BuildHER Future: Newcomer Women in Construction, developed by non-profit organization Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto (NEW), brings together post-secondary and community partners to support workforce development, improve access to employment and strengthen pathways into the construction industry.

NEW is a non-profit organization that provides settlement, employment and language services to immigrant and refugee women and their families and will deliver the program in collaboration with Schulich ExecEd and Humber Polytechnic.

It aims to bring together expertise in executive learning, workforce development and applied, hands-on training to ensure learners benefit from industry-informed curriculum design, practical skills and pathways opportunities.

“Schulich Executive Education is proud to partner with Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto on BuildHER Future,” says Rami Mayer, executive director of Schulich ExecEd. “By contributing our expertise in construction project management, we are supporting newcomer women in accessing meaningful career opportunities in a sector that will benefit from their skills.”

Funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Foreign Credential Recognition Program (FCRP), BuildHER Future aims to improve labour market integration, advance gender equity and address critical workforce shortages while expanding access to construction careers for internationally trained women.

It responds to the growing demand for skilled workers across Canada’s construction industry and the persistent systemic barriers that many newcomer women face related to credential recognition and limited access to industry networks.

“With the support of the Government of Canada, we are equipping highly skilled newcomer women with the training, mentorship, and work experience needed to succeed in the construction sector,” says Sara Asalya, executive director of Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto. She adds the program is focused on creating opportunities for employment and recognizing the value of internationally trained professionals.

“We look forward to the impact this initiative will have on participants and the broader workforce,” says Mayer.

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More than 480 students developed and tested projects in collaboration with external partners across two distinct programs – the interdisciplinary Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom (C4) and the ’s ENG 4000 Capstone course.

While separate cohorts, both groups engaged in projects that advance work ranging from sustainable energy systems and health technologies to responsible uses of AI, with an emphasis on applied research focused on real-world solutions aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The outcomes of this collaborative approach highlight the role of partnership-driven design in accelerating innovation. Students worked directly with organizations to refine project scope, test feasibility and consider pathways to implementation.

Students in both cohorts showcased their work to faculty, partners and peers during two separate Capstone Day events. Lassonde students shared their innovative ideas, spanning disciplines and real-world applications, from developing an autonomous EV charging robot to a system that provides data to satellites about resident space objects or space debris.

“What makes Capstone especially powerful at Lassonde is seeing students evolve from early-stage engineering design into confident engineers capable of designing, building, integrating, testing and communicating complex solutions that address meaningful societal and industry challenges,” says Edris Hassan, Lassonde capstone course director and teaching team lead.

Students in the interdisciplinary C4 cohort developed solutions focused on community wellness, decentralized clean energy, ethical supply chains, campus accessibility and more – projects that underscore meaningful solutions to complex challenges. “C4 offers students the opportunity to move beyond theory to address real-world challenges – and the results show how interdisciplinary collaboration can generate solutions with real impact,” says Richard Hornsey, co-academic lead for the C4 program. “These projects demonstrate the value of bringing together different perspectives to create practical, community-focused solutions.”

Several projects were recognized with awards for their potential impact:

Lassonde Capstone Day Awards

Class Favourite (design, creativity, presentation)
Team 1 – LaunchLab
Autonomous Pickleball Launcher
Team: Adam Hallag, Doluwamu Olubiremi, Dominic Igumbor, Leonard Gladzah, Mohammed Abbas Jega, Sarimah Chindah
Supervisor: Kai Zhang

Engineering Capstone Prize (impact on human well-being)
Team 20 – VitalSense
Rewearable Health Monitoring
Team: Ayesha Shahid, Dave Hiralall, Jakub Przystupa, Maria Ahmed, Muhammad Zafar, Ossama Benaini
Supervisor: Peter Lian

Y-Space/SmartTO Mobility Award (innovation in mobility solutions)
Team 29 – Team PE⇌KE
Drop-in Regenerative Braking for Bicycles
Team: Eugene Park, Hassan Dannyal, Mohammed, Faizaan, Raiyyan Husein, Vincent Hasbun, Yunus Akcor
Supervisor: Thomas Cooper

C4 Spring Capstone Awards

Best Project Award (Quanser) (creativity, inclusion, community impact)
3.0-credit: Team A1 – Seasons of Wellness: Outdoor Programming for Peel Region Youth
Team: Quratulain Alvi, Jessie Enokela, Zarin Hasan, Mihai Puscas, Catalina Tulcan Meza, Gadion Woldemariam
Partners: TRCA; Jack.org

6.0-credit: Team C19 – Go Green: Decentralizing Electrical Energy in St. James Town
Team: Rajendra Brahmbhatt, Steven Chen, Aahana Dube, Nicolas Madronero Martinez, Nisha Panai, Junting Wang
Partner: Engage

Innovation Award (YSpace) (market readiness, creativity)
3.0-credit: Team C12 – Project Walkway: Weather-Protected Areas for the Hangar District
Team: Mohamed Abdel Rahman, Danielle Burnett, Shuwayne Fyne, Haytham Hassan, Akshar Jadhav, Anthony Pham, Shami-uz Zaman
Partner: Northcrest Developments

6.0-credit: Team B10 – Clicking with Conscience: Digital Tools to Combat Forced Labour in Supply Chains
Team: Dimitri Arjoon, Alannis Hopkinson, Dhruv Kapadia, Tony Mendoza Sanchez, Gabisan Sritharalingam, Daniel Vinitski
Partner: International Justice Mission

Sustainability Award (Honda Canada) (SDG impact)
3.0-credit: Team C11 – Cultivating Continuity: Co-Creation in Parks and Open Spaces at YZD
Team: Harsha Bonthagorla, Sina Heidari, Ben Petlach, Nathan Pillinger, Alessandro Policicchio, Deepanjali Syal, Camilo Vargas Cardenas, Nicolas Vargas Gonzalez
Partner: Northcrest Developments

6.0-credit: Team B15 – UNITY: Understanding Needs and Inclusivity Throughout 91��ɫ
Team: Prabhjyot Grewal, Abigail Laverick, Mazha Memon, Ariana Ram, Asad Rehman
Partner: Open Architecture Collaborative Canada

People’s Choice Award
Nrup Patel – 91��ɫPulse: 91��ɫ’s Verified Student Community Platform

See more moments from the day in the .

The Lassonde Capstone team welcomes project proposals for the 2026-27 academic year. Industry partners, community organizations and alumni are encouraged to submit ideas that give the next cohort of engineering graduates a meaningful challenge to solve. Reach out to capstone@yorku.ca to learn more.

C4 is preparing for courses in fall (3.0 credits), winter (3.0 credits), and a full-year fall/winter (6.0 credits). Contact c4class@yorku.ca to explore partnership opportunities.

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Through a newly signed agreement with the University of Toronto, on behalf of the members, 91��ɫ Libraries (YUL) will participate as a ‘Share Only Partner.’ The pilot introduces a model that expands opportunities for collaboration, stewardship and shared ownership of print collections.

YUL will collaborate with the University of Toronto to identify low‑use titles already preserved by Keep@Downsview at the U of T Downsview facility. 91��ɫ will then transfer these local holdings to the jointly owned collection, supporting preservation, access and responsible collection management.

This work not disrupt the user experience; YUL users will continue to have seamless access to these titles and can make requests through for pickup at their preferred location. YUL will share more details on the as the pilot proceeds.

“This new model allows us to collaborate in a practical and innovative way,” says Joseph Hafner, dean of Libraries at 91��ɫ. “By aligning our holdings with materials already preserved by Keep@Downsview, we are strengthening shared stewardship of the scholarly record while creating flexibility within our local collections to better serve the 91��ɫ community.”

Keep@Downsview is a shared print program that supports member academic libraries through secure, environmentally controlled storage and co-ordinated collection management. Located in Toronto, the facility is governed by its members and is designed to ensure long-term preservation of scholarly print materials that are infrequently used while reducing unnecessary duplication across institutions.

Current Keep@Downsview partners include the libraries of U of T, McMaster University, the University of Ottawa, Queen's University, Western University and Memorial University. 91��ɫ’s participation as a Share Only Partner expands the initiative’s collaborative framework without altering its shared governance structure.

For YUL, the pilot reflects an ongoing focus on responsible stewardship, collaboration and innovation in library services.

“This pilot underscores our commitment to working collaboratively with peer institutions to steward shared collections for the benefit of current and future scholars,” says Larry Alford, chief librarian, University of Toronto Libraries. “It is an important step in exploring new partnership models that respond to evolving user needs and changing pressures on library collections.”

Hafner says the opportunity reinforces YUL’s commitment to the teaching, learning and research mission of the University “through dynamic collections, inclusive spaces and a strong focus on access, sustainability and scholarly communication.”

This partnership agreement will be assessed as a pilot, with YUL and Keep@Downsview working together to evaluate its effectiveness and potential for broader adoption.

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The approval allows Aretek to move ahead with a three-storey student housing project at the University of Windsor, expected to be the largest 3D-printed concrete building in North America by volume.

Researchers at 91��ɫ’s have been working with the company to test materials, monitor performance and generate the technical evidence needed to bring an emerging construction method closer to real-world use.

Liam Butler, associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, has been working alongside Aretek – formerly known as Printerra – through a multi-year research partnership anchored at the Keele Campus. Aretek is one of the few Canadian companies specializing in additive concrete construction, commonly known as 3D-printed concrete.

The collaboration involves developing lower-carbon concrete mixes, full-scale structural testing, performance monitoring, long-term durability testing and the kind of technical evidence regulators need before approving an entirely new way of building.

"This is definitely putting 91��ɫ on the map as a key collaborator," says Butler.

The road to that approval, however, was not straightforward. Unlike conventional construction materials, 3D-printed concrete has no formal building code or standard anywhere in the world.

"Aretek has had to overcome the fact that there is no template for how to evaluate these new systems. They've had to create their own through demonstration and testing," says Butler.

Rather than wait for new regulations, Aretek worked within existing masonry standards to design and test a 3D-printed wall system. It applied for code approval through a regulatory pathway that allows builders to prove a new method can meet safety and performance requirements, even when it is not yet covered by existing building codes. Butler was directly involved in that process, called on by Aretek to support discussions with the Building Materials Evaluation Commission on behalf of these new innovative materials.

"We've been asked as academics to join these conversations with building officials to help support their application for these regulatory approvals," he says.

That support was possible because of what 91��ɫ's Keele Campus offers. Aretek conducts research and development out of 91��ɫ's Climate Data-Driven Design (CD3) facility – a civil engineering lab that gives access to full-scale industrial 3D printers. For Butler, that full-scale capacity is one of the partnership’s most important advantages.

"Most research around the world in 3D-printed concrete is at the lab scale, using lab-sized printers or even printers that fit on a desktop," says Butler. "We actually have access to a full-scale industrial-size printer. The acceleration from lab scale to adoption is greatly shortened. New mixes we design can be immediately tested at the full scale. That is a very unique aspect of this research project."

One of the partnership's central research objectives is reducing cement content in 3D-printed concrete mixes. Cement is essential to the rapid-hardening properties that 3D printing requires but it is also one of the construction sector's most significant environmental liabilities. The cement and concrete sector accounts for around seven per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

"Reducing that cement content in mixes, even by 20 or 30 per cent, could have a large-scale impact across the sector," says Butler.

The partnership also extends into workforce training. As Aretek trains construction workers in 3D-printing methods, those workers need a new skill set: learning to operate robotic printing systems, manage material preparation, read digital files and follow safety protocols specific to additive construction equipment.

"Like any sector that is evolving and changing, there's always a degree of upskilling that's going to have to be involved," says Butler.

The Windsor project, once complete, could also make it easier for future projects to move through approval processes elsewhere.

"Once one solution has been approved by a certain jurisdiction, it sets an important precedent," says Butler. "It will open the floodgates to a lot of other projects and jurisdictions."

Looking ahead, Butler expects 3D-printed construction to grow rapidly with hybrid structures that combine 3D-printed concrete and mass timber or precast concrete. This could lead to more sustainable material mixes and an increasing number of companies entering the space. He hopes 91��ɫ remains at the centre of that evolution.

For Butler, that close connection between university research and industry application – such as the Windsor project – is what makes the partnership significant.

"It's a wonderful mechanism for creating positive impact," he says, "being able to upscale directly from research to new real-world applications."

With files from Mzwandile Poncana

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DAAD, the German Academic Exchange Service, is the world's largest funding organization for international academic exchange. Through its Research Grants program, it provides funding to support doctoral students and post-doctoral research at a German university.

For Barakov, a political science PhD candidate with a master’s degree from 91��ɫ, the funding will help enhance his dissertation via archival research and interviews with local residents. His thesis compares urban outcomes across 35 years of state socialism and 35 years of capitalism in the cities of Berlin, Germany and Sofia, Bulgaria. He will be hosted at Humboldt University in Berlin, working in coordination with the Georg Simmel Center for Metropolitan Studies. Following his time in Germany, he will do similar research in Sofia.

“I plan on visiting a variety of different archives specifically with the aim of understanding East German approaches to urban planning, as well as conducting interviews with local residents,” says Barakov.

Muci, also a political science PhD candidate, will be based at the Center for Post-Kantian Philosophy at the University of Potsdam for the first half of his time abroad, before relocating to the University of Münster. He will further his research on Marx and Marxism in Berlin by examining original sources related to the philosopher's doctoral dissertation at the University of Berlin from 1837-41, including letters from editors of a journal with which Marx collaborated.  

“I'm looking at the origins of this conception of the world in the only philosophical work by Karl Marx – his dissertation with which he graduated at the University of Jena in 1841,” explains Muci, whose work is supervised by 91��ɫ Professor Marcello Musto. “I'm interested in broadening the genesis and I need the archives to do that.”

HajiHosseinKhani is a computer science graduate student with a master’s from 91��ɫ, which she earned following an undergraduate degree in her home country of Iran. She will be joining the Institute for Data Science, Cloud Computing and IT Security (IDACUS) at Furtwangen University for a project that will focus on developing a comprehensive decentralized finance dataset. The project will then develop a self-defending AI architecture that will resist adversarial attacks, with stress-testing of the model to follow.

“The goal of this project is that we want to design a secure transformer-based AI model to detect and mitigate the malicious activities in the decentralized finance sector,” says HajiHosseinKhani.

She notes this collaboration follows another that she participated in with the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Her supervisor, Professor Arash Habibi Lashkari, was also a DAAD scholar for his postdoc and helped HajiHosseinKhani design a collaboration with Professor Christopher Reich that saw her start at 91��ɫ’s Behaviour-Centric Cybersecurity Center (BCCC), and finish the final seven months at IDACUS.

Political science Professor Heather MacRae is a DAAD ambassador at 91��ɫ. She is also Barakov’s supervisor and a past DAAD scholar who did graduate fieldwork at the University of Freiburg. She is thrilled to have had so many successful applications from 91��ɫ students.

“This is amazing. To my knowledge, after 15-plus years in my role, it’s the best record we’ve had,” she says. “It really speaks to the way that 91��ɫ International has been promoting the opportunity and working with people in our community. It helps put 91��ɫ back on the radar for German scholarly communities as well.”

MacRae notes the DAAD network is very active in Canada and provides opportunities for future funding.

Muci, who has spent time in Germany doing a joint degree with the University of Bologna in Italy and the University of Bielefeld, is looking forward to knowledge exchange with the research group.

Barakov says the DAAD funding has provided the means to advance his dissertation research.

“The longstanding tradition of academic exchange between Germany and Canada more broadly has very much played a foundational role in securing the possibility to actually go to Berlin in person, conduct work there and engage with their research community,” he says.

Faculty members and students interested in learning more about the DAAD programs and funding available to support research and study in Germany can contact goglobal@yorku.ca.

With files from Suzanne Bowness

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At 91��ɫ, researchers are addressing that gap by bringing patient partners into the conversation to learn from lived experience.

Through its Muscle Health Research Centre (MHRC), 91��ɫ is advancing research that connects scientific inquiry with the lived realities of people affected by conditions and diseases that impact muscle health, ensuring that studies and knowledge-sharing efforts account for how mobility, independence and quality of life are impacted.

The approach recognizes that certain aspects of muscle health are difficult to fully capture without perspectives from those navigating these realities daily.

“Recognizing lived experience as a critical source of knowledge helps to inform future research, education and public understanding related to the real-world impacts facing those living with muscle health disease,” says Christopher Perry, professor and director of the MHRC.

This perspective is particularly relevant for individuals living with mitochondrial disease, a rare genetic condition that affects how cells produce energy.

Working with patient partners, Perry says many report that muscle weakness, fatigue and changes in mobility can cause decline in the ability to execute everyday activities, plan long term and maintain independence. It’s these factors, he says, that are often difficult to capture through clinical measures alone.

“For individuals living with mitochondrial disease, changes in muscle function can emerge gradually or after long periods of stability,” he says. “As mobility declines, the impact extends beyond physical symptoms, requiring adaptation to both physical and emotional well-being.”

Kate Murray, CEO of MitoCanada, says when this decline happens, individuals experience a sense of loss.

“There’s a grieving process for the life and independence they once had,” she says. “From our perspective at MitoCanada, a big part of what we try to do is make sure lived experiences are part of the conversation and stay grounded in what people are navigating in their lives.”

Adding to the challenge is the absence of disease-specific treatments. However, patient partners share one approach helps: exercise.

Resistance and strength training for those living with mitochondrial disease can help maintain function and independence – and Murray says it's important to rethink what exercise can mean in this context.

“I’ve heard community members describe exercise almost as a form of hope. They feel empowered and optimistic about the potential to slow their decline or maintain what they have,” she says. “For these individuals, exercise isn’t about performance or pushing limits, it’s about maintaining function, independence and quality of life.”

Patient partner Louise Gibson, a mitoAmbassador and community advocate with MitoCanada, shares this perspective and will present her insights and experiences to 91��ɫ researchers at the upcoming Muscle Health Awareness Day (MHAD), now in its 17th year.

As a patient advocate, she brings lived experience into research and education settings, helping inform health care teams, support patient education and advocate for greater awareness of rare diseases.

She also emphasizes the role of accessible exercise in maintaining function and quality of life for people living with mitochondrial disease.

“It is difficult to fully understand the conditions we study without hearing from people who live with them every day, which is why the Muscle Health Research Centre is focused on creating space for those voices and finding better ways to ensure they are heard,” says Perry.

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Max Rudakov is a co-founder and business lead of Lapis Research, an AI-powered research management platform built to help research teams keep all their work – documents, lab notes, datasets, experimental decisions and project timelines – in one place. It was developed by a five-student team from 91��ɫ, Queen’s University, Western University, the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo.

When notes, datasets and decisions are dispersed across emails, shared drives and personal laptops, there's no centralized place to see what's been done, why it was done or what the current project status is.

The idea sparked about a year ago with a Reddit post from the team asking whether people were struggling with how documents were organized and used. The strong response – 187,000 views and 350 comments – prompted the team to dig deeper, and conversations with researchers soon showed the issue was pronounced in academic research.

More than a year of interviews with over 100 professors, lab managers and researchers, along with about 20 design partners, kept surfacing the same issues: poor visibility across projects, fragmented documentation and knowledge departing when team members moved on.

For Rudakov, the path to Lapis was as much personal as practical. At Schulich, he found himself questioning the traditional routes into finance and looking for something that better matched his strengths.

"I realized that my skill set belongs in building something from the ground up," he says. "It feels good to know that I can make a change, especially in such a rigorous industry like research."

91��ɫ's contribution to the development of Lapis is concrete. Rudakov led the business strategy, growth planning and early outreach from his side, and many of the early interviews were conducted with 91��ɫ-based researchers – including people working in kinesiology and oncology research – whose feedback helped shape core features.

The real-world insights helped inform the design of the tool, tailoring it to the specific needs of the academic community.

Lapis works by structuring research projects into linked workspaces. When a researcher finishes an experiment, they can save their data and notes directly to Lapis. The tool automatically records who added the notes and when, creating a clear record of progress.

This means a professor or lab lead can view the activity of multiple projects without sending a single email.

When a new team member joins, they can ask the Lapis AI system, Neural Core, questions such as "What approach did we try for this and why did we change directions?" and receive a summary drawn from the project's files.

“Onboarding can drop from months to a couple of weeks or even days because everything is preserved – the data, the decisions and the reasoning behind why things were done a certain way,” says Rudakov. “A new researcher can open the project and understand the full picture without having to ask everyone what happened before they got there.”

During development, 91��ɫ-based researchers found value in helping to shape those features. Duygu Biricik Gulseren, an associate professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, reviewed the platform and provided insight on how academics manage multiple projects, supervise students at different stages and keep track of different versions of documents and files as multiple people work on them.

"A platform like this can improve coordination and also make the work more transparent and traceable across people and projects," she says.

Eric Ginzburg, an undergraduate student completing an independent study in 91��ɫ's biomechanics lab, also shared feedback, noting he sees the appeal of more centralized system.

"It simplifies the process of handling a team and a larger research project," he says.

Lapis is currently running pilot programs at the University of Guelph and Queen's University.

Rudakov hopes to bring Lapis to 91��ɫ research teams in the next stage of its growth – a natural fit given its development was informed in part through 91��ɫ connections and conversations.

"91��ɫ has over 50 research teams and the problems we solve are the same ones they deal with every day," he says. "We want the 91��ɫ research community to know Lapis exists, and that it was partly built by 91��ɫ students and shaped by 91��ɫ researchers."

With files from Mzwandile Poncana

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The initiative is part of the ’s fourth-year course Sport and International Development (KINE 4310) that engages students in community-driven projects with local and global organizations.

Led by Associate Professor Lyndsay Hayhurst as part of a community-service learning (CSL) initiative, 45 undergraduate students partnered with seven organizations – Jays Care Foundation, Commonwealth Sport Canada, Free to Run, Skateistan, Prezdential Basketball, Canadian Women & Sport and the International Platform on Sport and Development – to effect real-world change.

Working in small groups, students contributed approximately 25 hours over the term to support partner-identified priorities related to: gender equity; monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning; newcomer inclusion and belonging; climate justice; and youth development.

Each group developed a structured work plan, maintained regular communication with their partner organization and completed a midterm progress report and final report outlining their research, analysis and recommendations.

A core focus of the course was knowledge mobilization, with students producing accessible, action-oriented resources designed to be used in practice by organizations. These outputs included monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) toolkits, policy briefs, infographics, coaching resources and digital content strategies.

The course concluded with a final in-class conference where students presented their knowledge mobilization outputs to partner organizations followed by discussion and feedback from partners and peers.

Partner organizations said the presentations offered practical relevance, clarity and creativity of the presentations, noting that several recommendations would be adopted to inform ongoing programming, evaluation and policy development.

The work, Hayhurst notes, highlights how students are engaging with contemporary challenges shaping sport and development practice.

One project, for example, worked on a policy brief on trans and non-binary inclusion for Canadian Women & Sport just as the International Olympic Committee released new guidance on trans athletes participating in women’s sport.

“The real-time policy shift that is widely interpreted as excluding trans athletes from women’s sports brought urgency to the group’s presentation and sparked conversations about how community sport organizations in Canada can respond with more inclusive, equity-focused approaches,” says Hayhurst.

The Jays Care student group worked on researching how youth-facing barriers to sport participation – and the efforts to address them – shape access, retention and experiences in community baseball. The project maintained a specific gender analysis, with attention to girls’ participation in the broader community-based landscape. Working with Jays Care, students presented an infographic exploring how equity, access, safe spaces, inclusive environments and meaningful participation translate (or fail to translate) into tangible outcomes for girls in baseball across Canada.

Alexandra Blanchard, director of strategy at Jays Care Foundation and 91��ɫ alum, says working with the students was positive experience, noting they were enthusiastic, curious and a pleasure to engage with.

“It's energizing to connect with the next generation of students who are passionate about the field and I'd jump at the chance to do it again,” says Blanchard. “University partnerships like this are a wonderful way to bridge research and community practice, and we'd recommend the experience to any community organization looking to do the same.”

In addition to applied research experience, the CSL model supports skill development in research, communication, teamwork and problem-solving.

“This course has run for the last 10 years with the goal of moving beyond traditional learning by engaging students in collaborative, community-driven projects,” says Hayhurst. “Students are not only developing critical insights into sport, development and social justice, but importantly, they are also creating tangible knowledge mobilization outputs that will be taken up in practice by community partners.”

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Several times a month, a small drone rises above the trees at Swan Lake, following a precise path over the water. Parkgoers who enjoy walking, jogging or birdwatching might assume it’s there to capture scenic footage. Instead, the drone is part of a 91��ɫ-led effort to understand – and help restore – the health of an urban lake under pressure.

Swan Lake, a former gravel pit transformed into a stormwater pond and community green space, faces ongoing water quality challenges. As rainwater flows into the site from surrounding roads and neighbourhoods, it carries excess nutrients, road salt and other pollutants. Over time, this can fuel frequent algae growth, cloud the water and reduce oxygen levels, stressing fish and wildlife, limiting recreation and, in some cases, raising public health concerns.

Since April 2025, 91��ɫ researchers, led by CIFAL 91��ɫ, have been turning concern about the lake’s health into measurable data and practical action through the Swan Lake Citizen Science Lab (SLCS Lab). The initiative brings together 91��ɫ research centres, including ADERSIM and the One WATER Institute, with local partners such as Friends of Swan Lake Park, a community‑based volunteer organization dedicated to protecting and improving the area’s ecological health.

“Communities often know when something is not right with a local ecosystem, but it’s hard to act without clear, comprehensive and consistent information, as well as meaningful community engagement” says Ali Asgary, director of CIFAL 91��ɫ and professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. “The goal of the lab is to support those concerns with reliable data that can guide real decisions.”

"To assess a lake is to assess ourselves," adds Satinder Kaur Brar, director of the One WATER Institute and professor at the . "Its health card is a mirror of our environmental stewardship."

One way the lab is assessing the lake is through advanced technology, such as the use of multispectral and thermal drones operated by 91��ɫ research teams.

Equipped with special cameras that capture different types of light – including some invisible to the human eye – the drones can detect potential algae growth and subtle changes in water clarity as they scan the lake from above. Flying low and on demand, they provide detailed, up-to-date views of trends across the entire water body, offering a clearer picture than satellite images and a broader perspective than scattered and spot‑by‑spot water sampling.

The drones have already yielded valuable insights, recently shared in a 91��ɫ‑led, under-review study that monitored patterns from spring through fall 2025. By flying the drones roughly once a month and analyzing the findings over time, researchers were able to pinpoint where algae forms, how blooms shift across the seasons and how changes in water cloudiness are driven by biological growth rather than stirred‑up sediment.

The findings confirm what many residents and park managers have long suspected: the lake is rich in nutrients and prone to recurring algae growth. The drone data, however, also reveal something new.

Conditions vary significantly from one area to another, suggesting that targeted, location‑specific interventions may be more effective than broad, one‑size‑fits‑all treatments applied across the entire lake. Knowing where problems emerge helps guide chemical treatments, shoreline naturalization projects and future restoration efforts – and provides a better way to measure whether those interventions are working. "Interconnecting drone data with on-ground water quality can turn ecological signals into informed action that is vital for communities," says Brar.

“What the data made clear is that this isn’t a uniform problem,” adds Asgary. “When conditions vary so much from one part of the lake to another, it changes how you think about solutions. This kind of information allows us to be more precise, more proactive and more strategic in environmental management.”

In addition to monitoring Swan Lake, 91��ɫ‑led teams are working to make the data easier to interpret and use in planning. Researchers are developing AI tools to identify patterns in the drone imagery, anticipate conditions such as algae outbreaks and translate complex trends into clearer insights.

Other teams are using virtual reality and simulation to help users visualize the lake over time and explore how different interventions might affect conditions. Meanwhile, geographic information system (GIS) specialists are turning the results into interactive maps and dashboards that help the public and those involved in lake management understand what is happening across the site.

A core goal of the Swan Lake Citizen Science Lab is to encourage meaningful community engagement and shared stewardship.

“From the start, this was never about researchers working in isolation,” says Asgary. “The goal of the Swan Lake Citizen Science Lab is to create a shared process, where community knowledge and scientific tools come together.”

Local partners are not just observers; they are active partners in the research. Residents take part in field checks, help interpret findings, attend workshops and contribute to outreach efforts that share findings. Alongside them, 91��ɫ students gain hands‑on experience applying classroom learning to a real environmental challenge, working with researchers and resident members in a local setting.

For CIFAL 91��ɫ, which is affiliated with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, the work at Swan Lake is a pilot that could inform other communities facing similar pressures on small urban lakes and wetlands.

“The impact here is very tangible,” says Asgary. “Through drones, data and collaboration, we’re building a deeper understanding of how this ecosystem functions and how it can be protected over time. That kind of shared knowledge is what allows stewardship to last.”

Find out more about the SLCS Lab, and see it in action, in the video below.

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Faculty of Science Professor Cora Young and Associate Professor Trevor VandenBoer were recognized through the NASA Group Achievement Award for their contributions to the Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas (AEROMMA) campaign, a joint effort between NASA and the The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study air quality and climate interactions across North America.

The award is reserved for those who have made exceptional contributions to NASA's mission and scientific endeavours.

AEROMMA combined aircraft, ground-based measurements and satellite observations to study how contemporary emissions from cities and oceans affect air quality and climate. NASA and NOAA approached 91��ɫ to lead the Toronto supersite, one of several measurement hubs established in major North American cities to contribute to the campaign's airborne data.

Young served as scientific lead, coordinating a team of 25 to 30 researchers; VandenBoer served as logistical lead, overseeing the physical transformation of 91��ɫ's rooftop laboratory – on the Petrie Science and Engineering Building – to host the research.

Also involved were 91��ɫ colleagues Mark Gordon, associate professor at the , and Rob McLaren, professor emeritus in the Department of Chemistry.

Collaborators came from across Canada and internationally, including Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the University of 91��ɫ in the U.K.

91��ɫ graduate and undergraduate students had the opportunity to work on the project with those visiting researchers.

"Our ability to bring together this strong team of researchers allowed us to ensure it was worthwhile for AEROMMA to include Toronto," says Young. "Otherwise, we would have missed out on this unprecedented opportunity to learn about modern air quality here."

The 2023 summer AEROMMA project unfolded during a period of intense wildfire smoke across the region, an unplanned development that offered a rare opportunity for study.

"Wildfires will exacerbate air quality issues," says VandenBoer. "Understanding the chemistry of wildfire plumes arriving in the city is going to be critical to informing the public on when and how to protect their respiratory health."

The existing Air Quality Health Index is not well-suited to wildfire conditions because the smoke differs from the other drivers of urban air pollution.

One of the first papers to emerge from the project, now in its final round of peer review, found that wildfire smoke changed chemically as it travelled, changing how health and climate impacts are understood and communicated.

91��ɫ researchers have also been in dialogue with the team behind ECCC’s 2024 Study of Winter Air Pollution in Toronto (SWAPIT). Together, the summer and winter datasets create a year-round picture of urban air quality in Canada’s largest city that could inform policy on everything from wood-burning smoke to the atmospheric impacts of road salt.

The work also validated NASA’s TEMPO satellite, a space-based instrument tracking air pollution across North America. Measurements from 91��ɫ’s site, alongside NASA research aircraft and ECCC sites, were essential in confirming the satellite’s early readings, helping move the tool into practical use for ongoing air-quality monitoring and research.

For 91��ɫ graduate students, the initiative created opportunities to build international networks. VandenBoer says students helped host collaborators by familiarizing them with 91��ɫ’s facilities and procedures, and in some cases were involved with operating, maintaining and responding to issues with visiting researchers’ instruments.

Those connections continued beyond the project. Graduate student Yashar Ebrahimi-Iranpour later spent two weeks collaborating at NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory, while graduate student Na-Yung Seoh went on to join an international University of 91��ɫ-led campaign in Cape Verde.

AEROMMA involved a range of 91��ɫ collaborators, including facilities staff, operations teams and University leadership.

"It's a 91��ɫ community undertaking," says VandenBoer. "A lot of people wanted to support us, and for no other reason than that's just the type of community that we have."

Young points to why the work is imperative today.

"There are a lot of chemicals being emitted into the environment we can't see or smell or taste," she says. "Just because we can't detect them with our own senses doesn't mean they're not a problem. We need to keep on top of it."

With files from Mzwandile Poncana

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