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The University of Guelph is the first Canadian post-secondary institution to install a complete electronic wayfinding system called BlindSquare to help blind and visually impaired people find their way around campus, both inside and out.

Prof. Graham Taylor was interviewed by The Walrus for a story about racism and sexism in artificial intelligence applications.

Much of AI technology — and its search engines and facial-recognition systems — has been developed in a way that does not recognize human diversity, the article posits. While certain technologies are prized for their neutrality, said the writer, this isn’t always the case.

Everett Snieder, Emily Angermann, Nicole Ludzki and Madelaine Prince won the Water Environment Association of Ontario Student Design Competition. They presented their final design in Ottawa and placed first (out of 8 teams). They designed a stormwater management retrofit for Exhibition Place in Toronto. The team will represent Ontario at the Water Environment Federation Student Design Competition in Chicago in September.

Funded by the Ontario Research Fund’s Research Excellence program, both initiatives will involve researchers from across U of G and Canada, as well as industrial partners.

The University of Guelph will receive $3.4 million through two new Canada Research Chairs (CRC) and renewal of three others.

This funding is part of federal support for 186 chairs that have been established or renewed at 48 institutions across Canada, an investment of $158.7 million.

Between a quarter and a third of the food produced annually for human consumption is lost or wasted, which would be enough to satisfy the dietary requirements of 2,000 million people. Compared to other food or biomass-derived waste, fruit waste is rich in nutrients and nutritional compounds that can help regulate bowel health, weight, blood cholesterol, and glycemic and insulin responses to food consumption. But, as of now, there is no way to convert this national waste into edible food products.

Prof. Graham Taylor, School of Engineering, has been selected by Google’s California head office as a visiting faculty member with the company’s team of artificial intelligence (AI) researchers in Montreal.
 

Beginning in September, Taylor, a machine learning expert, will spend an eight-month research leave with Google’s AI team in Montreal. He plans to explore machine learning techniques intended to help improve decision-making by the AI systems in anything from Google Maps on your smartphone to smart tractors in the farm field.
 

The federal government will invest nearly $335,000 in five University of Guelph research projects, ranging from preventing childhood injuries and food-borne ailments to promoting emotional well-being and data-driven solutions.