Nic Durish is a Master’s student in the School of Computer Science with a specialization in Human Computer Interaction. Nic completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Guelph, where, through his advisors and involvement in Computer Science events, organizations, projects and teaching positions, he became interested in pedagogy and using computing to solve real-world problems. Nic has since returned to the University of Guelph to expand on his research in this field and was recently awarded $16,000 for the 2017 Graduate Tuition Scholarship.

Nic recently joined the eNuk team. Over the course of his degree, Nic will be working to expand the community-led eNuk health and environmental monitoring apps with the remote Inuit community of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Labrador. In particular, and in response to a community request that eNuk “not be just another app – it has to be part of our lives”, Nic will focus his research on participatory design methods and the use of social elements of gamification to foster user engagement.

Nic often credits his advisor Dr. Daniel Gillis for inciting his interest in teaching, research and collaborative projects. Dr. Gillis is an Associate Professor and Statistician in the School of Computer Science, and the Director of the Physical Science & Engineering Education Research Centre at the University of Guelph. Dr. Gillis’s exceptional involvement and teaching has been recognized through awards such as; the Distinguished Professor Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Winegard Exemplary Volunteer Award, and the Guelph Mercury 40 Under 40 Award.

At Guelph, Andrew joined the School of Computer Science where he earned the Bachelor of Computing degree in 2015. While enrolled as an undergraduate student in the Bachelor of Computing degree, Andrew appeared on the Dean’s Honor list each year, while also receiving an NSERC USRA award.

Andrew started his Master’s in Fall 2016. The focus of his research is on the gender wage gap that still persists in the province of Ontario. Currently, women are paid on average 26% less than men for equivalent work. Andrew combined traditional Computer Science methods from the areas of machine learning and data mining with Economic analysis in order to study the gender wage gap in Ontario’s public sector.  An important contribution of Andrew’s research was the creation of a database containing data annotated with gender information from Ontario’s Sunshine List. This database will soon be made available to researchers world-wide who wish to study gender equality in the workplace. Also, the findings of his research study were published at the 2015 IEEE 14th International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications.

Andrew participated in the development of the Iron Tracker mobile application, a project with the Canadian Hemochromatosis Society. Designed in conjunction with CHS, Iron Tracker was created both to bring awareness of HH not only to Canadians, but people worldwide, and to assist those who suffer with HH in managing their de-ironing treatments. As the main Android developer, Andrew has volunteered countless hours to the development and maintenance of Iron Tracker. To date, the app has been downloaded by thousands of people from over 100 countries. The app’s development team was recently recognized at Parliament Hill, by Senator David Wells, and in the Ontario Legislature, by MPP Chris Ballard.

The Public Health Agency recently completed the Canadian Food Consumption Survey. The goal of the survey was to understand the eating habits of Canadians to help facilitate responses to foodborne disease outbreaks. The challenge with conducting surveys of this nature continues to be a decline in response rates, and user fatigue - especially for longer telephone surveys - where respondents quit a survey before it’s complete out of boredom. In response, Corey is working to explore new ways of engaging respondents of online public health surveys through the use of gamification. The goal is to develop methods to improve the quality and quantity of data collected. Corey is part of Dr. Daniel Gillis’ Alternative Data Collection Research program. 

During his time in the School of Computer Science, Corey has also helped develop the Farm To Fork system to improve the quality and quantity of food donated to food banks. Corey has been awarded the Guelph Mercury’s 40 Under 40 Award, as well as the University of Guelph Student Life’s Be The Change Award. 

I applied to Grad School in my 4th year of my undergrad studies at Algoma University in my hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. I graduated with a Bachelor of Computer Science (B.COSC) with Honours. Even after applying to several schools, including Guelph, I still wasn't sure if I wanted to continue my education. That changed when I received an offer from the University of Guelph in May 2013. I decided to pursue my M.Sc in the fall of that year. It would be my second time living away from home and my first time at a large university.

I began my studies in the Fall of 2013 with my advisor Dr. Dave Calvert. My Master's thesis, which will be completed in June of 2016 is focused on parallel computing on CUDA GPUs. My topic is focused on parallel design patterns and how they can be applied to serial algorithms, specifically, genetic algorithms configured for solving the travelling salesman problem. My thesis contributions show the effectiveness of parallel patterns when applied to algorithms that were not solely developed to be parallel and that fit the structure of particular parallel patterns. My research interests are machine learning, parallel computing, algorithms, and artificial intelligence.

Over the course of my studies, I've worked as a Teaching Assistant covering topics such as Software Design, Parallel Programming, and the Analysis of Algorithms. My coursework introduced me to the application areas of data mining and machine learning, a field in which I am actively pursuing a career, and the Internet of Things. I also spent two semesters working with some professors in the Department of Geography helping them develop a prototype application for watershed modelling software in Java. In both of my eligible years at Guelph, I also earned the CPES Dean's Scholarship for my academic performance. Guelph is a great city and my experiences at the University have been exceptional.

David Wickland returns to his alma mater as a Master's student in Computer Science in hopes of combining his passion for music with his experience in physical sciences and computing. In the years after his undergraduate degree, David worked briefly at the Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, designing medical devices to remotely monitor and communicate patient physiologic data. As well he worked for Canadian med-tech startup Cerebral Diagnostics conducting research on a new neurocognitive imaging modality pursuing new diagnostic testing measures for fibromyalgia, chronic pain, and sleep disorders. David left the world of medical engineering to pursue a career in music as a founding member of Canadian indie rock outfit Dinosaur Bones.

Presently, David is commencing research into employing artificial intelligence to evaluate music similarity on the basis of copyright infringement or “substantial similarity”.  “Its early days but also an exciting time because [music similarity] is something that is on the minds of a lot of people lately”, citing the recent Led Zeppelin court case over Stairway to Heaven.

Climate change has already had a significant impact on the circumpolar Inuit community of Rigolet, Labrador. Changes to weather patterns and the environment have affected the traditional hunting and gathering practices of the community, as well as the health and wellbeing of the people who call Rigolet home. In particular, highly variable weather patterns and warmer waters have affected the quality and timing of ice formation, greatly impacting the community’s ability to travel and hunt during the winter months. To help manage the public health impacts, and to provide meaningful data to the community, Oliver is exploring participatory design methods to develop an eco-health monitoring program to help track changes to the land, environment, and public health. Based on community feedback, the system will be designed to both capture and provide information that is important to the community. Working under the umbrella of Dr. Daniel Gillis’ Alternative Data Collection Research program, Oliver’s Master’s research is to explore the use of participatory design methods as a means of improving user engagement.

During his time in the School of Computer Science, Oliver has also helped develop the Farm To Fork system to improve the quality and quantity of food donated to food banks. Oliver has been awarded the Guelph Mercury’s 40 Under 40 Award, as well as the University of Guelph Student Life’s Be The Change Award.