Blackbird flies to higher altitudes with Up Start funding

The novel software and mapping method will yield both real-time and two-dimensional flood models. By Naomi Grosman Velocity - As an environmental engineering undergraduate nearly a decade ago, Robert Chlumsky, now a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Engineering, forged a professional relationship with his professors, Dr. James Craig and Dr. Bryan Tolson. It was fostering that relationship and the research it produced that resulted in the trio receiving funding for Blackbird, a software and a new method for floodplain mapping that could potentially impact flood mitigation and response. Blackbird secured $15,000 in funding through Up Start, a program created by Velocity and Waterloo Commercialization Office (WatCo) for student researchers, founders and recent alums who are transforming their research into commercial ventures. The program provides access to funding and collaboration with advisers. Chlumsky, alongside Tolson and Craig, professors in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is developing the technology. The Up Start funding will facilitate research validation, potentially growing their team and building an online portal for the platform.