Cambrian College moves up list of Canada’s Top 50 research colleges

SUDBURY – Thirteen is not an unlucky number for the team at Cambrian R&D, the applied research division of Cambrian College.

For the 13th year in a row, Cambrian has made the list of Canada’s top 50 research colleges, as compiled by Re$earch Infosource Inc.

Among medium-sized colleges, Cambrian was a top ten finisher nationally in several categories, including third for use of paid student researchers, fourth in growth of overall research income as well as industry research income, and eighth in research income per researcher (intensity).

Overall, Cambrian ranked 38th among all research colleges in Canada, up three positions from the previous year.

“We are consistently holding our own with some of the top schools across all Canada when it comes to applied research and development,” says Dr. Mike Commito, director of Cambrian R&D. “We’re following industry trends, cultivating partnerships and generating revenue that comes from innovation, creativity and hard work. Cambrian R&D is recognized by industry and government as a go-to place for solutions to real-time challenges, particularly in mining and heavy industry.”

Cambrian R&D’s overall research income grew 32 per cent last year to approximately $3.3 million.

One of Cambrian R&D partners is CoreLift, a company that specializes in manufacturing core logging equipment for the mining sector, and which works with partners at the local level.

“We’ve been very fortunate to work with Cambrian’s faculty and students to develop our suite of modern products for geologists, in particular with the build of scaled fully functional models” says Eric Maag, General Manager of CoreLift. “Cambrian R&D is an integral part to our commercial success.”

Cambrian R&D also created 155 student positions on various research projects. One of the students is Emilie Caza of Sudbury, who is a second-year student in Chemical Engineering Technology. In Cambrian R&D’s Chemical Analysis and Scientific Services (CASS) Lab, Emilie learned to program a robot named Orbitor RS2, to complete such tasks as transporting microplates from one place to another to increase productivity.

“Working in applied research at Cambrian has permitted me to apply the skills I’ve learned in class, directly into research,” explains Caza. “I was also able to learn how to use some of the equipment we have in the lab that is used in the industry. I hope to gain additional knowledge and experience in Cambrian R&D in order to apply it in the industry.”

Cambrian R&D works with industry partners in the fields of mining, heavy industry, heavy electric vehicle technology, manufacturing, agriculture, and social sciences. Learn more about Cambrian R&D at cambriancollege.ca/rd. View the full Top 50 list at researchinfosource.com.