SHERBROOKE, QUE. -- The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is injecting more than $28 million into three research projects at the University of Sherbrooke to acquire specialized equipment needed to advance the work of the researchers leading these projects.
One of them, led by Rejean Fontaine from the Faculty of Engineering, focuses on the use of artificial intelligence in everyday actions.
Current technologies rely on the transfer of an astronomical amount of data across the Internet and cloud computing. Professor Fontaine's project seeks to distribute artificial intelligence in small objects to reduce the huge ecological footprint generated by data transmission.
The research team will design microsystems capable of processing data locally and networking them, in particular through the acquisition of equipment to manufacture and network thousands of sensors.
Another part of the funding is dedicated to the Multidisciplinary Observatory for Monitoring Climate Change and Extreme Events in the Arctic (OMCCA).
Department of Applied Geomatics professor Alexandre Langlois will lead the project to analyze how the Arctic reacts to climate change so that humanity can better adapt because what happens in this region of the planet will be seen further south in 50 or 60 years, with global repercussions.
The funding will be used to establish facilities in Canada's North.
Finally, Faculty of Science professor Jerome Claverie will lead a multidisciplinary project aiming to provide a research tool on polymers in order to develop new ones and build a database on polymers at a level of detail that is currently unmatched.
The Quebec Ministry of Higher Education as well as various public and private partners also contributed to the funding of the three projects.
-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2021.
