Health Technology Exchange, faculty and students were brought w w w. s e n e c a a l u m n i . c a 18
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Seneca College Alumni Magazine - Fall 2008
Seneca College Alumni Magazine - Fall 2008
Contents
Team Makes a Difference on Campus
How Green is Your Workspace?
A New Approach to Environmentalism - the Revitalization Institute
Troy White Turns up the Heat with His Summer Job
Karen Eilersen Goes Beyond Recycling
Applied Research Solves Real Life Problems
Philip Sparks has it All Sewn Up
The Mehta Family Credits Seneca with Success
Diary of Desmond Duke’s Start Up
Support and Attitude Keep Visually-Impaired Student on Track
Honouring “the President”
New Grads Who Will Inspire You
What do the Argonauts and Mozilla have in Common?
Our Experts Show You How to Burn Calories and Shop While Going Green
Olympic Gold and Silver for Senecans
Boost Seneca’s Research Data Just by Saying “Yes”
Senecans Assessing on TV
Seneca College Alumni Magazine - Fall 2008
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