Durham College (DC) announced today that for the fourth year in a row it has been ranked among Canada’s top 50 research colleges by Research Infosource Inc., a Canadian research and development intelligence company.

The annual list is informed by data on research income, research intensity and research partnerships and projects at colleges across the country.

“Research and innovation have always been at the heart of what DC does as one of Ontario’s leading post-secondary institutions,” said Debbie McKee Demczyk, dean, Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ORSIE), DC. “This ranking once again proves the importance of and our commitment to prioritizing applied research on campus to enhance our students’ experiences, provide real-world solutions, and advance business and industry ideas to support our community’s economic health.”

Led by the team at ORSIE, DC continues to initiate and support a variety of research activities aimed at integrating discovery and innovation into the academic environment. The college puts particular focus on the areas of energy efficiency, agriculture, health care and wearable technology, which closely align with the college’s market-driven academic programs and research capabilities, and help support local business, industry and community organizations.

Some of DC’s most recent applied research projects include:

• Building a novel, innovative control and monitoring system for an energy-efficient refrigeration unit as well as a pre-packaged solar electric system ideal for remote locations and applications such as radio, security cameras, telemetry or lighting where normal power is not readily available, and a power conservation module for traffic cameras.
• Building a software application for a company using unmanned aerial vehicles for farm scouting.
• Developing pest management strategies to control apple leaf curling midge in apple orchards.
• Building a semi-automated harvesting system to increase productivity and reduce the labour requirements involved in the spinach harvesting process.
• Developing a video conferencing system to connect patients with their physicians and caregivers to reduce hospital re-admissions.
• A prototype with low-cost, non-invasive sensors and signal processing to monitor vital signs wherever Wi-Fi is available, making it possible to monitor patients in the least inhibiting way.