The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, dropped by for an impromptu visit at the BCIT Centre for Applied Research and Innovation (CARI) building yesterday.
Across the street from BCIT’s main Willingdon Avenue campus, the CARI building houses some of our institute’s brightest minds and most high-tech toys.
President Kathy Kinloch and Board Chair Jack Davidson lead the group through a variety of space-age work spaces, including a prosthetic 3D-printing lab, a motion capture studio, and the newest ‘wearable tech’ workshop.
Dr. Jamie Borisoff, Canada Research Chair, Rehabilitation Engineering Design, demonstrated his innovative standing wheelchair design and also discussed some of his latest work on cardiovascular exercise equipment and walking exoskeleton prototypes. Serendipitous, as Minister Duncan renewed Dr. Borisoff’s research funding just last December!
“Applied learning is at the heart of the BCIT student experience,” said Dr. Kim Dotto, Dean of Applied Research. “With the support of our government and industry partners, our students are developing real-world solutions alongside world-class researchers. This kind of model is remarkable for a post-secondary environment, which is why we are so proud to host Minister Duncan today.”
Minister Duncan was in Vancouver to help launch Innovation150 – a year-long celebration of Canada’s scientific achievement.