A message from Vice-President Research, Innovation & Strategic Enterprises, Marc Nantel:
With mixed and personal emotions, I announce the upcoming retirement of Mike Duncan, PhD, Research Chair, Computer Technology with the Walker Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (WAMIC), and a key team member of the Research & Innovation (R&I) division. Mike’s leadership and innovative research have left a significant impact on Niagara College (NC), as he has been an integral part of R&I since its earliest days.
It has been truly stimulating working with Mike over the years and he will be missed by all his colleagues, but his impact will continue through the important industry partnerships and trailblazing research he established during his tenure.
For over 23 years, Mike has been a trailblazer in precision agriculture, computer programming, and virtual reality technology, supporting staff and students in various industry projects. As a steady leader and mentor, he focused on the betterment of students, patiently training them as Research Assistants and supporting their professional growth. Thanks to his leadership, eight members of industry partner SoilOptix®’s development team are NC computer programming grads, plus three from the Geographic Information System (GIS) certificate program.
With an interdisciplinary background in atmospheric remote sensing using aircraft and radar, software development, supercomputers, and large-scale virtual reality, Mike applied these skills creatively when he arrived at the College in 2001, including:
Centre for Advanced Visualization (CFAV)
- Founded CFAV, a research group exploring VR for urban and land-use visualization.
- Secured over $330,000 from the Ontario Innovation Trust (OIT).
NSERC Community College Innovation Pilot Program (CCIP) Grant
- Secured one of six Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Community College Innovation Pilot Program (CCIP) grants awarded across Canada.
- The overhead from this grant was used to create the current R&I division at the college (formerly Niagara Research), and the success of this project helped establish the NSERC CCI program permanently, for the benefit of all colleges doing applied research in Canada today.
High-Profile Projects
- Attracted international firms like Parsons Engineering and centered the efforts to replace the Peace Bridge and worked on the new Freedom Tower in New York.
- Worked with Delcan Engineering on traffic simulation and several small urban-planning projects and urban-planning projects, including the City of Burlington’s Spencer Smith Park refresh, and the City of Welland’s efforts to attract new businesses using ‘Virtual Welland’.
Augmented Reality Research Centre (ARRC)
- Founded the Augmented Reality Research Centre (ARRC) to continue research into VR and to expand its use into other areas, such as precision agriculture.
- Established ARRC and NC firmly in the area of agricultural remote sensing and visualization with the PrAgMatic project, mixing VR and GPS technologies with real-time computing.
Land-Use Technology Centre
- Wrote the proposal and received one of the first Community College Innovation (CCI) grants of $2.3 million for the development of the Land-Use Technology Centre to focus on the initiative and momentum set up by the PrAgMatic project.
- This work attracted the attention of local and international partners including Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), and IBM.
NSERC Industrial Research Chairs for Colleges (IRCC)
- Awarded one of the first new NSERC Industrial Research Chairs for Colleges (IRCC) with a specialization in Precision Agriculture and Environmental Technologies, a role which he held through two renewals until 2023, when the program ended.
- Before his first Chair appointment in 2012, Mike held the NC Chair of Visualization Sciences since 2001 and was the principal researcher for the ARRC.
Agriculture & Environmental Technologies Innovation Centre (AETIC), now known as the Horticultural & Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre
- Principal designer of NC’s Crop Portal, an interactive web software system that houses and processes farm data, such as yield and topography, into colour-coded maps, allowing farmers and crop consultants detailed insight into their fields’ productivity variability.
National Recognition
In 2018, presented work to federal ministers and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food in Ottawa.
Collaborations
- Throughout his career, Mike has brought together agricultural companies, agTech investors, tech-savvy farmers, and inventors for agri-food and agriculture technology collaborations in applied research at the College.
Mike holds his PhD, MSc, and BSc in Physics from McGill University and a Post Doc in Remote Sensing from the University of Utah.
As Mike moves into a new chapter, we celebrate his impressive career and legacy. His commitment, vision, and leadership have significantly supported shaping NC’s R&I division and certainly been critical in helping us become the No. 1 Research College in Canada.
Mike’s last day at Niagara College will be August 31, 2024.
On behalf of our division and the NC community, I would like to express our sincere thanks to Mike for his years of service and wish him all the best in this next chapter. On a personal note, I’ve known Mike since we were 19-year-olds starting our Bachelor of Physics at McGill and playing together in our band (he, the bass; me, guitar and vocals). I still have framed in my office a 3D line-graph of some of the results of a final-year project we did together using a Cray computer, at the time one of the most powerful machines available. It was a pleasure to reunite with Mike when I started at the College in 2011, and to enable as best as I could the last half of his career at NC. I will miss his no-nonsense approach to most challenges and his wise advice.
Tempus fugit, Mike, tempus fugit.
