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Queen’s School of Computing students take the 2025 Mayor’s Innovation Challenge by storm.

The annual Mayor’s Innovation Challenge invites post-secondary students from across Kingston to pitch their ideas to make the city of Kingston a better place.

Teams from Queen’s University, St. Lawrence College and Royal Military College, whose projects were selected for the final Pitch Competition, presented their work on March 14 at Kingston City Hall to a panel of leaders with expertise in municipal government, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Handfluence and Lawtonica, two teams of Queen’s students, won top prizes at this year’s competition!

All four team members of Lawtonica, the team which won the Public Sector Innovation Prize, are 1st year Computing students.

*Lawtonica* team with Mayor Bryan Paterson

Ethan Stassen, Zain Al Sudani, Yafet Beyene, and Walelign Sumoro designed Lawtonica as an innovative AI tool that can simplify the process of finding and comprehending local bylaws. It uses a specialized AI chat named Tonica, which handles all the time-consuming research by searching through hundreds of pages of legal documents in a matter of moments.

The Handfluence team is comprised of Emil Mathew, 4th year Mechatronics and Robotics Eng., Derek Youngman, 4th year Computing, and Christopher Gill, who is in 3rd year Computing. Handfluence translates ASL to English in real-time, while an animated avatar converts English to ASL with proper grammar and structure. The program has an added haptic option for Deaf-Blind users. This innovative technology can help bridge the gap between Deaf and hearing individuals in banks, hospitals, and city government offices.

Queen’s School of Computing congratulates our students on their success and their contribution to the Kingston community.

You can find more information about the winning teams, the competition, and the prizes, on the City of Kingston website.

Announcing a New Dual Master’s Degree in Partnership with the American University of Sharjah (AUS)

Queen’s School of Computing is proud to partner with the American University of Sharjah (AUS) in the United Arab Emirates for a new dual master’s degree program in computer science and computer engineering.

The program will launch in the fall of 2025. The dual master’s degree program will offer graduate students an opportunity to take courses at both Queen’s University and the AUS, while being co-supervised by faculty members from both universities. Graduating students will earn two distinct master’s degrees from each institution, preparing them to work, innovate, and solve emerging technological challenges on the international stage.

The program is an example of the School’s commitment to international collaboration and global academic excellence.

To learn more about this exciting new transcontinental initiative, read the announcement on the AUS website.

2025 Creative Computing Showcase

April 3rd, 2025
11:30am-2pm
Mitchell Hall
Rose Innovation Event Commons and LinQLab

Once again, the School of Computing is thrilled to welcome the Kingston community to the annual Creative Computing Showcase!

The Creative Computing Showcase is annual large-scale demonstration of different applications of Computing as a discipline, spanning from design to environmental and medical applications of technology.

The 2025 celebration will feature live demos of the latest research, gaming, and arts projects created by students in our capstone project courses.

Can’t attend? Join us for a live Twitch stream featuring interviews with the video game creators.

Everyone is welcome to drop in to see the installations, try out the hands-on demos, and see the broad range of our new and exciting technological creations.

Empowering Future Tech Leaders, One Challenge At A Time

At QSC, we believe that the future is in the making, which is why we love empowering the next wave of tech innovators!

This winter, the School proudly sponsored Hack the Ridge 2024, a high-octane, 12-hour innovation challenge at Iroquois Ridge High School. Students teamed up to tackle real-world problems with innovative solutions and wowed everyone with their creative pitches. From hands-on workshops to electrifying demos, it was a day bursting with energy that defines our next generation of computing leaders.

The School of Computing is also proud to sponsor the upcoming Ignition Hacks event. Scheduled to take place July 2025, Ignition Hacks promises to be more than just a hackathon, but rather a multi-faceted platform of workshops, mentorship opportunities, co-op fairs, and more, aimed at supporting tech education and opportunities for students to help them prepare for a growing technology industry.

Dr. Parvin Mousavi and Dr. Mohammad Zulkernine Were Granted Tier 1 Canada Research Chair Status

The School of Computing is proud to announce that Dr. Parvin Mousavi and Dr. Mohammad Zulkernine have been named Tier 1 Canada Research Chairs in the latest announcement on November 14, 2024. The Canada Research Chairs program is prestigious national initiative that recognizes outstanding research excellence in engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences.

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, announced Dr. Mousavi and Dr. Zulkernine among the 224 Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) across Canada, who push research frontiers and drive scientific innovation in Canada.

Parvin Mousavi’s biomedical research uses cutting-edge AI advancements to improve disease diagnosis, medical interventions, and personalized treatments. Mohammad Zulkernine’ s work integrates AI, communications networks, and privacy principles to make autonomous vehicles safer.

You can learn more about the research of the 16 newly announced CRC’s at Queen’s in this article by the Queen’s Gazette.

QSC Welcomes Dr. Rongxing Lu

The School of Computing is delighted to welcome Dr. Rongxing Lu, who joined our faculty team as a full professor.

Dr. Lu brings a remarkable background in Cybersecurity and teaching excellence. Dr. Lu is a current IEEE Fellow and IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, Mastercard IoT Research Chair, and Acting Director of the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity.

Before joining School of Computing, Dr. Lu was a professor at the Faculty of Computer Science, University of New Brunswick, where he received the Excellence in Teaching Award for the 23-24, as well as the 2016-17 academic years. His groundbreaking research centers on privacy-enhancing techniques, IoT–Big Data security, and applied cryptography, reflecting a commitment to safeguarding information in our interconnected world.

We look forward to Dr. Lu’s leadership and innovative spirit as he joins our vibrant academic community.

“Data Queens” Brings Home 1st Place Trophy from the FinTech Hackathon in China!

Congratulations to our team from Queen’s School of Computing, who won first place in the international Chengdu80 FinTech Hackathon, held at the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE) in China!

Xiaomin Cheng, Adam Clarkes, Chloe Houvardas, Vinicius Porfirio Purgato, Nolan Ling, and Amr Zaki and their team the “Data Queens” travelled 30+ hours from Kingston to Chengdu to attend the competition, joined by Professor Wendy Powley and Dr. Yuanzhu Chen.

The competing teams were asked to produce a prototype to solve problems arising from autonomous vehicles for a hypothetical insurance company. After 80 hours of design and development, Data Queens placed #1 and received the event’s Trailblazer’s Award and CN¥40,000 (about 7,800 CAD) in prize money.

Congratulations to all the winners, and special thank you to Yuanzhu Chen and Wendy Powley for supporting the team throughout the competition!

“Data Queens” was among the 8 invited teams of students from Canada, United States, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong, and China Mainland, representing over 20 countries.

QSC thanks the host university SWUFE for keeping the students engaged with various sightseeing and team-building activities throughout the week. The team returned with the trophy, new friendships, and unforgettable memories.

Welcome home, and Cha Gheill!

Dr. Lee Jones Presents Hand-Spinning E-Textiles at Tier A SIGCHI

Dr. Lee Jones from iStudio Lab presented her innovative research on Hand-Spinning E-Textiles at the TierA Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) conference, held at IT-Universitetet in Copenhagen, Denmark. This research explores the intersection of traditional hand-spinning techniques and emerging e-textile crafting, providing a fresh perspective on the possibilities of interactive textiles.

The project aims to understand how hand spinners can combine local materials with conductive fibers to create their own custom interactive textiles.

Through a two-part study involving interviews with 32 hand spinners and workshops with six participants from a local spinning guild, the team gathered insights into the challenges and opportunities of blending hand-spun and e-textile techniques. The research highlights the need for better tools and information to support these DIY practices, empowering makers to craft functional and aesthetically rich e-textile projects.

This work not only expands the boundaries of material crafting in the HCI field, but also opens new doors for design innovation.

We invite you to explore the full open-access paper here and extend our congratulations to Dr. Lee Jones, Dr. Sara Nabil, and the iStudio Lab team for their contribution to this exciting field of study.

iStudio Lab High School Interns Present Innovative Fabric-Lego Project at Tier A SIGCHI

Queen’s School of Computing is pleased to announce that high school students Sama Moustafa and Jannah Sultan, who are doing their internship under the mentorship of Dr. Sara Nabil and the iStudio Lab team, presented their Fabric-Lego project at the prestigious Tier A Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) at IT-Universitetet, Denmark.

This project introduces a unique fabrication method that integrates 3D printing with traditional garment-making techniques to address the challenges of medical braces and assistive wearables.

The Fabric-Lego method empowers users to personalize their medical wearables, such as arm slings and finger splints, by incorporating customizable, Lego-like blocks into fabric designs. This approach not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of wearables but also supports personal expression, helping to reduce the psychological and social impacts often associated with assistive devices. The team presented three functional prototypes during the conference: a customizable arm sling cover, a finger splint cover, and a T-shirt with integrated blocks.

This project underscores the potential for technology to improve user experiences in the healthcare field. We encourage everyone to explore the full paper, which is available here.
Congratulations to Dr. Nabil, the iStudio Lab team, and our talented interns Sama and Jannah for this remarkable achievement!

Queen’s School of Computing Students Win Best Challenge Paper at the 2024 AIware Conference

Queen’s School of Computing is thrilled to announce that a team from the GOAL Lab has been awarded the Best Challenge Paper at the prestigious 2024 AIware Conference, held in Brazil in conjunction with the 2024 International Conference on Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE).

Their paper, titled “Automated Scheduling for Thematic Coherence in Conferences,” highlights innovative research that bridges the fields of Operations Research and Natural Language Processing.

This project, led by Ph.D. student Mahzabeen Emu, with contributions from Tasnim Ahmed and Dr. Salimur Choudhury, tackles the complexities of thematic scheduling in conferences. The practical applications of this research, particularly in the context of healthcare scheduling, underscore the real-world impact of their work.

By optimizing scheduling, hospitals can better allocate resources, improve patient care, and reduce wait times, leading to more efficient and effective healthcare delivery.

This recognition exemplifies the collaborative spirit and interdisciplinary approach that Queen’s School of Computing fosters.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Mahzabeen, Tasnim, and Dr. Choudhury for this accomplishment!