University-industry research partnerships

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University of Alberta | Mobility Systems

Key facilities

• NanoFab: micro/nano fabrication & characterization, with clean room & $110M+ in equipment & infrastructure. Supports academic research & industrial projects. Largest centre of its kind in Western Canada; 1 of only 3 dedicated nanotech centres in Canada.
• Integrated Road Research Facility: pioneering recycled & waste material for roadway projects & studying temperature changes on pavement surfaces. Has green-smart test road for testing and monitoring.

Major collaborations

• Centre for Smart Transportation: R&D, training & tech transfer for autonomous & connected vehicles, connected vehicle (CV) technology, smartphone-based CV technology, smart infrastructure, multi-modal transportation mobility, safety & sustainability, including cold-climate, local national & global transportation needs. Industry, government & academic partners.
• ACTIVE-AURORA: Canada’s 1st connected vehicle test site. Project will develop & test connected vehicle (CV) technologies to optimize traffic flow and reduce vehicle emissions.
• Canadian Rail Research Laboratory: $8M program sponsored by CN Rail, CP Rail & the Association of American Railroads, developing advanced materials, sensor/monitoring networks & risk-management strategies to ensure safe, reliable and efficient rail transport.
• European Commission QB50 project: 50 cube satellites built by university students from 28 countries launched into lower thermosphere, a poorly understood region. UAlberta students designed, built and launched Ex­Alta1, Alberta’s 1st satellite, as part of this project.

Researchers

• Rail: safety/efficiency/reliability/capacity, geotechnical, extreme weather effects, geohazards, risk analysis, condition monitoring, winter service, operations & optimization, ground hazards, risk & GIS technologies; geomechanics, geoscience (stress/fracture flow). Researchers include: Michael Hendry, Ming Zuo, Derek Martin, Mustafa Gul, Mingjian Zuo,
  Ben Jar, Scott Dick.
• Sustainable/green transport: Fuel cells, biofuels, energy storage, connected vehicle technology, light-weight materials, low-carbon & zero emission vehicles, charging/fueling systems, high-efficiency combustion engine systems, aerodynamics, electrification. Researchers include: Rafiq Ahmad, David Bressler, Thomas Etsell, Tony Qiu, Jingli Luo, Amit Kumar, Wilsun Xu, Douglas Ivey, Pierre Mertiny, Ken Cadien, Jonathan Banks, Amit Kumar, Marc Secanell, Steven Bergens, Vakhtang Putkaradze, C Robert Koch.
• Smart vehicles: autonomous & connected vehicles, big data, mobility analytics, cybersecurity, UAVs, unmanned aerial systems, intelligent monitoring & control, underwater-based autonomous vehicles, vehicle communication, intelligent systems, ICT, software engineering, energy optimization & safety, AI/ML, robotics, human-robot collaboration (HRC). Researchers: Tony Qiu, Hai Jiang, Xu (Cindy) Wang, Tae J. Kwon, Walied Moussa, Pierre Mertiny, Marc Secanell.
• Transportation & infrastructure: safety, efficiency, infrastructure, system analysis, dynamics & design, crash modeling, GIS/GPS, traffic flow/control, speed management, remote sensing, big data, policy & economics, road condition, maintenance & construction (methods & materials), urban & interurban multi-modal systems planning, extreme temperature effects, pavement performance, air transport, intelligent systems, northern & Arctic transportation, land use. Researchers include: Amy Kim, Morris Flynn, Tae J. Kwon, Michael Hendry, Derek Martin, Tony Qiu, Karim El-Basyouny, Manish Shirgaokar, Zhi-Jun Qiu.
• Aerospace: aerodynamics,space weather, systems/mission design & control, electrical & power, smart systems & materials, robotic adaptive sensory control, ICT, satellite systems, fault & radiation tolerance, remote sensing, electrical & power, ICT, advanced intelligent antennae, control systems, microwave circuits & systems, microgravity fluid sciences, drag reduction, thermodynamics, gravity interaction, sensors, low earth orbit satellite communications, cryobiology. Researchers include: Ian Man, Janet Elliott, Christopher Herd, Richard Marchand, Sina Ghaemi, Alan Lynch, Pedram Mousavi, Duncan Elliott, Jie Han, Mark Freeman, Robert Wolkow, Arturo Sanchez, Jillian Buriak, Robert Fedosejevs, Martin Jagersand, Dan Sameoto.

Partners

• Ford
• GM
• Mercedes Benz
• CN & CP rail
• NASA
• Canadian Space Agency
• NanoRacks
• Shell
• Honda
• 3M
• Zubax Robotics
• Teledyne Technologies
• Aircom Instrumentation Ltd.
• Drivewyze
• Edmonton International Airport
• DALSA Novatel
• Lockheed Martin
• Nammo AS (Norway)
• Texas Instruments
• General Dynamics (Calgary)
• QSI
• Norcada
• Canadensys
• COMDEV
• Magellan
• Promethean Labs: Alberta’s 1st nano-satellite company, established by members of UAlberta’s AlbertaSat student team.
• Collaborations/partnerships with CDN Space Agency, European Space Agency, NASA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, German Aerospace Centre (DLR – Germany), Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES – France), Norway Space Centre.