Research at Lakehead University took to the skies over the weekend.
Or, more accurately, the ceiling at Intercity Shopping Centre.
The university used the mall to launch its Research and Innovation Week Saturday morning. It featured booths on over 20 research projects being done through the university, complete with interactive displays from one side of the mall to the other. Masters of science and control engineering student Siddhant Nayak got to show off a project he helped get off the ground, a quad-rotor, which is basically four helicopters in one he said. They are figuring out how to better control the small craft in order to use it in tight spots or dangerous places humans can’t go. Nayak uses first responders at a house fire as an example. Emergency crews could fly the aircraft in in order to survey the scene.
“It’s an exciting field,” he said. “We’re trying to control it as much as possible.”
The launch was also used to announce a nearly $400,000 in research stipends and awards that will be used by undergraduate and graduate students to explore the Northern parts of Lake Superior over the next six years. Faculty of Science and Environmental Studies dean Andrew Dean said compared to other great lakes, this part of Superior hasn’t been studied nearly as much. Everything from invasive species to the potential for contamination from twinning the highway could be explored he said.
“We can help with understanding cultural changes social changes but also environmental and scientific changes in this region for our generation and for generations to come.”
