Provinces New Brunswick

May 16, 2018

Students learn to lean

A Saint John company’s need to improve its processes provided New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) Students with an excellent opportunity to improve their mechanical engineering skills. Bourque Industrial, a company that does custom fabrication of carbon steel, stainless steel, nickel alloy and aluminum — both new parts and repairs — approached NBCC for help improving productivity and efficiency. The company’s systems hadn’t kept up with growth and expansion over a number of years. After discussions with Bourque’s CEO, engineering technology instructor Bill Chamberlain saw an opportunity to turn the company’s problems into applied research projects for mechanical engineering technology students... Read more

May 16, 2018

Students add flare to a foodie favorite

Longshore Fisheries is a family-owned lobster fishery that employs most of the residents in Sonora, Nova Scotia — but it is just one of over 400 seafood processing companies in the Maritimes. The company experienced steady and gradual growth and over time expanded its building and added equipment, new products and services. “The lobster industry is very competitive,” says Krysta Hanley, whose family set up the company in a shuttered clam plant. “We realized very quickly we need to have something that nobody else has.” The family-owned business realized it needed help to be innovative, so they approached the New... Read more

April 19, 2018

Designing Mobile Software Systems That Help Cities and Residents Address Life-Critical Needs

Trying to get important information through your phone is tough enough — it’s even more awkward when it’s crammed onto your screen, because the web app has been inadequately downsized from a design for full-sized computers. But until recently that’s been the practice — design for desktops, then adapt. “Mobile first” technology flips that approach, intentionally designing for mobile devices. Since 2013, New Brunswick Community College has been home to the inaugural Industrial Research Chair in Mobile-First Technology, held by Dr. William McIver Jr. Funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, with matching funds from industry, the Mobile First... Read more

June 22, 2016

Modelling and Mentoring Positive Social Skills for Girls

A casual chat among female students revealed many were on anti-anxiety medications. A class on techniques for leading group therapy led to multiple revelations of self-loathing. For college instructor Stephanie Ruckstuhl, those were messages too strong to ignore. “Happens once, it’s a fluke, then a second time, and I thought, what are we doing to our girls?” said Ruckstuhl, a teacher in the practical nursing program at New Brunswick Community College in St. Andrew’s by the Sea. With those conversations fresh in her mind, the idea of intervening with young girls to develop positive social skills through role models and... Read more

March 15, 2016

Atlantic Canada Biorefinery Conference

The Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick (CCNB) has focused on knowledge transfer and industry support to promote a prosperous bioeconomy in Atlantic Canada. In 2010 it obtained an Innovation Enhancement grant that led to the creation of its Biorefinery Technology Scale-up Centre. The centre gives college and university researchers as well as companies the opportunity to test their products and processes at a near-production scale. The research team working at the Grand Falls campus of CCNB supports industry in its bioproduct promotion efforts. The team uses microbial fermentation, hydrolysis, bioseparation and chemical processes to produce value-added industrial bioproducts such as bioethanol,... Read more

March 15, 2016

Mobile First Technology

New Brunswick has a new hub of expertise in mobile technology thanks to the establishment of an Industrial Research Chair for Colleges in Mobile First Technology at New Brunswick Community College. Dr. Bill McIver, a former National Research Council expert and professor of computer sciences at University of New Brunswick, is responsible for conducting research and working collaboratively with partners in the information and communications technology sector to develop advanced mobile first technology. "I'm interested in finding ways to apply mobile technology to critical problems that impact our lives and our livelihoods." says Dr. McIver. His work takes him around... Read more