More information about Webster is available here.

The earth sciences student was honoured in June with the award by the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies as part of the Canadian Northern Studies Trust (CNST) awards program. The program aims to develop a group of scholars and scientists with northern experience while enhancing post-secondary education opportunities for northern Canadians. Mumford’s scholarship is part of a total of $535,000 of awards granted by the CNST in 2011-’12.

“I’m excited to be selected for this award,” says Mumford, who completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees in geology at the University of New Brunswick. “Its multidisciplinary nature makes it very prestigious and I’m fortunate to have been awarded it.”

Mumford focuses his studies on the Nechalacho granite deposit at the Blachford Lake Intrusive Suite in the Northwest Territories, where he is currently completing field work. The lake is home to one of Canada’s greatest sources of rare-earth elements (REE), a vital material in green technologies such as hybrid cars, windmills and LED lights.

According to Mumford, 97 per cent of the world supply of REE is owned by China but since the country recently began restricting the export of the resource, the world has been forced to find other sources of it.

“I hope to create a genetic model for the formation of the entire Blachford Lake Intrusive Suite,” says Mumford. “This information will then be used to guide future exploration for REE and hopefully reduce the dependence on China’s exports.”

The 28-year-old, who has been studying earth sciences at Carleton since September 2009, says the CNST scholarship will allow him the freedom to focus on his studies.

“I’ve been able to turn down summer employment so I can work throughout the year on my research,” says Mumford. “I also plan on taking a break from TA work during my last semester so that I can focus on writing my thesis in a timely fashion and get as many publications out as I can.”

Brian Cousens, associate professor and graduate supervisor in Carleton’s Department of Earth Sciences, is Mumford’s PhD supervisor and says he couldn’t think of anyone more deserving for this award. Cousens adds that the honour will give Mumford “instant credibility in Arctic science.”

“Thomas has a tremendous work ethic. His organizational skills are superb. Thomas comes to me with progress reports, has already thought out his next research step and then comes to me for advice and reassurance. He is a dream student.”

Mumford expected to finish his work at Blachford Lake in July and then planned to take a float plane a few hundred kilometers north where he plans to camp and examine more rock with high REE potential. He will then attend the International Applied Geochemical Symposium Finland in August, an opportunity the CNST scholarship has made possible. He plans to return to Carleton in September for the academic year.

As part of her masters degree research, Carleton student Tara Jones will pilot the UAV from the ground during trials at York University.

The project aims to develop 3D technology that will provide a detailed picture of what’s happening in any city – whether it’s a concert or a crime, a traffic jam or the creative route a driver takes to avoid it.

Weighing just 1.3 kilograms, the Aeryon Scout UAV flies no more than 60 metres off the ground with a video camera focused on buildings, walkways, trees and the activity around them.

“UAVs are a promising alternative to conventional aircraft for low-altitude survey applications,” said Samson. “Our project involves capturing aerial video using a UAV. The video is later converted into 3D images. The project aims to demonstrate that 3D data produced in this manner can be further processed to discriminate between natural and man-made objects.”

The research may have future applications in online mapping tools such as Google Streetview or Google Earth.

“Mapping of urban environments is typically done from aircraft flying high above the city, or vehicles on the ground (i.e. Google Streetview), but a lot of the important details lie somewhere in between,” says James Elder, a professor in both the Department of Computer Science & Engineering and the Department of Psychology at York University. “This vehicle can acquire the high-resolution imagery of building facades required to reconstruct the detailed 3D structure of our cities.”

The research team has developed proprietary computer vision algorithms and a geospatial web mapping system to detect and track people and vehicles in real-time video streamed from city cameras and then project them as avatars into 3D city models. This allows the life of the city to be experienced in a natural 3D context and viewed from any angle through web browsers. This is augmented by visual intelligence about the scene – for example, recognition of objects and activities, as well as things like vehicle speed.

The larger goal of the project is to develop a system that gives people a window into the life of a city, whether it is an urban planner watching how people are using city sidewalks, police or security officials trying to prevent crimes, or a tourist wondering what is happening at Parliament Hill.

The UAV project is sponsored by the GEOIDE Network, a major initiative funded by the federal government’s Networks of Centres of Excellence and the provincial government’s Ontario Centres of Excellence.

The UAV component of the project is a collaboration between Professor Samson’s lab at Carleton, Professor Elder’s Human & Computer Vision Lab at York’s Centre for Vision Research and Professor Gunho Sohn’s lab in the Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering in York’s Faculty of Science & Engineering. Researchers from four other Canadian universities are also involved in the project, along with Aeryon Labs of Waterloo, which designs and manufactures the Scout UAV, and Neptec of Ottawa, which is providing 3D structure from motion software technology.

-30-

For more information:
Chris Cline
Media Relations
Carleton University
613-520-2600, ext. 1391
Christopher_Cline@carleton.ca

This is the second time that Madhiyan has been awarded the scholarship. He came to Canada to assist Sundararajan with his work between October 2009 and February 2010. He is the fourth PhD student from India’s Anna University to work with Sundararajan since 2008.

Each student has been backed by a scholarship or grant that has helped fund their activities. Palaniappan Selvakumar and Ganesan Anuradha worked with Sundararajan after receiving the Shastri Indo-Canada Institute Partnership Development Seed Grant, and Rakesh Samikannu was awarded the Commonwealth Scholarship in early 2011.

The benefit of the students’ research capabilities is invaluable. “With limited funding opportunities in Canada for exploratory research, the Shastri and Commonwealth scholarships have enabled us to leverage the expertise of these students for research purposes,” said Sundararajan.

It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. The ongoing partnership with Anna University provides hands-on training that will have real-world benefits.

Sundararajan’s polymer research is expected to have applications in the aerospace and microelectronic circuits industries. The polymers he is developing with his students could one day be used as membranes, filters or cushion materials in high-temperature environments. The benefits for Sundararajan’s students are tangible.

“It works both ways,” said Sundararajan. “We have a lot to gain in terms of highly qualified professionals if these students settle in Canada after their graduation.” This has already become a reality for Selvakumar, who completed his PhD in 2010. He was able to leverage his Canadian research expertise and is now a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Alberta.

Brilliant Research. Brilliant Researchers

Carleton University is a dynamic, interdisciplinary research institution located in Ottawa-Canada’s capital. Carleton provides leadership in research, scholarship, and creative activity. It has innovative programs in sciences, engineering, arts, and public administration and has realized partnerships with numerous public and private sector organizations. Its strengths have led to international recognition for its faculty, as well as an ability to attract outstanding students. The university recently created the Carleton University Research Experience for Undergraduate Students (CUREUS) program designed to prepare undergraduate students to solve fundamental and real-world problems.

For more information on the research enterprise at Carleton, visit www.carleton.ca/research.

-30-

For more information:

Chris Cline
Media Relations
Carleton University
613-520-2600, ext. 1391
Christopher_Cline@carleton.ca

So how different will it look?

Now, when you login to the portal, you’ll see fewer tabs—the My Home and Academic Services being the two remaining tabs for students. The library tab, the my services tab, and the Carleton Central tab have been removed, with access to Carleton Central being turned into a button at the left hand side of the page.

Also gone are the Carleton links and external links sections. These public links, like accessing the library website, Carleton event listings and checking out campus media, will instead be listed on the current students page, which is also getting a facelift set to launch on July 24 and which will also become the new portal access login page.

These changes are being implemented in response to student feedback provided as part of a student communication benchmarking project that is using student feedback to improve the way we communicate to students in all aspects of the university.

We apologize for any inconvenience as we take this time to conduct this much needed maintenance.

If you are a co-op student and have questions please contact the Co-op Office, 613-520-4331, co-opprogram@carleton.ca

All other students may contact the Career Centre at 613-520-6611 or career@carleton.ca