PRESCIENCE [pre • science] – noun – having foresight or foreknowledge
FACULTY OF SCIENCE NEWSLETTER
CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH 4 OCEAN FRONTIER INSTITUTE 3 RESEARCH 6 STUDENTS 20 FUNDING 25 ALUMNI 29 DEVELOPMENT 31 FACULTY 32 TEACHING AND LEARNING 36 FACILITIES 38 LECTURES 39 PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT 41
VOL. 7
FROM THE ASSOCIATE DEAN
AS I REACH THE END of my term as Associate Dean of Science, I reflect back on the significant accomplishments in the Faculty of Science over those ten years and look ahead to the exciting developments on the horizon. In this issue of Prescience you will read about some of the recent achievements of our students and faculty members. We marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Ocean Science Centre in Logy Bay this year. At this significant milestone, we are reminded that our location at the edge of the North Atlantic influences many of the research and academic programs of the Faculty of Science. The Faculty’s commitment to marine environments extends beyond our shores and this issue explores these connections. You will read about explorations of the Gulf of Maine, one of the most diverse and complex marine ecosystems in the world, and British Columbia’s Endeavour Ridge, Canada’s first Marine Protected Area. Discover how our researchers are investigating black smoker vents along a submarine volcanic ridge near Norway. Learn how research in feed composition could lead to Newfoundland and Labrador sea urchin roe being produced for Asian markets and how the use of genomics is improving the health and welfare of cultured Atlantic salmon populations. Over my time as Associate Dean
We marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Ocean Science Centre in Logy Bay this year. At this significant milestone, we are reminded that our location at the edge of the North Atlantic influences many of the research and academic programs of the Faculty of Science.
I have witnessed how the faculty has matured in its research accomplishments while still taking great pride in teaching and mentoring students. Dr. Danny Dyer considers his Association of Atlantic Universities Distinguished Teaching Award as “icing on the cake” in recognition of his innovative teaching methods, but I think it is also the “tip of the iceberg” of our dedication to teaching and learning in the Faculty of Science. The Faculty of Science will continue to be at the forefront of significant research developments and ways to support student learning with funding from provincial and federal governments, industry partners and alumni and friends. Our partnership with Dalhousie University and the University of Prince Edward Island on the $220 million Ocean Frontier Institute is one such indicator of our potential to make significant difference to the people of our province. And, our core science facility, under rapid construction on Prince Phillip Drive, is another testament to our progress. Enjoy this issue of Prescience!
PRESCIENCE
Prescience is a publication of Memorial University’s Faculty of Science. We welcome all comments, submissions, story ideas and letters.
EDITOR: Kelly Foss, communications advisor
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Karly Barker
COVER PHOTO: Perfect Day
709 864 2019, kfoss@mun.ca
CONTRIBUTORS: Moira Baird, Laura Barron, Mandy Cook, Leslie Earle, Susan Flanagan, Jeff Green, Janet Harron, Zaren Healey White, Michael Hotchkiss, Alison Leitch, Dr. Shannon Lewis-Simpson, Jackey Locke, Lisa Pendergast, Dave Sorensen, Jennifer Whyte, Sandy Woolfrey-Fahey Faculty of Science, St. John’s, NL A2B 3X7 | Tel: 709 864 8154 | Fax: 709 864 3316
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OFI
Dr. Paul Snelgrove, Chris Hammond photo.
OFI leading the way in Canada’s blue economy ONE YEAR AGO, the Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) launched with an unprecedented $220 million in funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund and various private and public-sector organizations. With the historic announcement came Dr. Paul Snelgrove’s expectation that Memorial would play a major role in the joint research venture with Dalhousie University and the University of Prince Edward Island. Dr. Snelgrove, of Memorial’s Department of Ocean Sciences and the associate scientific director of OFI, says he is more than pleased with the institute’s progress. “We want Canada to be a leader in the blue economy and Memorial is making this happen,” he said.
Addressing the negative impacts of changing atmospheric conditions and ecosystems and understanding what must be done to safeguard marine life and sustain coastal communities are too large-scale and complex for one researcher, one institution, one research sector, or even one country to tackle on its own. The collaborative approach developed by OFI is therefore essential to make real progress. OFI-driven research will also help grow the Atlantic economy by ensuring the ocean’s potential is developed sustainably. That means a better understanding of ocean change and more efficient fish aquaculture, with hardier fish, less reliance on fishmeal and reduced environmental impact. Over the last year, the OFI group
established advisory and management committees to oversee OFI research and provide strong and effective governance. Currently, a number of Memorial’s OFI members are working towards effective ocean policy and identifying opportunities to apply and test research with industry through incubator projects. Research space in the Core Science Facility, which is currently under construction on the St. John’s campus, is also part of the Memorial-OFI integrated plan. This new facility, along with space in the Ocean Sciences Centre in Logy Bay and the Marine Institute, will enhance the ability of OFI researchers to recruit and retain world-class faculty and graduate students.
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OFI
Six countries team up to conduct climate change research A TEAM OF SCIENTISTS from six countries departed from St. John’s, N.L., on April 27 on a trans-Atlantic voyage studying the impact of climate change on the ocean. The research being conducted on-board the Celtic Explorer was a Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP) survey, led by the Marine Institute of Galway, Ireland – a partner in the OFI. The research voyage represents the first step in the OFI partnership to explore sustainable ecosystems in the
Northwest Atlantic and builds on a long-term relationship between Memorial University’s Marine Institute and the Marine Institute of Galway. Dr. Brad de Young, professor of physics and physical oceanography at Memorial and a researcher with OFI, says the Northwest Atlantic is one of the world’s largest sinks of carbon dioxide and, despite progress in our understanding, there’s still a huge lack of data as it relates to climate change’s impact on the ocean and what that means for the economy and society.
In addition to sequestering massive amounts of carbon dioxide, the Northwest Atlantic Ocean between Newfoundland and Labrador and Ireland plays a key role in controlling temperature in Europe and Eastern Canada and delivers life-supporting oxygen to the ocean interior. The scientists studied climate change impacts, examined the movement of nutrients and oxygen by ocean currents and collected data to assess acidification rates on the ocean’s ecosystem.
OFI
Aimée Surprenant, dean of the School of Graduate Studies Chris Hammond photo.
Graduate students playing key role in OFI’s multidisciplinary research
Dr. Doug Wallace and Dr. Brad de Young with other members of the Celtic Explorer research team. Perfect Day photo.
ENTHUSIASM AND OPTIMISM. Those are the two words Dr. Aimée Surprenant has heard the most when it comes to the single largest federal investment for research at Memorial. In September 2016, Ottawa announced nearly $100 million for the creation of the Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI), an historic partnership between Memorial, Dalhousie University and University of Prince Edward Island. The federal investment was made through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. The dean of the School of Graduate Studies says now more than ever, it’s an exciting time to pursue graduate studies in oceans-related research.
Dr. Surprenant says given the breadth and scope of the OFI, students will be contributing to innovation and discovery at all levels – from data collection and analysis to intellectual contributions, including theories and models. She adds involving graduate students in research helps prepare the next generation of scientists and innovators who will be leading the world in the future. Through the OFI, Memorial will recruit and support an anticipated additional 44 post-doctoral fellows, 40 doctoral students and 63 master’s students. These students will be engaging in, and contributing to, world-leading research that could lead to gamechanging innovations in ocean changes and solutions. In addition, she says graduate students will be on the receiving end of the OFI’s collaboration among the three Canadian universities and international research institutions. There is potential for bilateral graduate exchanges with partner institutions and industry, and the creation of a global hub for ocean discovery. 5
RESEARCH
A large, hollow rhodolith from Harbour Main filled with fish eggs. David Bélanger photo.
UNUSUAL DISCOVERY OFF N.L.’S COAST SPARKS NEW OCEAN RESEARCH
The giant Edicaran fossils found at Mistaken Point have puzzled scientists for years. Submitted photo.
Solving the mystery of 570-million-yearold Mistaken Point fossils
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SCIENTISTS AT Memorial University may have solved a mystery at the province’s newest UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mistaken Point. Namely, what were the giant Ediacaran fossils found on the southern tip of Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula? Fractofusus misrai, fractal-like fossils, are among the oldest in the world, dating nearly 30 million years prior to the first evolutionary evidence of worms and trilobites, and are up to one metre in length. Instead of comparing the fossils to modern organisms, Dr. Suzanne Dufour, Department of Biology, and Prof. Duncan McIlroy, Department of Earth Sciences, considered the probable mode of life
and biological challenges they likely experienced. Prof. McIlroy says most organisms in the early Ediacaran biota were incapable of locomotion, and underneath anything organic rich on the seafloor, bacteria in the sediment produces large volumes of hydrogen sulfide, which is toxic to animals. So, how could the Ediacaran survive if they could not move? Many animals have sulfide-fuelled bacterial symbionts in their oxygen-rich tissues, such as gills. The bacteria use oxygen and the toxic hydrogen sulfide as an energy source, detoxifying the waters around the host and providing them with nutrients. Dr. Dufour is a specialist in such symbioses. She says Fractofusus had a high surface area on its lower surface, uncommon for an animal that could not move. They believe Fractofusus was not trying to protect itself from sulfide buildup, but possibility had bacterial symbionts to harvest energy from the sediment, and to detoxify its lower surface.
DURING ONE OF Dr. Patrick Gagnon’s very first scientific dives in Newfoundland and Labrador, he came across a strange sight that inspired an entirely new line of research. The Ocean Sciences professor was exploring the waters off the coast of Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s when he found red stone-like structures blanketing the sea floor at depths of 10-25 metres. He determined they were rhodoliths — unattached red algae that deposit calcium carbonate inside their cell walls to form hard structures that resemble coral. The surface of rhodoliths in Newfoundland and Labrador is highly corrugated, with holes that run towards the centre, depending on the shape and size of the rhodolith. These holes provide habitat to a number of organisms, mainly juvenile invertebrates. His lab’s discovery of a major bed in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s and another in Holyrood presented an opportunity to write a paper providing the first integrated, quantitative analysis of rhodolith morphology, biogenic potential and organization as beds in the subArctic Northwestern Atlantic. The paper highlighted the different characteristics of the two beds. The Holyrood rhodoliths are unusually big while the St. Philip’s rhodoliths are much smaller, but more abundant. The size of the rhodoliths at Holyrood is especially impressive considering the speed at which they grow – just a few hundred microns per year under the best conditions. That means the massive Holyrood rhodoliths are likely a few hundred years old. Dr. Gagnon is currently focused on clarifying the role of rhodolith beds in the general functioning of ocean biological systems and how likely they are to respond to ongoing changes in ocean conditions.
RESEARCH
Diving deep into Canada’s first Marine Protected Area THIS SUMMER, FACULTY from Memorial’s Earth Sciences department sailed on a research cruise to Endeavour Ridge, Canada’s first Marine Protected Area (MPA). Located 250 kilometres offshore from Vancouver Island, and 2,250 metres below the ocean’s surface, Endeavour is a seismically and volcanically active area of the sea floor with hydrothermal venting. Hydrothermal vents are extreme environments containing unique organisms that don’t depend on sunlight for sustenance. Instead, microbes use a chemosynthetic process to produce organic matter using the energy derived from metabolizing dissolved hydrogen sulfide in the vent fluids. Very little is known about the day-to-day life of the organisms or how these ecosystems evolve over time. Dr. Steve Piercey, a professor of economic geology, and Dr. John Jamieson, Canada Research Chair in Marine Geology, were invited to join the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and biologists from the University of Victoria to help answer some of those questions. The purpose of the cruise was to take an inventory of the types of organisms that live in the Endeavour MPA and try to understand the relationship between them and the rocks and vents they’re living on. Using ROPOS, a remotely operated vehicle operated by the Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility, the
team collected photos and video of the sea floor as well as rock samples. An earth sciences master’s student is dating these samples, as well as examining their mineralogy and geochemistry, to help create a picture of how hydrothermal vents age and change over time.
Dr. John Jamieson and Dr. Steve Piercey in front of the Canadian Coast Guard ship, John P. Tully. Submitted photo.
Dr. Christina Bottaro. Chris Hammond photo.
Award-winning researcher part of $7.8-million corrosion project A FACULTY OF Science researcher is part of a four-year project that received $7.8 million in federal funding to improve pipeline integrity. Dr. Christina Bottaro, Department of Chemistry, is a member of
Managing Microbial Corrosion in Canadian Offshore and Onshore Oil Production. It’s a collaborative research project involving four universities in Alberta and Atlantic Canada who are examining microbial-induced corrosion, a major source of corrosion to different assets including pipelines, offshore production lines and gathering lines. Researchers at Memorial University are involved in all stages of the project, which involves identifying the microbes, studying their chemical composition and how they cause corrosion. They include Dr. Faisal Khan and Dr. Kelly Hawboldt, both with the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. To determine how microbes cause corrosion, the Memorial team is hoping to identify the chemical source and how it reacts to the surface of the metal to cause corrosion using a molecular modelling approach. They will be studying at the molecular level, the smallest possible scale, to determine how the different chemicals interact. Memorial is also involved in risk modelling, which will determine the cause of the corrosion in terms of damage to the assets and financial losses to the companies in the short and long term. The risk models will link the corrosion process to the outcome, which is important for industry when evaluating their level of corrosion intervention and control, and where to focus their resources on corrosion mitigation. The project is managed by Genome Atlantic.
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Dr. Martin Day. Chris Hammond photo.
Views on social mobility shape American’s faith in the status quo
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IS THE AMERICAN socioeconomic ladder sturdy, offering a good chance for people to move up and down? Or is it rickety, leaving most people stuck where they are? Psychologists at Memorial and Princeton universities have found that how Americans view social mobility affects their willingness to defend the basic underpinnings of American society — such as social and economic policies, laws and institutions. In a series of studies, researchers found that people who think Americans have ample opportunities to change their place in society are more likely to defend the status quo than those who
think people are mostly stuck in their current place. Dr. Martin Day, an assistant professor of Psychology at Memorial University, began the research as a post-doctoral researcher at Princeton with Dr. Susan Fiske. Together they are the authors of Movin’ on Up? How Perceptions of Social Mobility Affect Our Willingness to Defend the System, a paper published by the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. In the experiments, nearly 850 Americans were assigned to read one of two summary reports describing social mobility in the United States or to read
neither. One described a study on the relative ease with which Americans can move up and down the socioeconomic ladder. The other took a similar form but highlighted a message of low social mobility. Participants then answered a series of questions designed to test their willingness to defend the current system. They found those who were exposed to information that conveyed a sense of low social mobility reduced their desire to defend the system as compared to those exposed to information suggesting that social mobility is healthier. Reprinted with permission by News at Princeton.
RESEARCH
Research shows bioproducts derived from waste a sustainable alternative A TEAM OF RESEARCHERS at Memorial are investigating a sustainable use for the waste we generate every day – specifically, how to use it to develop biofuels and bioproducts. The multidisciplinary team includes Drs. Robert Helleur, Francesca Kerton, Christopher Kozak, Stephanie MacQuarrie and Peter Pickup of the Department of Chemistry; Dr. Sukhinder Cheema from the Department of Biochemistry and Dr. Kelly Hawboldt of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. Current research in this area is in conversion of food and residues from forestry and agricultural crops to bioproducts or in large-scale conversion systems. However, biofuels from food and agricultural production are unsustainable as it uses large tracks of land and diverts food sources towards fuel. Bioproducts derived from waste biomass — residues from the food processing and forestry and agriculture industry — do not have these disadvantages and divert waste from landfill or costly disposal. Transporting waste to landfill sites can be expensive, especially for rural communities due to their typically significant distance from landfill facilities, so the team is developing mobile conversion and smaller scale systems that fit with a region’s infrastructure and developing products for an in-region use or export. This would allow the development of local industry and reduce costs associated with waste disposal and transport resulting in an overall more sustainable regional economy.
Gyrolithes, a spiralling burrow fossil from the Early Cambrian rocks of Fortune Head, Newfoundland and Labrador. Submitted photo.
RESEARCH SHOWS FIRST BURROWING ANIMALS ENGINEERED EXPLOSION OF LIFE MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY research has identified how the first burrowing animals helped engineer the explosion of life as we know it. The Cambrian Explosion was the rapid diversification of life on Earth, which began in the seas about 542 million years ago. One of the most important aspects was the evolution of animals that could burrow into sand and mud. This turned the seafloor from a 2D to a 3D world, creating new habitats and ecosystems, and completely changing the movement of nutrients and resources over the period of a few million years. Research on fossils from Newfoundland and Labrador, published by the Geological Society of London, provides new insight into exactly which burrowing animals were the most important engineers. The paper was written by Dr.
Duncan McIlroy, a professor with the Department of Earth Sciences; Dr. Liam Herringshaw, a former post-doctoral fellow at Memorial and current lecturer at the University of Hull in the U.K.; and Dr. Richard Callow, also a former post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences, currently with Statoil in Norway. The researchers argue this evolution of burrowing worms and arthropods caused a fundamental change in the interactions between the Earth’s chemistry, geology and biology, helping to trigger the Cambrian Explosion. The act of burrowing allowed access to buried organic matter, the creation of habitats, and introduced oxygen and other elements that increased the activity and diversity of micro-organisms in the seafloor sediments. The 2D Precambrian seafloor became the much more modern 3D seafloor of the Cambrian. The paper’s authors think the additional microbial food resources engineered by burrowing may have literally fuelled the Cambrian-era explosion of animal life by providing a rich new energy source for the newly evolved animal groups with their high metabolic demands.
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Green sea urchin feeding on pellets of feed.. David Bélanger photo.
Turning spiny marine organisms into economic opportunities
Julissa Roncal. Chris Hammond photo.
Biology professor breathes new life into Memorial’s herbarium
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AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR in the Department of Biology is hoping to give new life to an old collection. Dr. Julissa Roncal has been given responsibility for Memorial’s herbarium, the largest in the province. A collection of dried plant specimens, the herbarium includes information on the different forms within a plant species, their geographic distributions and natural history characteristics including blooming and fruiting times.
Memorial’s collection holds approximately 100,000 specimens, of which 60,000 are mosses — making it one of the top five moss collections in Canada. Over 90 per cent of the 40,000 vascular plants were collected in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Memorial herbarium houses the original collections of early local plant explorers, Marion Agnes Ayre and Earnest Rouleau, who co-founded the herbarium in the late 1940s with sponsorship from the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. However, for the past 15 years, the collection has not been very active. Since starting at Memorial in 2013, Dr. Roncal has begun the huge undertaking of moving the massive collection from the former Library Annex building, next to the Henrietta Harvey building on the St. John’s campus, to a new home in a university facility near the Botanical Gardens on Mount Scio Road. She is now working towards funding to digitize the herbarium, which would make the collection more accessible to users around the world.
A MEMORIAL RESEARCHER is investigating a new opportunity he hopes will help diversify the range of seafood produced in Newfoundland and Labrador for worldwide distribution. The green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) thrives in shallow rocky habitats along the coast of the province. The gonads of male and female urchins, also called roe, are a highly prized culinary delicacy in many parts of the world, including Asia. A fishery entirely dependent on manually collecting these small, round and spiny animals from the wild developed in the province during the 1990s. However, success was, and still is, limited because of the highly variable quality and quantity of the roe harvested. Now Dr. Pat Gagnon, an associate professor of marine biology and ecology at the Department of Ocean Sciences, Faculty of Science, is working with local and international industry partners on a new approach to consistent roe production, with the hope of creating an urchin farming industry in the province. The researcher is testing a feed known for quick production of large volumes of high-quality roe in other parts of the world. The feed has been formulated into the exact composition that would make urchin gonads the right colour, taste and texture preferred in Asian markets. However, no previous trials of it were conducted in environments like Newfoundland and Labrador’s cold-water systems. The feed is expected to bring urchin roe to a sufficient quality and quantity for market in only 12 weeks, and using minimal infrastructure, so farming can be done year-round or as needed to fill gaps in a seafood producer’s schedule.
RESEARCH
Memorialpartnered research leads to approval for camelina oil fish feed THE CANADIAN FOOD Inspection Agency (CFIA) has approved the use of mechanically-extracted camelina oil as a feed ingredient for farmed salmon and trout. The decision follows a recently completed large-scale study of camelina oil managed by Genome Atlantic. Dr. Chris Parrish, Department of Ocean Sciences, was one of the study’s principal researchers. Camelina sativa, or false flax, is a hardy oilseed plant that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, protein and antioxidants. This super-nutritious plant is used as a vegetable oil for human consumption and as an ingredient or supplement in some animal feeds. Fish feed manufacturers
have also explored the use of crop-based oilseeds like camelina as viable and cost-efficient substitutes for wild-sourced fish oils and proteins currently used in fish feeds. The study, which was supported by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)’s Atlantic Innovation Fund, found camelina to be an excellent match to the fatty acid composition required in the diets of farmed fish. Backed by this compelling evidence, Genome Atlantic applied to the CFIA for approval of camelina oil for use in fish feeds. Camelina oil has characteristics which make it a promising alternative in fish diets. The scientists found it to be sufficiently nutritious to replace all the fish oil in feeds, as well as some of the ground fish meal. They say the use of wild-sourced fish to feed farmed fish is not sustainable either ecologically or economically and camelina could be a viable alternative. Considering that aquaculture companies spend 50-70 per cent of their budgets on feed, finding a high-quality, lower cost source of oil could mean significant savings.
From left are Drs. Xiaoqiang Zhao and Xiunan Wang. Mike Ritter photo.
USING MATHEMATICAL BIOLOGY TO HELP CONTROL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Camelina is a cost-efficient substitute for oils and proteins currently used in fish feeds. Claude Caldwell photo.
DR. XIUNAN WANG, believes mathematical modelling can predict and help control the spread of malaria in Africa. The author of four papers on vector-borne infectious diseases (those not transmitted directly from person to person, like malaria and Lyme disease) uses numerical simulations to study biological problems. Her PhD supervisor, Dr. Xiaoqiang Zhao, a University Research Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, has developed a new theory for periodic and timedelayed compartmental model systems. Dr. Wang uses this theory in her research to help control malaria transmission in sub-Saharan African countries like Mozambique and Nigeria. By using the monthly mean temperatures in affected areas, Drs. Wang and Zhao estimated the mosquito biting rate, death rate and the basic reproduction ratio. This allowed them to predict times when area residents have the greatest chance of becoming infected. The team proved that if people in malaria-prone areas can be convinced to use bed nets when the mosquitoes are biting, the chances of eradicating malaria in those areas are much greater. Dr. Wang says for some branches of science, results can be obtained from repeated experiments in labs. But for infectious diseases, researchers can develop models to explain and predict disease transmission and provide practical suggestions for the control of the disease. Through mathematical methods, they can solve some problems biology cannot explain.
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MEMORIAL STUDY SAYS
SONGBIRDS BEING LEFT BEHIND BY CLIMATE CHANGE A PAPER CO-WRITTEN by Memorial University researchers argues some migratory birds are failing to keep pace with a rapidly changing climate. Dr. Stephen Mayor completed a master’s in biology at Memorial and, as a postdoctoral fellow at Memorial, he worked with Dr. David Schneider, Department of Ocean Sciences, on a study that looked at 48 common bird species and their ability to adjust the timing of their migration to match the changing start of spring. What they saw was that climate change is causing the timing of spring green-up — when the leaves come out on the trees — to shift. It has also become less variable and less predictable from year-to-year. They looked at how birds were responding to that shift and found nine species of songbirds that were having trouble keeping up with the change. While most species could adjust their arrival dates, the birds that were unable to shift their departure time and transit speeds included great crested flycatchers, indigo buntings, scarlet tanagers, rose-breasted grosbeaks, eastern wood pewees, yellowbilled cuckoos, northern parulas, blue-winged warblers and Townsend’s warblers. In Eastern North America, where the researchers found spring is coming earlier, the arrival of eastern breeding birds is increasingly lagging, whereas in the west, where green-up is unexpectedly starting later, the birds arrived increasingly earlier relative to the timing of spring. For migratory birds, a properly timed arrival at their breeding grounds is critical – impacting offspring survival and performance. Breeding, egg laying and fledging must coincide with optimal habitat conditions and food availability, which means birds must correctly anticipate what spring breeding site conditions will be while they are still at their winter ground thousands of kilometres away.
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Passerina cyanea (Indigo Bunting). Michael Jeffords and Sue Post photo.
RESEARCH
An ice core section drilled in Alaska.
Bradley Markle photo.
ICE CORE ANALYSIS STUDY EVALUATES PAST TEMPERATURES, GREENLAND MELT A PAPER LED by Memorial researchers reconstructs past temperatures from an ice core, identifying a warmer past and demonstrating the Greenland ice sheet is susceptible to rapid melt in a warming world. Benoit Lecavalier, a PhD candidate in the Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, was lead author on the paper, joined by his supervisor, Prof. Lev Tarasov. They collected the ice samples from the high Arctic and performed the ice core analysis. The study used ice cores from the Agassiz ice cap, the most northerly in the world, to reconstruct temperature change from the region during the past 12,000 years. That ice cap is significant as it is next to the Greenland ice sheet as well as Arctic sea ice, and can provide information about how both might react to today’s changing temperatures. It documented a warm period in Earth’s history, about 10,000 years ago,
when temperatures in the region were warmer than they are today. However, Mr. Lecavalier emphasizes this past warm period was regional and driven by other factors than those responsible for presentday climate change. When the researchers reconstructed the temperature history and applied it in simulations to study the response of the Greenland ice sheet, they found that 10,000 years ago, the ice sheet was losing mass about seven times faster than it is currently. They believe if today’s temperatures keep warming until they are comparable to those from that time, it could imply the ice sheet could once again lose a lot of mass very rapidly. Temperatures in the region are already at their highest in about 7,000 years and the speed at which the temperatures are changing has never been seen before in the entire duration of the record.
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MEMORIAL PARTNERS WITH DALHOUSIE, NOAA ON GULF OF MAINE EXPEDITION
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WORLD-LEADING RESEARCHERS from both sides of the border explored rare habitats and species at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean this summer. Scientists, researchers, students and technicians from Dalhousie University and Memorial University, including Dr. Paul Snelgrove of the Department of Ocean Sciences, led the Canadian leg of a Gulf of Maine expedition with researchers from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Their goal was to discover new species and habitats in need of protection. A team of ocean technologists from the Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility operated ROPOS, a best-in-class underwater robot, as it captured highdefinition images and video of the sea floor. The Gulf of Maine is among the most diverse and complex marine ecosystems in the world. Its powerful tides, combined with nutrients from bordering watersheds, creates an ecosystem that provides critical habitat for thousands of marine species. The canyons in the Gulf of Maine are home to several species of cold-water corals, which can grow several metres high and reach up to 1,000 years old. These corals are essential to the overall health of the surrounding ecosystem since they provide habitat for many other marine species, including commercially important fish, shrimp and crabs. The expedition included surveys of unexplored areas, yet-to-be-named canyons and steep edges of the continental slope. Researchers also collected evidence on the Gulf of Maine’s seafloor to support Canada’s marine conservation targets. A previous expedition to the Gulf of Maine in 2014 by the team has already led to the creation of new marine habitat conservation areas in 2016.
RESEARCH
Geoff Eaton and Survivor Conference delegates take selfies as part of the Prime Study opening recruitment campaign. Kelly Fosss photo.
RESEARCHERS KICK OFF UNIQUE STUDY OF YOUNG ADULTS WITH CANCER
In the Northeast Channel Coral Conservation Area, the deep-water coral Primnoa resedaeformis is very common, providing habitat for the redfish Sebastes. Anna Metaxas photo.
A PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCHER has partnered with Young Adult Cancer Canada (YACC) on the biggest young adult cancer study ever. Dr. Sheila Garland and her research group are the first to explore the physical, social, financial and emotional challenges faced by young adults diagnosed with cancer and compare them to their noncancer peers. What made the project personal to Dr. Garland was attending a YACC retreat in 2016 as a facilitator, hearing their stories and realizing that she was the same age as many of those attending. The Young Adult Cancer (YAC) Prime Study kicked off in June at Fog Cancer, YACC’s 11th annual Survivor Conference. The conference saw nearly 100 survivors
and their supporters from across Canada come to St. John’s, for four days of support, community, information and empowerment. In YACC’s 17 years of existence, they’ve gathered a lot of knowledge, mainly from listening to survivors and delivering programs to them based on that feedback. However, they’ve never had independent, objective analysis of the population, the challenges they are facing or the impact of the programs that YACC is delivering. YACC’s goal is have more than 600 participants from across the country take part in the study. Dr. Garland hopes the information gathered will increase knowledge and access to services and ultimately change policy.
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Visiting experts test Memorial’s absolute gravity reference station
Louis Charron plants seedlings in Terra Nova National Park. Benjamin Ojolek photo.
Balsam fir restoration treatments in ‘sprucemoose’ meadows
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IN COASTAL AREAS, intensive browsing (or feeding) of moose on balsam fir — one of the foundation species of Terra Nova National Park’s boreal forest — has created “sprucemoose meadows.” These are large areas of the park where black spruce trees have taken over with grass under the trees, rather than the usual mossy ground, making it difficult for fir trees to regenerate. Experimental restoration in Terra Nova National Park was implemented by Dr. Luise Hermanutz, Department of Biology, and her graduate student, Louis Charron, with support of park staff. Due to shading, the canopy trees,
made up predominately of balsam fir, usually prevent native grass from getting enough light to grow. But, with balsam fir becoming lunch for hungry moose, the grass acts as an invasive species — growing fast and irreversibly changing the ground vegetation. Fir trees can’t penetrate the thick root mat and regrow; hence the need for restoration. Researchers carried out experiments to determine if balsam fir would regenerate in the park without assistance or if it was necessary to replant them in black spruce “savannahs.” And, if seedlings were planted, would they require specialized treatments to give them a better survival rate. Seedling plantings were carried out across a number of sites within the park using various ground preparation treatments. Seedling performance indicators, such as survival, growth and browsing occurrence, was monitored over a two-year period. No substantial biological benefits were detected following ground treatments, which were costly and timeconsuming to implement, so the team determined that active restoration in boreal forests can be implemented using standard forestry planting protocols, without ground preparation.
Two experts brought a high accuracy absolute gravity meter to the St. John’s campus. Jason Silliker and Rachel van Herpt, of the Canadian Geodetic Survey of Natural Resources Canada, brought their FG5236, a.k.a. “Gertrude”, to Station 991399 for a 24-hour-long set of measurements in May. Station 991399 is one of three absolute gravity reference stations on the island. It’s in a cool, quiet concrete bunker under the Science building, off the Munnels. The acceleration of gravity on the surface of the Earth is g = 9.8 metres per second squared (m/s²), varying subtly from point to point on Earth’s surface. Mr. Silliker and Ms. van Herpt found the value at Memorial’s reference station to be g991399 = 9.808195878 plus or minus 0.00000002 (m/s²). In obtaining this level of accuracy and precision, researchers had to allow for the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon and the ocean tides, atmospheric pressure, sinking of the sea bed due to the weight of tidal water and the wobble of the Earth’s axis. Absolute gravity measurements have three applications. They can track changes in the amount of groundwater at sites across Canada, which is significant in this time of global climate change. Gravity changes due to tectonic movements aid in understanding the structure and dynamics of our planet. They are reference points for all other types of gravity surveys, such as those used in natural resource exploration. FG5 absolute gravity meters work by timing a mass dropping in a vacuum. Relative gravity meters work by measuring the extension of a spring: because the properties of the spring are constantly changing, they must be regularly calibrated at reference stations. From these results, they determined Memorial’s gravity meter is operating at the top of its game.
RESEARCH
POST-DOCTORAL SCHOLAR CREATES LOW COST, EFFICIENT WATER ANALYSIS
Dr. Stefana Egli holds up her MIP in the laboratory. Susan Flanagan photo.
STEFANA EGLI IS so excited about her polymer coating she carries a little glass slide wherever she goes. More commonly known as a MIP, or molecularly imprinted polymer, it allows for portable cost-effective water analysis. When exposed to water, the MIP, which is smaller than a quarter, can absorb certain compounds that normally dissolve in water. It can sample directly on site, using portable detectors, reducing costs and man hours. That makes the MIP of interest to the oil and gas industry as it can be used to assist in oil cleanup operations. It can also be easily deployed using a remotely operated vehicle if sampling is required in remote or
A summertime sail in search of Nordic ‘black smoker’ vents
Dr. Jamieson on board the G.O. Sars, with the Aegir remotely operated vehicle in the background. It was being recovered after a 12-hour dive to the seafloor 2.8 kilometres below. Cedric Hamelin photo.
MEMORIAL’S DR. JOHN JAMIESON spent some of the warm summer months on a cold-water cruise — Arctic cold. The professor of earth sciences joined a multidisciplinary research team aboard the research vessel R/V G.O. Sars, led by chief scientist Dr. Rolf Pederson, director of the K.G. Jebsen Centre for Deep Sea Research at the University of Bergen, Norway. The vessel left Tromsø, Norway, and, after a brief stop in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, went back out to sea to an area west of Svalbard, between Norway and Greenland.
inaccessible areas and costs one-tenth of current methods. Dr. Egli, along with Drs. Christina Bottaro, Kelly Hawboldt and Carlos Bazan, recently received a combined $1,184,290 in federal-provincial support in March through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency to develop MIP-based systems for water quality assessment. Dr. Egli stresses this collaborative approach, as well as the current funding and a larger Atlantic Innovation Fund project — Sensing System for Detection and Tracking of Oil in Marine Waters in Harsh Climates — that ran from 201216, have been essential to the group’s success. In December 2016, Drs. Egli and Bottaro were awarded a $248,400 provincial ArcticTECH grant to translate the MIP into a market-ready product. The result: Intelligent Materials, a Memorial spin-off company Dr. Egli recently incorporated with Dr. Ali Modir Rousta, who also completed his PhD with Dr. Bottaro.
The researchers used the Aegir remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to dive along a submarine volcanic ridge searching for black smoker vents. Black smokers are hot water springs that form on underwater volcanoes. Smokers are known for their unique habitats, which are home to organisms that don’t depend on sunlight for sustenance. They also contain valuable minerals and researchers are trying to understand the vents as a system – how the rock, biology and fluids interact with each other – an important component of determining the environmental impacts of mining them. Research activities included collecting rock and biological samples with the ROV, collecting sediment cores, mapping the seafloor with the Norwegian Hugin autonomous underwater vehicle and deploying ocean bottom seismometers, which can detect earthquake and submarine volcanic processes. Funding for the project was provided by the K.G. Jebsen Centre.
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RESEARCH
Dr. David Churchill Mike Ritter photo.
COMPUTER SCIENCE PROFESSOR SOUGHT AFTER AI CONSULTANT
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THIS SUMMER, Dr. David Churchill, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, worked with Blizzard Entertainment and Google DeepMind on the creation of a new artificial intelligence (AI) interface for StarCraft 2. The game is a follow-up to StarCraft, the best-selling real-time strategy game of all time. In StarCraft players act as military commanders, giving orders to large armies in an attempt to destroy in-game opponents. While at battle, players make rapid-fire decisions, inputting up to 6-8 commands a second on special gaming keyboards. StarCraft’s complexity enables scientists to use it as a test environment
to research new AI techniques that can be applied to real-world challenges. Researchers have been using games to test and develop AI systems for years, having already beaten human world champions at chess and poker. The StarCraft 2 interface allows AI research to be done in the newer version of the game. To successfully conduct AI research, investigators need to evaluate if new techniques are more intelligent than previous ones. Games work because they have a clear metric for evaluation: one player wins, and the other loses. They are also easy to implement: you can set up a research environment quickly and infrastructure costs are low. Complex video games have additional challenges over traditional board games, such as making decisions in real-time, multi-unit control and dealing with hidden information. This year, the international StarCraft AI Competition to showcase the best AI systems in the world was held at Memorial for the first time. It was organized and run by Dr. Churchill.
RESEARCH
Montevecchi’s ‘eureka moment’: Seabirds, fisheries and climate change WHEN DR. BILL Montevecchi set out to study the foraging habits of gannets in the late 1970s, he had no idea he’d discover seabirds are excellent indicators of ocean health and climate change. Each summer the University Research Professor of psychology, biology and ocean sciences, conducts research on the remote Funk Island Ecological Reserve, home to large colonies of common murres and northern gannets. When he noticed gannets failed to deliver mackerel and squid to their chicks in the same years those fisheries had failed, he had a eureka moment. Subsequent analyses by Dr. Montevecchi and his team documented gannets’ success or failure in harvesting these pelagic prey reflected the success and failure of the fisheries for these species. These studies sparked much of the global seabird research effort that focused on seabirds as indicators of fish and fishery conditions. Since then, they’ve collaborated with oceanographers, fisheries research scientists and seabird biologists from Canada, the U.S., Australia and Africa in their research on the behavioural ecology of seabirds. During the past 30 years, Dr. Montevecchi and his team have also found there is an undeniable connection between seabird health and climate change. When the coldest surface-water temperatures in a century were recorded in 1991, coinciding with the closures of the northern cod and Atlantic salmon fisheries, researchers noticed gannets were no longer bringing warm-water species — mackerel, squid and saury, a small beaked fish — to their young. This was true until 2005, when the water warmed again. Not only did the mackerel and squid fisheries rebound, gannet parents started bringing mackerel and squid to their chicks again.
Dr. Bill Montevecchi has found an undeniable change between seabird health and climate change. Submitted photo.
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STUDENTS
Marc Gruell. Chris Hammond photo.
Graduate Studies, CBC Radio bring doctoral research to public airways
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COMPLETING A PhD takes years, but some Memorial doctoral students got a chance to present their research in just three minutes. Through a partnership with the School of Graduate Studies and CBC Radio, 10 PhD students were featured on CBC’s On the Go program, including one from the Faculty of Science. The pilot project, titled PhDs On the Go, was designed to bring PhD research to the broader public. PhDs On the Go was developed by Dr. Danine Farquharson, associate dean, School of Graduate Studies, and Ted Blades, host of On the Go. Dr. Farquharson said graduate students at Memorial are passionate about their research, committed to their local and global communities, and devoted to a better future. The partners simply wanted more people to know about their work and their ideas. Marc Gruell is a PhD student in biology who studies bacterial genetics. His work uses next-generation sequencing to identify all ribonucleic acid molecules that are produced by a marine bacterium in order to find out what they do and how they affect the organism. He says PhDs On the Go was a great opportunity to share the work he is doing. As part of the project, the students had the opportunity to work with Mr. Blades to refine their scripts and record their research presentations in the CBC studio.`
Meagan McCardle. Submitted photo.
Laura Fallon. Submitted photo.
MEMORIAL GRADUATE STUDENTS AMONG TOP RESEARCH STORYTELLERS IN CANADA A PAIR OF MEMORIAL master’s students were among 25 finalists from across Canada taking part in a prestigious annual research competition. Laura Fallon and Meagan McCardle — both graduate students in the Department of Psychology — were selected from nearly 200 entries for the 2017 Storytellers Challenge sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SHHRC). Their challenge was to create a three-minute video explaining their research in a clear and compelling way that demonstrates how social sciences and humanities research is making a difference in the lives of Canadians. Each finalist received a $3,000 cash prize and an opportunity to compete for the top spot in the Storytellers Showcase at the 2017 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences held in May in Toronto. Ms. Fallon’s topic focused on the
importance of inter-rater reliability, which measures the reliability of empirical research data, in published forensic psychology studies. Forensic psychologists specialize in applying psychological knowledge to criminal and civil legal matters. Ms. McCardle aims to improve the legal literacy of young people using video technology. Before a young person can be questioned by police, their legal rights must be explained to them. Ms. McCardle says research shows that young people understand less than half of the information about their legal rights because it’s too long and uses words they don’t understand. In collaboration with Memorial’s Centre for Innovation in Teaching and Learning, she produced a video to explain youth legal rights using animated characters and narration that is proving to be an effective combination.
STUDENTS
A personal trail guide: No Wi-Fi or data required From left, Weyam Fahmy, Ashley Balsom, Megan van Wijk, Jade Quirion and Dr. Sue Walling. Kelly Foss photo.
PSYCHOLOGY HOSTS ANNUAL RESEARCH DAY TO RECOGNIZE STUDENT WORK THE DEPARTMENT OF Psychology celebrated their best and brightest in April, as the unit held their eighth annual research day. The event showcased research conducted by master’s and honours students, with seven second-year master’s students holding talks in the morning followed by an afternoon poster session representing the work of 48 honours students. The presentations covered a wide range of sub-fields within the discipline of psychology and encompassed areas such as behavioural neuroscience, cognitive and behavioural ecology, development, health and wellness, and social psychology. The day concluded with an awards ceremony, where six awards were handed out. Ashley Balsom took home the Psychology Society Scholarship, which was established by students. It is given to an undergraduate psychology student beyond second year based on academic merit, as well as involvement
with the psychology department and the community. Weyam Fahmy received the Bill McKim Best Thesis Award for her presentation, To Veil or Not to Veil? The Effect of Face Covering and Muslim Veils on the Perceived Credibility of a Witness. Jade Quirion accepted the Robert Adamec Award for Best Neuroscience Poster on the topic of Characterization of the Onset and Severity of Synaptic Plasticity Deficits in the Q175FDN Knock-In Mouse Model of Huntington’s Disease. Laura Fallon’s An Examination of the Use of Inter-rater Reliability in Forensic Psychology Journals, and Megan Van Wijk’s Examining the Relationship Between Binge Eating Disorder and Insomnia Symptoms, received the Best Talk and Best Poster awards respectively. For the second time since the award was first given out, Dr. Sue Walling received the Rennie Gaulton Award for Excellence in Teaching.
TWO INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER science students have started a company to improve hiking experiences in Newfoundland. When Diego Zuluaga and Shawn (Meishang) Chen were applying for traditional summer co-op jobs last winter, they had interviews and offers. However, when Daan Goossens, program catalyst at the Memorial Centre for Entreprenurship (MCE), suggested the students pursue their own company instead, they were intrigued. MCE is a campus-wide centre led by a partnership between the Faculty of Business Administration and the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. Money from the Vice-President (Research) office, federal and provincial governments and the John Dobson Foundation, allowed the MCE to offer funding to Mr. Zuluaga and Mr. Chen to commercialize their business idea as part of a co-op work term. They developed a hiking app that would supply recreational hikers with essential information normally only accessible at tourist information centres or online. Instead of Wi-Fi, the app uses GPS tracking to detect user location. They named the app Camina, which comes from the Spanish caminar – to walk. Camina offers four options: offline maps; placemarks, which allow you to get to know the geological and cultural landscapes you are exploring; recommendations of other trails in the area; and a place to share experiences with family and friends.
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STUDENTS
Jessica Blatta. Bojan Fürst photo.
Justine Ammendolia. Submitted photo.
STUDYING INVERTEBRATES’ ABILITY TO ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE
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TORONTO NATIVE Justine Ammendolia grew up next to Lake Ontario, but she always dreamed of the sea. In 2014, she began graduate studies focusing on invertebrate ecology with Dr. Annie Mercier at the Ocean Sciences Centre (OSC). She says one of the best parts of studying and working at the OSC is the Cold-Ocean Deep-Sea Research Facility where she got to use the Incubateur Pressurisé pour l’Observation et la Culture d’Animaux Marins Profonds, or IPOCAMP, essentially a high-pressure tank. With an IPOCAMP, researchers can study marine life that lives at depths between 200 and 3,000 meters by creating deep-sea pressure in a lab with just a turn of a knob. Ms. Ammendolia
conducted test runs with the new equipment and set the baseline for experiments that had never been done at the university. She also looked at different invertebrates — sea urchins, sea stars, sea cucumbers — at the depth pressures they normally live in and monitored their movement and feeding before gradually increasing the pressure to lower and lower depths to see how it affected their behaviour. She said that since biologists predict climate change is going to completely change our oceans, with animals from shallow water areas migrating to deepsea environments like refugees, she wanted to see if the animals could survive at deep-sea pressures.
FIRST YEAR STUDENT AWARDED $80,000 STEM SCHOLARSHIP A FIRST-YEAR student in the Faculty of Science has been named one of two 2017 recipients of Schulich Leader Scholarships. This year, there were more than 1,300 Schulich Leader nominees from across Canada vying for 50 scholarships, valued at up to $100,000 each. Created in 2011 by Canadian business leader and philanthropist Seymour Schulich, the annual scholarship program encourages promising high school graduates to embrace STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines in their studies and future careers. Since its inception, 270 students have received this scholarship. Jessica Blatta received an award valued at $80,000 and found the news surprising and unbelievable. A graduate of Nelson McIntyre Collegiate in Winnipeg, she comes to Memorial’s St. John’s campus with plans to pursue a bachelor of science degree with a focus on biochemistry and cell biology. Ms. Blatta says she chose Memorial because of her experience on campus when she was part of the 2016 SHAD program.
STUDENTS
Jevon Marsh. Mike Ritter photo.
Summer research internship ‘lifechanging’ for science student
Lauren Winsor. Chris Hammond photo.
Swiss summer research position focuses on retinal degeneration cure LAUREN WINSOR ENJOYED her summer at an international research position at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. She was the only Canadian chosen to participate from nearly 800 applicants. The position included a fellowship of 3,200 Swiss francs for housing and living expenses and 1,000 Swiss francs for international travel. The Mount Pearl resident completed her third year of a psychology degree with a minor in biology and started her eight-week work term in July. Ms. Winsor worked in a neuroengineering lab in the School of Life Sciences under the supervision of Dr. Diego Ghezzi. His lab focuses on retinal degeneration and how it can produce adult onset blindness. They are looking at creating neuro-prosthetics that can be implanted in the eyes to alter
photoreception and hopefully restore vision in people who have lost their sight due to retinal degeneration. She chose the lab because Dr. Ghezzi focuses on a condition called retinitis pigmentosa. Ms. Winsor volunteers in the genetics department of Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine and the doctor she volunteers with there, Dr. Jane Green, also focuses on retinitis pigmentosa, a common condition in Newfoundland and Labrador. The work has a personal connection for Ms. Winsor, who was born with retinal damage herself. Her condition, called retinal coloboma, is caused by retinal malformation that occurs during fetal development. While she has been told by doctors she will never be able to see the same as a person whose retinas are intact, she hopes the lab she worked in may one day prove them wrong.
JEVON MARSH WOULD like to see more undergraduate students take advantage of opportunities to study and do research abroad. He spent 12-weeks completing a student research position in Germany this summer, an experience he says was “life-changing.” Originally from Bonavista, the fourth-year joint honours chemistrybiochemistry student worked at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, a German centre conducting research in the fields of energy, health and matter, located an hour outside of Dresden. Mr. Marsh participated in the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) – known in English as the German Academic Exchange Service – Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE) program, which offers summer research internships in Germany for undergraduate students from North America, Great Britain and Ireland. Successful DAAD-RISE applicants are carefully matched with doctoral students whom they assist and who serve as their mentors, and interns receive a monthly stipend to cover day-to-day costs. The program’s objective is to promote student exchange to Germany in the fields of natural science, engineering and life sciences and to motivate undergraduate students to learn more about Germany’s research landscape and study opportunities. Mr. Marsh is currently pursuing a double degree in chemistry and biochemistry at Memorial, and enjoyed the opportunity to work on a research project that interfaced the two fields.
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STUDENTS
Christina Prokopenko. Submitted photo.
Ernest Awoonor-Williams. Chris Rowley photo.
Quinn Webber. Chris Hammond photo.
SCIENCE DOCTORAL STUDENTS RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS SCHOLARSHIPS THE FACULTY OF Science is home to two new Vanier scholars. Ernest Awoonor-Williams, a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry, and Christina Prokopenko, a PhD student in the Department of Biology, are the latest recipients of the prestigious graduate scholarship. The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship program helps Canadian institutions attract highly qualified doctoral students. Valued at $50,000 per year for three years during doctoral studies, the program considers academic excellence, research potential and leadership. Originally from Ghana, Mr. AwoonorWilliams works under the supervision of Dr. Chris Rowley. His research interest
lies at the intersection of computational biochemistry and drug discovery. He will use the $150,000 scholarship to develop new computer modelling tools to optimize anti-cancer drugs. Since starting her PhD last year, Ms. Prokopenko has spent most of her time in Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba studying wolf behaviour under the supervision of Dr. Eric Vander Wal. She has been following 27 collared wolves in five different packs in the park, looking at their movements and making observations on their habitat and the wildlife signs they leave behind. Mr. Awoonor-Williams and Ms. Prokopenko join last year’s Faculty of Science Vanier recipient, Quinn Webber, who is also pursuing a PhD in cognitive and behavioural ecology under the direction of Dr. Vander Wal. Mr. Webber received a Vanier scholarship in 2016 to study the effects of changing density on animal social behaviour and habitat selection. He completed a B.Sc. and M.Sc. at the University of Winnipeg and is currently finishing his PhD at Memorial. Although his M.Sc. centred on the behaviour of bats, he now focuses on caribou.
Euri Papanicolaou, a master of science student, has won a top prize in the NSERC contest Science Exposed for his photo. Euri Papanicolaou photo.
Top prize for graduate student in national photography competition A MEMORIAL GRADUATE student has won a national photography contest. Euri Papanicolaou is completing a master of science degree in the Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science. His photo, titled Deep Sea Endeavours, was one of three images selected for a $2,000 Jury Prize as part of the Science Exposed contest, organized by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
The competition highlights top images featuring scientific research in all fields of study. Mr. Papanicolaou’s photo depicts an octopus, of the species Graneledone boreopacifica, captured hovering over a lightly sedimented and fractured basalt lava flow 2,100 metres below sea level. The photo was taken while the scientific research team Mr. Papanicolaou is working with was aboard the Canadian Coast Guard ship John P. Tully in 2016. The purpose of the cruise was to study the Endeavour hydrothermal vent fields and associated biological communities along the Juan de Fuca mid-ocean ridge, 300 kilometres off the west coast of British Columbia, in Canada’s first marine protected area. Two other Memorial photos were among a total of 20 images shortlisted for the Science Exposed contest.
FUNDING
Science researchers benefit from NSERC funding THE NATURAL SCIENCES and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) announced almost $7 million in federal funding to support Faculty and graduate student researchers in the Faculty of Science. The grants, scholarships and fellowships, which were announced in September, spanned a variety of disciplines and cover topics including algae, tectonics and robotics. The total funding for Memorial is $6,902,478. Faculty and graduate student researchers the Faculty of Science, among others, will benefit from the funding announcement. Dr. Stephen Piercey, a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, was one of the recipients. He will receive $195,000
over five years in NSERC Discovery Grant funding for his research into the genesis of volcanogenic massive sulfide zinccopper-lead-gold-silver deposits which form on the seafloor. Dr. Piercey’s research involves a multidisciplinary approach that integrates field work and laboratory-based analytical data to obtain a continent- to nano-scale understanding of how these deposits form and how we can explore for them more efficiently. Dr. Kim Welford, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, also received a five-year Discovery Grant valued at $115,000 for her geophysical imaging research that will help characterize the submarine boundaries of Canada’s East Coast and the Arctic. Through her research, Dr. Welford hopes to offer insight on how these rifted continental margins, which developed as continental plates, were pulled apart, and how energy-rich sediment were eventually deposited on them.
Dr. Kim Welford. Mike Ritter photo.
A glider from Memorial University is deployed on the Newfoundland shelf with the CSS Hudson in the background in July 2014. Submitted photo.
$4.8 million from Canada Foundation for Innovation for critical marine research MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY HAS received a major award from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for its development of autonomous marine observation systems (DAMOS). The 2017 Innovation Fund (IF) awards, announced in October by Kirsty Duncan, minister of Science, must illustrate global leadership, partnerships and benefits for Canadians. The DAMOS project, co-led by Drs. Brad de Young and Ralf Bachmayer, includes experts at Memorial in physical oceanography, ocean engineering, earth sciences and ocean sciences, as well as partnerships with Dalhousie University, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and
industry partners. The project will build an innovative, multi-institutional ocean observing system to support research and use oceanographic data collection for informed decision-making. The IF award of $4,838,514, with co-funding from project partners, will fund a total project valued at $13,178,299 to develop infrastructure at Memorial and at Dalhousie. It will be used for equipment and software to examine critical oceanographic and biological processes. The researchers will develop and deploy marine instrumentation that will transform Canadian capabilities to monitor and understand ocean
phenomena and will support growth of the Canadian ocean technology sector. The core DAMOS team, which includes researchers from Memorial, Dalhousie and York University, as well as other partners from industry and government organizations, aims to shape the future of Canadian ocean observation. By using mobile autonomous vehicles and fixed autonomous sensor systems, the DAMOS team, together with their broad network of colleagues and collaborators, will be able to collect oceanographic data in places that are currently inaccessible and report that data in real time
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FUNDING
FUNDING ALLOWS RESEARCHERS TO CHANGE THE WORLD MEMORIAL RESEARCHERS HAVE received federal funding for research infrastructure and equipment. Two groups have received more than $375,000 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF). Drs. Chris Kozak and Francesca Kerton, in the Department of Chemistry, received $300,000 for a dual source single-crystal X-ray diffracto`meter which will help characterize useful materials from waste in the fishing and aquaculture industries and the catalysts used to make new materials. Both the aquaculture and fishing industries produce large amounts of food waste. Finding suitable ways to process this waste reduces the amount sent to landfills and could lead to increased
employment and the production of new materials for further transformation into degradable plastics and composites. The new diffractometer, to be supported within Memorial’s CREAIT (Core Research Equipment and Instrument Training) Network, is critical as it provides a 3D image of the atomic arrangement of crystalline materials, allowing them to discover new catalysts that can transform carbon dioxide into value-added products such as polycarbonates. The second JELF award for Memorial went to Dr. Meghan Burchell, Department of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Dr. Kris Poduska, Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, who received $75,000 to establish a laboratory for environmental
From left are Bernard Davis, Dr. Kurt Gamperl, Christopher Mitchelmore, Dr. Susan Dyer Knight, Dr. Ray Gosine, Nick Whelan and Mark Browne. Mike Ritter photo.
$4.4-million boost for aquaculture research led by Memorial
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DRS. KURT GAMPERL and Mark Fast know a thing or two about fish aquaculture. In fact, they have spent the past 15 years researching methods for improving
the aquaculture production of salmon and other fish species, and for reducing the impact of pathogens and changing environmental conditions that can lead to poor health and disease. Disease can have sizeable impacts on this industry, which has an annual production worth over $100 million per year in Newfoundland and Labrador. Dr. Gamperl, a professor in the Department of Ocean Sciences, and Dr. Fast, associate professor at the University of Prince Edward Island’s Atlantic
archaeological science, which will be housed in the Memorial Applied Archaeological Sciences Lab. Drs. Burchell’s and Poduska’s research intersects archaeology, biology and geochemistry to understand long-term human-environmental interactions – more specifically, the micro-structure and geochemistry of hard tissues such as shell, bone, teeth and coral to derive information on past climate, human settlement patterns and diet. The new lab infrastructure will help the team better understand how people adapted to coastal landscapes, especially where there are changes to the local ecosystem; either by human or natural influence.
Veterinary College, are leading a pan-Atlantic research initiative to improve the health and welfare of cultured Atlantic salmon using genomics and other biotechnologies. To continue this work, the pair have been awarded $4.4 million by multiple funders, including the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the provincial government’s InnovateNL, as well as industry and other academic partners. The project will equip the Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry with the information and tools needed to develop more disease-resistant broodstock and improved vaccines, which will result in a more robust industry. Drs. Gamperl and Fast will examine how changing environmental conditions affect the immunology of salmon and the efficacy of current vaccines, identify biomarkers of stress and disease resistance. They will also develop broodstock and research tools that will enable the industry to continue to grow despite the challenge of higher ocean temperatures.
FUNDING The provincial and federal governments announced an investment of more than $1 million in projects for the Bonne Bay Marine Station and Grenfell Campus. Submitted photo.
BONNE BAY MARINE STATION, GRENFELL CAMPUS RECEIVE $1 MILLION THE PROVINCIAL AND FEDERAL governments announced an investment of more than $1 million in projects for Memorial University’s Bonne Bay Marine Station (BBMS) and Grenfell Campus in May. The investments will support efforts to enhance programming at Memorial University’s Bonne Bay Marine Station and the establishment of a collaborative partnership between Grenfell Campus
and the artistic, environmental and tourism clusters in the Gros Morne National Park region. The goal of these initiatives is to bolster the region’s diversity and capacity, stimulate tourism and business growth, and foster vibrant communities for the benefit of residents, visitors, students and businesses in the area. The BBMS project includes renovations to the existing building
to enhance the public aquarium and lecture theatre space for the performing arts, experiential tourism, research and teaching; construction of a new 900-square-foot building adjacent to the existing building to house a gallery/ studio/creative space; and acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment to diversify science-based ecotourism offerings in collaboration with local tourism operators and other community partners.
FUNDING
From left, are Dr. Mark Abrahams, Wally Hass, Dr. Christina Bottaro, Bernard Davis and Nick Whalen. Chris Hammond photo.
$1 million in federal-provincial funding to accelerate new technology A TEAM OF MEMORIAL researchers have received federal-provincial support of more than $1 million. The funding will allow for the development of new technologies to test
water for contaminants and for creating holographic displays. Researchers led by Dr. Christina Bottaro, Department of Chemistry, are developing devices to test for water
Memorial researchers received $680,000 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund. Submitted photo.
Federal funding empowers researchers, brings new equipment
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THREE RESEARCH TEAMS from the Faculty of Science received federal support allowing the teams to purchase sophisticated new tools, technology and equipment. The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) announced the results of its John R. Evans Leaders Fund in February.
Drs. Eric Vander Wal and Shawn Leroux, Department of Biology, received $157,030 for a Modular Field Ecology Research Station (M-FERS), which consists of portable equipment that can be taken into remote locations year-round. These tools will facilitate better, more cost-effective and efficient data collection. They will also help train students on important techniques in field ecology and accelerate the data collection and processing for their research. Drs. Robert Brown and Fereidoon Shahidi, Department of Biochemistry, and Dr. Chris Parrish, Department of Ocean
contaminants using smart technology: thin films made from molecularly imprinted polymers, also known as MIPs. The project received a combined total of $1,184,290 in federal-provincial support. Dr. Bottaro’s team includes researchers from the faculties of Science and Engineering and Applied Science. Clean and cost-effective, the watertesting devices could be used by municipal waterworks operations or the oil and gas industry operating in harsh environments. Propelled by an interest in commercializing the MIP technology, the team is working to turn the MIPs into a market-ready product engineered for use in the field and in analytical labs with a range of applications in water quality assessment. The researchers are also working with industry and end-users to identify the compounds that are the best indicator of water- or industrial-stream quality and impact. MIPs will reduce the need for large-volume sample transport and heavy reliance on organic solvents, making the technology a clean one.`
Sciences, secured $211,876 for a facility focused on metabolomic analysis. The CFI funding will provide the research team with high-tech equipment, allowing the team to discover new food supplements, screening methods for diseases and new affordable treatments for diseases. Drs. Kurt Gamperl and Matthew Rise, Department of Ocean Sciences, and Dr. Andrei Igamberdiev, Department of Biology, also received $86,411 for a project titled O2k – Fluorometers, A High Powered Platform for Measuring Cellular and Sub-Cellular Processes. This funding will allow the Memorial team to investigate mechanisms that determine the environmental tolerances of fish and plants, such as temperature and hypoxia, and to investigate how salmon diets can be better designed to ensure the health of these fish in intensive aquaculture. This research is critical to increasing the production of nutritional foods for Canadians or food that can be exported, for managing living resources and for informing policies and management and conservation strategies.
ALUMNI
Memorial graduate recognized for exceptional achievements If you Googled Memorial’s Alumna of the Year Award recipient for 2017, Catherine Courage, B.Sc.(Hons.)’97, would be the top result. As the vice-president of ads and commerce user experience at Google Inc., Ms. Courage leads a team whose product lines account for more than $60 billion in annual revenue and is made up of more than 300 employees in four countries. After completing her degree at Memorial, the St. John’s native completed a master of applied science in human factors from the University of Toronto. It was from there she made the move to Silicon Valley, starting her career in the technology industry with Oracle. Since that time, she has progressed through leadership positions with technology companies that include
Catherine Courage. Submitted photo.
DocuSign, Citrix and Salesforce.com. Ms. Courage has been recognized as one of Silicon Valley’s Top 40 Under 40. In 2013, she made Forbes’ list of Top 10 Rising Stars at The World’s Most Innovative Companies. In 2014, she was named one of the Top 50 Most Powerful
Women in Technology by the National Diversity Council. She is a board member for the Fortune 500 Company, Insight Enterprises, as well as two non-profit organizations in San Francisco. A soughtafter speaker and writer, she frequently presents on the topics of creativity, innovation and design. Ms. Courage is a shining example and a mentor to women in technology. She has been actively involved with Clinton Global Initiatives for Girls, TechWomen and TechWomen Canada. She has spoken to Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine and the Genesis Centre on the need for more women in leadership and recently shared her expertise with the N.L. Association of Technology Industries through engagements such as the Women in Technology Group. She also stays connected to her home province as a member of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Private Sector Advisory Committee for the development of the Business Innovation Agenda.
BIOCHEMISTRY CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY WITH ALL-YEARS REUNION ON JULY 1, 2017, Memorial University marked a special milestone. On that date, the Department of Biochemistry, which first opened on July 1, 1967, turned 50 years old. To commemorate, the department hosted a reunion weekend in September to reconnect with former students, staff and faculty. The event gave alumni the chance to see new research space and learn about the work of department members. The schedule of events included a research symposium highlighting alumni research, a reunion dinner and mixer, and an open house. It is estimated more than 2,200 students have passed through the department’s doors over the last 50 years.
From left are original biochemistry staff, Dr. Peter O’Brien, professor; Dr. L.A.W. (Woody) Feltham, head; Helen Kennedy, secretary; Veronica Hillier, assistant; and Munden Bray, assistant, in 1967. Submitted photo.
From left, Dr. Sean Brosnan, professor; Dr. Mark Berry, head; Betty Ann Gaslard, head secretary; Marie Codner, lab supervisor; and Craig Skinner, IT, recreate the original photo. Submitted photo.
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ALUMNI
Ocean Sciences Centre turns 50 BY FAR, THE greatest of Newfoundland and Labrador’s traditions is its centuries-long connection with the sea and its immense resources. For that reason, Memorial’s earliest visionaries placed an emphasis on marine science. Fifty years ago, that focus led to the creation of what is now known as the Ocean Sciences Centre (OSC) in Logy Bay, N.L. The Marine Sciences Research Laboratory, as it was called at the time, was constructed in the ’60s to meet the needs of all university faculty interested in marine organisms. Faculty and friends of the facility were invited to celebrate achievements and memories from the past 50 years at a reunion event which took place in September. In addition to a social at Bitters, the OSC also hosted an open house.
A photo from the official opening of the Ocean Sciences Centre in Logy Bay, N.L. Submitted photo.
Alumna puts education to work under the sea
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CHRISTA SANDALL HAILS from landlocked Alberta, but salt water seems to run through her veins. Since graduating from Memorial with a bachelor of science in marine biology, she has been living and working in the island country of the Philippines. While on an internship facilitated through the Fisheries and Marine Institute’s (MI) International Office, she worked with the Community Extension Office at John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University located in Iloilo City, Philippines. As a certified advanced open water SCUBA diver, Ms. Sandall has assisted in multiple marine surveys where the objective is to identify improvements of coral growth and fish abundance within recently established marine protected areas. She has also focused on the
Christa Sandall and colleagues assist with a marine survey in the Philippines. Submitted photo.
proposition of a coral gardening project within the Igang Bay Marine Sanctuary — a project that further contributes to reef restoration, which benefits fish productivity and the functionality of the local marine ecosystem.
Much of Ms. Sandall’s work is completed in the marine protected area close to where she lives. She believes reef restoration projects are promoting the importance of marine education for locals.
ALUMNI/DEVELOPMENT
Justice Malcolm Rowe. Submitted photo.
Justice Malcolm Rowe graduated with degrees in arts, science IT’S NOT ONLY the province of Newfoundland and Labrador that has its first Supreme Court justice. Justice Malcolm Rowe, an alumnus of Memorial University, holds bachelor’s degrees in both arts and science. As an undergraduate student, he was awarded the gold medal for political science and the Birks medal for leadership, both in 1975. He attended Memorial from 1970-75 before heading to Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, where he earned his LL.B. He was called to the bar of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1978 and became a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1986. According to his official biography on the Prime Minister of Canada’s website, Justice Rowe first worked as clerk assistant in the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador, where he served as procedural advisor to the speaker. In 1980, he joined the Department of External Affairs as a foreign service officer. In 1984, he joined the Ottawa office of Gowling and Henderson, first as an associate and then as a partner. Justice Rowe was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1992. In 1996, he became clerk of the executive council and secretary to cabinet in the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Justice Rowe was appointed to the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court, Trial Division, in 1999 and was elevated to the Court of Appeal of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2001.
Dr. Patricia Canning. Submitted photo.
NEW PSYCHOLOGY LECTURE SERIES IN MEMORY OF DR. PATRICIA CANNING THE DEPARTMENT OF Psychology is remembering a late faculty member with a new annual lecture series in her name. Dr. Patricia Canning passed away in November 2015 and the Dr. Patricia Canning Memorial Lecture in Child Health and Development was established through generous gifts and pledges from her family and friends. The first lecture in the series took place in March 2017. The purpose of the lecture series is to attract a leader in the broadly defined area of child health and development research or discovery, with a goal of providing wide-reaching benefit to both the public and Memorial community. As a child psychologist, educator and researcher who began her career at Mount St. Vincent University in Bedford, N.S., the aim of Dr. Canning’s work
was to understand what maximizes children’s health, well-being, learning and family functioning and to turn that understanding into concrete practices and policies to support children’s development. Dr. Canning was a pioneer in that she was one of the first people to realize the importance of doing research in the real world, to ask and answer questions critical for improving the quality of and access to services for children and families. A champion for children, especially the most vulnerable, she left her mark on improved education and community programs and services, including early promotion services for families, prevention programs for children with special needs and their families, and early childhood education and childcare.
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FACULTY
Psychology researcher named chair of Animal Care Committee DR. DARLENE SKINNER, a professor with the Department of Psychology, is the new chair of Memorial’s Animal Care Committee. The committee is responsible for the ethical assessment of all protocols for animal care and use in research and teaching at the St. John’s, Ocean Sciences Centre, Marine Institute and Grenfell campuses. Dr. Skinner has been a member since 2012 and has filled in as chair on several occasions. At Memorial, all research projects must be peer reviewed for scientific merit and must receive ethical approval by the Animal Care Committee before any research begins. Animal models are used ethically, only when necessary, by well-trained researchers and lab assistants, and with the support of the veterinary and technical staff in Animal Care Services. The Canadian Council on Animal Care oversees the care and use of animals in all research at institutions across the country. The committee has a broad membership including Animal Care Services, the Faculty of Science, including the departments of biology, biochemistry, psychology and ocean sciences; the Faculty of Medicine; the Department of Health and Safety and the Marine Institute. Dr. Skinner received her bachelor of science (hons.) degree in psychology from Memorial in 1990. She completed a PhD in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Toronto in 1996 and went on to pursue postdoctoral training in the psychology department at Duke University. She returned to Memorial in 1998.
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Dr. Danny Dyer. Mike Ritter photo.
Atlantic Canadian Teaching Award ‘icing on the cake’ for math professor ON THE FIRST DAY of his graph theory class, Dr. Danny Dyer starts by handing out a recipe for apple pie. Why would an associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics want students to think about pie? It’s because recipes are a classic example of an algorithm. With real world examples like that, Dr. Dyer, who was the inaugural Chair in Teaching and Learning for the Faculty of Science, and who received the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2016, hopes to capture the attention of students and get them thinking about mathematics in new and exciting ways. That thinking led him to redesign Calculus I, turning it from a typical math lecture course into one that employs a
flipped classroom approach, requiring the development of new learning resources including fill-in-the-blank notes, worksheets and videos. Dr. Dyer and his students now spend class time working together to solve math problems — in keeping with his philosophy that one learns math by doing it. His efforts have been met with rave reviews from students and have now been recognized outside the walls of Memorial’s classrooms. Dr. Dyer was presented with the 2017 Association of Atlantic Universities (AAU) Distinguished Teaching Award in September in honour of the work he has done to provide students with the best opportunity for success, and for the positive effect he’s had on teaching and learning in the wider university community. The AAU is made up of the 16 universities in the Atlantic region and in the West Indies. It presents up to two awards annually in recognition of excellence in university teaching over a number of years, primarily at the undergraduate level.
FACULTY
Textbook, new graduates support mental health services A NEW BOOK co-written by a faculty member in the Department of Psychology may provide a useful guide for mental health professionals. Associate professor Dr. Julie Gosselin, director of clinical training for the doctor of psychology (PsyD) program at Memorial, released A Systematic and Integrative Model for Mental Health Assessment and Treatment Planning, the first in a collection. The book provides an integrative model for mental health assessment that will be marketed to professional training programs in clinical psychology, counselling, social work and psychiatry across North America. The book is evidence-based and according to Dr. Gosselin, the systematic model it uses cuts across
different theoretical approaches, so no matter what approach a mental health professional has been trained in, they can still use it. The book can also be used in a training context and contains a template for assessing students using the model. Demand for access to mental health services is continuing to grow in Newfoundland and Labrador and Dr. Gosselin says Memorial’s PsyD program is also starting to help meet that need. The program, which offers high level training in clinical psychology, began in 2009. It is an ongoing collaboration between the Department of Psychology, Memorial’s Student Wellness Counselling Centre, Eastern Health and the Association of Psychologists of Newfoundland and Labrador. The program’s first graduates had no problems finding work and most stayed in the province. Dr. Gosselin says that increases the number of licenced psychologists in Newfoundland and Labrador and mental-health services in the province.
Dr. Julie Gosselin. Chris Hammond photo.
YOUNG PSYCHOLOGIST RECOGNIZED FOR EARLY CAREER RESEARCH
Dr. Sheila Garland. Mike Ritter photo.
DR. SHEILA GARLAND is having a banner year. The registered clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, with a cross appointment in the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Medicine (Oncology), has been recognized by two national organizations for her work as a young researcher. In June, she received the Canadian Psychological Association President’s New Researcher Award (CPA-PNRA). It recognizes the exceptional contributions of new researchers to psychological
knowledge in Canada. Dr. Garland has also been chosen to participate in the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Early Career Researcher program (ECR). The two-day program takes place during the annual five-day Canadian Cancer Research Conference. It is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research: Institute of Cancer Research, the Canadian Cancer Society and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, and was developed for newly established principal investigators/new faculty members at Canadian universities. Its purpose is to strengthen the professional development of junior faculty from the cancer research community. The ECR program brings together early career cancer researchers to present their work and network with senior researchers and investigators.
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FACULTY STAFF, FACULTY AND STUDENTS HONOURED AT FACULTY OF SCIENCE AWARDS
Dr. Andrew Vardy. Chris Hammond photo.
DOCTOR WHO WRITER INSPIRED BY PROFESSOR’S SWARM ROBOTICS RESEARCH
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AN EPISODE OF the long-running hit British television show, Doctor Who, has a special connection to one Memorial University researcher. The 10th season’s second episode, titled Smile, saw “The Doctor” take his new companion, Bill, to the colony world of Gliese 581D, a bright, sunny world tended to by a swarm of tiny bird-like robots called Vardies and their user interface, the Emojibots. The Vardies, it just so happens, are named for Dr. Andrew Vardy, a professor jointly appointed with the faculties of Science and Engineering and Applied Science. Frank Cottrell-Boyce, an English screenwriter, novelist and actor, wrote the episode and, by way of a 2013 conference in Italy, became friends with Dr. Vardy. The duo was paired up to contribute to a book called Beta Life and Mr. Cottrell-Boyce wrote a short story for the book based on Dr. Vardy’s
ideas and named after the professor’s dog. Dr. Vardy says they kept in touch and, when he was writing the Doctor Who episode, Mr. Cottrell-Boyce wanted to give him credit for the swarm of robots that appeared in it. It’s not hard to see the connection between the Vardies and Dr. Vardy. His main research area, swarm robotics, concerns the development of multirobot systems inspired by social insects. Social insects such as ants and bees work together to find food, build their nests and solve all sorts of problems — all without any one insect being in charge. One recent outcome of Dr. Vardy’s research is an improved algorithm for swarms of robots to sort objects. Dr. Vardy would like to extend this process to recyclable materials. He is also working on the ability of a set of robots to form structures like walls and enclosures.
THE FACULTY OF Science Dean’s Awards ceremony was held on Memorial’s St. John’s campus and saw Dr. Mary Courage, interim dean of the Faculty of Science, recognize 271 students representing the top 10 per cent in the faculty. During the event, Dr. Courage also presented the Dean of Science Book Prize, awarded annually to one student in each department offering a B.Sc. program on the basis of demonstrated academic excellence in the declared major, while Dr. Mark Abrahams, vicepresident (research), pro tempore, presented the Lou Visentin Award, the highest award for undergraduate achievement in the Faculty of Science. It recognizes students who have held a place on the dean’s list for four consecutive years. This year, 32 students were recognized for this accomplishment. Alexander Brandt was the inaugural recipient of the Science Co-op Student of the Year Award. The award recognizes a full-time undergraduate co-operative education student who has demonstrated exceptionality in all aspects of his or her academic program and work term performance. Dr. Courage also honoured Bonita (Bonnie) Smith, an employee with the Faculty of Science’s procurement services group, with the Dean of Science Distinguished Service Award. It recognizes service to the Faculty of Science superior to the normal expectations of the position. Dr. Aimée Surprenant, a professor in the Department of Psychology and dean of the School of Graduate Studies, received the Dean of Science Distinguished Scholar Medal, recognizing an individual with a sustained, outstanding record of both research and teaching at Memorial. Dr. Travis Fridgen, head of the Department of Chemistry, also received the first Distinguished Teacher Award, a new award recognizing faculty members with an extended record of excellence, creativity and commitment to teaching and learning in the Faculty of Science.
FACULTY
CHEMIST NAMED 2016 TERRA NOVA YOUNG INNOVATOR DR. MICHAEL KATZ, assistant professor, Department of Chemistry, was one of two Memorial faculty to receive the Terra Nova Young Innovator Award this year.
Dr. Brent Snook. Chris Hammond photo.
The award recognizes and supports outstanding young faculty members whose research is particularly innovative and whose specific proposal has real potential to make a significant impact on society. He will receive $50,000 for his pioneering research proposal through funding from Suncor Energy, on behalf of the partners in the Terra Nova oil field, and the Office of the Vice-President (Research) at Memorial. Dr. Katz was selected after a rigorous review process following an exceptionally high response rate to the call for applications.
Dr. Chris Rowley. Chris Hammond photo.
He says this award will allow him to further his research on a class of porous materials that Dr. Katz’s team has not been able to investigate so far. Porous materials are similar to sponges used for cleaning; when soaked in water, they hold more than expected. With many industrially relevant applications for porous materials, he says it’s important to study these materials for a cleaner and greener future for generations to come. Dr. Katz joined Memorial in 2015. He holds B.Sc. and PhD degrees from Simon Fraser University.
Dr. Danny Dyer. Chris Hammond photo.
Mary Wall. Chris Hammond photo.
MEMORIAL HONOURS EXCEPTIONAL FACULTY AND STAFF AT SPECIAL CEREMONY THE FACULTY OF Science was well-represented as Dr. Gary Kachanoski presented the President’s Awards for 2016, honouring outstanding educators, researchers, staff members and organizations. A President’s Award for Outstanding Research was awarded to Dr. Christopher Rowley, Department of Chemistry. It recognizes young researchers who have made significant contributions to their scholarly disciplines.
Dr. Brent Snook, Department of Psychology, received the President’s Award for Outstanding Graduate and Post-graduate Supervision, which recognizes exemplary efforts to foster success in the research and scholarship of their graduate or post-graduate students and to advance their students’ success in their profession. A President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching, recognizing teaching excellence in the university
community, was presented to Dr. Danny Dyer, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, while Mary Wall, formerly of the Faculty of Science, received a President’s Award for Exemplary Service. It is presented to employees who have demonstrated outstanding service and/or who have made significant contributions to the university community beyond that normally expected for their positions.
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TEACHING AND LEARNING
Science students can begin studies in one of three brand new majors: ocean sciences, ocean sciences (environmental systems) and marine biology. OSC Field Services photo.
JOINT DEGREE IN SCIENCE, HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES APPROVED
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STUDENTS WITH A STRONG interest in arts and science no longer have to choose between the two degrees. Memorial’s Senate approved a proposal from the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for a new joint degree program. Students can now complete a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science simultaneously in fewer credit hours than were previously required. Students can complete the minimum requirements for both degrees in 135 credit hours, only 15 more than required for a single degree, and 15 fewer than previously required for two degrees. The program follows a precedent set by the joint bachelor of arts/bachelor of commerce degree introduced a few years ago. Those students also get a 15 credit “discount” when completing both degrees.
The goal is to make the process easier for students by taking advantage of synergies between the two degrees, but does not limit students to combinations of majors that straddle the two faculties, such as geography, economics and psychology. Students who come to Memorial with high school transfer credits, such as international baccalaureate (IB) or advanced placement (AP) courses, or who pick up intersession or summer courses during their four years of study, can conceivably finish both degrees in four years. The partnership between the two faculties may also open the door to other joint degree programs in the future. Students who are interested in finding out more about the joint degree program are strongly encouraged to consult early and regularly with appropriate academic advisors in both faculties
New program offerings boosting Memorial’s strength in oceans AS OF SEPTEMBER 2017, students can begin studies in one of three brand new science majors: ocean sciences, ocean sciences (environmental systems) and marine biology. Marine biology is a revamped version of the former biology (marine) program, and is now co-administered by the departments of Biology and Ocean Sciences. The other two are the first majors offered by the Department of Ocean Sciences. The department was approved by the Board of Regents in 2012 and in 2015 began offering academic programming with minors in oceanography and sustainable aquaculture and fisheries ecology. Ocean Sciences is now in the process of developing the honours component of their degrees. They are also working actively with the Marine Institute’s School of Fisheries with the hope of formalizing a joint major in fisheries and aquaculture. The new academic programming is a good tie in with the department’s popular public education and school programs, which draw thousands of visitors and students to the Ocean Science Centre annually.
TEACHING AND LEARNING
COMPUTER SCIENCE ADDS SPECIALIZED MAJORS THE DISCIPLINE OF computer science is a rapidly expanding frontier, and Memorial’s Department of Computer Science is evolving right along with it.
Following an academic program review and consultation, the department has provided the option of more specialized majors in its undergraduate program. While the overall objective of the changes is to update curriculum, Computer Science is also reducing the number of core courses students must take from 36 to 27 credit hours, giving them more flexibility to focus on areas of their own interest.
After polling students, the department chose to introduce majors in smart systems and visual computing and games first. Additional majors in the areas of net centric computing, data science, scientific computing and theory of computing are also planned. The aim of the smart systems major is to give an overview of the growing body of algorithmic and mathematical techniques that have proven practical in allowing computer systems to deal with the complexities and uncertainties of both human beings and the real world. The visual computing and games major studies how to use computers to both mimic human visual processing power for things such as object recognition, and to create visual content, like games and movies. Computer games also offer a great opportunity for computer scientists to learn and apply fundamental concepts of design and creation of interactive experiences and visual content. Computer Science students listen to a presentation at a recent research forum. Yuanzhu Chen photo.
TOP YOUNG INNOVATORS AND ENTREPRENEURS AT SHAD MEMORIAL MORE THAN 50 students travelled across the country to hone their talents at SHAD Memorial 2017. The unique program, focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), takes place at Memorial and other host campuses over a four-week period every summer. At SHAD, which was founded in 1980 to help youth reach their potential, students interact with renowned university faculty and visionary corporate leaders. In a unique element of the program, students are challenged to come up with an original solution to a societal problem they learn about in the first week. It teaches them about entrepreneurship and innovation and students see how they can make an immediate impact. The program has expanded to a
Some 2016 SHAD Memorial participants. Submitted photo.
record 13 host campuses across Canada and boasts a network of close to 16,000 alumni, including 32 Rhodes Scholars and leaders in many fields. One of the strong supporters of SHAD is the Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd. (HMDC). In 2014, HMDC announced an investment of $2.85 million to create the Hibernia Project-SHAD Fund at Memorial
University to encourage high school students to pursue studies in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Of the total investment, $450,000 is invested to support the cost of Newfoundland and Labrador students to attend SHAD programs throughout the country with 50 expected to go fully funded every year.
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FACILITIES Architectural drawing of the Animal Resource Centre. Submitted photo.
Construction begins on Animal Resource Centre
Artist rendering of new Core Science Facility. Submitted photo.
CONSTRUCTION RESUMES ON CORE SCIENCE FACILITY
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MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY HAS awarded the main construction contract for the Core Science Facility to Marco Services Limited. The contract, known as CP-3R, is for the remaining work on the building. Construction resumed on the project in the spring and it is slated to open for the fall semester in 2020. The approved contract is for $240.6 million before taxes. The tender award cleared all approval stages, including the Board of Regents and the provincial government. It followed the cancellation of the tender the previous summer following bids above original estimates. Memorial reworked the plans and specs for the project and reissued the tender in the fall. The teaching and research space
will be occupied primarily by the Departments of Biochemistry, Biology and Chemistry in the Faculty of Science, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science and labs from the Core Research Equipment and Instrument Training (CREAIT) Network. The building will also contain Technical Services’ Cryogenics Facility, the Faculty of Science’s Central Chemical Stores Facility and an Aquatics Facility that is part of Memorial University’s Animal Care Facilities. The building, which was designed by HOK and Hearn/Fougere Architects, will also be Memorial’s home for the Ocean Frontier Institute, a $220 million research partnership with Dalhousie University and the University of Prince Edward Island. The global project budget is $325 million. Memorial will contribute $200 million, while the Government of Canada is providing support of $99.9 million. The remaining $25.1 million is being provided by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY HAS awarded the contract for construction of the Animal Resource Centre (ARC), a research and teaching facility, to Olympic Construction. Olympic is a local company that was involved in construction of the Janeway and, more recently, the Faculty of Medicine’s teaching and genetic research building. Work on the facility will begin this month with it substantially completed by the end of 2019 for an anticipated opening in 2020. The approved contract is for $23.5 million before taxes. ARC’s state-of-the-art facilities will support research in psychology, biology and biochemistry and the development of highly qualified professional medical residents and graduate students skilled in emergency, trauma and surgical procedures. ARC’s construction has been high on Memorial’s infrastructure priorities and is a much-needed replacement for two of the university’s current animal research care facilities. The new building is critical to ensure Memorial sustains viable biomedical research activities and the certification of degree programs at Memorial. In addition to the new ARC providing modern facilities and equipment, it also offers the benefits of co-location of health sciences and biomedical science researchers to enhance research excellence, interdisciplinary and intersectorial collaboration, and innovation. The global project budget is $35.6 million. The Government of Canada is providing support of $14.4 million. Memorial will fund the remaining costs of $21.2 million internally.
LECTURES
Artificial intelligence subject of public lecture ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WAS the subject of a public lecture on Memorial’s St. John’s campus. Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer, dean, Faculty of Science for the University of Alberta, gave a “gentle” introduction to artificial intelligence, or AI, contrasting the abilities of humans and computers to solve problems. He illustrated these differences using games. Dr. Schaeffer’s checkers-playing program, Chinook, was the first computer to win a human world championship in any game (1994).
He says AI technology is already changing the world, although most of the impact is invisible to the general population. That will end very soon as high-profile applications of AI will profoundly alter the way we live, work and play – such as driverless cars. The 2017 Elizabeth R. Laird Lecture, titled The Games Computers (and Humans) Play, took place in November. Dr. Schaeffer is a professor in the Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, and is co-founder of the University of Alberta spin-off company Onlea, which creates engaging online learning experiences. He is best known for his work applying AI technology to the problem of building high performance gameplaying programs, as well as tackling the challenges of the commercial computer games industry.
Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer. Submitted photo.
PUBLIC LECTURE DISCUSSES IMPACT OF BRAIN FUNCTION ON EDUCATION LEARNING OCCURS THROUGH experience-dependent changes of connections within the brain. It therefore seems a “no-brainer” that the study of brain function and structure can and should inform education. Dr. Daniel Ansari gave the inaugural Dr. Patricia Canning Memorial Lecture in Child Health and Development at Memorial University in March. He is the Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and is a professor in the Department of Psychology and the Brain and Mind Institute at Western University. In his lecture, Why Should Educators Care About Cognitive Neuroscience?,
Dr. Daniel Ansari. Submitted photo.
Dr. Ansari discussed challenges as well as opportunities in connecting cognitive neuroscience and education by reviewing
different sources of evidence and their relative degree of educational relevance, including the proliferation of so-called “brain-based” products that suffer from a lack of an evidence base and lead to the generation of “neuromyths.” Dr. Ansari was one of the first researchers in the world to use noninvasive brain-imaging devices to understand how children’s brains process numbers, and how that brain activation changes with age. By doing so, he discovered how children’s brains process numerical information differently than adults’ brains, thus highlighting the importance of development. This discovery also raised the question of how these developmental processes go awry in children who have difficulties with math. The Dr. Patricia Canning Memorial Lecture in Child Health and Development was established through generous gifts from the family and friends of the late Dr. Patricia Canning, a child psychologist, educator and researcher at Memorial University. 39
LECTURES
Public lecture discusses the Labrador Sea’s role as planet’s ‘lungs’ THE CANADA EXCELLENCE Research Chair (CERC) in Ocean Science and Technology delivered the 2017 Elizabeth R. Laird Lecture. Dr. Douglas Wallace is the scientific director of the Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response (MEOPAR) Network, a national Network of Centres of Excellence based at Dalhousie University in Halifax, N.S. His public lecture, titled Vital Signs: Watching the Deep Ocean Breathe in the Labrador Sea, took place in January. The Labrador Sea plays a key role ‘breathing in’ oxygen from the atmosphere and delivering it to the planet’s deep oceans.
This oxygen uptake, off our coast, provides life-support to fish and microbes in the deeper parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Labrador Sea “breathes in” during winter, when surface waters become cold and dense enough to sink to depths of 1-2 kilometres. This breathing continues throughout the winter with progressive exposure of deep, low-oxygen water to the atmosphere, a result of the very high wind speeds and massive injection of air bubbles during storms. During summer, photosynthesis by phytoplankton in nearsurface waters produces oxygen, some of which is released back to the atmosphere. Dalhousie, Memorial, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and collaborators in the U.S. and Germany have deployed instrumentation to measure and monitor this breathing. The resulting data reveal, in unprecedented detail, how the breathing of the Labrador Sea operates. The Elizabeth R. Laird Lecture was established by a bequest from Dr. Elizabeth Laird, a prominent Canadian
physicist who held posts at Yale, Cambridge, Chicago, Mount Holyoke and Western Ontario, in the first half of the 20th century.
Dr. Douglas Wallace. Submitted photo.
PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY SPEAKS AT MEMORIAL
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Dr. Laura H. Greene. Submitted photo.
THE PRESIDENT OF the American Physical Society gave the 2017 Dr. and Mrs. Satti Paddi and Parvati Reddy Public Lecture at Memorial. Dr. Laura H. Greene, Eppes professor of physics at Florida State University and chief scientist at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, gave a talk titled, High-Temperature Superconductivity: The Dark Energy of Condensed Matter in October. Superconductivity is a fascinating quantum mechanical phenomenon, which at low temperatures allows transmission of electrical power with no loss, magnetic levitation and other intriguing phenomena. Conventional superconductivity was discovered in 1911, but was not solved until 1957. High-temperature superconductivity,
discovered in 1986, is only one family in the dozens of families of unconventional superconductors discovered in 1979 — the original theory dates to 1952 — which remain, surprisingly, unsolved. During her lecture, she included demonstrations, defined what a superconductor is, what “solved” means, described some of the bizarre behaviour of electrons in unconventional superconductors, and the analogy in her lecture title. The Dr. and Mrs. Satti Paddi and Parvati Reddy Memorial Lecture Series was created to honour the research contributions of Dr. S.P. Reddy, professor emeritus and former head of the Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
UNIQUE COLLABORATION OPENS UP WORLD OF OCEAN SCIENCES TO TEACHERS-IN-TRAINING A GROUP OF education students students took part in hands-on field experiences to explore how integrating the ocean into the K-12 science curriculum can become a valuable supplement to classroom instruction. With support from the Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd., the Oceans Learning Partnership (OLP), in collaboration with the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Science’s Department of Ocean Sciences, provided teaching fellowships for 16 pre-service teachers in primary/elementary and intermediate/secondary school degree
programs at Memorial. The Hibernia Teaching Fellowships in Ocean Sciences and Technology are based on 72-hour field placements at one of OLP’s five field sites: Ocean Sciences Centre in Logy Bay; Johnson GEO Centre in St. John’s; Manuels River Hibernia Interpretation Centre in Conception Bay South; Bonne Bay Marine Station in Norris Point; and the Labrador Institute in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. These field placements provided exceptional learning opportunities and engaged fellows in exploring how ocean themes and topics and field trip
experiences can be integrated into the science and career development curriculum in the province as an extension to classroom instruction. They also helped equip STEM teachers with a series of engaging teaching and learning tools to get students excited about ocean science while meeting curriculum outcomes. Fellows developed plans for school trips that outlined pre-visit preparation and post-visit, in-class follow-up, as well as explored best practices best practices and protocols for field trips to OLP’s partner sites.
Danielle Nichols and Dr. Gerald Galway. Mike Ritter photo.
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PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Graduate students Emma Cook and Mike Piersiak oversee the Department of Ocean Sciences touch tank at the Avalon Mall. Kelly Foss photo.
MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY PARTICIPATES IN WEEKLONG SCIENCE FESTIVAL
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MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY celebrated the fourth annual Science Literacy Week in September. The week-long blitz of science-based activities highlights Canada’s outstanding scientists and science communicators from coast-to-coast. For one week, libraries, universities, museums and other partners put on a spectacular nationwide festival of science. In Newfoundland and Labrador, it kicked off with a science fair at the Avalon Mall’s Centre Court and continued with nearly 40 activities across the province. Science Literacy Week activities reached over 1,600 individuals locally and built on the success of past years by expanding in 2017 to include new partners such as the Fluvaruim, Salmonier Nature Park, Manuels River Interpretation Centre, Bonne Bay Marine Station, Corner Brook Public Library and Memorial University’s Grenfell Campus. They joined established partners like Memorial University’s Faculty of Science, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Queen Elizabeth II Library, and Let’s Talk Science; St. John’s Public Libraries; the Johnson GEO Centre and the Petty Harbour Mini Aquarium.
Emilie Novaczek mapping the ocean floor in Conception Bay. Submitted photo.
THE ATLANTIC WOLFFISH – A face only a mother could love EMILIE NOVACZEK, A PhD student in Memorial’s Department of Geography, asks everyone participating in the recreational groundfish fishery to take note of what they bring in on their lines. If you catch an Atlantic wolfish, she asks that you take note of your location and get in touch. More importantly, she asks that you gently return any wolffish to the water. There are three types of wolffish: spotted, northern and striped. The first two are threatened and the third, the one that most interests Ms. Novaczek, is of special concern. Wolffish are designated as a species of special concern under the Canadian Species at Risk Act, but little was known about their habitat to inform a management plan. In 2014 and 2015, she mapped Atlantic wolffish habitat in Conception Bay, in partnership with the
Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), with detailed characterization of some dens near Bauline. The dens are important — wolffish pair, spawn and guard their eggs there and feeding debris at den openings indicates they are also foraging in this habitat. With the help of 16 hydrophones placed in Conception Bay by DFO, Ms. Novaczek continues to map the striped (Atlantic) wolffish habitat. Every time a tagged wolffish passes by a hydrophone, their presence is recorded. At the end of each season, DFO retrieves the devices. That information, combined with the mapping Ms. Novaczek and her team have completed with the help of DFO divers and drop cameras, provides a picture of what the ocean floor looks like where the wolffish prefer to spend most of their time.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
RENDEZVOUS WITH SCIENCE
Two high school students conduct an experiment in the Department of Biochemistry. Chris Hammond photo.
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PUT DETECTIVE SKILLS TO WORK DURING FIELD TRIP STUDENTS FROM LOCAL high schools descended on the Department of Biochemistry to try out their scientific and detective skills. For the first time, the department opened its doors to students from O’Donel and Holy Heart for a daylong field trip. It saw them role play as junior crime scene investigation agents tasked with determining if a local fisherman had a freezer full of flounder or near extinct Atlantic Bluefin tuna. Using a procedure called the Biuret method, students compared the composition of both fish species by measuring protein content. Dr. Mark Berry, head of Biochemistry, says the visits were an opportunity to introduce high school
students to biochemistry, let them see the lab and apply modern techniques to the things they’ve been learning in class. Jamie Parsons, science teacher at Holy Heart and a biochemistry alumnus, participated in the field trip with students from his Grade 11 international baccalaureate (IB) biology class. He hopes the visit will get his students thinking about attending Memorial. Dr. Berry, who received funding from Memorial’s Quick Start Fund for Public Engagement for the project, is hoping to repeat the field trip in future years with other schools.
SCIENCE RENDEZVOUS, AN all-ages and free public event, allowed participants to do fun and safe hands-on science activities on Memorial’s St. John’s campus in May. Visitors got to watch a chemistry magic show, explore a travelling touch tank, discover glow-in-thedark crystals, take part in interactive physics demonstrations and more. Representatives from the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science and the Faculty of Science, departments of Ocean Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, Biology, Earth Sciences, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Computer Science and Physics and Physical Oceanography, Let’s Talk Science and Bricks 4 Kidz set up activities in the Science and Engineering buildings throughout the day. The 10th anniversary of Science Rendezvous saw festivals taking place simultaneously in 30 Canadian cities, with support from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council. Science Rendezvous is the marquee event kicking off Science Odyssey, formerly known as National Science and Technology Week, 10 days of discovery and innovation. It strives to highlight the nation’s best and most innovative research with the goal of improving student enrolment, as well as public involvement in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. The event offered visitors of all ages a chance to meet with world-class researchers, take part in experiments and, above all, have fun while discovering science in a whole new way.
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PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
GEO CENTRE exhibit brings deep-sea corals and sponges to light
Flabellum alabastrum solitary cup corals are the most common stony corals in the Newfoundland and Labrador region. Chris Hammond photo.
A NEW MULTIMEDIA exhibit is creating awareness of Atlantic cold-water corals and sponges in the waters off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and their importance to the health and integrity of the marine ecosystem. Gardens of the Deep is a collaboration between the GEO CENTRE and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Memorial University, Oceans Learning Partnership, The Production Group, World Wildlife Fund Canada, the provincial Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agrifoods, the Groundfish Enterprise Allocation
Council and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. The mysterious and diverse ecosystem in the Northwest Atlantic, off Canada’s East Coast, holds over 60 species of corals and an even greater assortment of sponges living and thriving in the rugged reaches of our coastal waters. These beautiful organisms are a critical component of benthic ecosystems that form vast and varied communities. They serve to provide habitat for shelter, as well as nurseries and foraging areas for small fish and invertebrates. While deep-sea corals and sponges are long lived, they are also highly sensitive and threatened by fishing and other human activities, including oil and gas production, and climate change. The exhibit highlights ongoing deep water research and the conservation measures that have been put in place to protect cold-water corals and sponges.
OUTREACH AIDS STUDENTS’ EXPLORATION OF OCEAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY THIS SPRING, MEMORIAL researchers and alumni participated in an educational series to explore the exciting world of ocean science and technology with students from across the province. PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP with
John’s and surrounding area visit the Johnson GEO Centre for talks from guest scientists and entrepreneurs. Students from a dozen schools across the province watched and participated via a live stream as part of a new digital
Dr. Brad de Young and Dr. Paul Snelgrove discuss ocean science careers with junior and high school students. Oceans Learning Partnership photo.
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Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), the Oceans Learning Partnership (OLP) and Oceans Advance, the events saw junior high and high school students from St.
education pilot program. The series featured three events. Into the Deep: Career Immersion Day Series, included presentations from Dr.
Paul Snelgrove of the departments of Ocean Sciences and Biology, and Dr. Brad de Young with the Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, while Gardens of the Deep: Corals and Sponges of Atlantic Canada, featured Vonda Wareham Hayes, DFO biologist and Memorial alumna, and Dr. Evan Edinger, a professor with the departments of Biology, Earth Sciences and Geography at Memorial. Special Places: An Exploration of Our Marine Protected Areas, featured DFO scientists Dr. Corey Morris, Laura Pilgrim and Victoria Howse, who are all graduates of the Department of Biology. Maria Giovannini, project lead for OLP, says the purpose of the events were to increase student knowledge of the ecological and cultural importance of marine protected areas (MPAs) and the ecological and cultural importance of corals and sponges in the Newfoundland and Labrador region. The events were also meant to instill an attitude of appreciation of MPAs as special places in Earth’s oceans that belong to everyone and need protection.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
The C3 expedition stretches from Toronto to Victoria via the Northwest Passage. Kevin Vallely photo.
MEMORIAL COMMUNITY PART OF HISTORIC CANADA 150TH MARINE JOURNEY MEMBERS OF THE Memorial community participated in portions of a 150-day marine voyage from coast to coast to coast. Canada C3, a signature event of the Canada 150 anniversary celebrations, was an initiative of the Students on Ice Foundation. The expedition — which stretched from Toronto to Victoria via the Northwest Passage — began in June and continued until late October. Applicants were chosen to travel on various legs of the trip.
In July, the crew explored 13 sites in Newfoundland and Labrador as part of leg four and leg five. Memorial University supported the project and provided programming or expertise at various sites. Participants learned about the university’s world-class teaching, research and public engagement activities, as well as our degree programs and areas of specialty. The Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) supported the scientific effort through the use of a retrofitted container which acts as a mobile laboratory for onboard
research. It also helped conduct research, including a DNA study analyzing filtered seawater samples to provide the groundwork for a pan-Canadian database of coastal marine biodiversity. Memorial PhD student Anne Provencher St-Pierre took part in leg 15 of the Canada C3 voyage from Campbell River to Victoria, B.C. She is completing her studies under the supervision of Dr. Pat Gagnon in the Department of Ocean Sciences.
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PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Students participating in OLP’s Coastal Explorers field school are given the opportunity to become marine scientists for the day. David Howells photo.
YOUTH FIELD SCHOOL RECOGNIZED FOR INNOVATION IN STEM EDUCATION
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NEWFOUNDLAND AND Labrador’s Oceans Learning Partnership’s (OLP) Coastal Explorers field school has been named one of five winners of the second annual Underwriters Laboratories Inc. Innovative Education Award for innovation in youth programming and environmental STEM education. The program was chosen from 120 applicants submitted from across North America and received a grant of $50,000 USD to expand. In August, all five winning teams travelled to the Underwriters Laboratories campus in North Carolina for a leadership summit and presentation. OLP is a collaborative initiative spanning the public and private sectors
with an interest in enhancing oceans education in the province, as well as bridging the gap between the K-12 and post-secondary school systems. Along with Parks Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and educational tour boat operator Coastal Connections, teachers and officials with the Department of Education, English School District and the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers Association are collaborating on this groundbreaking initiative for the province. The OLP’s Coastal Explorers Field School operates a “floating classroom,” as well as shore-based and lab-based programming with partners at four locations around the province — the
Ocean Sciences Centre, Bonne Bay Marine Station, Terra Nova National Park and Holyrood — that give students in Newfoundland and Labrador the opportunity to become marine scientists for the day. More than 2,700 students from 47 different schools across the province participated in OLP’s field programs at all four sites since fall 2013. This summer the OLP, in partnership with the Department of Ocean Sciences, reached an additional 8,500 people through outreach programming, such as travelling touch tanks and special events like World Oceans Day.
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
MOBILIZING KNOWLEDGE TO PROTECT AND ENHANCE THE EAST COAST TRAIL STUDENTS FROM ACROSS the St. John’s campus worked together to help map the East Coast Trail from Topsail to Cappahayden. The trail system consists of more than 300 kilometres of developed trail. However, it is vulnerable; much of the trail is adjacent to developments and urban encroachment. The East Coast Trail Association says it’s more important than ever to work with landowners and partners to update the trail’s data. Using skills they’ve acquired through their programs, Memorial students, including those from the Faculty of Science, did just that. Outputs of the project included the collection of geodata on the trail and the creation of an iOS application for hikers and users of the trail.
From left are Dr. Len Zedel, Dr. Yolanda Wiersma, Dr. Bill Montevecchi and Dr. Luise Hermanutz. Chris Hammond photo.
Michelle Valliant, an undergraduate student in marine biology, who is also completing an advanced diploma in geographical information systems (GIS), has assisted with physical trail surveying, measuring features along the hiking trail and describing the paths. Dr. Yuanzhu Chen, a professor in the Department of Computer Science, worked with graduate student Ali Alfosool on the project. Mr. Alfosool is the lead designer of an iOS app for the trail. Dr. Chen finds the mobile social networking aspect of the project especially interesting. He says when user messages, media posts and responses to them are geo-tagged, the app can provide more relevant information nearby the user’s current location, or about any given location.
AIi Alfosool, on the right with baby, is the lead designer of an iOS app for the East Coast Trail. He is a graduate student in the Department of Computer Science. Submitted photo.
Faculty serving in voluntary capacity to establish N.L. nature reserves WHEN IT COMES to creating protected areas in Newfoundland and Labrador, four Memorial faculty members are on the job – even though it’s not in their job descriptions. As researchers and educators in the Faculty of Science, Drs. Luise Hermanutz, Bill Montevecchi, Yolanda Wiersma and Len Zedel contribute to the global body of scientific knowledge every day. And, as cabinet-appointed members of the Wilderness and Ecological Reserve Advisory Council (WERAC), they give freely of their time and expertise to protect Newfoundland and Labrador’s natural heritage. The council’s purpose is to advise the provincial government on the creation and management of wilderness and ecological reserves, such as the worldfamous UNESCO World Heritage Site at Mistaken Point and the lesser known Watt’s Point on the Great Northern Peninsula. And while Newfoundland and Labrador has made progress in its conservation goals — 20 reserves have been created since the Wilderness and Ecological Reserves (WER) Act was passed in 1980 — WERAC’s challenging task remains: to work towards the public release and review of the provincial Natural Areas System Plan and to then work co-operatively with communities, industry and other members of the public to create a viable protected areas system. Individuals, groups, government departments or non-governmental organizations can propose an area for protection under the WER Act by completing the WERAC Study Area Nomination Form.
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www.mun.ca/science