Beyond research and teaching, our lab is committed to active participation in community – both on and off campus. This includes serving on committees, organizing community events, giving public presentations, volunteering, inviting community expertise into the classroom, and aligning both research and teaching with community needs.
In recent years, lab members have volunteered time to support Soup Sisters of Guelph and Milton, to attend the Ontario Universities Fair weekend in Toronto, and to welcome students to the University of Guelph campus during Science & Engineering Sunday and Campus Preview Days.
Dr. Gillis also serves on numerous scholarship and research grant adjudication committees, the eNuk Scientific Advisory Panel, and the RightMesh Scientific Advisory Panel. He was formerly a member of the SEED Steering Committee, and was the Director of the Physical Science & Engineering Education Research Centre in the College of Engineering & Physical Sciences at the University of Guelph. He is a University of Guelph Senator, and is Vice-Chair of the Board of Undergraduate Studies.
The following represents a small fraction of our service activities.
GuelphHacks was co-founded in 2016 by undergraduate students, Patrick Houlding and Jonathon MacPherson, and Dr. Daniel Gillis as a governing structure to the annual interdisciplinary and community-engaged hackathons organized and offered by the School of Computer Science. Past hackathons have included the Open Data Day Hackathon, the Net Zero Hackathon, The Feeding9Billion Challenge, GuelphHacks for Mental Health, and the Improve Life Challenge. The Improve Life Challenge, offered in collaboration with CBASE, is now an annual event held in the Winter semester.
The Improve Life Challenge is an annual one day design challenge/hackathon that brings together a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students from all colleges and disciplines across campus. The students are partnered with local business, government agencies, or not-for-profit/charitable organizations to develop solutions that improve life. Students and community partners work together to design and prototype solutions with guidance from mentors and experts, while building their foundational skills.
The Gryphons Care Initiative was co-created by Dr. Gillis and Alumni Affairs & Development in 2017 as a way of supporting ideas to improve life on campus and off. In particular, students, staff, and faculty can apply for funding to support initiatives or events that improve life. Gryphons Care funding is donated by staff and faculty. For more information on the Gryphons Care Initiative, click here.
Co-founded in 2012 by Dr. Daniel Gillis and Danny Williamson, Farm To Fork was developed by students studying computer science at the University of Guelph. The project was built to connect the needs of emergency food providers with those in our community who are able to donate food. The goal of the project is to improve the quality and quantity of food donated to the emergency food system. Development of the project continues today with the help of senior undergraduate students in the School of Computer Science.
The SEED is a community food project of the Guelph Community Health Centre with a goal to deliver programs and to advocate to address the causes and effects of food insecurity. Dr. Gillis is a member of the SEED Steering Committee. The SEED has worked with students of the ICON Transdisciplinary Classroom, and with senior students in the School of Computer Science via the third-year required course – Systems Analysis & Design in Application – and the fourth-year independent project and independent research courses. For more information about the SEED, click here.
The Guelph Coding Community was founded in 2013 by students in the School of Computer Science. Dr. Gillis has worked with the students since then to help organize student tech talks on a bi-weekly basis. Talks cover all aspects of computer science – from academic to hobbies, such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, gaming, ethics, human-computer interaction, app design, software development, and even mechanical keyboards. For more information about the Guelph Coding Community, click here.
Dr. Daniel Gillis (he/him) 🏳️🌈 