MPrime Milestones

Nassif Ghoussoub, Don Dawson, Steve Halperin and Luc Vinet submit a proposal to the NCE program for funding of MITACS. The goal is “to bring together researchers in the mathematical sciences to focus on the problems of mathematical modelling and management of large-scale complex systems and the mathematics of information technology.”

Dr. Arvind Gupta takes on the leadership role. His mathematical talent, entrepreneurial skills, and experience building relationships in academia and industry will serve him well in his new role.

Four interns are placed at Alcatel, creating the beginnings of what will be a long-term relationship with the company and providing momentum for a future internship program at MITACS.

A collaboration between postdoctoral fellow Dr. Katsumi Tateno and McGill University professor Dr. Leon Glass results in a new way to distinguish between atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm) and normal cardiac rhythm. The technology is licensed to Meditronic of Canada Ltd. for commercialization.

MITACS joins the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences and the US Mathematical Sciences Research Institute to open the Banff International Research Station (BIRS). They are later joined by Mexico’s National Science Foundation, Alberta Innovation, and Canada’s Natural Science and Engineering Research Council. Locals notice an inexplicable surge of mathematicians on the slopes.

In his animated short film, “Ryan,” Canadian filmmaker Chris Landreth uses mathematical formulas developed by researcher Dr. Karen Singh to imbue animations of hair, string, wires and similar objects with life-like qualities. MITACS inches closer to achieving a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

A summer school on mathematical modelling of infectious diseases is hosted at York University. Fifty epidemiology, public health, math and science grad students and medical residents explore collaborative research based on mathematical modelling and qualitative analysis.

MITACS creates the Step program to help graduate students acquire professional and business skills. Featuring such workshops as presentation skills and project management, the program smooths the transition for grad students joining the workforce.

The 2007 federal budget mentions MITACS by name for the first time, announcing the allocation of $4.5 million in funding.

University of Victoria engineering Accelerate intern Scott Beatty co-invents a new technology for SyncWave Energy Inc., helping the company find ways to capture twice as much power with its wave power generators.

Joe Kahlert, an SFU computer science graduate at Automated Systems Research (ASR) employs a computational geometry technique to increase the accuracy of the company’s existing estimation-generating software. The innovation enables local companies to compete cost-effectively with larger, international competitors.

The Ontario Government provides $16.89 million dollars to support research internships in the province through the Accelerate Ontario program.

Hello world! MITACS launches the Globalink program, with 17 interns traveling from India to British Columbia for three-month summer research internships. Globalink promises to forge international relationships and bring talented international researchers to Canada.

Six students from the University of Victoria work together on the first Accelerate “cluster” project, studying aquaculture with the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union. The project marks the beginning of large-scale research in the internship program and confirms six heads are better than one.

To help keep talented PhDs in Canada, MITACS launches its Elevate program, which provides PhDs with two-year research fellowships. Elevate also provides professional and business skills training for PhDs and connects them with industry. It is launched in Ontario with $9.95 million from FedDev.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper appoints CEO Arvind Gupta to the Research and Development Review Expert Panel. The panel is tasked with determining how the federal government can best support business R&D.;

Girish Nivarti of India demonstrates the success of the Globalink initiative by being the first graduate student to return to Canada to complete his Master's degree at UBC. Nivarti chose UBC over other schools such as MIT and Stanford because of the relationships fostered during his initial internship.

The Centre for Math Biology is a multi-site initiative focusing on high-level graduate student training in mathematical biology. It applies quantitative modelling and computation to health and disease challenges faced by the scientific community, and provides career direction, training and connections for young math biologists.

Dr. Michael Brudno at the University of Toronto leads a project to develop two open-source software tools for gene sequencing-- SHort Read Mapping Package (SHRiMP) and Sequence Annotation Visualization and Analysis Tool (Savant). The tools provide crucial algorithms for next-generation sequencing technologies.

A project led by Dr. Guy Lapalme at the University of Montreal produces the Warning-Avertissement Translation-Traduction (WATT) system, which translates Environment Canada weather warnings into French instantly and accurately.

Mprime hosts a 10-day workshop to link industrial researchers, mathematical scientists, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from Canada, the USA and Mexico. Held at the University of Calgary, the workshop involves Google, IBM Research, Boeing, Siemens, and the US Navy.

The Canadian Mathematical and Statistical communities develop a “long-range plan”, which “envisions a future role for Mprime as an over-arching national network, serving to bring together mathematical and statistical scientists from businesses, universities, research centres and financial and technology organizations to stimulate innovation”.

From 1999 to 2013, Mprime supported 76 research projects that produced more than 11,000 publications, 46 patent filings, 17 startups and more as a National Centre of Excellence.