2022-2023 Cohort of Parex Innovation Fellows

Dr. Darren Derksen was born in Canada, in 1981. He received his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Alberta in 2008, and was then a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, UK until 2010. He then joined St. Francis Xavier University (Nova Scotia, Canada) as an assistant professor before moving to the University of Calgary in 2014 to take up the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation Junior Chair in Medicinal Chemistry. His current research interests are based on the development of new synthetic methodologies to facilitate the synthesis of bioactive molecules in the areas of cancer and pain. Dr. Derksen has a strong interest in the translation of foundational chemistry discoveries.

Quote from Dr. Darren Derksen:

"The Parex Fellowship will be used to advance 2 main areas of innovation that will further my translational research interests. A) The fellowship will provide resources for building and developing new medicinal chemistry collaborations across the U of C campus including the Faculty of Science, CSM, and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. B) In addition, the Parex Fellowship will provide protected time to work on generating value in our recent startup company, AphioTx."

Dr. Mohammad Keyhani is an associate professor and Area Chair in Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. His expertise lies in the areas of digital entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial strategy and generativity. Mohammad's research has been published in top tier peer-reviewed journals and presented in international conferences where he has received multiple best paper and best reviewer awards. Mohammad is also a no-code entrepreneur and founder of DigitVibe.com, maker of Lstr.cc and the Entrepreneur Tools directory, as well as an OnDeck No Code Fellow (ODNC2). His other experiences include roles such as business advisor to multiple startups (see CriticareDx.com and Electrody.com), Lab Strategist at the Creative Destruction Lab Rockies, and a David Rockefeller Fellow at the Trilateral Commission. He received his doctorate in strategic management from the Schulich School of Business, York University in Toronto, Canada, and has a M.Sc. in Entrepreneurship and B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics, both from the University of Tehran, Iran.

Quote from Dr. Mohammad Keyhani:

"The Parex Innovation Fellowship is a lifeline for me to be able to allocate resources to entrepreneurial endeavors that often fall outside the scope of academic research. I am fascinated by the ways in which technology is changing the nature of entrepreneurship and making new forms of low-cost but scalable digitial entrepreneurship possible. I teach my students about this and now the Parex Fellowship will allow me to better “walk the talk” and demonstrate in practice what it means to leverage new digital technologies to build products and create value."

Dr. Frank Maurer is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Calgary. His research has covered a broad spectrum of areas including artificial intelligence, software engineering, agile methods, human computer interaction and immersive technologies. He is widely published and has served on a substantial number of program committees in these fields. The current focus of his team is on immersive analytics applications, combining data science and machine learning approaches with augmented & virtual reality. He has served in leadership roles at the University of Calgary, including department head, associate dean innovation and associate vice president research.  

From 2010-1015, he served as the PI of the NSERC SurfNet Strategic network. SurfNet was a Canadian research alliance of academic researchers, industry partners, and government collaborators. The goal of SurfNet was to improve the development, performance, and usability of software applications for surface computing environments: nontraditional digital display surfaces including multi-touch screens, tabletops, and wall-sized displays. SurfNet was an incredibly prolific network that resulted in over 700 publications and presentations. Over its lifetime, the network supported more than 400 students, from the undergrad level to postdocs.  

He is a co-founder and CTO of VizworX, an award winning custom solutions company in Calgary. VizworX develops advanced visualization software, including mixed reality applications, for its clients. The company has been growing steadily and now employs approximately 30 people. 

Quote from Dr. Frank Maurer:

"Research should lead to improvements in society and benefit people’s life while enhancing economic and environmental outcomes. The Parex Innovation Fellowship will allow me to translate recent research results on immersive control rooms into industrial practice while giving me more time to support students in their entrepreneurial endeavours."

Dr. Park is an inventor, inspiring educator, and leader in the field of mechanical and manufacturing engineering. In 2004, Dr. Park established the Multifunctional Engineering Dynamics and Automation Laboratory (MEDAL), which aims to overcome the limitations of existing technologies through rapid, cost-effective fabrication of energy applications such as carbon fibres, next generation of lithium batteries and safe transportation of hydrogen. 

Dr. Park’s team investigates the synergic integration of both subtractive and additive processes that uniquely provide productivity, flexibility, and accuracy to the processing of complex systems. This unique facility rapidly generates new products from ideas to prototypes all within the lab. Dr. Park was an Alberta Innovates iCORE Strategic Chair in Sensing and Monitoring (2014-2017). This line of research is focused on the development of cost-effective 3D nano-patterned devices using a variety of nanocomposites that will synergistically enhance functionalities for sensing and monitoring purposes. Dr. Park served as President of the International Institute of Micro Manufacturing (I2M2) from 2014 to 2015, and is currently an Associate member of the International Academy for Production Engineering (CIRP). CIRP is the world-leading organization in production engineering research, with a restricted membership based on demonstrated excellence in research.  

Dr. Park has many productive collaborations with international academic groups and industry partners. He has been a leading participant in the NSERC strategic network CANRIMT (Canadian Network for Research and Innovation in Machining Technology) and served as theme leader in composite manufacturing for the network. CANRIMT is the only the network which has been renewed and members from six Canadian universities, in partnership with industry from all over the world. Dr. Park has also represented the University of Calgary for various Alberta government led trade missions in S. Korea and Taiwan to promote the university education and research. His team is also researching the safe transportation of hydrogen through development of novel sensors and digital twin of hydrogen pipelines. He is also leading the Alberta Innovates and Clean Resource Innovation Network project to develop energy efficient carbon fibers from Alberta Oilsands Asphaltene. Dr. Park’s group has been collaborating with Innovate Calgary on various projects - developing novel nanocomposite sensors, flexible batteries, nanocomposite based wearable devices, etc. and many of these have commercial interests and his team is translating the technology into commercially viable products. In addition, Dr. Park has co-founded several start-up companies to transfer the knowledge into real-world applications.  

Dr. Park is a careful and thorough researcher and well respected among international colleagues. MEDAL provides a stimulating and productive training environment which exposes students to a variety of opportunities, including commercialization and entrepreneurship activities. The fellowship will be used to transform new ideas into reality by catalyzing technologies for novel and necessary devices and systems that are not currently possible. The research outcome will provide the necessary momentum for the commercialization and exploration of novel applications. 

Quote from Dr. Simon Park:

"The application of technical knowledge or bridging technologies to solve real-world problems is quite challenging. It requires innovations and the realization of innovations. The Parex Innovation Fellowship will enable me to mentor the next generation of highly qualified personnel (HQP). The trained HQP will become future leaders and entrepreneurs linking industry and academia, driving innovations in the growing Canadian advanced manufacturing and energy sectors. The application of cutting-edge technologies such as energy efficient transformation of Alberta Oilsands Asphaltenes into carbon fibres, advanced lithium batteries, and safe transportation of hydrogen will be the new economic drivers in Canada and beyond."

Dr. Edward (Ted) Roberts is a professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Calgary. He has a 30-year track record in research and innovation. Dr. Roberts’ research career started with his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK. He was a lecturer and reader at the University of Manchester, UK for 16 years before moving to the University of Calgary in 2012. Dr. Roberts has studied a wide range of electrochemical technologies for energy and environmental applications, and is an internationally recognized expert in electrochemical engineering. He is a co-inventor of >25 granted patents and has published more than 130 journal articles on his research. Dr. Roberts was the first to develop a viable water treatment technology combining adsorption with electrochemical regeneration. The technology is being commercialized by successful start-up Arvia Technology Ltd, which founded in his lab in Manchester. In the field of redox flow batteries, he pioneered novel concepts including non-aqueous and metal organic redox systems, which are now being pursued by many groups and companies around the world. Dr. Roberts has received several awards for innovation including the IChemE Water Innovation Award and a European Academic Enterprise Award. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, and leads the NSERC CREATE program in Materials for Electrochemical Energy Solutions.

Quote from Dr. Edwards Roberts:

"The Parex Innovation Fellowship will enable us to accelerate the commercialization of the clean electrochemical energy technologies that are being developed by researchers in my group. In particular, we have developed new materials that enhance the performance of batteries for the storage of electrical energy generated by intermittent renewable sources such as solar and wind. The Fellowship will also support the development technology transfer and entrepreneurship skills of the graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in my group, enabling them to become future leaders in the field of clean energy."

Dr. Gregory Welch is a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Calgary. He is a native Calgarian and completed his BSc in Chemistry at the UofC, graduating in 2003. He started at the UofC as an assistant professor in July 2015 and has since built and operates a laboratory to fabrication research program centered in the area of Printed Electronics. His program spans the entire area of Printed Electronics from new materials design and synthesis all the way to large area device prototyping for market demonstration. Key innovations include printed indoor photovoltaics that convert LED light into electricity for IoT sensors, large area roll coated flexible LEDs for specialty lighting applications, and a range of printed sensors for light, health, and food applications. He and his team have published 150 scientific papers and have 15 patents pending/issued. Most important is the over 80 HQP trained to date in his lab, thus providing an opportunity for research to diverse group of young scientists.

Quote from Dr. Gregory Welch:

"The Parex innovation fellowship provides time and resources to allow myself to assist HQP in commercializing current innovations and focusing new research towards innovations to streamline commercialization efforts. I also aim to help create an environment where HQP can learn about commercializing of research innovations, be empowered to be entrepreneurs, and be given credit for all their own independent efforts. "