Graduate Intern Program Announced

Nova Scotia's up-and-coming young researchers will get a boost to their education under a new program.

The Accelerate Nova Scotia program will pair 20 of Nova Scotia's brightest graduate students with local companies for applied-research projects.

"Our universities and industry are doing exciting and innovative research," Education Minister Marilyn More said. "Pairing the two under this program increases student knowledge and builds connections that help foster Nova Scotia's vital knowledge economy.

"We want more young people to stay in Nova Scotia and build a life here and this initiative, like our graduate tax credit, helps do that."

The program will be cost-shared by the province, the federal government and industry. Nova Scotia contributes $100,000 to the $400,000 budget.

During four-month internships, students conduct research projects onsite with partners using advanced research tools and techniques.

"Through my internship at GenieKnows, I have the opportunity to explore my research in an industrial setting with access to real world data," said Ashley George, a doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science at Dalhousie University and an intern with the search-engine company in Halifax.

"I've really enjoyed working with the GenieKnows team and gaining insight into how my research could be applied to their technical challenges."

Accelerate Nova Scotia was proposed, and will be administered, by MITACS (Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems). Created in 1999, MITACS is a research network that brings together universities, industry and the public to develop cutting-edge tools vital to a knowledge-based economy.

"The accelerate program is a new way for Nova Scotia to expand its research and development through partnerships that will benefit a significant number of graduate students in the province," said Arvind Gupta, CEO and scientific director of MITACS. "This program will help turn the innovators of today into the job creators of tomorrow."

MITACS focuses on developing mathematical solutions in the five fastest growing sectors of the economy: biomedical and health; environment and natural resources; information processing; risk and finance; and communication, networks and security.