Grant: Applied Research Tools and Instruments Grants

Small and rural, Selkirk College ranks #30 on the “Canada’s Top Research Colleges 2023” list, and has been moving up since our 2019 debut at #49. Selkirk Innovates, the college’s 37-person applied research department, has invested over 20+ years to develop deep expertise in drone-assisted geospatial (GIS) technology. We are incorporating expertise in data analysis and advanced computing into projects. We have observed a recent uptick in demand for partnered computing/data technology research projects related to climate change forecasting and adaptation. Current/prospective research partners (e.g., hydropower, mills, smelters, municipalities, First Nations) require more granular climate data than is currently available in rural and variable elevation environments to future-proof operations in a rapidly changing climate. Directly adjacent to forests, mountains and rivers, Canadian communities and companies are highly aware of vulnerability to increasingly erratic climate and weather. A significant increase in data analysis computing capacity is required. Geospatial technology evolves quickly, and as equipment capabilities improve, so do our data storage and data management needs. An increase in data storage capacity is critically required to de-risk projects via adequate data backups and to effectively analyze and share the geospatial data and results. This ARTI requests the computing infrastructure necessary to address data management needs stemming from both newly-acquired sophisticated geospatial sensors and the emerging heavy use of large climate and weather datasets to enable climate adaptation at partner companies, municipalities and organizations, improving environmental and economic resilience. ?Selkirk Innovates has currently exceeded the data storage capacity available on the servers managed by the college’s IT department. There is no room for “best practice” weekly backups of data and processing progress. File sizes are large enough to limit both downloads from global climate data troves and dynamic analysis is limited by hard drive, CPU and RAM constraints. For example, a new lidar scan will be thinned to 25% upon download, potentially losing important insights in the process. the existing data situation also severely limits our ability to share 3d models and data visualizations with research partners. The equipment will support student research internships and industry training in advanced computing, data science and geomatics.