New funds aid in AI methods to advance autism research
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Professor Kohitij Kar, from York University’s Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science, is among 28 early-career researchers who received grants valued at $100,000 from Brain Canada’s Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research program. His project will combine neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI) studies of vision into autism research.
Kohitij Kar
Kar, a Canada Research Chair in Visual Neuroscience, combines machine learning and neuroscience to better understand visual intelligence. His new project funded by Brain Canada will explore these intersections in the context of autism.
“The ability to recognize other people’s moods, emotions and intent from their facial expressions differs in autistic children and adults,” says Kar. “Our project will introduce a new, vastly unexplored direction of combining AI models of vision into autism research – which could be used to inform cognitive therapies and other approaches to better nurture autistic individuals.”
Based on prior funding from the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, Kar’s research team at York University has been developing a non-human primate model of facial emotion recognition in autism. The machine learning-based models the team will use are called artificial neural networks (ANNs), which mimic the way the brain operates and processes information. Kar will develop models that predict at an image-by-image level how primates represent facial emotions across different parts of their brain and how such representations are linked to their performance in facial emotion judgment tasks. They will then use state-of-the-art methods developed by their team to fine-tune the ANNs to align them more with the performance of neurotypical brains and those of an autistic adult.
The second part of Kar’s project will focus on using the updated ANNs to reverse-engineer images that could potentially be used to help autistic adults match their facial emotion judgments to that of the neurotypically developed adults. This work builds on his previous research (published in the journal Science) that showed ANNs can be used to construct images that broadly activate large populations of neurons or selectively activate one population while keeping the others unchanged, to achieve a desired effect on the visual cortex. In this project, he will shift the target objective from neurons to a clinically relevant behaviour.
Brain Canada’s Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research program aims to accelerate novel and transformative research that will change the understanding of nervous system function and dysfunction and their impact on health. It has been made possible by the Canada Brain Research Fund, an arrangement between the Government of Canada (through Health Canada) Brain Canada Foundation and the Azrieli Foundation, with support from the Erika Legacy Foundation, the Arrell Family Foundation, the Segal Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Professor receives patent to improve AI machine learning
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Steven Xiaogang Wang, a professor in York University’s Department of Mathematics & Statistics at the Faculty of Science, and a member of the Laboratory of Mathematical Parallel Systems, has had a U.S. patent approved for an algorithm that will reduce the training time of artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning (ML).
The now-patented algorithm, approved this year, was a result of six months of research at York. It was submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2019. The algorithm’s framework is based on mathematical arguments that helps significantly reduce the training time of machine learning, as it absorbs, processes and analyzes new information. It does so by using a mathematical formula to allow residual networks – responsible for the training of AI – to compute in parallel to each other, thereby enabling faster simultaneous learning.
Wang’s desire to accelerate machine learning’s abilities is driven, in part, by a specific area of AI applications. “I want to apply all the algorithms I develop to health care,” Wang says. “This is my dream and mission.”
Wang has especially focused on using AI to improve care for seniors and that work has previously earned him the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Award from the House of Commons for initiatives during COVID-19 to mitigate the spread of the virus in long-term care facilities.
Wang plans to use the patented algorithm in ongoing projects that aim to provide smart monitoring of biological signals for seniors. For example, it could be used in long-term care to continuously monitor electrocardiogram signals at night to register heartbeats that have stopped. To move towards that goal, Wang is also working on building an AI platform that will complement those ambitions, and expects it to be ready in several years.
He is deeply invested in the social impact of AI as a member of the York organized research unit Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Society, where researchers at York who are collectively advancing the state of the art in the theory and practice of AI systems, governance and public policy.
“I can use the machine learning to help the long-term care facilities improve the quality of care, but also help out with the struggles of the Canadian health-care system,” says Wang.
Researchers verify Einstein’s theory of general relativity
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Research, led by York University PhD student Nelson Nunes and supervised by Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar Nobert Bartel, verified Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity and the Einstein equivalence principle (EEP) by measuring gravitational redshift – a change in the frequency of a lightwave – and the slowing of time over distances as far as the moon, of about 350,000 kilometres.
The EEP is a cornerstone of general relativity and predicts the existence of gravitational redshift. The EEP states that the gravitational mass of an object is equal to inertial mass. For instance, standing on Earth and experiencing weight is equivalent to being accelerated in a spacecraft far away from Earth without the influence of gravity.
“Testing the EEP is thought to be decisive to test gravitational theories, including Einstein’s general relativity,” said Bartel. “Finding inconsistencies could perhaps help with generating new ideas on how to combine gravitational theories with the other pillar of our modern understanding of the physical world, which is quantum theory.”
The international group of astrophysicists involved in the project, which included York Senior Research Associate Michael Bietenholz and scientists from Russia, the Netherlands and Australia, used a highly accurate clock on a spacecraft named RadioAstron, which was launched in 2011 in an elliptical orbit around Earth, to obtain the measurements.
Their measurements – published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity – showed that time on Earth flows slower by 0.7 times a billionth of what it is on the spacecraft far away from Earth – which adds up to a 20-millisecond difference in one whole year. Although the difference is miniscule, the change in time verifies the EEP, the overarching focus of the research.
One consequence of the EEP is the changing flow of time in a gravitational field and, closely related, the gravitational redshift. Gravitational redshift has the effect of shifting waves to lower frequencies; with light, this means a shift to red. With respect to time, gravitational redshift should cause time to slow down.
Illustration of the York team’s experiment: a radio satellite in very elliptical orbit around Earth extending to the distance of the moon. Clocks showing slowed-down time near Earth in comparison to time far away are indicated. Courtesy of Norbert Bartel
“All clocks are based on oscillators and tick according to how fast they oscillate,” said Nunes. “So the gravitational redshift has fundamental repercussions on the flow of time in a gravitational field. In other words, if we are far away from Earth in space and let our clock fall toward Earth, we should be able to measure the clock ticking slower and slower the more it approaches Earth. In the extreme case, were our clock to fall towards the event horizon of a black hole, a place of no return, we would expect to see time slowing down so much that at some point it would stop altogether.”
Although the team’s results are about 10 times less accurate than previous measurements reported in 2018 by a separate team using European Galileo navigation satellites, their experiment covers a much larger distance. Whereas the 2018 study measured gravitational redshift as far as about 25,000 kilometres from Earth, Nunes’ measurements went as far as 350,000 kilometres from Earth. The York team says the measurements could be improved further and with future similar space missions, could reach 1,000 times higher accuracies.
Researchers explore maternal care of wild bees
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Two York University researchers have published a paper in the journal Communications Biology that examined the early and late life stages of small, developing carpenter bees in the presence and absence of maternal care.
The research considered how despite most wild bees being solitary, one tiny species of carpenter bees fastidiously cares for and raises their offspring, an act that translates into huge benefits to the developing bee’s microbiome, development and health.
Not unlike the positive affect human mothers can have on their offspring, the maternal care of these carpenter bees (Ceratina calcarata) staves off an overabundance of harmful fungi, bacteria, viruses and parasites in the earliest stage of development.
Without maternal care, the pathogen load of these developing bees ballooned, which can impact their microbiome, a critical component of bee health, as well as their development, immune system and gene expression. This can lead, for example, to changes in brain and eye development, and even behaviour. The biggest single fungus found was Aspergillus, known to induce stonebrood disease in honey bees, which mummifies the offspring. In later stages, the lack of care can lead to a reduced microbiome, increasing susceptibility to diseases and poor overall health.
The researchers looked at four overall developmental stages in the life of these carpenter bees, starting with the larvae stage both in the presence and absence of maternal care.
“There are fitness effects resulting from these fungal infections,” says Rehan. “We are documenting the shifts in development, the shifts in disease loads, and it is a big deal because in wild bees there is a lot less known about their disease loads. We are highlighting all of these factors for the first time.”
The developmental changes sparked by which genes were expressed or suppressed, upregulated or downregulated, along with disease loads, depending on the presence or lack of maternal care, created knock-on effects on the microbiome and bee health. These single mothers build one nest a year in the pith of dead plant stems, where they give birth and tend to their offspring from spring to as late as fall. Anything that prevents the mother from caring for her young increases risks of nest predation and parasitism, including excessive pruning of spring and fall stems, and can have huge consequences on their young.
“We found really striking shifts in the earliest stages, which was surprising, as we did not expect that stage to be the most significantly changed,” says Chau. “Looking at gene expression of these bees, you can see how the slightest dysregulation early in development cascades through their whole formation. It is all interconnected and shows how vital maternal care is in early childhood development.”
This study provides metatranscriptomic insights on the impact of maternal care on developing offspring and a foundational framework for tracking the development of the microbiome. “It is a complex paper that provides layers of data and shows the power of genomics as a tool,” says Rehan.“It allows us to document the interactions between host and environment. I think that is the power of this approach and the new technologies and techniques that we are developing.”
She also hopes it will give people more insight into the hidden life of bees and their vast differences, but also similarities. “Often people see bees as a monolith, but when you understand the complexity of bees and that there are wild bees and managed bees, people are more likely to care about bee diversity,” says Rehan.
Additional authors on the paper are Mariam Shamekh, a former honours thesis student and a Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Undergrad Student Research Award recipient, and Jesse Huisken, a PhD candidate and an NSERC postgraduate scholarship recipient.
In this special issue, YFile introduces new faculty members joining the York University community and highlights those with new appointments.
This fall, York welcomes new faculty members in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design; the Faculty of Education; the Faculty of Health; the Lassonde School of Engineering; the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies; the Faculty of Science; the Schulich School of Business; and Glendon College.
New Faculty of Science members to further York’s scientific innovation, impact
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This story is published in YFile’s New Faces feature issue 2023. Every September, YFile introduces and welcomes those joining the York University community, and those with new appointments.
The York University Faculty of Science welcomes 12 new faculty members this fall.
“We are thrilled to welcome our newest cohort of high-calibre researchers and instructors to our five departments and one division,” said Dean of Science Rui Wang. “By recruiting talented people with diverse backgrounds, world views and expertise, we are not only ensuring the best learning experience for our students, but also cultivating integrity and principles of equity, diversity and inclusion in our community and in all that we do at the Faculty of Science.”
Eryn McFarlane
Eryn McFarlane Eryn McFarlane joins the Department of Biology as an assistant professor. She researches anthropogenic hybridization, using both the genetics of wild animals and slightly less wild computer simulations for theoretical work. McFarlane did her undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Guelph. After Guelph, she was awarded a Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Postgraduate Scholarship for her PhD at Uppsala University in Sweden, followed by a Swedish Research Council International Postdoc Grant to do a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Most recently, she has been part of a National Science Foundation-funded project studying predictive modelling at the University of Wyoming.
In the future, her research group will continue work to understand and predict anthropogenic hybridization, with a particular focus on understanding the context dependence of genetic incompatibilities in changing environments.
Bill Kim
Bill Kim Bill Kim joined the Faculty of Science as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry. He completed his honours bachelor of science degree under the supervision of Professor G. Andrew Woolley at the University of Toronto. Kim then pursued a direct PhD degree with Professor David R. Liu at Harvard University from 2012 to 2018, during which time Kim contributed to the burgeoning field of genome editing. Afterwards, he applied his genome editing expertise at Pairwise Plants, a startup company focused on agriculture.
Kim also worked as a senior scientist and the director of the Mammalian Cell Facility. There, he expanded the mutagenic capabilities of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) base editors and developed novel sequence replacement methods. Subsequently, he transitioned into academia, where he could engage in teaching and mentorship of young scientists alongside spearheading a research program with significant impact.
Kim is a world leader in genome editing technology development. Throughout his scientific career spanning 11 years, his work on genome editing technology development has been published in world-class journals including Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Communications and Science Advances. His research group specializes in engineering biomolecules to accelerate biological discovery. He develops novel CRISPR mutagens capable of generating new forms of targeted genetic variations and studies how these tools can be applied to advance human health and agricultural biotechnology.
Lana Hébert
Lana Hébert On July 1, Hébert began a three-year term as a contractually-limited assistant professor (teaching stream) within the Department of Chemistry. She received her honours bachelors of science degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2013 before obtaining a master of science degree from Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) in 2018, and remained there to pursue a doctoral degree, to be conferred this fall.
Throughout graduate school, Hébert has frequently published and presented on research topics such as the preparation and properties of new fluorescent materials for organic electronics; her discovery of a previously unknown chemiluminescent reaction; and topics relating to crystallography and crystal engineering.
Regarding avenues of future research, her interests predominantly lie in the area of chemical education research, namely: the construction of novel, effective pedagogical approaches for organic chemistry instruction; the investigation of any bio-psycho-socio-economic factors that correlate with interest and aptitude towards chemistry curricula, pedagogies and teaching styles; and unique methods of incorporating X-ray crystallography content within undergraduate chemistry curricula.
Hébert is an active member within the Canadian chemistry and North American crystallography communities. As a vocal proponent of furthering decolonisation, equity, diversity and inclusion work in science and academia, and also as one of the few transgender chemistry professors in Canada, she has served on several committees furthering diversity and inclusion ideals in both national (Canadian Society for Chemistry, CSC-WIDE) and institutional (WLU) settings. Serving her community in this way has strongly informed the teaching philosophy, and overall commitment to a pedagogy of care, that she employs in her courses.
Eager and excited to share her love of the chemical sciences, Hébert hopes to instil a similar passion for chemistry within her future students.
Dongchen Li
Dongchen Li Dongchen Li joins the Department of Mathematics & Statistics as an assistant professor. He received his PhD in actuarial science from the University of Waterloo in 2017. Before joining York University, he was an assistant professor at the University of St. Thomas (2017 to 2021) and Brock University (2021 to 2023). His research focuses on principal-agent problems in (re)insurance design, risk management in finance and insurance, designing and improving modern insurance products such as variable annuities, and optimal financial and insurance decisions made by individuals.
His expertise is growing in cutting-edge areas, including machine learning in insurance and the digital transformation of the insurance industry. His work has been published in prestigious actuarial science journals like Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, ASTIN Bulletin, Scandinavian Actuarial Journal, and Journal of Risk and Insurance. His research program is currently funded by the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council. He is also an associate of the Society of Actuaries.
Kaiqiong Zhao
Kaiqiong Zhao Kaiqiong Zhao recently joined the Faculty of Science as an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics in July 2023. She obtained her PhD in biostatistics at McGill University in October 2021. Upon completing her doctoral studies, she was awarded the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute distinguished postdoctoral fellowship, which led her to a postdoctoral position co-hosted by the University of Alberta and the University of Toronto.
Zhao’s research program is dedicated to developing innovative and robust statistical methods tailored to the complexities of modern massive and complex data. She has authored multiple publications and developed R packages aimed at optimizing the analysis and interpretation of sequencing-derived DNA methylation data.
Her research pursuits extend to the integration of heterogeneous multi-source data and the enhancement of causal estimates derived from summary-level genetic association data. Furthermore, Zhao actively participates in collaborative scientific research endeavours, contributing to the advancement of statistical methods in various domains such as the analysis of sequencing-derived chromatin immunoprecipitation data, electroencephalogram data and clinical data.
Miles Couchman
Miles Couchman Miles Couchman joins the Faculty of Science at York University as an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. Prior to joining York, he received his undergraduate degree in physics from McMaster University and his PhD in applied mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by postdoctoral work in the Department of Applied Mathematics & Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.
His research is currently focused in the realm of fluid mechanics, where he has considered a variety of topics from pilot-wave hydrodynamics to geophysical turbulence, using a combination of experimental, computational and theoretical approaches.
Recently, he has been exploring how machine learning and high-performance computing techniques may be used to gain insight into turbulent mixing processes within the ocean, a key area of uncertainty in climate modelling. His work has been supported by funding from NSERC, MathWorks and the U.S. Department of Energy through INCITE Supercomputing Grants.
In collaboration with the Massive Open Online Course provider MITx, Couchman has also helped develop a series of undergraduate mathematics courses that are available to a global audience. By incorporating mathematical case studies of complex real-world phenomena into the curriculum, he hopes to inspire broader interest in using mathematics to gain a deeper understanding of our natural world.
Mohamed Omar
Mohamed Omar Mohamed Omar joins the Faculty of Science as a full professor in the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. His research focuses on algebraic techniques in enumerative and geometric combinatorics and discrete mathematics.
Omar has received national awards for his research, including being the inaugural recipient of the American Mathematical Society’s Claytor-Gilmer Fellowship and an inaugural recipient of the Karen EDGE Fellowship, both celebrating mid-career research. He has also earned the Henry L. Alder Award, the preeminent junior faculty national prize given by the Mathematical Association of America.
Paul Scholz
Paul Scholz Paul Scholz joins the Department of Physics & Astronomy at York University as an assistant professor. Scholz is an astrophysicist whose research centres on observational studies of transient and variable phenomena.
He studies rapidly rotating neutron stars, called pulsars, their highly-magnetized cousins, called magnetars, and the mysterious phenomenon of fast radio bursts (FRBs). Scholz primarily uses the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) to uncover the nature of FRBs and use them as probes of the universe.
Prior to his appointment at York, Scholz was a Dunlap and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto. He received his PhD in physics from McGill University in 2017. While a PhD candidate at McGill, he discovered the first repetition from an FRB source. This landmark discovery showed that the FRB phenomenon could not be caused solely by a cataclysmic phenomenon.
Scholz held a Covington Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory from 2016 to 2019, where he worked on the construction and commissioning of the CHIME Fast Radio Burst instrument. CHIME has revolutionized the field of fast radio bursts, by discovering several of them per day. Scholz and CHIME’s pioneering work on fast radio bursts has been recognized by an American Astronomical Society Lancelot M. Berkeley Prize, which Scholz accepted on behalf of the CHIME team, and an NSERC Brockhouse Prize.
Nikita Blinov
Nikita Blinov Nikita Blinov joins the Department of Physics & Astronomy as an assistant professor.
Blinov is interested in understanding how interactions between fundamental particles shortly after the Big Bang shape the observed universe. He uses theoretical models that include new particles and interactions to explore problems such as the identity of dark matter (a major constituent of our universe), origins of neutrino masses and others. Blinov examines the consistency of these models against existing observations and develops new ways of testing them using accelerator and precision experiments, or with astrophysical observations.
Blinov completed his graduate studies in the theory group at TRIUMF, Canada’s particle accelerator centre. Before joining York, he worked as a postdoctoral Fellow at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and at the University of Victoria.
Charles-Édouard Boukaré
Charles-Édouard Boukaré Charles-Édouard Boukaré joins the Department of Physics & Astronomy as an assistant professor. Boukaré is an Earth and planetary scientist interested in the interior structure and evolution of rocky planets. He completed an engineering degree in geology and a master’s in science in Earth and Planetary Sciences at the ENSG Nancy / Université Lorraine in France. He received his PhD in geophysics from Université de Lyon in France in 2016.
Boukaré worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University in Rhode Island from 2016 to 2018, where he initiated his work on the early evolution of the Earth’s moon. Before joining York, he had a postdoctoral position at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France. In 2022, Boukaré was awarded the Doornbos Memorial Prize, which is presented to a young scientist by the Committee on Studies of the Earth’s Deep Interior for outstanding work.
Boukaré’s research focuses on the early evolution of rocky planets and planetary scale solidification processes. He aims to better constrain how initial conditions govern the long-term evolution of planetary interiors. During his PhD and postdoctoral appointments, he proposed innovative thermodynamics and multi-phase fluid dynamics models of magma ocean crystallization. He applied his approaches to the early evolution of the Earth, the moon, mercury and lava exoplanets. His main research includes high-pressure phase equilibria modelling and developing computational fluid dynamics models. Boukaré is excited to pursue his research and explore new scientific horizons with students at York University.
Jeremy Webb
Jeremy Webb Jeremy Webb joins the Division of Natural Science within the Department of Science, Technology & Society as an assistant professor, teaching stream. Webb has a master of science in space studies from the International Space University and a PhD in physics and astronomy from McMaster University. He went on to complete postdoctoral studies on star cluster evolution at Indiana University and the University of Toronto through an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship.
In 2019, Webb was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, where he studied planetary system evolution in star clusters, stellar streams and galaxy structure. He also led a summer undergraduate research program, taught the two largest introductory astronomy courses in Canada and taught an astrobiology-themed course about life on other worlds. At York University, Webb looks to continue teaching astrobiology- and astronomy-themed courses, while finding active and interdisciplinary ways to connect with students.
Yuqing Feng
Yuqing Feng Yuqing Feng will be joining the Department of Biology at York University as an assistant professor in January 2024. Feng received her bachelor of science from the University of Saskatchewan. She completed her PhD degree in Linda Chelico’s laboratory in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Saskatchewan. For Feng’s PhD, she worked with APOBEC3 enzymes from the AID/APOBEC super family of cytidine deaminases and biochemically characterized the function of these enzymes as host restriction factors against RNA viruses and retrotransposons. As a recipient of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research postdoctoral fellowship, Feng is currently a postdoctoral Fellow in Alberto Martin’s laboratory in the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto. There, she is working on antibody gene diversification mechanisms in B cells. Feng’s research interests include DNA damage and repair mechanisms that create genetic diversity in immunity and cancer.
Luz Adriana Puentes Jacome
Luz Adriana Puentes Jácome Luz Adriana Puentes Jácome joins the Department of Biology as an assistant professor, teaching stream. Puentes completed her undergraduate degree in environmental engineering in her native Colombia. She completed her master of applied science degree at Carleton University and her PhD at the Centre for Applied Bioscience and Bioengineering (BioZone) at the University of Toronto. During this time, she actively engaged in teaching biotechnology and bioprocesses. Puentes was awarded a Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Postgraduate Fellowship which took her to Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, to conduct research on the characterization and scale up of anaerobic mixed cultures for bioremediation applications.
Puentes is deeply inspired by her colleagues and collaborators in Ontario working to apply biotechnology in areas such as the production of sustainable food and biochemicals, cell and gene therapy, and environmental remediation. She is excited to combine her passion for teaching and learning with her interest in advancing biotechnology in Canada. Thus, she joins colleagues in the Department of Biology to continue to build the biotechnology programs that will be offered at the Markham campus in the Fall of 2024.
Gordon Fitch
Gordon Fitch Gordon Fitch joins the Department of Biology as an assistant professor. Fitch is an ecologist, studying how environmental stressors shape ecological interactions and thereby influence ecosystem function and biodiversity. Much of his work focuses on interactions between plants, bees, and bee disease. He uses a combination of field surveys, lab experiments, and theoretical modeling to derive mechanistic understanding of these complex interactions and leverage that understanding to promote biodiversity conservation and just human flourishing. He joins York’s interdisciplinary Centre for Bee Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation (BEEc).
Before joining the faculty at York, Fitch was a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He received his master of science degree and PhD from the University of Michigan. Prior to this, he was a middle school science teacher. Fitch retains his passion for communicating science to diverse audiences and promoting science as a tool for liberation and improved relations between people and planet. At York, he is excited to engage in research and teaching that advances transformative understanding of and appreciation for the complex web of interactions undergirding life on earth.
York program funds 16 Global South health-care hubs
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A York University-led program is helping bolster health care with artificial intelligence (AI) solutions throughout the Global South by providing more than $5.8 million in funding for 16 projects in as many countries. The projects aim to combat infectious diseases, including polio surveillance in Ethiopia and helping Indigenous communities in the Philippines.
“We have led the call to strengthen the health-care system in low- and medium-income countries (LMIC) in the Global South for more than a year now,” says Assistant Professor Jude Kong, executive director of the Global South Artificial Intelligence for Pandemic and Epidemic Preparedness and Response Network (AI4PEP), which received $7.25 million in funding from the International Development Research Centre in 2022 to develop a multi-regional, interdisciplinary network to use AI and big data to improve public health preparedness and response, and promote equitable and ethical solutions.
Jude Kong
Originally from Cameroon, Kong understands the strains faced by health-care systems in LMIC and the importance of southern-led solutions. “Funding these projects will help strengthen capacity and support prevention, early detection, preparedness, mitigation and control of emerging or re-emerging infectious disease outbreaks in LMIC countries in Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East, which, as we know, can make their way to every country in the world.” Incidents of disease outbreaks are expected to increase in severity and frequency as more viruses, bacteria and parasites jump from animals to people.
After a recent call for project proposals, the AI4PEP team received 221 submissions from 47 countries, with 142 of them from Africa, 40 from Asia and 26 from Latin America. The overall program framework centres around a gender, equity, inclusion and decolonization lens.
Vinitha Gingatharan
“AI4PEP at York University is deepening the understanding of how equitable and responsibly designed artificial intelligence can lead to southern-led solutions to strengthen public health-care systems in the Global South,” says Vinitha Gengatharan, assistant vice-president, global engagement and partnerships. “This is just the start of a growing, multi-regional network to improve and strengthen public health preparedness and response to disease outbreaks that can make a real difference in the lives of people.”
The projects are led by universities in collaboration with health-care system stakeholders in 16 regions of the Global South. They include – among others – AI and modelling for community-based detection of zoonotic disease with increasing climate change in Senegal; a Foundation for Medical Research-University of Mumbai project; an AI-powered early detection system for communicable respiratory diseases based on integrated data sets at Wits University in South Africa; an Al-Quds University project; and an AI and eco-epidemiology-based early warning systems to improve public health response to mosquito-borne viruses in the Dominican Republic.
As diseases increasingly spread from animals to people with continued human encroachment into natural landscapes, AI4PEP’s One Health concept is designed to recognize and respond to the reality that human health is interdependent with the health of animals and the environment. Climate change is another huge factor.
“Climate change is exacerbating existing health and social inequities by increasing the vulnerability of climate hotspots to the emergence and re-emergence of many infectious diseases, such as malaria, dengue fever and Zika,” says Associate Professor Ali Asgary of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. “This is a huge initiative, but with the support of many of York’s research institutes, including the York Emergency Mitigation, Engagement, Response and Governance Institute directed by Distinguished Research Professor Jianhong Wu, as well as CIFAL and the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, I believe we can all collaborate with this exceptional global network to respond to the increasing threat of infectious diseases.”
AI solutions and data science approaches are increasingly being used across the globe to identify risks, conduct predictive modelling and provide evidence-based recommendations for public health policy and action.
But even with the promised good of these innovative tools to improve public health outcomes, the team recognizes there are important ethical, legal and social implications that, if not appropriately managed and governed, can translate into significant risks to individuals and populations. AI4PEP intends to deepen the understanding of designing responsible AI solutions.
“Responsible AI entails intentional design to enhance health equity and gender equality and avoid amplifying existing inequalities and biases. We are working toward the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals; in particular, three and five – good health and well-being, and gender equality,” says Kong. “Colonialism and gendered oppression have enduring effects, disproportionately impacting the health and quality of life of formerly colonized people and vulnerable groups, including women, gender non-conforming people, people with disabilities, rural communities and low-income households.”
Projects within the initiative will work closely with governments, public health agencies, civil society and others to generate new knowledge and collaborations to inform practice and policies at subnational, national, regional and global levels.
Faculty and student bringing experiential education to quantum computing
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By Alexander Huls, deputy editor, YFile
York University Professor Randy Lewis and fourth-year student Sarah Powell – both from the Department of Physics and Astronomy – were invited to the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in the U.S. to teach at a summer boot camp capitalizing on the growing interest in quantum computing.
Lewis and Powell were invited to the facility – dedicated to the research of nuclear physics, as well as materials and accelerator science – by Natalie Klco, a professor at Duke University overseeing part of the boot camp meant to make quantum computing accessible. “Quantum computing is this new, exciting endeavour, but people aren’t sure how to use it,” says Lewis.
Familiar with their work, notably a paper about error mitigation techniques for quantum computer calculations, Klco asked Lewis and Powell to help create exercises suited for those looking to become more familiar with the growing field.
Lewis and Powell designed experiences aimed to teach participants how to tackle writing circuits (a model for quantum computation) in new ways, then explore any errors that arose and learn how to mitigate them. It was important to both, however, that the exercises not be lectures, but hands-on, experiential opportunities that would make the boot camp feel lively and engaging for participants.
“They weren’t just fed information. They were able to really sit down and work through problems, talk to each other, learn from each other, learn from us and come away with a set of solutions that they could look back on later,” says Powell, who recently started graduate school at the InQubator for Quantum Simulation at the University of Washington.
Lewis and Powell weren’t sure, at first, what reaction their intended experiential and collaborative approach would get, especially compared to other sessions at the boot camp. “I was there for a couple of days prior, sitting in on the other lectures, and I was a bit nervous before ours,” recalls Powell. “I was seeing how the students were acting in the previous lectures and there was no interaction between them. The instruction was a more traditional approach than what we had prepared.”
When the time came for Klco, Lewis and Powell’s session, they introduced themselves to participants, asked them to jump in, and very quickly realized they didn’t need to worry. “There was quiet in the room, but we just started walking around and we initiated conversations with students, and just like that, the whole place was a beehive of activity,” says Lewis. “It took maybe three minutes.”
The enthusiasm extended throughout the entire experience. “The students were coming in early, staying late at lunch time and in the evening,” says Lewis. Participants were especially thrilled during the last section of the course, as they were provided access to an actual quantum computer prepped by Powell to run the circuits they had been working on, and see results in real time. “By the time they had their hands on the quantum computer at the end, people were saying, ‘How can we stay in touch on this?’ ” says Lewis. When Powell returned home, she even found somebody had continued to run hundreds of calculations on the accessible quantum computer.
For Lewis and Powell, the experience was an expectation-exceeding success. It’s something Lewis now thinks about with potential for teaching and learning at York. “If we could recreate this at York, if there’s a course that really captures people’s imagination, then this sort of experiential approach could be the perfect vehicle for students,” he says.
Global Perspectives program supports international knowledge exchange
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Since 2022, over 300 students from 28 Chinese universities have benefited from the Global Perspectives program, a partnership between York University’s Asian Business and Management Program (ABMP) and the Faculty of Science.
Established in 2022, the Global Perspectives program offers a series of impactful online, non-degree courses that cater to various academic interests and career aspirations by providing students with cutting-edge knowledge and in-demand practical skills, and fostering international insights in Chinese university undergraduates.
“Through this initiative, we are fostering global knowledge exchange and empowering students to make a positive impact on the world. The programs are also designed to drive positive change by aligning closely with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to address critical global challenges and promote sustainable development,” says Hugo Chen, director of international collaborations and partnerships at the Faculty of Science.
The Global Perspectives programs – which cover areas like data visualization, water and wastewater treatment, scientific literacy and more – are an adjunct to Chinese students’ core academic curriculum, delivering an immersive experience led by experienced university instructors and industry practitioners. They provide both a theoretical understanding and industry-ready practical skills, preparing students to tackle real-world challenges. English-language tutoring is integrated into the program, ensuring that students also develop the essential technical language and communication skills necessary for thriving in a global academic and professional environment.
Looking to the future, ABMP Program Director Elena Caprioni aims to provide an even greater number of Chinese undergraduates with enriching experiences and invaluable international exposure through these transformative opportunities, helping students gain unique insights and capabilities that enable them to thrive in a globalized world. “While the focus remains on empowering students for a globalized world, the collaboration between York and Chinese universities seeks to create a powerful impact that transcends borders and helps build a more interconnected, sustainable and prosperous world for all,” says Caprioni.
Students awarded Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships
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The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, presented by the Government of Canada, aims to support first-rate doctoral students studying social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and health. This year, seven York University students have been named Vanier Scholars, earning them $50,000 annually for up to three years to support their research projects.
Candidates are evaluated based on three equally weighted selection criteria: academic excellence, research potential and leadership. This year’s scholars have proposed innovative solutions to challenging problems through their projects, each of which spurs positive change in their community, both locally and globally.
Marissa Magneson (Cree-Métis, citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario), Faculty of Education
Marissa Magneson
Magneson’s application was ranked second out of 200 at the national competition for Vanier Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council files. Her proposed research contributes to the ongoing discourse of decolonial and artistic pedagogy, research-creation and Indigenous beadwork practices by challenging the ways education can look both inside and outside of the classroom.
Her project specifically seeks to uncover how beading supports Indigenous students in reclaiming culture, strengthening identity, fostering community, healing intergenerational traumas and developing a sense of belonging, while also contributing to Indigenous pedagogy through creative storytelling and supporting reconciliation.
“Beadwork as pedagogy actively responds to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, suggesting that beading not only strengthens identity but also fosters healing and reconciliation,” shares Magneson.
Greg Procknow, critical disability studies
Greg Procknow
Procknow’s doctoral research illuminates the experiential claims of inpatients found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (NCRMD) to explore whether education leads to decarceration and to re-evaluate education as a non-psychiatric method for recovery.
His research will document the educative experiences of inpatients granted day-release privileges to pursue post-secondary education on campus to uncover what factors have facilitated or inhibited their inclusion in educational spaces, how education has advanced their recovery plans and how these inpatients perceive education’s role in qualifying them for an absolute or conditional discharge.
“This research is vital to learning how pedagogy impacts rates of decarceration, supports the reintegration of NCRMD into the community, reduces recidivism and rehospitalizations, and nurtures recovery,” opines Procknow.
Cole Swanson, environmental studies
Cole Swanson
Swanson’s PhD study will use material-based art to explore the dynamic ecology of a bird colony with a stigmatized reputation, the double-crested cormorants (Nannopterum auritum). Working against dangerous imaginaries on cormorants fuelled by religious, settler-colonial, and extractivist histories and politics, Swanson will examine life in the colony to illuminate the entanglements between avian, human and more-than-human worlds.
“Through socially-engaged art practice, the apparent divides between our species will be broken down, stoking empathy and a community-based investment in the well-being and protection of these ancient creatures and their colony constituents with whom we share our lands and resources,” says Swanson.
The project will culminate in a multisensory art exhibition composed of photo, video and sound recorded from the colony, which will be shared with a diverse public for analysis useful in both scientific and social contexts.
Areej Alshammiry, sociology
Areej Alshammiry
Alshammiry’s project explores the practice of “double punishment,” where non-citizens or foreign-born individuals in Canada are criminalized and rendered deportable. The research particularly focuses on double punishment’s impact on those who are unremovable because they are stateless but inadmissible on the grounds of criminality.
“Driven by the politics of the War on Terror, these processes lead to increasing cases of statelessness by decisions like citizenship stripping of foreign-born persons or deprivation of citizenship to those without one,” states Alshammiry. “However, such measures often target already marginalized communities and are often arbitrary, as they are driven by racial, ethnic, religious and national discrimination.”
This innovative project undertakes the important work of revealing the lived experiences of stateless individuals and can positively contribute to policy frameworks on statelessness and abolition.
Jordan Krywonos, physics and astronomy
Jordan Krywonos
The PhD study proposed by Krywonos considers gravitational waves, which are ripples propagating across the fabric of our universe. As the gravitational waves travel, they carry information about their source, providing an avenue to study previously inaccessible sources such as an orbiting pair of primordial black holes that are proposed to compose a portion of dark matter. Thus, this groundbreaking research on gravitational waves could help illuminate the nature of dark matter.
“Given that the identity of dark matter is among the most important outstanding questions in cosmology, discovering primordial black holes would revolutionize our understanding of the universe, and provide a new means of probing its origin,” reveals Krywonos.
Austin Martins-Robalino, civil engineering
Austin Martins-Robalino
Martins-Robalino’s project investigates how new and emerging materials can be used in place of traditional materials when constructing shear walls, which are a key influence on how structures perform when subjected to loading from wind or seismic events. Martins-Robalino proposes that replacing traditional reinforcing steel rebar with a smart material like superelastic shape memory alloys and concrete with engineered cementitious composites could provide insight into making more damage-resilient and sustainable structures that recentre themselves after loading.
“Such resilient infrastructure would inherently improve the sustainability of structures, reducing the equivalent carbon emissions over their service life,” says Martins-Robalino.
Waisman’s proposed research seeks to provide a novel, easily accessible approach to treating chronic post-surgical pain (CPSP). A study conducted at York University and the Toronto General Hospital, published in the journal Pain, with Waisman as the lead author, found that patients who recall a greater number of event-specific, pain-related autobiographical memories before surgery are significantly less likely to develop CPSP up to one year later.
Building on these findings, Waisman’s PhD project will develop a remotely-delivered intervention that will train individuals to be more specific in the retrieval of their memories after surgery, with the aim of preventing chronic post-surgical pain.
“This work addresses a significant public health need. By creating a brief and easily accessible intervention, our plan is to deliver effective pain management to virtually anyone with a computer,” shares Waisman.
