Driving research and innovation, inside and outside of the classroom.
Our History
Centennial College is located in Ontario’s Greater Toronto Area, which is one of the most ethnically diverse urban areas in North America. Centennial attracts students from around the world - including countries like China, India, South Korea and Brazil. This rich international heritage impacts our awareness of diverse perspectives, enhancing our innovative approach to partnership building and industry-facing applied research engagements.
Centennial is one of Canada's top colleges for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Leading this activity is Centennial Innovates, the department of Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which brings together multiple research centres and entrepreneurship activity with a physical presence in three of Centennial’s five campuses. In this integrated form, Centennial Innovates serves over 100 industry and community partners each year, helping them solve research-related challenges and grow their businesses.
Our Role
ARIES brings students and faculty together to solve practical industry problems, providing real-world experience in the process. Our focus is on providing solutions that are both practical and cost effective.
ARIES also works to support a consistent college-wide approach to the research enterprise, through the Centennial Applied Research and Innovation Fund (ARIF) for faculty-led projects, research and training workshops held throughout the year, the activities of both the Centennial College Research Board (CCRB) and the college’s Research Ethics Board (REB). We seek to empower our students to become changemakers by exposing them to research and entrepreneurship opportunities through paid internships and experiential learning opportunities.
Our Priorities
With our new research initiatives, we strengthen our commitment to addressing the changing world of work. Our research seeks to recognize the issues facing our community, and to champion issues faced by marginalized groups – pushing the limits of what a college can do. We map all of our activities to the global canvass of sustainability as defined by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Our entrepreneurship activities focus on both social entrepreneurship and traditional entrepreneurship offerings, and are also mapped against the UN SDG framework. We also support established business ventures through our business innovation and growth program.
Our Applied Research activities focus on real world solutions for industry partners and our community. Our impact is directed on then embedding research project outcomes into curricula, to provide students with the most up-to-date skills needed to excel in their careers.
Visit our Areas of Activity to see how ARIES is driving research and innovation inside and outside of the classroom.
Our Team
In addition to our core team members below, ARIES also includes hundreds of dedicated students, faculty, staff and industry partners who support projects advancing Centennial’s work to change lives and transform communities.
Administrative Team
| Team Member | Position |
|---|---|
| Jonathan Hack | Dean |
| Bonnie Chung | Administrative Coordinator |
| Joanne Pan | Manager, Finance Operations and Risk |
| Paula Brohm | Finance and Administration Officer |
| Dr. Matthew Stein | Chair, Research and Innovation Engagement |
| Ruo Xi (Vicky) Huang | Communications and Marketing Strategist |
Research and Innovation Team
| Team Member | Position |
|---|---|
| Dr. Eric Blaise | Director, Applied Research and Innovation (Aerospace, Advanced Manufacturing) |
| Dr. Purnima Tyagi | Director, WIMTACH, Data Analytics and Digital Health Technologies |
| Dr. Wenzi Ckurshumova | Associate Director, Research and Innovation |
| Jeziel Vidad | Research Project Manager, WIMTACH |
| Sreekumar Pillai | Project Manager, Centre for Explainable Data Analytics (CEDA) |
| Tenzin Jinpa | Research Associate (Software) |
| Ian Lilley | Research Associate (Electronics) |
| Andrea de Fatima Cavalheiro | Project Coordinator, WIMTACH |
| Omid Mokhatari | Project Manager, Fabric-based Research (FIBRE) |
| Milad Hoorzad | Project Coordinator, Aerospace |
| Erika Oliveira | Project Coordinator, Advanced Manufacturing |
| Sandra Munoz Ortegon | Project Coordinator, Energy, Transportation and SmartTO |
| Javier Corredor | Project Coordinator, Energy, Transportation and SmartTO |
| Ava EA Afrane | Administrative Assistant, WIMTACH |
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Team
| Team Member | Position |
|---|---|
| Lalit Guglani | Manager, Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship |
| Gabriella Zoltan-Johan | Manager, Startup Programs and Services |
| Shereen Al-Jarrah | Entrepreneurship Coordinator |
| Patrick Robinson | Academic Entrepreneurship Coordinator |
Current Areas of Activity
Centennial has a priority to equip our students to be agile self-navigators and resilient in their educational and career journeys, and ARIES’ ongoing research activities are evidence of these priorities.
These are just some of the many areas where we are engaged with local, provincial and national organizations in research-oriented activity with real-world applications.
- Wearable, Interactive and Mobile Technologies in Healthcare
- Aerospace
- Social Innovation Research
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Energy
- Transportation
- Explainable Data Analytics
We are also interested in projects that fall outside these sectors. If you have an idea for a market-ready solution that changes perceptions, all while impacting the lives of our students, our faculty, our partners and the world at large, e-mail us at aries@centennialcollege.ca.