Annual Report 2018-2019
Research and Policy High-calibre researchers and practitioners play vital roles in our institute. The past year saw TISED make tremendous progress in growing its research activities and initiatives through the continued research work of the Trottier Chair in Sustainability in Engineering and Design, Dr. Laxmi Sushama, the research fruits generated from last year’s research funding program, the TISED/GHP Innovative Solutions for Planetary Health Seed Grants, and the creation of a second Faculty Scholar Award, the John M. Bishop and family Award. We have also continued to expand our expertise and network of researchers with the collaboration of two scholars-in-residence.
Innovative Solutions for Planetary Health Seed Grants On the 19th of November TISED and McGill Global Health Programs held a reception to highlight their seed grant pilot initiative to fund two joint interdisciplinary projects. The idea behind this program was to launch a collaboration that addressed the nexus between disease, rapid environmental degradation and climate change caused by unsustainable industrialization, urban growth and resource consumption practices. The aim of the grant was to fund interdisciplinary projects that combatted these challenges, and to foster dynamic partnerships between researchers in the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Engineering at McGill. The program was funded by generous donations by the Steinberg Fund for Interdisciplinary Global Health Research and a gift to TISED by benefactor Ram Panda. The proposals to be funded had to be a joint effort between a researcher in the Faculty of Engineering and one in the Faculty of Medicine. The chosen projects focused on Air Pollution and Water Pollution which are two major difficulties that developing nations face regarding development and environmental health. The reception started with presentations from the grant recipients detailing their research projects. Dr. Andrew G. Kirk, James McGill Professor and Department Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and Dr. Mark Trifiro, Associate Professor, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism of the Department of Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine gave a presentation on ‘High Speed, portable PCR system for rapid and in-situ water quality testing’. The research aim was to demonstrate an optically driven PCR (Polymer Chain Reaction) system that could provide a portable, low-cost and easy-to-use testing system for water samples and would give a response within five minutes. The current PCR machines in use to test water quality are often bulky and take over an hour to process the sample. Ultimately, this would be applied in testing for impure water in developing regions and greatly reduce incidents of water-borne bacterial infection and help boilwater advisories to be lifted earlier.
