2024 Summer Internships
This year's internships
Far-ultraviolet observations of low surface brightness spiral galaxies
Professor:
Department:
Physics & Astronomy
Project Description:
The intern will perform photometry on ultraviolet through mid-infrared observations of nearby low surface brightness galaxies, and use the resulting measurements with an existing fitting code to determine their stellar populations.
Required qualifications:
Experience with astronomy data formats, AstroPy, and command-line tools. Background knowledge about galaxies and stellar populations.
Haptic interfaces for telemedicine
Professor:
Department:
Engineering
Project Description:
In collaboration with the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration and the Bone and Joint Institute at Western, a new direction being explored at the WearME lab aims to develop haptic interfaces for telemedicine. A significant limitation that currently exists with telemedicine is the inability of the clinical expert to palpate the tissue of the patient and obtain information on potentially problematic areas of increased or decreased stiffness. To address this problem, the purpose of this project is to develop a skin-like device that can apply localized forces to the body of a user and sense the resulting stiffness. The standard engineering design process will be followed to identify the requirements, develop concepts and create prototypes. Experiments will be performed to test the partial prototypes and iterate through more detailed design concepts. The expected outcome will be an interface that can provide the clinician with distributed stiffness information.
Required Qualifications:
The student should be completing the later years of biomedical engineering and/or mechatronics systems engineering. Prior experience designing wearable mechatronic devices preferred.
Western Skylark CubeSat project
Professor:
Department:
Electrical and Computer EngineeringProject description:
The Western Skylark CubeSat project aims to enhance wildlife tracking by collecting space-based data on migratory birds particularly from remote northern parts of Canada. The project involves hands-on training for students in CubeSat design, construction and operation and when launched into orbit will contribute to a better understanding of animal movements and supports conservation efforts. The CubeSat is a 3U (i.e. 10x10x30cm) micro-satellite, funded by Canadian Space Agency as part of the CUBICS project. It is scheduled to be launched into a Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) in late 2025. During the summer internship, the student will mainly be involved in final design and preliminary testing of the CubeSat sub-systems and be part of a large multi-disciplinary team.Required Qualifications:
Enrolled in a degree in Engineering, Physics, or a related field with interest in space instrumentation. • Prior experience on design projects involving either hardware or software components • Strong communication and collaboration abilities on multi-disciplinary team. Beneficial but not required qualifications: • Systems engineering or space systems design knowledge or experience • Experience in subsystem, payload, or system integration • Understanding of spacecraft subsystems and their functions • Past experience with CubeSatsAdditional Comments:
The intern will get to interact with an multi-disciplinary team of engineers and scientists. •Exact sub-system role will be determined based on specific expertise and interests of the applicant and available team role.
