George Brown Polytechnic is located on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and other Indigenous peoples who have lived here over time. We are grateful to share this land as treaty people who learn, work and live in the community with each other.
A George Brown College student sat down with Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities to talk about how he helped develop a solution to a real-world business challenge during an internship provided by Mitacs, an organization that connects students and industry.
During his work placement in the Applied AI Solutions Development program at the School of Computer Technology, Shem Freddy Pereira (pictured, back row-second from the left) worked with Ottawa-based AI Quest. The industry project aimed to reduce adverse drug reactions among Canadian senior citizens by developing an automated solution for doctors and pharmacists.
"Current tools being used aren't always up to date, don't incorporate a lot of important metrics that should be used, and a lot of the processes are also done manually. We're trying to automate that and use machine learning as well to develop analytical insights and give better predictions,” Pereira said, noting his work involved a lot of market and product research.
"My knowledge has widened tremendously."
Pereira met with Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities Jill Dunlop on September 13 at a Mitacs roundtable event in downtown Toronto. Mitacs CEO John Hepburn and five other post-secondary students also attended. Mitacs receives funding from the federal and Ontario governments to provide innovative research and problem-solving opportunities that pair students and recent graduates with businesses looking for help in overcoming specific challenges.