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Lambton College to help city conduct local research

Troy Shantz Sarnia has questions. Lambton College has answers. That’s the idea behind a newly forged partnership between the City and college, which is consistently ranked among the top research colleges in Canada.
Lambton College
Lambton College. (Troy Shantz file photo)

Troy Shantz

Sarnia has questions. Lambton College has answers.

That’s the idea behind a newly forged partnership between the City and college, which is consistently ranked among the top research colleges in Canada.

The partnership endorsed by city council last week will see college faculty and student researchers find solutions to some of Sarnia’s projects and urgent needs.

“We’re so excited to be partnering with the college on this,” said Kelly Provost, manager of economic development. “They’re an award-winning research institution and the research does span all of the projects that we’ve included, including things that will have economic impact, social impact and environmental impact for the community.”

Already, 24 projects have been defined under the categories of parks and recreation, economic development, engineering, operations and corporate services, said Mehdi Sheikhzadeh, Lambton College’s dean of research and innovation.

Sheikhzadeh said the projects include studies on affordable housing in the city, an expansion of Neighbourhood Watch, how to grow and enhance volunteerism, and wastewater flow.

And the results will be in plain language, he said

“It’s supposed to be tangible and accessible and usable by the partner,” he said. “It’s not something that we are going to do research on to publish a paper.”

One project involves a supply-chain map. College researchers are identifying what goods are produced locally, information Sarnia can provide as a resource to local businesses.

“We know that during COVID, certain supply chains were experiencing interruptions,” Provost said.

“We hope that by attempting to map suppliers and products produced locally, it might encourage businesses to consider local suppliers where possible.”

The partnership is the first of its kind between Sarnia and Lambton College


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