This meaningful program, funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), provided a unique and invaluable experience to a diverse group of talented undergraduates from across Canada to conduct research at AC labs on the University of Toronto (U of T) campus for the summer.

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“Creating opportunities for the next generation of researchers to learn alongside our Staff Scientists and Principal Investigators is very important to the growth of the AC and to grow the talent that will drive future Canadian research excellence.” said AC Executive Director Sean Caffrey “The program included opportunities undergrads aren’t usually exposed to such as the chance to present a poster at the international Accelerate Conference as well as professional development seminars run by U of T professors.”

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The AC-SURP students, studying in fields ranging from robotics to economics at U of T and University of British Columbia (UBC), spent their days researching and learning from AC staff scientists and principal investigators and being mentored by PhD students. Exchange students Youseff Briki and Mathis Lechaume-Robert from Université de Montréal also acted as collaborators throughout the summer.  The goal of the program was to enrich students with essential skills to ensure positive progress in their scientific careers.  

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• Yijie Wang worked in the AI and Automation SDL under Principal Investigator Florian Shkurti and Staff Scientist Kourosh Darvish. Yijie’s research explored the integration of a reactive and constrained motion planner based on model predictive control (MPC) to enable robots to safely perform chemistry experiments.
  

• Eloise Besnier and Hari Om Chadha contributed to the Inorganic Chemistry SDL. Eloise worked  with Principal Investigator Jae Hattrick Simpers and Staff Scientists Yang Bai and Ali Shayesteh. Eloise’s projects focused on developing a customized automation platform for the synthesis and characterization of inorganic materials for energy storage. Hari worked with Professor Mohamad Moosavi to develop machine learning algorithms that will accelerate the discovery of thermal fluids. These fluids are needed to cool emerging technologies such as electric vehicles and data centers.

•  Ethan Elliot Rajkumar and Serene Stoller worked in the Organic Chemistry SDL, guided by Principal Investigator Sophie Rousseaux and Staff Scientist Yang Cao and Hao Han. Their research focused on developing new tools and capabilities on low-cost experimental platforms that unlock a wider range of automated chemisy tasks for SDL workflows.
  

• Justin Wong and Rubaina Farin were engaged in the Organic Medicinal Chemistry SDL with Principal Investigator Robert Batey and Staff Scientists Santha Santhakumar and Joseph Brown. Rubaina built a chemical inventory database compatible with automation using SQLite and Python and Justin benchmarked open-source solutions for molecular docking for chemical probe and drug discovery.

• Monique Ngan contributed to research in the Polymer SDL with Principal Investigator Helen Tran and Staff Scientist Owen Melville, combining machine learning with robotic workflows to automate the determination of polymer solubility.

• Lucia Huang and  Phoebe Wang were placed in the Formulations SDL, working with Principal Investigator Christine Allen and Staff Scientists Jeff Watchorn and Frantz Le Dévédec. Their projects centred on developing automated synthesis, characterization, and machine learning tools for self-driving drug formulations development.

• Nishka Srivastava worked in the Human Organ Mimicry SDL, under the guidance of Principal Investigator Milica Radisic and Staff Scientist Yimu Zhao. Her research focused on establishing macrophage, cancer and vascular co-culture for multimodal image analysis pipeline.

• Astrid Hu conducted research in the Economics SDL under Principal Investigator Avi Goldfarb. She studied entrepreneurship and the commercialization of scientific discovery.

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In addition to conducting research, the students had the opportunity to learn from AC knowledge experts and U of T professors through professional development seminars.  

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“One of the highlights of the program was the chance to gain more knowledge around CVs, research posters, grad school applications and social media communication for scientists,” said Phoebe Wang. “It was really helpful having a small group where everyone could ask questions and get firsthand tips on how to standout as we progress in our careers.”  

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They also had the chance to test drive brand new micro-courses in the AC’s Autonomous Systems for Discovery certificate offered by the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies.  

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“The micro-course was a great opportunity to expand my knowledge on self-driving labs,” said Rubaina Farin. “Advanced material discovery is an emerging field, and it is exciting to be one of the first people exploring curriculum catered towards bringing this type of research beyond the university campus.”

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The program culminated with an exciting opportunity for each participant to present a scientific poster at Accelerate Conference 2024 at the UBC.

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“Attending the conference allowed everyone in the AC-SURP cohort to network with a wide range of speakers in AI and automation and get a broader understanding for the various career paths in this emerging field,” said Eloise Besnier. “In particular, the Women in STEM Networking Breakfast was a great way compare and contrast academic and industry career paths and have the chance to ask questions in a friendly, welcoming setting.”  

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The Acceleration Consortium is very proud of the accomplishments made by this year's AC-SURP cohort and the progress they made towards being the next generation of scientific leaders.  

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Applications for the 2025 AC-SURP program will be posted on our programs page in February 2025.