High school students from Windsor-Essex and surrounding counties put their neuroscience research and brain knowledge to the test at UWindsor’s first annual Brain Bee on June 4.

Brain Bee competitions are held around the globe and this year Jeff Dason, biomedical sciences professor; Michelle Bondy, experiential learning specialist; and Barbara Zielinksi, director of the behaviour, cognition and neuroscience (BCN) program; joined forces to organize the first ever held in Windsor.

“We were pleased with the turnout, especially since we were told to not expect a large number the first year, but with more than 20 registered, we had the second-highest turnout in Canada,” says Dr. Dason.

“It is encouraging that there is a fair amount of interest in neuroscience at the high school level.”

Students in grades 9 through 12 competed by answering questions about the brain, its function and dysfunction in a spelling bee format. In the months leading up to the event, BCN students Emilia Slijepcevic, Katarina Kolobaric, Alyssa Arundine, Lana Milidrag, Bianca Hutton, Owen Bortolin, Rebekah Taylor, and Angela Hormiz tutored the high school participants.

“Topics ranged from memory, sleep, intelligence, emotion, perception, stress, aging, genetics, neurotransmitters, neurology,” says Dr. Zielinski. “This is a great way to connect with bright high school students and open their minds to brain research as a possible career choice.”

The first-place winner, Anastasia Nikolik, is a grade 11 student from Assumption College Catholic High School. She says it was a fun way to expand her knowledge and a unique experience to get more students interested in neuroscience.

"Personally, I wasn't considering going into a neuroscience program before, but now I might,” says Nikolik.

Second-place was a tie and went to Grade 11 students Vanessa Wong and Rosalyn Agapito, both from Riverside Secondary School.

Nikolik’s classmate Connor Filiault, third-place winner, says he finds the brain and how it works really fascinating.

"It was definitely a good way to get familiar with the material we will be learning in grade 12 biology beforehand," says Filiault.

All four winners will receive scholarships ranging from $500 to $1,500, to go towards attending any science program at UWindsor.

Assumption science teacher Danielle Cooper (BSc 2017) is a graduate of the BCN program. She says gathering for virtual review sessions not only gave the students an opportunity to talk and discuss concepts that they were unsure of, but was beneficial for those feeling a bit lonely and distant during remote learning.

“I have participated in three different virtual contests with students this year, but the Brain Bee was unique in that it included a social aspect within the competition and it was nice that my students were able to gather virtually with like-minded youth,” says Cooper.

“The BCN program has had a huge impact in shaping me into the person I am today, and it was awesome to be able to share my love of the brain with my enthusiastic students and I’m proud of their accomplishments.”

The winners went on to compete in the CIHR Canadian National Brain Bee on June 5. At the competition virtually hosted by McMaster University, Hormiz made a video highlighting the UWindsor's BCN program and Taylor represented Windsor on a panel of neuroscience students from universities across Canada.

—Sara Elliott

Two teams of UWindsor engineering students have triumphed in an industry-led, pitch-off competition for their solutions to cross-border congestion at the future Gordie Howe International Bridge.

The teams impressed a panel of industry judges with their suggestions to implement mobile apps to reduce delays at the border and to facilitate the use of alternate modes of transportation to relieve congestion. The students also recommended using machine learning technologies, sensor-based systems, and even a suicide prevention system in plans for the new bridge, which is one of the largest infrastructure projects underway in North America.

The pitch-off competition hosted by Ontario’s Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN) and Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority (WDBA) challenged post-secondary students in engineering, information technology, and business administration to utilize smart mobility technologies, data analytics, and new payment and security technologies to reduce cross-border congestion and wait times.

“Ontario is home to leading post-secondary institutions and top talent, and the pitches put forward by the students at the University of Windsor are a testament to that,” says Mona Eghanian, AVIN’s director of strategy and programs – automotive and mobility, which is under the Ontario Centre of Innovation umbrella.

PhD candidates in civil engineering Dhwani Shah, Umair Durrani, and Haesung Ahn took first place for their three-tier plan that includes:

• an online portal and mobile application that reduces inspection and payment time;
• a state-of-the-art machine learning technology for traffic prediction and management; and
• smart mobility options such as bikes, e-scooters, car-pooling, and shuttles.

“Our data analysis showed that inspection and payment time were the main reasons for border delays,” Shah says. “So we proposed real-time speed and wait time updates through the mobile application. Our solutions make crossing the border easy, accessible, sustainable, and environment-friendly while also relieving congestion.”

Third place went to Nikunj Vadsak and Vivek Siwach, both Master of Engineering students in the electrical stream. The duo came up with a smart toll collection system that doesn’t require human intervention thanks to a lidar sensor-based vehicle detection system, smart weigh-in-motion system, and advance toll collection portal. To amplify smart mobility infrastructure, the team made several recommendations such as a weather alert system, smart traffic signal, air quality monitoring and controlling system, and solar rooftops.

“Apart from this, our research led us to discover the current bridge has 20 recorded suicides, so we suggested incorporating a suicide prevention system to avoid similar tragic incidents in the future,” Vadsak says. “The lidar sensor-based human activity monitoring system helps analyse suspicious activities such as someone climbing over the fence or people fighting.”

Students had four days to submit their proposed solution followed by a presentation to a panel of industry judges. The first-place team received $1,200 and the opportunity to be mentored by an industry leader.

Eghanian says the panel was “truly impressed with the robust, creative, and well thought-out solutions put forward, demonstrating the incredible potential of applying academic knowledge to real-world business challenges.”

—Kristie Pearce

A virtual town hall meeting on Tuesday, June 22, will share information about the return to campus and address questions from faculty and staff.

Members of the Action Group for Fall Return will present updates and take part in a live question-and-answer session.

The event will run 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Microsoft Teams. Register using this link, which also offers a chance to submit a question.

Access to computer workstations will resume at Leddy Library this week. Computer workstations will be available for reservation starting Monday, June 21.

Access to the building is limited. Only those who have scheduled an appointment will be permitted to enter the library and must show approval from the Safe Lancer app.

Students are encouraged to use the library’s Contactless Pickup and Digital Delivery options for accessing its print collections.

The library will also resume the delivery of print interlibrary loans. Availability of materials is dependent upon the readiness of participating institutions.

In addition, the Statistics Canada Research Data Centre will offer limited in-person appointments on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

For more information, visit the library website.