EFCIE Student Researcher - Jasleen Kaur Sandhu
Research Project: Examining challenges in fighting forest fires
Jasleen Kaur Sandhu is an international student at UFV coming from the steel city of India, Jamshedpur, which is situated in the southern end of the state of Jharkhand. She enrolled in the BCIS degree program at UFV in August 2019. Apart from courses in Artificial Intelligence, Data Algorithms, Cloud Systems, and Robotics, she was also
required to take up electives for the successful completion of her graduation degree; so, she decided to take BUS 492: Directed Studies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship taught by Dr. Jon Thomas. His research in innovation, entrepreneurship, and science and technology commercialization resonated with her academic interests to further explore the field of technology development and commercialization, and motivated her to continue working on her research studies with Dr. Thomas as an EFCIE Student Research Assistant, even after the completion of her Directed Studies course.
This research explored how innovation can be brought to society for addressing global challenges. “Dr. Jon gave me a sense of direction as we started researching wildfire trends, associated costs, current firefighting methods being used, and examining why these methods had not been replaced by newer technologies in the 21st century” says Jasleen.
Jasleen describes her joy of discovering the various aspects of technology commercialization, “We found that the scale of real-time disasters could primarily be associated with delayed response times. Though there exist several technologies like sensor technology systems, firefighting start-ups find it hard to raise funding from investors to bring their innovations to market. This gap in funding and complex governance processes further exacerbate the challenges from costly and more frequent wildfires that have been predicted to exponentially scale in the coming years. Wildfires can cause nations huge economic setbacks as well as pose significant health dangers.
The study identifies the manner in which funding for wildfire management systems and governance are falling short. There is an immediate need for visionary user-friendly applications that not only monitors the growth and spread of wildfires in real-time, but also ensures the safety of firefighters and humans in these extreme environments. Governments need to extend a helping hand to emerging firefighting tech start-ups through research and commercialization supports and mission-oriented innovation policies”.
Research opportunities at the Esposito Family Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (EFCIE) not only brought a deeper appreciation of the issues in managing wildfires but also helped Jasleen think outside the box by strengthening her analytical problem-solving skills; challenging her to fill the gaps in her knowledge about the subject matter and encouraging her to further explore the interlinkages between technology, innovation and society. She now understands how important it is to formulate and engage in research projects which not only seek to solve significant societal challenges but also communicate the results in a manner that engages with policy makers, researchers, and funding agencies.
Participating in an academic research project, learning to write her first research paper and getting an opportunity to present her work in a reputed international conference has been an uplifting journey for Jasleen. It has infused a sense of enthusiasm for research in her along with a hunger to investigate how the doors of multiple applied fields can be opened using Computer Science as a base. “It will most certainly aid my application when applying for graduate studies” said Jasleen with confidence. Jasleen is exploring the field of sustainable and renewable energy and hopes to create innovative systems that can help address emerging concerns caused by climate change and global warming.
Jasleen is grateful to Dr. Jon Thomas for being her supervisor and co-author, especially for providing her the guidance in formulating the research plan; in accessing materials and methods, and in carrying out and presenting research as clearly as possible. She notes that it was his dynamism, vision and motivation which inspired her to keep going and his numerous perceptive critiques throughout the paper writing process facilitated the acceptance of this paper at the PICMET 22’ Conference.
Jasleen Kaur Sandhu’s joint paper with Dr. Jon Thomas has been selected for publication and presentation at the PICMET 22’ Conference in August 2022.