SASKATCHEWAN POLYTECHNIC
Students receive Innovation Award for capstone projects

Two Saskatchewan Polytechnic students received recognition during convocation in Saskatoon, receiving the Innovation Award for their capstone projects that tackle contemporary challenges through technology.

"Innovation is a hallmark of a polytechnic education, where the intersection of theory and practice, knowledge and skill thrive. Polytechnics create a unique environment where innovation and ideas flourish," says Dr. Larry Rosia, president and CEO of Sask Polytech. "Congratulations to our exceptional 2026 Innovation Award recipients."

Maleeha Ali, a graduate of the Interactive Design and Technology program, set out to simplify the student experience. As a student, she found herself navigating multiple websites and resources each day to access academic information and support services.

In an effort to simplify the process, she came up with a capstone project to consolidate all of her student information into a streamlined app including a dashboard with daily schedules, deadlines, direct access to course materials, campus services, push notifications for important updates, a campus directory and offline mode for viewing schedules without internet.

The core innovation of her capstone project is understanding that students are usually multitasking, walking between classes, waiting for buses, or sitting in cafeterias with limited time. They want instant access to information they're looking for.

Ali's proposed solution tackles this through the creation of a smart dashboard that shows different information based on when and where the app is being used. Student support services are directly integrated into the academic workflow, and the app works offline for essential functions.

Ali says that whether or not her ideas move forward, the capstone project demonstrates that students are ready to research, design and build the tools they wish existed.

Cyber Security graduate Ujjawal Thakur focused on building a phishing URL detection system that combines different inspection methods into a single automated platform.

Through Thakur's system, links are evaluated using a machine learning model trained on phishing datasets and external reputation service checks. The results are combined to generate a final risk score displayed on a web dashboard.

His work is directly tied to his program's learning outcomes related to threat detection, digital forensics, incident response and secure systems design while integrating multiple security tools. Thakur's project stands out by creating automated analysis workflows and demonstrating real-world problem-solving approaches used in modern cyber security environments.

As phishing attacks continue to evolve, traditional detection methods can struggle to keep pace. Thakur's project helps to fill the gap by shifting the detection strategy toward behavioral and contextual analysis by combining machine learning features with real-time threat intelligence platforms.

This hybrid detection method significantly increases accuracy and reduces false positives while also accounting for emerging cyber security threats like QR phishing, also known as quishing.

Winners of the Innovation Award received a Sask Polytech medal and a $1,000 cash prize.