DC announces new Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst training program

Durham College (DC) is pleased to announce that its Hub for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence for Business Solutions (the AI Hub) and the School of Continuing Education will be delivering the first Canadian training session of the Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (CTIA) course.

Offered in collaboration with International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants (EC-Council), SiberX, and the Town of Ajax, the three-day course will take place from Wednesday, October 15 to Friday, October 18 in Ajax. The CTIA course was announced at the CISO Forum Canada event on August 22 in Niagara Falls, Ont. by DC President Don Lovisa.

“As technology advances and cyber threats become more sophisticated and complex, it’s crucial for security professionals to have access to relevant, specialized training that will prepare them for the ever-changing threat landscape,” says Lovisa. “This unique course offers a holistic and modern approach to threat intelligence that will equip professionals with the tools they need to protect their organizations.” 

The CTIA course has been designed and developed in collaboration with cyber security and threat intelligence experts across the globe to help organizations identify and mitigate business risks by converting unknown internal and external threats into known threats. It is a comprehensive, specialist-level program that teaches a structured approach for building effective threat intelligence and is compliant to government and industry published frameworks.

The course is delivered in a compressed three-day in-classroom format and prepares participants to challenge the Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst Certification exam by EC-Council. EC-Council is a world leader in cyber security and this credential is an industry-recognized certification.

“With a focus on teaching a detect, respond and defeat approach to cyber security, course attendees will be qualified to develop their own comprehensive threat intelligence program,” says Dr. Elaine Popp, vice president, Academic at DC. “The completion of this course will benefit participants by increasing their employability in the cyber security and threat intelligence sectors.”

For more information or to register for the course, please visit www.durhamcollege.ca/CTIA.


Lakeridge Health and Durham College project applies artificial intelligence to predict emergency department wait times

A new partnership between Lakeridge Health and Durham College’s (DC) Hub for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence for Business Solutions (the AI Hub) will test the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to predict how long an individual will wait in the emergency department (ED), improving decision making and the patient’s experience in the ED.

The 40-week project, led by DC faculty researcher Amit Maraj and a team of four research assistants from the Computer Programmer Analyst program, will result in a prototype for an AI-infused recommender system. If successful, this system would make individual wait-time predictions for ED visits based on the person’s condition, what ED they are visiting and the time of day and year. The predictions would also take into account a person’s individual health status and other factors, including staffing, the number of people waiting for care and the urgency of everyone’s needs.

“People waiting in the emergency department often feel frustration and anxiety because they don’t know how long they will be there or what to expect,” said Dr. Ilan Lenga, chief information officer and chief medical information officer of Lakeridge Health. “We are pleased to be able to harness the ingenuity of the students and faculty at Durham College to develop a system that will benefit the community and improve people’s experiences in the emergency departments.”

The program team will look at a set of actual, anonymized patient data from the past to build a system – using machine learning – that can predict with a high degree of accuracy their wait time given everything that was happening in the ED at the time that they visited.

“We are excited about this opportunity to collaborate with Lakeridge Health to optimize the use of our health-care system’s resources using artificial intelligence,” said Don Lovisa, president, DC. “The work we are doing in this project has the potential to be tremendously helpful for patients while showcasing the real-world application of AI in a health-care setting in a way that will positively impact the system as a whole.”

Personalized predictions are important because emergency departments must treat the most urgent patients first, and do not operate on a “first-come, first-served” basis.


DC’s AI Hub receives $210,000 from Ontario Centre of Excellence

Durham College (DC) is pleased to announce that its Hub for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence for Business Solutions (the AI Hub) received $210,000 in May from Ontario Centre of Excellence (OCE) for the College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) program.

Through the CVTA program, student teams guided by college faculty will act as consultants to local businesses, applying their skills and training to solve industry challenges related to innovation and technology adoption.

The funding awarded to DC will allow the college’s AI Hub to work with 21 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who are facing barriers in the face of AI adoption, preparing them for pre- and post-AI development, including data collection and processing, algorithm selection, and the development of IT infrastructure, API or cloud computing servers. SMEs participating in the program will receive access to faculty and student expertise, collaborative workspace and valuable programs and resources.

 “Very few companies have in place the foundational building blocks that enable them to develop an effective AI solution that can generate value at scale,” said Dr. Elaine Popp, vice president, Academic. “We are thrilled that this funding will allow us to further support local businesses as they implement AI capabilities into their business systems, all while giving our students more opportunities for experiential learning.”

The college currently has a roster of projects lined up as a result of this funding with 10 vouchers still available for businesses interested in initiating a project with the AI Hub.

 “This funding is allowing 1COMMUNITY1 to connect with a diverse and passionate team of students that are eager to share their expertise, and who exhibit an honest and dedicated interest in fulfilling the success of our project,” said Kevin Craddock, chief technology officer, 1COMMUNITY1 – one of 11 current voucher recipients working with the AI Hub. “With this support, we have the opportunity to collaborate on innovative solutions that will help us leverage artificial intelligence to engage community through unique and accessible interactions.”

This is the second round of funding that the college has received from OCE for the CVTA program. The most recent funding of $100,000 allowed the AI Hub to develop technology-based solutions for 10 SMEs, including automation, online collaborative tools, and data visualization.


Durham College introduces Working Across Borders in International Business course

Durham College’s global classroom provides a venue for interactive, live-streamed classes, allowing learners and educators to collaborate worldwide, without crossing geographic boundaries.

Participants share their views with their colleagues, both domestic and abroad via live video chats. Students may find themselves debating religion with educators in Bangladesh on Monday, critiquing the education system with students in Zambia on Wednesday and analysing the impact of social media in England by Friday.This multicultural approach to education has made DC a wellspring for international collaboration since its creation; and with the introduction of Working Across Borders (WAB) in the fall of 2019, there is no end in sight to DC’s international reach.

“WAB takes the power of the global classroom and unlocks its potential for business,” said Joanne Spicer, DC’s global learning facilitator. “The result is a virtual, international consultancy project aimed at giving students an opportunity to experience the challenges and logistics of international, multicultural projects.”

Spicer and Rogier Ten Kate, a DC professor, along with educators in more than seven countries including: Belgium, Finland, Italy and the United Kingdom, worked diligently to bring this idea to life.

Students will virtually cross borders in the International Business course within the School of Business, IT & Management, by creating and developing business recommendations for an existing international company. They will create sustainable solutions for the organization by incorporating three of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the United Nations in their project. Some of these goals include: gender equality; safe and sustainable water management; climate action; and eliminating poverty.

“For their final project, students will develop potential business solutions and recommendations for the company,” said Spicer “then, they will pitch their solutions to their clients via video in the Global Class.”

This initiative, supported by the International Education office will impart the importance of sustainability on a generation of young professionals, ensuring a bright and green future for international business, without crossing geographic boundaries.


DC receives $133,000 in funding from NSERC to purchase beer analysis system

Durham College’s (DC) Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ORSIE) is pleased to announce it is receiving $133,000 in applied research funding via an Applied Research Tools and Instruments grant. Awarded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the grant is administered through the council’s College and Community Innovation Program and will be used to purchase a beer analysis system for the college’s Centre for Craft Brewing Innovation (CCBI).

Working alongside the CCBI’s existing Brew Lab and Brew Line, this basic version of a pressurized beer analyzing system, plus a dissolved oxygen module, will help researchers and consultants determine the core parameters of a beer, including alcohol content, original extract, real extract, degree of fermentation and dissolved oxygen from a single sample.

It will be used for applied research projects with craft brewers so they can better understand how their brewing processes function, allowing them to develop and implement improved control strategies, which in turn, results in a consistent, higher-quality brew.

The equipment, which is being supplied by Anton Paar, a well-known manufacturer of high-quality high-accuracy lab instruments that find many applications in the food and beverage industry, is able to automatically carry out the analysis of various key parameters in parallel on a single sample. It can also correct sample filling errors, cross correct results to improve accuracy and self-calibrate against distilled water, making the analysis system an industry standard.

The purchase of the new equipment, sees the CCBI join the ranks of the LCBO, as well as many larger breweries, all of whom have adopted the same system for their labs due to its superior reliability, ease of use and speed of analysis.


DC’s AI Hub and the City of Oshawa host Securing the Future of Technology Tech Talk

On June 7, Durham College’s (DC) Hub for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence for Business Solutions (the AI Hub) held its fifth Tech Talk, focused on creating new opportunities based on technology and innovation. Sponsored by the City of Oshawa, the discussion explored the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) projects and how technology excellence in the local community is a catalyst for growth.

Industry professionals, government representatives and students attended the panel discussion hosted by Tanmay Bakshi, the world’s youngest IBM Watson programmer and an artificial intelligence expert; Tushar Singh, a serial entrepreneur and chief executive officer and founder of Minute School, and Mahdi Raza, co-founder and chief executive officer of SiberX, and lead of the CISO Forum Canada.

The panelists deliberated about growth success factors in the city through technology and innovation. They highlighted DC’s focus on experiential learning, as well as initiatives implemented by the city, including hands-on talent development, a scalable educational system and opportunities for collaboration with companies, enable students to gain real-world experience and prepare them to lead sustainable technology projects for the benefit of the community.

The Tech Talk learning series is hosted by DC’s AI Hub. Past topics have included the application of AI in areas such as special-needs education, cybersecurity, real estate and manufacturing. The college’s next Tech Talk, to be held in July, will focus on AI and the cannabis industry.

In addition to the Tech Talks, watch for details as the City of Oshawa and DC welcome the finals of Global CyberLympics games to campus on Saturday, October 26. Teams from all over the world will compete in areas such as web application exploitation, malware analysis and cryptography among others.


DC named one of Canada’s 2019 Greenest Employers for third consecutive year

Durham College (DC) is pleased to announce that it has been named one of Canada’s Greenest Employers for the third consecutive year. Awarded as part of the 2019 editorial competition that is organized by the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project, this designation recognizes employers who create remarkable workplaces that minimize the environmental impact of their operations.

Winning employers are those that incorporate environmental values into their everyday culture, and attract employees because of such values and are evaluated on the following criteria:

    1. The unique environmental initiatives or programs they have developed.
    2. Whether they have been successful in reducing their own environmental footprint.
    3. Whether their employees are involved in these programs and contribute any unique skills.
    4. Whether their environmental initiatives have become linked to the employer’s public identity, attracting new employees and customers.

This year, DC has been recognized for its sustainability focus related to infrastructure and supporting behavioural changes among its employees and students. At a planning level, both new construction and renovation decisions are made through a sustainable lens. This includes LED lighting being the only option at the college, working towards 100 per cent LED use, including in its parking lots. In addition, hydration stations have been installed in every wing of the college to offer cooled, filtered water, thus reducing the use of plastic bottles.

The college’s Green Office Certification Program began last year, providing guidelines to incorporate sustainability into daily operations. Supported from the top down, the program focuses on energy and water conservation, waste diversion, purchasing habits and creating a green-focused office culture. Using a checklist as a guide, individual departments are encouraged to undertake sustainable actions in a variety of categories. These include using alternative transportation or using mini bins as a replacement for personal garbage cans. Across DC there has also been a move towards using centralized printers as opposed to personal ones, reducing overall paper use.

The new Simcoe Geothermal Field project, which is currently underway at DC’s Oshawa campus, is a prime example of the college’s sustainable efforts in action and was substantially complete on March 31, 2019.

For more information on living green at DC please visit www.durhamcollege.ca/livinggreen.


Research Day 2019

On April 11, Durham College (DC) held its ninth annual Research Day, a dynamic display of the innovative work being done on campus and in the community by DC faculty, student researchers and industry and community partners. Hosted by the college’s Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ORSIE), the event is aims to raise awareness of the important role and impact applied research has on the community and showcases the experiential learning opportunities it creates for students.

The Student Project and Venture Showcase was a new addition to the event, comprising more 30 student exhibits, where attendees had the opportunity to meet the talented students, interact with their work and support DC’s student entrepreneurs.

This year’s event also included the following three student competitions, which saw competitors pitch to panels of expert judges to compete for cash prizes and passes to the Ontario Centres of Excellence Discovery conference as well as mentorship and additional support from college and industry resources:

  • AI FastStart Challenge, highlighting the application of AI in new and innovative business applications.
    First place:
    Keenan Binnie-Cormier
    Second place: Gregory Barnes
    Third place: Julie Charlesworth
  • Food Foundry Entrepreneurship Challenge, highlighting entrants from the new FastStart Food Foundry food-business incubator.
    First place:
    Mahmoud El Maaraoui (Pop Kefir Soda)
    Second place: Alexandria Gillis and Jennifer Butt (Zenergy Grass Ruts)
    Third place: Brad Abel, Patricia Revita and Ibing Maharlika (Vinn Art)
    Third place: Kuljeetkaur Dhanda (Flaxible Bites)
  • 3MARC Challenge, a three-minute applied research communication competition where students were challenged to present compelling orations of their research work.
    First place:
    Ramandeep Rathore
    Second place: Farzeen Daruwala
    Third place: Taylor Richardson

In addition to the AI, tech and entrepreneurship on display, Research Day 2019 also highlighted applied research in diverse areas including gerontology, social services for youth experiencing homelessness and precision and resilience training for firefighters.

See full program including descriptions of breakout sessions and student projects on display.


DC’s AI Hub hosts fourth Tech Talk

On January 29, Durham College’s (DC) Hub for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence for Business Solutions (AI Hub) hosted its fourth Tech Talk. The two-hour event focused on real estate from an industry standpoint and how AI has started to disrupt the market with key points around data integrity, privacy, security and regulation to help agents, brokers and investors improve customer services, achieve greater efficiencies, and identify and mitigate risks.

Four speakers gave presentations, including Tim Hudak, CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA), Mustafa Abbasi, president and chief revenue officer of Zolo, Absar Beg, president of Lifelong Group of Companies and Gary Fooks, CEO and mortgage broker for 8Twelve Mortgage Corporation.

Attended by over 90 professionals from the AI and real estate industry, the talk covered topics such as quality assurance around financial documentation, putting real estate on autopilot, automation solutions for agents, and more.

Watch the AI Hub’s Twitter and Instagram accounts, as well as DC’s website for future Tech Talk dates. Sessions will focus on AI’s impact on health care and transportation. DC will also be hosting its inaugural Enable AI Summit on Thursday, June 6. This one-day conference will provide a platform for community members to converge around core applications and empower businesses to solve complex operational problems through applied research and AI.


Durham College and OPG Nurture Skilled Trades

On January 25, Durham College (DC) and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) celebrated the recent completion of the college’s first-ever Boiler Lab in Whitby. Funded by both DC and OPG, the new Boiler Lab will help ensure graduates gain real-world experience and knowledge from hands-on learning in an actual, operating boiler-room setting.

On hand to show support was the Member of Parliament for Whitby, Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Northumberland – Peterborough South MP, David Picinni, who also serves as the parliamentary assistant to Merrilee Fullerton, Minister of Training, College and Universities. The president of the Treasury Board, Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy, Durham Regional Chair John Henry and the mayor of Whitby, Don Mitchell were also in attendance.

“Skilled trade professionals are in high demand and are needed to successfully complete OPG’s Darlington Refurbishment Project. Our partnership with Durham College is essential in providing current and future staffing needs. The Boiler Lab is the type of training facility that is a must for meeting demand,” said Jeff Lyash, OPG President and CEO. “Leading-edge institutions such as Durham College are training the next generation of skilled trades that will help ensure that Canada’s largest clean energy project continues to track on time and budget.”

Since 2005, OPG has invested $15 million in educational partnership programs with DC and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology to increase the pool of skilled and qualified graduates as the nuclear industry enters into an era of a skilled trades supply gap.

“The partnership between the college and OPG is a great example of industry and post-secondary coming together to deliver training and demonstrates what is possible as a result of these types of agreements,” said Don Lovisa, President, Durham College. “OPG identified a need and through hands-on learning in the Boiler Lab, DC is meeting it. For our students this means they are graduating with the experience required to easily transition into their careers, helping ensure the future viability of the skilled trades.”

Training in the Boiler Lab is part of the  Power Engineering Technician – Fourth Class program offered at DC and will play an integral role in competency development.

Rachael Lave, a student studying in the Power Engineering Technician – Fourth Class program also spoke at the event about the importance of the new lab to the overall program, describing a recent issue that occurred with coupling that attached one of the turbines and the generator. By witnessing the issue first-hand, students walked away with greater insight into the types of issues they would face in their field and what the industry would expect of them.

The Boiler Lab joins a long list of training simulation environments offered at the college’s Whitby campus including energy, residential construction and carpentry and horticulture labs.