Unravelling the mysteries of microplastics in ocean corals. Digging into how giant sloth fossils fit into Alberta’s Ice Age. Demystifying NHL player contracts. Figuring out whether AI can be funny. The broad definition of research at MacEwan means that the only limit to the creative and scholarly activity students take on is their imaginations.

See how many of these seven projects (a small representation of the more than 300 presented by students from every faculty and school at the university’s biggest-ever Student Research Day) surprise you. 

1. Do soft-bodied corals ingest microplastics?

Edmonton may be more than 1,000 kilometres away from the nearest ocean, but that didn’t stop Bachelor of Science student Inderpal Panjeta from diving into research to look at whether negative impacts of plastics on coral reef ecosystems extend to soft-bodied corals. Working with Dr. Ross Shaw and Dr. Matthew Ross, he studied whether Ricordea florida, also known as mushroom coral, could accidentally eat tiny pieces of plastic.

After exposing corals to microplastics in controlled tanks for three days, Panjeta checked the coral tissue under a microscope. He found no sign of microplastics, which could mean one of two things: the corals can tell the difference between food and plastic, or the plastics weren’t in their bodies long enough to be detected. 

“My professors helped me see the value of my results in helping us understand how types of coral might be affected differently by plastic pollution in the ocean,” says Panjeta. “Certain species may have natural traits, like selective feeding or physical defences, that help them avoid consuming harmful plastic particles.”

2. Can AI be funny?

In their final project for Dr. Calin Anton’s CMPT 355: Intro to Artificial Intelligence course, Bachelor of Science students Oscar De Leon, Kevin Ulliac and Isaac McCracken programmed an AI agent to play the word association game Apples to Apples. “We wanted it to be funny and interpret humour meaningfully,” explains Ulliac. 

Using Natural Language Processing (NLP) to encode words into numbers and Machine Learning (ML) to learn the preferences of opposing players, the team devised 22 variations of game setting combinations. After evaluating the variations on a set of 100 games each, they tested the outcomes for statistical significance. 

The result? A very high win rate across the board. “Our AI agent appears to be very effective at learning opponent judge preferences,” says Ulliac. “It could make some humorous card combinations, but ultimately those preferences are very abstract, and we couldn’t make any definitive claim about whether it was, in fact, funny.”

3. What does it take to track items through history?

During a field placement with the Royal Alberta Museum, Sean Simoneau looked at everything from letters from a soldier who died at the Battle of Hill 70 during the First World War to a donated WWII military uniform, determining the historical context and origin of each. 

Using newspaper databases and a range of other sources, the Bachelor of Arts, History student searched for information on where items came from and the people who owned them. “Many of the items collected by the museum never make their way into public displays, but cataloguing them is important because it ensures an accurate representation of how they are historically relevant to Canada and Alberta’s history. If they ever are used in an exhibit or as a primary source in research, they are reliable sources of information.” 

Preserving history and heritage, says Simoneau, gave him a stronger connection to the people and world around him. “It’s about honouring their past and making it available for everyone to learn about.” 

4. Giant sloths in Alberta?

While volunteering with the Quaternary paleontology team at the Royal Alberta Museum, Thomas Makey asked about documentation of giant ground sloths in the province. While there were mentions, the Bachelor of Science, Physical Sciences student was told they amounted to nothing more than a brief nod to the ancient slowpokes. 

Teaming up with Dr. Robin Woywitka and with help from the RAM, Makey set out to confirm the identity of sloth family fossils in the museum’s collection. After searching for anatomical clues, he found that many were Jefferson's ground sloths, a cold-tolerant, forest-dwelling species the size of an ox. 

Makey’s independent study reinforced existing knowledge of an evolutionary trend that the sloths grew in size throughout the Ice Age. Fossils from a site close to Medicine Hat (reported to be more than 100,000 years old) were proportionally smaller than those in the much younger-aged Edmonton region (about 21,000 years old).

“There is an amazing Ice Age fossil history here in Alberta, and a single bone can provide a lot of information,” he says. “It just takes some homework to figure it out.” 

5. Are natural textile dyes an eco-friendly alternative?

Originally from Mexico, Carolina Gonzalez Escamilla combines her concern for the environment with her interest in using natural dyes in her artistic practice. 

The Bachelor of Fine Arts student’s independent study used traditional methods of Indigenous peoples in southern Mexico to create natural pigments. “I wanted to know how to use materials more naturally,” says Gonzalez-Escamilla. The work builds on her earlier undergraduate research project where she made watercolour paints from rock minerals sourced in Edmonton.

After a research trip to southern Mexico to learn about the traditional hand-dyeing process practiced there for hundreds of years by groups including Mayans and Aztecs, she learned to use plants, insects and shellfish to make dye baths. 

“I was able to touch art of my cultural history and familiarize myself with natural dye methods that are part of it,” says Gonzalez-Escamilla.

She’s continuing to develop and practice these techniques with support from associate professor Kerri-Lynn Reeves, expanding and experimenting with more colours and textile materials to share her knowledge of environmentally friendly techniques with others. 

6. What do stats say about NHL player contracts?

Stuart Dovey teamed up with Dr. Brian Franczak on an independent research project to see whether NHL players lived up to expectations. 

Using data scraped from Hockey Reference and details from PuckPedia for the 2023-24 NHL season, the hockey fan and Bachelor of Science, Statistics Honours student created a statistical model that compared each player’s predicted and actual average annual value to identify how teams value players and whether players were overpaid or underpaid relative to their contributions on the ice. 

“This research goes beyond evaluating current NHL contracts,” says Dovey. “It can help analyze the impact of trades and roster changes, and provide predictive insights that could help teams make more informed decisions during contract negotiations and extensions.”

7. Are Galapagos tortoises going to be okay?

With support from Dr. Joshua Miller, Cory Morrison centred his honours thesis on the Galapagos tortoise's genetic history, health and adaptation. The keystone species of the Galapagos archipelago can live 200 years, says the Bachelor of Science, Biological Sciences Honours student, but the slow-moving land animals face many challenges. Of the 12 species alive today, six are critically endangered, three are endangered and three are vulnerable.

Analyzing data provided by Dr. Miller’s research partners, Morrison analyzed DNA from 37 tortoises with two distinct shell types and found patterns of inbreeding and potential signs of evolution. 

“These discoveries could help us figure out how these unique tortoises survived environmental challenges in the past, and how we can better protect them in the future,” says Morrison. “These efforts are crucial since Galapagos tortoises play an important role in keeping their ecosystems healthy and diverse by eating plants, disturbing the soil and dispersing seeds.”