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Fire testing lab at York University among projects awarded Ontario research funding

York University researchers will receive more than $700,000 in provincial funding for research projects and equipment through the Early Researcher Award (ERA) program and the Ontario Research Fund (ORF).

Victor Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of economic development, job creation and trade, announced nearly $41 million in research funding for research institutions across Ontario yesterday, in the High Bay Structure Lab at York’s Lassonde School of Engineering.

Ontario MPP Victor Fedeli watches as Lassonde School of Engineering Professor John Gales demonstrates fire testing during a visit to York University's High Bay Structure Lab for an Ontario Government research funding announcement.
Ontario MPP Victor Fedeli (third from the right) and York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton (fourth from the right) watch as Lassonde School of Engineering Professor John Gales (far left) demonstrates fire testing during a visit to York University’s High Bay Structure Lab for an Ontario government research funding announcement

Civil engineering Professor John Gales demonstrated how his lab assesses the resiliency of building materials to develop construction materials that are fire safe, innovative and sustainable.

Gales’ fire testing lab will receive $118,135 in ORF grants, which match funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund. The grants will allow the fire testing lab at Lassonde, one of the few in Canada, to scale up the technology to test load and heat on larger building frames to make buildings safer and more cost-efficient.

“York University’s research excellence is rooted in creating positive impacts in the lives of individuals and communities,” said York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton. “Professor Gales’ lab examines how materials can help make buildings and homes – and the people and families who live and work in them – safer from the risk of fire, and we are grateful to the government of Ontario for supporting this important research.”

Three other York University researchers will also receive ORF grants, and two researchers will receive ERAs. They are:

  • Cora Young, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science – $138,555 for Adaptable Liquid Chromatography System for Online and Offline Analysis of Trace Atmospheric Water-Soluble Compounds;
  • Ryan Hili, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science – $114,626 for Expanding the Chemistry of DNA;
  • Lyndsay Hayhurst, School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health – $49,664 for Digital Participatory Research and Physical Cultures Lab;
  • Doug Van Nort, Department of Music, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, Canada Research Chair in Digital Performance – $140,000 ERA for Improvising Machine Agents for Ensemble Musical Performance; and
  • Pouya Rezai, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering – $140,000 ERA for Organ- and Organism-on-a-Chip Platform Technologies for Neurodegenerative Disease Studies and Drug Screening.

To read the full government announcement, visit bit.ly/2lyLOCy.

Research Seminar Series in Science & Technology Studies returns with a talk on epidemic projections

Doctor holding vaccines

The start of the academic year brings with it an interesting new lineup of speakers who will be headlining the Research Seminar Series in Science & Technology Studies (STS). Now in its 26th year, the series has hosted hundreds experts from Canada and around the world presenting on a wide range of STS-related topics.

Unless otherwise specified, all seminars in this series will take place on Tuesdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in 203 Bethune College (Norman’s). They are free and open to the public, and STS majors are especially encouraged to attend. Refreshments will be provided.

Adia Benton
Adia Benton

This year’s series kicks off on Sept. 10 with Adia Benton, a professor in Northwestern University’s Department of Anthropology, presenting a talk titled “Epidemic Projections and the Politics of Reckoning.”

Within the field of public health, describing and proving causality and correlation undergird strategies for minimizing and mitigating health risks. Risk calculations draw on past experiences with danger, and form the bases for anticipating and planning for future crises. Within the subfield of modelling, the recursive relationship between past and future embodied in epidemiologic projections and forecasts are central to explaining misfortune. In this
talk, Benton asks: What kinds of assumptions about people and places, about time and about danger underlie these projections? What are the stakes of using these models not only to predict disease dynamics and speculate about effective interventions, but also to
monetize them for the purposes of generating profit for private investors and delivering financial assistance to cash-strapped governments in the midst of an epidemic?

Here’s a look at the rest of the Fall 2019 lineup:

Sept. 24: Kieran O’Doherty (University of Guelph), “Psychological Contributions to Science & Technology Studies”

Oct. 8: Kean Birch (York University), “Automated Neoliberalism”

Oct. 22: Zbigniew Stachniak (York University), “The IBM Images Archive”

Nov. 5: Kelly Bronson (University of Ottawa), “Data-driven: Agribusiness, Activists and Their Shared Politics of the Future”

Nov. 19: Kate Henne (University of Waterloo), “Grey Matters: Imagining Traumatic Brain Injury Through the Lens of Sex Difference”

Dec. 3: John McLevey (University of Waterloo), “Democracies in Crisis? Online Deception, Disinformation and Political Polarization in Comparative Perspective”

Further details will appear in YFile prior to each talk, and the lineup for Winter 2019 will be released at a later date. This series is sponsored by York University’s Department of Science & Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, and co-ordinated by members of the department. For more information about the Research Seminar Series in Science & Technology Studies, contact Professor Conor Douglas at cd512@yorku.ca or visit sts.info.yorku.ca/seminar-series.

NSERC Summer Undergraduate Research Conference a huge success

Six undergraduate students won awards at this year’s Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Summer Undergraduate Research Conference at York University.

The students in attendance came from various York departments, and a few even came from other postsecondary institutions, to work in labs across the University with York supervisors.

“Today, you will have the opportunity to highlight the work you did this summer as a research student,” said Alex Mills, associate dean of students, to the attendees. “Congratulations to you on completing what I hope was a rewarding summer full of learning and new opportunities. It will hopefully have given you a richer experience and a greater understanding of what you may want to do in the future.”

Out of 56 students, a dozen gave oral presentations about their research over the summer, while the rest gave poster presentations. A large team of graduate students volunteered to judge the presentations. Jennifer Steeves, associate dean of research and graduate education, and Donald Hastie, associate dean of faculty, presented the winners with their awards.

The research topics included seeing with sound, colon cancer cells, Type 2 diabetes, Lewis Acids, tracking environmental change in Iqallukvik Lake in the Northwest Territories, electron electric dipole moment determination and much more.

From left: Jennifer Steeves, associate dean of research and graduate education; winners of the oral competition Kevin Borsos, Ehsan Yavari and Seja Elgadi; and Donald Hastie, associate dean of faculty

The winners of the oral presentations are:

  • Gold – Kevin Borsos of the Department of Physics & Astronomy (supervisor: Professor Anantharaman Kumarakrishnan)
  • Silver – Ehsan Yavari (NSERC-URSA) of the Faculty of Health (supervisor: Professor Tara Haas)
  • Bronze – Seja Elgadi of the Department of Chemistry (supervisor: Professor Christopher Caputo)
From left: Jennifer Steeves, associate dean of research and graduate education; winners of the poster competition Nadar Allam, Ethan Brooks and Quinton Weyrich; and Donald Hastie, associate dean of faculty

The winners of the poster presentation are:

  • Gold – Nadar Allam of the Department of Physics & Astronomy (supervisors: professors Ozzy Mermut and Bill Pietro)
  • Silver – Ethan Brooks of the Department of Physics & Astronomy (supervisor: Professor Eric Hessels)
  • Bronze – Quinton Weyrich of the Department of Physics & Astronomy (supervisor: Professor Eric Hessels)

Participating students and supervisors came from: the Faculty of Science’s departments of Biology, Mathematics & Statistics, Chemistry, and Physics & Astronomy; the Faculty of Health’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science and Psychology; the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies’ Department of Geography; the Schulich School of Business; the Faculty of Environmental Studies; and Glendon.

Most of the students received an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (URSA), a Dean’s Undergraduate Research Award (DURA) or a York Science Scholar Award.

The DURA’s were funded through Bernadene Magnuson and Earle Nestmann, the Gérard Herbert Award and the Luise Herzberg Award for Women in Science.

See all the participants in the 2019 Summer Undergraduate Research Conference booklet.

Bee researchers tackle big buzz questions at annual BeeCon

A group shot of the attendess at BeeCon

Bee researchers gathered for the annual BeeCon – southern Ontario’s bee researchers symposium – on Monday, Aug. 26 to talk about everything related to bees, including bee behaviour, genetics and genomics, and conservation.

A group shot of the attendees at BeeCon

This year’s bee conference, organized by Faculty of Science biology Professor Laurence Packer and biology research assistants Sheila Dumesh and Liam Graham, drew bee researchers from Ontario and beyond, including some from as far away as Australia. Close to 90 people registered for the conference, which was primarily an opportunity for graduate students to present their research and discuss their findings.

Student presentations looked at topics including the heritability of detoxification in honeybees by the Faculty of Science’s Nadia Tsvetkov; bumblebee queen abundance and diversity in farms and natural areas by Kayla Mundy-Heisz of the University of Guelph; and a talk about citizen science by Victoria MacPhail of the Faculty of Environmental Studies. Katherine Odanaka of the Faculty of Science looked at the effects of land use on wild bee functional and phylogenetic diversity, while Tanya Latty of the University of Sydney discussed flower choice, decoy effects and urban agriculture with bees.

Ricardo Ayala Barajas
Ricardo Ayala Barajas

Keynote speaker Ricardo Ayala Barajas of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México discussed the diversity of bees in Mexico, as well as the current impact the loss of pollinators is causing.

He told the audience that 107 taxonomists have described 1,910 species of bees from Mexico in the past 257 years. That compares to about 900 in Canada and 3,745 in the United States. There is now a network to study the bees of Meso-America, including taxonomy, conservation, faunistics, natural history and pollination. Even with the network, Central America needs more taxonomists to study bees and provide more information about their behaviour, habits and floral relations, among other topics.

Mexico has a richness of native bees, said Ayala Barajas, who pointed out which states have the most diversity. The family Apidae is the most diverse of the six bee families found in Mexico, with 74 genera and 668 species. This included 23 registered species of bumblebees (genus Bombus).

In addition, there are many species of oil-collecting bees, stingless bees and orchid bees in Mexico. Stingless bees are responsible for pollinating crops such as chilis. In recent years, he said, there has been more discussion about importing new pollinators. At the moment, Bombus impatiens are imported to pollinate about 40,000 hectares of greenhouse crops – tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, sweet peppers and various berries – but Ayala Barajas said there are other native Bombus species that could be used instead and it is known that introduced species bring diseases that cause problems for local species.

Mexico, like the rest of the world, is facing a loss of bee diversity, which is mostly the result of human activity, said Ayala Barajas. Urgent measures to stop the deterioration of forests and jungles, promotion of programs to reverse deforestation and better regulation of agrochemicals is needed.

“A balance is required between areas dedicated to apiculture and meliponiculture, which provide the crop pollination and other economic needs of the people and areas dedicated to conservation of native bee fauna,” said Ayala Barajas.

Prof. Cora Young named to Talented 12 list of up-and-coming chemistry innovators

York University Professor Cora Young is a rising star in the world of chemical sciences. Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society (ACS), has named her to its new Talented 12 list.

Cora Young

The annual list, now in its fifth year, recognizes up-and-coming chemistry researchers and innovators who are tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues. Young is one of 12 chosen out of a field of 500 nominees by C&EN staff, Talented 12 alumni and members of the global chemistry community.

ACS announced the list on Sunday at its fall 2019 national meeting and exposition in San Diego, Calif. This week’s issue of C&EN will feature this year’s Talented 12.

Young is an atmospheric and analytical environmental chemist who tracks trace chemicals that affect climate and air quality. She uses state-of-the-science analytical techniques to characterize chemicals, their sources and their fates in the environment, and is continually looking for environmental problems that could benefit from her expertise.

“What unites all these projects,” said Young, the Guy Warwick Rogers Chair in Chemistry, “is having my interest piqued by some important environmental problem, then realizing, ‘Oh, I have a measurement that might fill a gap there.’ ”

She is often searching for tiny amounts – parts per quadrillion – of chemicals in Arctic ice samples. Many of those chemicals have travelled from long distances to reach the Arctic from consumer products such as flame retardants or non-stick surfaces on cookware, as well as pesticides.

Bibiana Campos Seijo (PhD), editor-in-chief of C&EN and vice-president of C&EN Media Group, said, “We are proud to present this year’s Talented 12 class here in San Diego. This annual list of innovators features our most diverse science yet and is comprised of a group of young pioneers who are determined to change the world. As some of the brightest and most influential minds in the chemical sciences, there is no doubt they will shake up our field. The future is bright. Prepare to be inspired.”

ACS, the world’s largest scientific society, is a not-for-profit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. ACS does not conduct research, but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies.

Thermo Fisher Scientific sponsors the Talented 12 list.

Interested in attending COP25 in Santiago, Chile? Apply by Aug. 31

Photo by Singkham from Pexels

The 25th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting, known as the Conference of the Parties (COP25), will be held Dec. 2 to 13 in Santiago, Chile.

York University community members interested in attending COP25 should email Dawn Bazely, University Professor, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, by Saturday, Aug. 31. Interested applicants should use the subject line: “My application to be nominated for the York U delegation to COP25.” Their applications should include a brief explanation about why they wish to attend COP.

Bazely is the focal point for the annual UNFCCC. In this role, she provides the nominations and registration for the University’s delegates to COP25. Successful delegate applicants usually receive credentials for one week out of the two weeks of the meetings.

York University has observer status as a research and independent non-governmental organization (RINGO). Since COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark, (every year but one) a delegation of York University students and faculty has attended COP to witness negotiations, attend research presentations and art installations, and to network with fellow climate change scholars and activists.

It is important to note that delegates will be responsible for their own funding and must arrange their own air fare, hotel accommodations, local transportation and time away from their work or studies.

For more information about COP25, visit the UNFCCC website at unfccc.int/Santiago.

Interested in attending COP25 in Santiago, Chile? Apply by Aug. 31

a dry arid landscape due to global warming

The 25th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting, known as the Conference of the Parties (COP25), will be held Dec. 2 to 13 in Santiago, Chile.

Dawn Bazely
Dawn Bazely

York University community members interested in attending COP25 should email Dawn Bazely, University Professor, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, by Saturday, Aug. 31. Interested applicants should use the subject line: “My application to be nominated for the York U delegation to COP25.” Their applications should include a brief explanation about why they wish to attend COP.

Bazely is the focal point for the annual UNFCCC. In this role, she provides the nominations and registration for the University’s delegates to COP25. Successful delegate applicants usually receive credentials for one week out of the two weeks of the meetings.

York University has observer status as a research and independent non-governmental organization (RINGO). Since COP15 in Copenhagen, Denmark, (every year but one) a delegation of York University students and faculty has attended COP to witness negotiations, attend research presentations and art installations, and to network with fellow climate change scholars and activists.

It is important to note that delegates will be responsible for their own funding and must arrange their own air fare, hotel accommodations, local transportation and time away from their work or studies.

For more information about COP25, visit the UNFCCC website at unfccc.int/Santiago.

Schulich Leader Scholarships awarded to female students for STEM studies at York University

Two young women from the Greater Toronto Area have been awarded Schulich Leader Scholarships to study at York University. The prestigious scholarships are awarded to select high-school graduates with entrepreneurial talent who are enrolling in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) program.

They are among the 50 Schulich Leaders across Canada chosen for the undergraduate scholarships from 1,500 high-school graduates who were nominated. The potential pool of candidates across Canada this year was 300,000.

Kathryn Chin
Kathryn Chin

Kathryn Chin has been admitted to the Lassonde School of Engineering at York and is receiving a $100,000 scholarship over four years. A graduate of Bishop Allen Academy, Chin worked with fire engineering Professor John Gales at York University last summer on a research project about the safety of mass ingress and egress in large stadiums. She was the youngest individual in Canada in the Japan Karate Association to achieve a second-degree black belt and has competed internationally. In high school, Chin was part of a team that raised funds for a school that will be built in Kenya. A decade from now, she hopes to be working as a civil engineer, designing high-rise or transportation projects. She would also like to use her education to build sustainable schools for children in developing countries.

Rivka Werner
Rivka Werner

Rivka Werner has been admitted to York’s Faculty of Science and will receive an $80,000 scholarship over four years. Valedictorian of her high-school class in Ulpanat Orot/Bnei Akiva Schools of Toronto, Werner won Weizmann Canada’s 2019 National Physics Tournament and represented Canada in the international finals. While in high school, she led fundraising campaigns for a non-denominational charity for children with special needs, raising over $18,000. She also completed Level 8 studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music with first-class honours with distinction and won top prizes in competitive public speaking. For two summers she was a Tikvah Scholar at Yale University. In 10 years, she hopes to be participating in cutting-edge research in a biology-related field, using her STEM education to make the world a better and healthier place. She will begin her degree at York in a year from now, after studying abroad.

“Schulich Leader Scholarships are the largest STEM scholarships in Canada. With 50 outstanding students selected in Canada each year, it is all but guaranteed that this group represents the best and brightest Canada has to offer,” says program founder Seymour Schulich. “These students will make great contributions to society, both on a national and global scale. With their university expenses covered, they can focus their time on their studies, research projects, extracurriculars and entrepreneurial ventures. They are the next generation of technology innovators.”

Schulich Leader Scholarships are prestigious entrance scholarships awarded to 50 high-school graduates enrolling in a STEM undergraduate program at one of 20 partner universities in Canada. Each year, every high school in Canada can submit one Schulich Leader nominee based on academic excellence in STEM, entrepreneurial leadership and financial need.

Recognizing the increasing importance and impact that STEM disciplines will have on the prosperity of future generations, businessman and philanthropist Seymour Schulich established this $100-million scholarship fund in 2012 to encourage our best and brightest students to become the next pioneers of global scientific research and innovation.

Installation of new telescope expected to be largest at a Canadian university

Aerial view of the telescope being installed

York University is now home to a new one-metre custom telescope that will enhance hands-on learning experiences and undergraduate research opportunities for the York community and beyond.

Installed at the Allan I. Carswell Observatory on Aug. 16, the telescope is expected to be the largest situated on a university campus in Canada.

A crane worked to hoist equipment into the air and then carefully lower each piece into the dome of the observatory. The equipment that was dangling over campus weighed about 4,400 pounds – almost as much as an elephant. Inside the observatory, workers assembled the telescope piece by piece as each crate was hoisted down into the dome and unpacked.

The telescope will give students, astronomers and members of the public a closer look at the wonders of the night sky. The telescope’s larger aperture will provide a deeper view into space, distant galaxies and cosmic objects, and make it easier to see Saturn’s rings, the Great Red Spot on Jupiter and the polar caps on Mars.

The completed telescope is expected to be unveiled at an event in October.

Installation of telescope
The project is funded through a $500,000 donation from the Carswell Family Foundation, matched by York University and its Faculty of Science, for a total investment of $1 million. This gift is a part of Impact, The Campaign for York University, and supports its pillars of building stronger communities and mobilizing new ways of thinking.

The observatory at York has been a prominent hub for science outreach to the broader community since 1969. About 5,000 visitors a year come for public viewing on Wednesday nights and there are online viewing opportunities for scores more on Monday nights, when York students and faculty host the popular “YorkUniverse” radio show on astronomy.fm. That’s when members of the public from around the world can request the telescope be pointed to their favorite celestial target. In recent years, the observatory has also become a popular venue for marriage proposals.

The observatory is already home to a fleet of astronomical telescopes, including 60-centimetre and 40-centimetre Cassegrains, and five 20-centimetre telescopes, which were used recently for the partial solar eclipse, attracting about 2,000 community members to York’s Keele Campus.

Watch a video below of Professor Paul Delaney explaining how the telescope will benefit York U and the wider community:

Faculty of Science hosts Summer Undergraduate Research Conference, Aug. 20

The Faculty of Science is hosting its 2019 Summer Undergraduate Research Conference on Tuesday, Aug. 20

The Faculty of Science is hosting its 2019 Summer Undergraduate Research Conference on Tuesday, Aug. 20, highlighting the work of some of York University’s top students.

The Faculty of Science 2019 Summer Undergraduate Research Conference takes place Aug. 20

Students will share their work at the conference through oral and poster presentations in the second-floor convention centre of the Second Student Centre. The York University community is welcome to attend the conference. Opening remarks will begin at 9 a.m., followed by oral presentations until noon. A poster session will run from 1 to 2:30 p.m. and the presentation of certificates and prizes will start at 3 p.m.

York students share their research

Most of the summer research students are from the Faculty of Science, but they also hail from the Faculty of Health, the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, the Faculty of Environmental Studies, the Schulich School of Business and Glendon Campus.

“The conference is an incredible opportunity for students to actively learn through each other’s summer research presentations, while also practising science communication with peers and professionals,” said Jennifer Steeves, associate dean of research and graduate education in the Faculty of Science.

The majority of students at the conference received an Undergraduate Student Research Award from the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada, a Dean’s Undergraduate Research Award from the Faculty of Science or a York Science Scholars Award to conduct summer research projects.