Thunder Bay/CMEDIA: In its annual Top 50 Research Universities ranking, Research Infosource has reportedly named Lakehead as Canada’s top research-intensive undergraduate university for AI research and publications.
“I was very pleased to hear that result…not totally unexpected…our researchers are very diverse and have lots of different, new ideas…great recognition, and something that we can certainly build off of,” said Andrew Dean, Lakehead’s vice-president of research and innovation.
With 201 AI-related publications from 2018-2022 by Lakehead researchers, Lakehead has received top status, Research Infosource states, while with 171 AI-related publications in the same time period, Ontario Tech University grabbed second-place.
The research itself as varied, covering topics from language models to data storage.
“But really interesting to me was the number of publications and the number of areas where AI is being used more as a research tool or being investigated as new opportunities…One example is a professor in engineering who’s using AI to kind of help figure out where are the best places to charge an electric vehicle in Northwest Ontario.” he said
Another example, Dean said, is a computer science professor using AI to “figure out how to help robots be programmed to get around very cluttered areas, maybe like a hospital or nursing home, not so much from sight, but from tactile.”
The institution also ranked first in not-for-profit research income, and international government research income growth, a Lakehead media release stated.
The full listings can be found on Research Infosource’s website.
Lakehead President and Vice-Chancellor Gillian Siddall said in statement that the rankings highlight the talent and research capacity at the institution.
“Research and innovation is an important economic driver for the regions we serve and opens doors to collaboration, discovery and positive social progress,” she stated. “It also offers opportunities for our students to be at the forefront of real-world, cutting-edge research, particularly in the area of AI, that will give them hands-on experience and practical skills that employers seek.”
