Movers & Shakers
LATITUDE
WHAT’S DRIVING YOU? U OF A RESEARCHER GETS FUNDING FOR AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS PROJECT
When we last brought news of Tony Qiu, P.Eng., PhD , an associate professor in the University of Alberta Faculty of Engineering’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, he and his team had just accepted more than $900,000 from Western Economic Diversification Canada. That infusion, a little over a year ago, was earmarked for bolstering their work on autonomous vehicle research—that is, research into vehicles that can interact with their surroundings. Well, the research pot is getting bigger. Now, the faculty is receiving a combined $14.9 million from the province and industry to support its Centre for Autonomous Systems in Strengthening Future Communities, a project Dr. Qiu is leading. It aims to take his team’s research to the next level by delivering autonomous systems for use in medical, industrial, and transportation systems. "We have the opportunity to develop innovative analytical models and control tools to improve our community with autonomous systems," he says in a University of Alberta website story. “These improvements will include intelligent transportation systems, automated vehicles, medical robots, and hybrid intelligent repair and additive manufacturing machines." Dr. Qiu says autonomous systems can boost Alberta’s economy, while addressing climate change challenges and future impacts on community, health,
and the production of energy. “Engaging proactively and immediately with autonomous system technologies will put Albertans in control of their development and implementation,” he says. Various industry and government agencies are putting in $7.8 million. The rest, $7.1 million, comes from a single source, the Government of Alberta’s Major Innovation Fund (MIF), which is part of the Alberta Research and Innovation Framework. Two other projects receiving MIF funding are led by the University of Calgary , with the U of A as co-applicant. One of them is geared toward solving the crisis of antimicrobial resistance in humans and livestock, and the other one is designed to establish Alberta as a hub for quantum technologies. Together, the three projects reflect MIF’s mandate of bringing Alberta’s 26 publicly funded post-secondary institutions together in cooperation and collaboration. “The provincial government wanted something where post-secondary institutions were not competing against each other, but rather working with each other by harnessing the best and the brightest from all of our research post-secondaries,” says Walter Dixon, University of Alberta Associate Vice-President of Research. “This new thinking reflects a new openness to collaboration and really signals a willingness to work together.”
TALKING CARS Dr. Tony Qiu thanks the partners of the ACTIVE- AURORA project for their support after receiving funding from Western Economic Diversification Canada. -photo by Aalyssa Atley
SUMMER 2019 PEG | 33
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker