Red River College (RRC) faculty and students will benefit from $97,500 to conduct innovative research projects in 2011 – 2012.
The Research Innovation Fund (RIF) is provided by Applied Research & Commercialization (AR&C) to encourage faculty, staff, and students to engage in research activities at the College.
“The intent is to develop and build internal research capacity,” says Ray Hoemsen P. Eng., director of AR&C. “This year’s award winners came forward with several original, yet practical applied research project proposals.”
AR&C awarded funding to 13 applicants from several College programs: Aboriginal Education, Applied Commerce & Management Education, Automotive Transportation, Business & Applied Arts, Civil Engineering Technology, Electrical Engineering Technology, Electronic Engineering Technology, Graphic Design, Health Sciences & Community Services, the Language Training Centre, and Mechanical Engineering Technology.
Past notable RIF projects include Mechanical Engineering Technology’s Rapid Prototype Composite Tooling (featured on netcomposites.com) and Electrical Engineering Technology’s GPS Wildlife Tracking Collar (featured in ACCC’s January 2011 issue of Accelerating Innovation on p. 9).
“The RIF program has proven very successful in providing research opportunities and resources to the staff, faculty, and students who need them the most,” says Hoemsen.
The award funds go into a special account created for each award winner for them to use on specific project costs.  The winners are required to submit a full report following the completion of their projects.
For information on this year’s award winning projects, download our 2011 RIF Summary Report.
Congratulations to all the award winners:
Bio-fuelProduction
Michael Myrowich, Automotive Transportation
Computerized Assessment of Natural Language Test
Laurie Cutrone, Business and Applied Arts
Crack Detection in Concrete Beam – Phase Two
Liting Han and Dave Bertin, Electrical Engineering Technology
Effects of Supplementng Aboriginal Post-Secondary Transition Programs with Traditional Aboriginal Cultural Activities
Karen Favell, Aboriginal Education
Gateway to Applied Business Research
Tatjana Brkic, Applied Commerce & Management Education
High-intensity Focused Ultrasound Monitoring Using Electric Impedance
Mohammad Aboofazeli & Haider Al-Saidi, Electrical Engineering Technology
Investigation of an Environmentally Friendly Solvent for use in Instrumental Chemical Analysis
Michael Judge, Health Sciences and Community Services
New Media – Design & Development for Layer App
Ilse Dyck, Graphic Design
Nutrients in Snow
Ian Halket, Civil Engineering Technology
Solar Ebike – Phase One
Leon Fainstein, Mechanical Engineering Technology
Traffice Situational Awareness System for the Visually Impaired
Liting Han, Dave Bertin, Electrical Engineering Technology
Ultra-wideband Antenna and Signal Design – Phase Two
Saleh Mneina, Electronic Engineering Technology
Stay tuned for the results of last year’s RIF projects and a call for applications for 2012 RIF projects.

Red River College and StandardAero have been named recipients of the 2011 John Convey Innovation Award, for the contributions to training and technological development made possible by the Centre for Aerospace Technology and Training (CATT).
Awarded by ASM International (formerly the American Society for Metals), the annual honour recognizes companies for their contribution to furthering the development of the materials engineering industry in Canada.
In particular, the 2011 award recognizes RRC and StandardAero for their “excellence in the areas of innovative education/training partnerships and technological development in the implementation of the Centre for Aerospace Technology and Training.”
A joint partnership between RRC, StandardAero, the Composite Innovation Centre and the federal and provincial governments, the CATT provides access to advanced technologies and equipment, including an array of cutting-edge laser systems capable of welding, cladding and cutting parts with complex geometries and thickness variations.
The CATT also affords a number of other knowledge-producing benefits, chief among them a cost-effective model that benefits both the College and StandardAero. Under the terms of the partnership, RRC provides StandardAero with an applied research venue in which real-world industry problems can be explored and solved. In return for access to RRC’s academic resources (including training of operators, technicians and engineering technologists), StandardAero provides the facility, equipment maintenance, shop access and supplies, as well as trained operators and on-the-job trainers for RRC project support.
The 2011 John Convey Innovation Award will be formally presented during the ASM Leadership Awards in Columbus, Ohio, in October, as part of the Materials Science & Technology 2011 Conference & Exhibition.

 

Source: Re$earch Money http://www.researchmoneyinc.com
Written by: Mark Henderson
Winnipeg’s Red River College of Applied Arts, Science and Technology (RRC) has teamed with two industrial heavyweights and Manitoba Hydro on an ambitious project to develop and demonstrate an all-electric bus and charging system. The $3-million project brings together Winnipeg-based New Flyer Industries Inc and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), a core unit of the Mitsubishi Group with more than 60,000 employees worldwide.
The project closely follows an MOU signed last December between the provincial government and MHI to collaborate on the expansion of renewable energy utilization and the development of associated technologies, focusing on several areas related to the electrification of transportation and recharging infrastructure. The RRC-based project is the first to arise from the MOU.
The MOU is part of Manitoba’s electric vehicle strategy and includes a second MOU with Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada, which enables the company to use the province as a testing environment for further development on its i-MiEV electric vehicle.
The development project is expected to be completed within one year, followed by two years of testing in the province. To accommodate the project, RRC received $100,000 in provincial support to create an Electric Vehicle Technology and Learning Centre (EV-TEC) to help demonstrate electric vehicle development and enhance student training.
“This is a new relationship with MHI. We’re working with a number of partners — some old, some new — on a locally made commercial product. They’re all active partners,” says Ray Hoemsen, RRC’s director of applied research. “This is not a science project, it’s a development project focused on the technical side.”
While not large, the electric bus and charging system project is a potent example of the distinct yet growing role that Canada’s colleges are playing in the national system of innovation.
4th R&D centre
The college is now home to four R&D centres. In addition to EV-TEC, it has the Centre for Applied Research in Sustainable Infrastructure and two aerospace-related centres co-located with Magellan Aerospace Corp and StandardAero respectively.
For MHI, the electric bus project provides an opportunity for the company to test and demonstrate its lithium-ion secondary battery packs in a cold weather climate. The company says it is hopeful the project will mark the beginning of a long and productive relationship with Manitoba. New Flyer has already developed an all-electric bus and is eager to demonstrate its reliability. Development work will be split between RRC and New Flyer facilities. For its part, Manitoba Hydro is focused on the charging aspect of the project to determine how a growing number of electric charging stations will impact the grid. Manitoba currently has about 500,000 recharging outlets and derives the bulk of its energy from hydro.
For RRC, the project is helping to boost the amount of R&D it conducts annually. Since 2004, it has gone from just $50,000 in R&D income to $4.3 million in 2010.
“Our research activity has been evolving for the past 10 years. Each college is at a different stage in evolution and we’ve been fairly engaged with industry,” says Hoemsen, who joined RRC in 2004.
Hoemsen role in building RRC’s R&D capabilities was honoured earlier this week with the Association of Canadian Community College Gold Leadership Excellence Award. The award acknowledges his success in creating the college’s Applied Research and Commercialization unit and attracting major funding to RRC., which was described as “a model for other colleges regionally and nationally”.

The Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) recently named Ray Hoemsen, Red River College’s (RRC) Director of Applied Research & Commercialization as their prestigious Gold Leadership Excellence Award winner.
The award recognizes an individual from a Canadian college that has made the greatest impact on his/her institution and, as a result, the communities it serves. Ray accepted the award at the Annual ACCC Conference on June 5 in Edmonton, Alberta.

Below are photos of Ray accepting the award:
 

The Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) has named Ray Hoemsen, Red River College’s (RRC) Director of Applied Research & Commercialization as their prestigious Gold Leadership Excellence Award winner.
“Mr. Hoemsen was recognized for the exceptional work he has done in creating and leading sustained applied research, innovation, and commercialization programs in Manitoba,” said James Knight, ACCC President and CEO. “His leadership in this area has been a model for other colleges regionally and nationally.”
Every year, the ACCC recognizes an individual from a Canadian college that has made the greatest impact on his/her institution and, as a result, the communities it serves.
“We were proud to nominate Ray for this award and are delighted that he has won,” said Stephanie Forsyth, President of RRC.  “Ray is creative, dynamic, and has shown a sustained level of leadership excellence in his field and amongst his communities.”
Ray is credited with launching the College’s applied research enterprise in 2004.  Since then, he has been the driving force behind the creation of four applied research centres and a key factor to RRC winning several government and industry awards that amount to several million dollars in funding for the College.
“RRC continues to overachieve in the area of applied research with Ray leading the way,” said Ken Webb, VP, Academic and Research at RRC. “But the impacts he has made extend far beyond RRC and include leadership roles both nationally and internationally.”
Ray has been a leading advocate in driving the public policy change to recognize the strategic role played by Canadian colleges in Canada’s research and innovation agenda.
“Canadian colleges’ historical focus has been on providing technical education and training,” said Ron Britton, Professor and Associate Dean at the University of Manitoba. “Ray successfully made the case for applied research at the college level to create the program we see today at RRC, and at other Canadian colleges.”
Ray’s leadership contributions are indeed far reaching. He has led, or played a notable role in over 70 community organizations in post-secondary education, engineering and technology, policy leadership, national and local sports, and neighborhood clubs.
“It has been said, half in jest, that a committee that is working for the betterment of our community isn’t officially sanctioned unless Ray is a member,” said Britton.  I’ve known him since his undergraduate days, and even then, you could tell he had that something extra.”
Ray has historically led by example and shown humility.  He was no different in accepting this award.
“This is really a team award,” said Hoemsen. “I love what I do and am lucky to have been surrounded by people who can embrace change and make things happen. “

Red River College (RRC) was one of 35 colleges that will share in more than $8 million in federal grant money, via the federal government’s recently announced Applied Research Tools and Instruments Grants, a brand new initiative under the College and Community Innovation Program.
This grant supports the purchase of research equipment and installations to foster and enhance the ability of colleges to conduct applied research.
“This funding helps us with our ongoing mandate of applying knowledge to solve real-world challenges,” says Ray Hoemsen, Director of Applied Research and Commercialization at RRC.
RRC received a grant of $127,001, which will be used to upgrade the environmental test chambers in the College’s Centre for Applied Research in Sustainable Infrastructure and acquire air leakage testing equipment to be used for commercial and industrial buildings.
“Upgrades are under way and we are already using the air leakage testing equipment on a handful of projects,” says Hoemsen. “Applied research is a key element in improving Canada’s productivity and innovation capacity. We are thankful for the federal government’s continued support.”
Click to learn more about RRC’s office of Applied Research and Commercialization.

Province Will Invest $30 Million Over Five Years: Selinger
A new, $30-million Commercialization Support for Business Program has been established to promote and support entrepreneurism, commercialization and business development, Premier Greg Selinger announced today. Click here to read more.

As part of their efforts to make composite manufacturing more economical, an instructor and a grad from RRC’s Mechanical Engineering Technology program have developed a new means of making dissolvable mandrels and patterns, otherwise known as “rapid prototype composite tooling (RPCT).” Read More →

Red River College, recently named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers (2011) and featured in the Globe and Mail’s Earth Day special supplement titled “Report on Green Solutions.”
Read the article on RRC here.