Designing cool devices : from development to deployment of an optical tool in a northern environment

26 - 28 February 2019
Forêt Montmorency (Québec), Canada

Under the initiative of the CREATE-SMAART and Sentinel North programs at Université Laval, this bootcamp offers students a unique opportunity to interact with top level scientists as part of a transdisciplinary and highly technological training program aimed to develop and deploy an optical device in northern conditions.

Taking place at the Forêt Montmorency (the largest teaching and research forest in the world), the bootcamp will provide participants with an integrative and practical experience in the fields of engineering and optics.

The agenda consists of fruitful discussions, theoretical training and practical workshops, including the development of a light detection tool, the “Flat Light” detector.

Top level scientists, collaborators and speakers will join the participants, allowing them to explore new avenues in their research projects. The bootcamp will also allow the development of cross-curricular skills such as networking and scientific collaboration, communication and planning in a transdisciplinary research context.

Photo gallery

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My experience at the SMAART retreat and bootcamp was great. The project theme was stimulating and represented a real-world problem, which made the hand-ons experiences very interesting. Furthermore, the professors were real experts in their field which allowed them to convey the complicated material in an understandable way for the entire multi-disciplinary audience."

Damon DePaoli
Ph.D. in Biophotonics, Université Laval

This Bootcamp organized by Sentinel North was a very rewarding experience. I appreciated the fact that a real problem affecting the daily lives of northerners is exposed as the main theme of the week's activities. This has led to several discussions between researchers and students and related to some key steps in the development of a tool to solve the problem. The whole thing was made even better thanks to very interesting theoretical presentations on state of the art optical sensors, on the challenges of deployment as well as practical workshops during which a prototype was assembled. I come out with a wealth of theoretical knowledge and skills rarely put into practice that will certainly help me for my research project!

Raphaël Larouche
Masters in Biophotonics, Université Laval

For me, the highlight of the Bootcamp was to discover how vast is the application of optical tools in science and how it can contribute to new discoveries. Although it was a bit challenging for me, it was very interesting to understand a little better the functioning of these optical tools that I will be using in my project. It has really broadened my horizons of possibilities within scientific research.

Lia Rossi Perazza
Ph.D in molecular medicine, Université Laval

Fabrication of the flat light detector was pretty nice, having a concrete fabrication that can meet the Bootcamp objectives.

Louis Dubé-Riopel, B.Ing
Masters in Physics engineering, Polytechnique Montréal

During the breaks, I had a little time to go outside to enjoy the cross-country ski trails and the snowy landscapes offered by the Montmorency Forest. I even had the chance to observe a moose mom and her young calf, just a few meters from me!

Simon Gagnon
Masters in Physics, Université Laval

Program
On the theme "Designing cool devices", the bootcamp will promote a lively, versatile and dynamic approach that includes theoretical training followed by practical workshops supervised by experts from various specialties.

Day 1
- Introduction
- Light scattering (theoretical training and practical workshop)
- Image sensor (theoretical training and practical workshop)
- Conference: Course of the development of an instrument
Day 2
- Image analysis (theoretical training and practical workshop)
- Power analysis (theoretical training and practical workshop)
- Teamwork
Day 3
- Deployment of the Flat Light detector in the field
At the end of the training activity, participants will be asked to write a report on the activities performed throughout the bootcamp.
List of experts
- Daniel C. Côté, Professor, Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics, Université Laval and Director, CREATE-SMAART Program and Member of the Executive Committee, Sentinel Nord Instrument Development Technology Platform and Co-Founder, Bliq Photonique /li>
- Florent Dominé, Research director, snow physics, permafrost thermal regime, Arctic climate, snow-vegetation-permafrost interactions, CNRS-Takuvik joint laboratories, Université Laval
- Suzie Dufour, Researcher, National Optics Institute (INO)
- Benoit Gosselin, Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, Université Laval and Director, Biomedical Microsystems Laboratory, Université Laval
- Christian Katlein, Physics of sea ice, Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany
- Simon Labrecque, Coordinator, Neurophotonics Platform, Brain Canada
- Béatrice Saint-Cricq, partnerships and technology transfer, Sentinel North and Takuvik
- Simon Thibault, Professor, Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics, Université Laval and Chairholder, NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Optical Design
Comité organisateur
- Daniel C. Côté, Professor, Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Optics, Université Laval and Director, CREATE-SMAART Program and Member of the Executive Committee, Sentinel Nord Instrument Development Technology Platform and Co-Founder, Bliq Photonique
- Marie-France Gévry, Training programs coordinator, Sentinel North, Université Laval
- Julie Lamarche, Coordinator, CREATE-SMAART, Université Laval