Tag: VP Research and Innovation

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Community Safety outlines the next steps in moving to Required Services during COVID-19

Image: CDC
An image of the COVID-19 virus. Image: CDC

Samina Sami, executive director of Community Safety, issues the following important notice to York University community members about moving to Required Services during COVID-19. There is a lot of information to digest and a link to the full explanation for each area is provided in this communication:

To help ensure the health and safety of our campus communities, support government directives and help prevent the risk and spread of COVID-19, York University has moved to delivering Required Services only on our campuses.

The purpose of this communication is to provide the York community with further information regarding the specific steps and procedures needed for the University to move to a Required Services status.

Given the amount of information that you need to be aware of, please go to https://coronavirus.info.yorku.ca/required-services/ where you will find detailed the following information:

  • Building access arrangements
  • Compensation
  • Course completion
  • Health, safety and well-being
  • Information Technology resources
  • Parking
  • Pension and benefits
  • Research
  • UIT and telecom
  • Working remotely

President Rhonda L. Lenton issues a statement on the University’s response to COVID-19

Vari Hall

The following is an important statement to the York University community from President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton. This statement was issued on Friday, March 13:

As the COVID-19 pandemic has grown and evolved, York University has kept the safety and well-being of students, staff and faculty at the heart of all its decisions. We are also conscious of our role in the national and global fight against a serious illness. In light of the developments we have seen at home and around the world this week, it is time for the University to enter a new phase in its comprehensive response.

Beginning on March 16, we will be suspending all face-to-face instruction and moving courses to online formats. We are committed to completing the term and will deploy all of our resources to support faculty and students through this transition. Further information will be forthcoming from the Provost and Deans regarding courses with lab and studio requirements, and arrangements for examinations. Where possible, work and clinical placements will continue.

As of midnight tonight, we will be cancelling or postponing all non-essential events that are not required as part of an academic program. We will also be closing the Tait Mackenzie Centre and the Glendon Athletic Club until April 30. Our Keele and Glendon campuses will remain open, and research activities will continue.

In the days ahead, we will also be introducing new policies on working from home and doctors’ notes to minimize risk and maximize flexibility for our community. More details on these changes will be forthcoming. As always, we encourage everyone to take preventative measures such as enhanced hand washing and social distancing. If you feel unwell, please stay home.

It will take time to sort out the details of the initiatives we are announcing today. I am grateful for the patience and support of students, staff and faculty during this period of rapid change. And to the members of York’s Emergency Management Team and the many staff and faculty members who have put in so many hours – with many more to come – preparing and implementing our COVID-19 response, thank you. Your commitment to our community is extraordinary.

Compassion and care are among York’s most important values. Some members of our community may need special accommodations to sustain their mental and physical health as the COVID-19 situation unfolds, and unfortunately, others will likely fall ill. York will be part of the network of family, friends and institutions that will help them recover.

I know this is an anxious and upsetting time for everyone. Let me say, without reservation, that York will be there to support every member of the community as we face this pandemic together. For students, my commitment is that you will have the academic and wellness supports you need to thrive in and beyond the current situation. For faculty and staff, know that the University recognizes your dedication and is, in turn, committed to your health and well-being.

Please stay tuned for additional information over the coming days. As always, you can find the latest updates on York’s dedicated COVID-19 website and you can email your questions to coronavirusinfo@yorku.ca. Senate Executive will also be providing guidance on adjustments to academic regulations, deadlines and schedules as required.

Take care of yourselves and each other.

Tout au long de la montée et de l’évolution de COVID-19, l’Université York a placé la sécurité et le bien-être du corps étudiant, du corps professoral et du personnel au cœur de toutes ses décisions. Nous sommes également conscients de notre rôle dans la lutte nationale et internationale contre une maladie sérieuse. À la suite des développements de cette semaine au pays et dans le monde entier, il est temps pour l’Université d’entrer dans une nouvelle phase de sa réponse globale.

À partir du lundi 16 mars, les cours en personne seront suspendus et remplacés par des cours en ligne. Nous sommes déterminés à achever le semestre et nous déploierons toutes nos ressources pour appuyer le corps professoral et le corps étudiant durant cette transition. La rectrice et les doyens fourniront plus d’information sur les cours qui comportent des laboratoires et des classes pratiques et sur les aménagements pour les examens. Dans la mesure du possible, le travail et les placements cliniques continueront.

À partir de ce soir à minuit, tous les événements non essentiels qui ne font pas partie des exigences d’un programme académique seront annulés ou reportés. Nous fermerons également le centre Tait Mackenzie et le club athlétique de Glendon jusqu’au 30 avril. Nos campus Keele et Glendon demeureront ouverts et les activités de recherche se poursuivront.

Dans les jours à venir, nous introduirons aussi de nouvelles politiques sur le travail à la maison et les notes des médecins pour minimiser les risques et optimiser la flexibilité pour notre communauté. Vous recevrez bientôt plus de détails au sujet de ces changements. Comme toujours, nous encourageons tout le monde à prendre des mesures de prévention comme un lavage de mains soigneux et l’éloignement social. Si vous ne vous sentez pas bien, veuillez rester à la maison.

Cela prendra du temps pour régler les détails des initiatives que nous annonçons aujourd’hui. Je suis reconnaissante de la patience et du soutien du corps étudiant, du personnel et du corps professoral durant cette période de changements rapides. Et je remercie les membres de l’équipe de gestion des urgences et les membres du personnel et du corps professoral qui ont consacré tellement d’heures — et en consacreront beaucoup plus — à préparer et mettre en place notre réponse à COVID-19. Votre engagement envers notre communauté est extraordinaire.

La compassion et l’assistance font partie des valeurs les plus importantes de York. Des membres de notre communauté auront peut-être besoin d’aménagements spéciaux pour assurer leur santé mentale et physique durant la situation de COVID-19; malheureusement, certains tomberont sans doute malades. York fera partie du réseau de familles, amis et institutions qui les aideront à se remettre.

Je sais que cette période est bouleversante et angoissante pour tout le monde. Mais laissez-moi vous dire, sans réserve, que York sera présent pour appuyer chaque membre de la communauté tandis que nous affrontons ensemble cette pandémie. En ce qui concerne les étudiants, je m’engage à ce que vous disposiez du soutien académique et de bien-être nécessaire pour prospérer dans la situation actuelle et par la suite. En ce qui concerne le corps professoral et le personnel, sachez que l’Université reconnaît votre dévouement et s’engage, en retour, à protéger votre santé et votre bien-être.

Veuillez rester à l’écoute pour d’autres informations au cours des jours à venir. Comme toujours, vous pouvez trouver les dernières mises à jour sur le site Web de York consacré à COVID-19 et vous pouvez envoyer vos questions par courriel à coronavirusinfo@yorku.ca. Les membres du Sénat fourniront également des informations sur les modifications des règlements académiques, sur les dates d’échéance et sur le calendrier, suivant les besoins.

Prenez bien soin de vous et des autres.

CANCELLED: Law and Disorder symposium honours the memory of esteemed criminologist

Margaret Beare

The demands on policing in Canada have never been greater. Gender and race issues, the globalization of money and money laundering, corruption and cybercrime are all pressing matters. They beg questions about democratic governance, accountability and control of police.

Law and Disorder – a symposium on Saturday, March 14 to be presented by Osgoode Hall Law School’s Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security in honour of its founding director, the late Professor Margaret Beare – will discuss the challenges of policing and governance in a globalizing world.

Among the more than a dozen speakers will be Associate Professor Stephen Wilks, Mercy School of Law, Detroit; Anna Willats, Member of the Toronto Police Accountability Commission; Peter German, President, International Centre for Criminal Law Reform, Vancouver; Nathalie Des Rosiers, Principal, Massey College, Toronto; and Philip Stenning, Griffith Criminology Institute, Brisbane, Australia. For program details, click here

Professor Margaret Beare

Beare, an esteemed criminologist who joined the faculty of York University in 1995 in the Department of Sociology with a cross appointment to Osgoode, died in August of cancer at the age of 72.

Educated at Guelph University (BA ’68, MA ’71), University of Cambridge in England (Diploma in Criminology, ’74) and Columbia University in New York (PhD ’87), her career in transnational police policy and the study of organized crime began with her role as senior research officer in the Office of the Solicitor General in Ottawa where she worked from 1982 to 1993.

“Margaret was a research powerhouse at Osgoode, blending sociology, criminology, and law like no one else,” said Professor François Tanguay-Renaud, co-director of the Nathanson Centre. “As the founding director of the Nathanson Centre, she put it on the map from day one – producing countless reports that are cited to this day and hosting numerous workshops and conferences on cutting-edge issues. Her deep connections in the worlds of policing and crime-related policymaking, most centrally organized crime policy, made her the go-to person whenever a socio-legal analysis of these domains was needed. The Canadian legal academe has lost a giant in Margaret Beare.”

The author, co-author or editor of numerous books and articles on money laundering, international policing policy, gang violence and social justice, Beare was the founding director of Osgoode’s Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime & Corruption – now called the Jack & Mae Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security – and remained a faculty member at York until her death.

Research shows climate change puts blunt-nosed leopard lizard at risk

blunt nosed leopard lizard wikimedia commons
blunt nosed leopard lizard wikimedia commons

Researchers from York University have collaborated on a study investigating how climate change can impact the blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila), a federally endangered species that is at risk of extirpation.

Faculty of Science Professor Christopher Lortie and York University graduate students Nargol Ghazian, Malory Owen and Mario Zuliani worked with colleagues from California Polytechnic State University and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to study how projected increases in ambient temperatures could put the animal at risk for localized extinction within the study site – the Elkhorn Plain in the Carrizo Plain National Monument, California. This area is characterized by extremely harsh, arid summers and cool winters.

Published in the journal Conservation Physiology, the study “Thermal ecology of the federally endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard” shows that with projected 1 and 2 degrees Celsius increases to 2018 ambient temperatures, G. sila will lose additional hours of activity time that will compound stressors faced by this population potentially leading to extirpation.

“For animals (and plants) living at the edge of extreme conditions, even subtle nudges in climate can push species toward local extirpation from sites if not extinction,” said Lortie. “Large protected areas in Canada and in the U.S.A. are sanctuaries not just for biodiversity and natural beauty, but often refuges from competing anthropogenic pressures. If these climatic nudges continue, even with protected spaces, it will likely be challenging for many species to adapt or to move to other sites (that are likely not protected).”

Recognizing how climate change will impact populations can aid in making decisions about approaches for conservation of endangered species.

Blunt-nosed leopard lizard (G. sila) (image: Wikimedia Commons)

Researchers collected data on the field-active body temperatures, preferred body temperatures and upper thermal tolerance of G. sila. The investigation included: studying patterns in lizard body temperatures; quantifying the lizards’ thermoregulatory accuracy; determining the number of hours the lizards are currently thermally restricted in microhabitat use; projecting how the number of restricted hours will change as ambient temperatures rise; and assessing the importance of burrows and shade-providing shrubs in both current and future thermal ecology of the lizard.

Lizards maintained fairly consistent daytime body temperatures during the active season, and the use of burrows and shrubs increased as the season progressed and ambient temperatures rose. Researchers observed that the lizards are forced to seek refuge under shrubs and burrows for 75 per cent of daylight hours to avoid surpassing their upper thermal threshold.

This trend indicates that with an increase in ambient temperature and without adequate thermal buffers, the lizards will experience an increase in energy expenditure during the day resulting in loss of foraging opportunities, as well as decreased energy for reproduction and growth.

If nothing is done to mitigate the effects of climate change and make important decisions about the management of this habitat, the extirpation of this population and potentially extinction of the entire species is a distinct possibility.

POSTPONED: Workshop brings together scholars to discuss authoritarian drive in Turkey

Turkey’s Financialized Capitalism
Turkey’s Financialized Capitalism

A one-day workshop that brings together Turkish scholars to engage in a critical and in-depth discussion on the current authoritarian drive in Turkey will take place March 19 at York University’s Keele Campus.

Pinar Bedirhanoglu

Presented by the Global Labour Research Centre (GLRC) and the Department of Politics, “Contested Reproduction of Turkey’s Financialized Capitalism: State and Society in Crisis” will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Ross Building South 674. It is organized by Pinar Bedirhanoğlu, visiting professor in the Department of Politics, and associate professor in the Department of International Relations at Middle East Technical University with Luann Good Gingrich, director, Global Labour Research Centre, York University.

The workshop will problematize the following issues:

  • the constitutive role of financialization in authoritarian state transformation;
  • state policies that weaken the power of labour vis-á-vis capital; and
  • the enhancement of the coercive capacity of state and capital for social control.

Besides identifying the Turkey-specific determinants of authoritarianism, the workshop aims to situate the Turkish experience within its global context, and thus contribute to relevant debates in comparative politics.

The program includes:

Welcome and introductions – 9 to 9:30 a.m.

Politics of Labour – 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Chair and discussant: Angela Joya, adjunct research professor, Carleton University

  • Formation of the “classes of labour” in Turkey under neoliberalism and changing forms of rural class struggle – Coşku Çelik, postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Politics and Department of Social Science, York University
  • Syrian refugees as surplus population in Turkish labour market: Racialization, segmentation and exploitation – Canan Şahin, PhD candidate, Queens University
  • Social reproduction in crisis: Limits to reproducing labour power in neoliberalizing Turkey – Hilal Kara, PhD candidate, Queens University

State Transformation through Financialization – 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Chair and discussant: Barış Karaağaç, lecturer, Trent University

  • Responses to the 2018-19 economic crisis in AKP’s Turkey: Policy space and discipline by state-sponsored credit – Ali Rıza Güngen, Distance Fellow, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Financialization, debt, state and health care – İpek Eren-Vural, research associate, Dalhousie University; adjunct professor, Simon Fraser University
  • Financialisation, household indebtedness, and state crisis in Turkey – Pınar Bedirhanoğlu, visiting professor, Department of Politics, York University; associate professor, Department of International Relations, METU

Politics of Coercion – 3 to 5 p.m.
Chair and discussant: Ömer Özcan, visiting professor, Department of Anthropology,York University

  • “The law of the city?”: Social war, urban warfare, and dispossession on the margin – Çağlar Dölek, contract instructor, Carleton University
  • Policing the crisis in Turkey: The case of feminicides – Funda Hülagü, research associate, Philipps University of Marburg (via Skype)
  • Turkey’s authoritarian surveillance regime – Özgün Topak, assistant professor, Department of Social Science, York University

For more information visit the GLRC event page or the Facebook event page.

Those interested can register at http://tiny.cc/glrcturkey. All are welcome.

The event is supported by York University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, the Vice-President Research & Innovation and the Department of Politics.

Professor Stephanie Martin to receive the AMPD Research Award

HMHS Landovery Castle
HMHS Landovery Castle. Image: Wikimedia Commons

An important story of Canadian history and tragedy that was retold through an opera written by Stephanie Martin, associate professor of music at York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design (AMPD), will be the subject of a special lecture on March 11 at York University.

Stephanie Martin
Stephanie Martin

The presentation is the marquee event in a special celebration honouring Martin with the third annual AMPD Research Award.

The AMPD Research Award Reception & Talk will take place from 2:30 to 5 p.m. in room 237, Accolade East Building on the Keele Campus. (This event is by invitation only.)

“Stephanie Martin has distinguished herself as a prominent composer, choral conductor, and scholar who is recognized through performances of her compositions across Canada and internationally,” says Professor Louise Wrazen, chair of the Music Department. “The AMPD Research Award is a wonderful way of acknowledging these achievements, as well as her contributions to York and to the Department of Music.”

The lecture will focus Llandovery Castle, an opera created by Martin to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the eponymous hospital ship during the First World War. Martin’s original opera took a historical tragedy and made it live for current audiences. Llandovery Castle, which premiered June 26 and 27, 2019 in Toronto, tells the story of the journey of the Canadian hospital ship HMHS Llandovery Castle that was torpedoed in the North Atlantic Ocean in June 1918. The story focuses on 14 nurses from across Canada who served in harrowing circumstances around the First World War. The opera features music written by Martin, libretto by Paul Ciufo and was staged at the Calvin Presbyterian Church in Toronto.

Martin’s interest in the story began in 2015, when during a rehearsal for another project she noticed a dedication plaque for a Llandovery Castle nurse on the wall of Calvin Presbyterian Church. The music of opera, scored for a sonorous classical chamber orchestra and nine singers, has been described as “a modern flirtation between baroque, classical, traditional and popular genres.” Martin describes this operatic style as “21st century bel canto,” focused on the narrative and expressive power of the human voice.

HMHS Landovery Castle. Image: Wikimedia Commons

The creation of the opera is part of an illustrious career in classical music. “Professor Martin’s compositions, along with her edition of Parry’s oratorio Judith, are examples of how composition can be seen as research creation and are firmly rooted in her exemplary career as a choral conductor,” said her colleague Professor Dorothy de Val in her nomination letter.

“From the research point of view, Martin brings her own compositional voice to traditional genres such as oratorio, cantata, mass and motet to frame her original ideas, and above all makes her works accessible to performers and a large audience,” added de Val.

Martin’s current compositions include an oratorio, The Sun, the Wind, and the Man with the Cloak (2019), an opera Llandovery Castle (2018), a Requiem mass Requiem for All Souls (2017) premiered in San Diego (Ruben Valenzuela, conductor) and Missa Chicagoensis (2017) premiered at St. John Cantius parish in Chicago (Fr Scott Haynes, conductor). Her choral symphony Babel (2016) premièred at Wilfrid Laurier University (Lee Willingham, conductor), celebrating the 40th anniversary of the WLU Faculty of Music. (Listen on Soundcloud).

To learn more, read the September 2019 Q-and-A with Martin, published in “Brainstorm” a special issue of YFile. The article is available at https://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2019/09/05/q-and-a-with-composer-reveals-how-and-why-she-transformed-a-first-world-war-tragedy-into-song/.

Undergraduate excellence on display at eighth annual Research Fair and Art Walk

Undergraduate Research Fair & Art Walk
Undergraduate Research Fair & Art Walk

More than 50 posters and 10 pieces of artwork representing over 70 students took over the Scott Library Collaboratory when York University hosted the eighth annual Undergraduate Research Fair on March 4.

Jessica Godin
Jessica Godin

Sponsored by York University Libraries and the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, the event honoured student researchers and artists and provided them with an opportunity to share their work. Students from both Keele and Glendon campuses and from multiple disciplines – social sciences, fine arts, humanities, health, sciences and environmental studies – were at the fair and eager to demonstrate their findings.

Students submitted projects based on a diverse range of topics and for a variety of reasons. Some projects were focused on designing future research, such as psychology student and hopeful future marriage counselor Jessica Godin’s poster, “Looking on the Bright Side: Comparing Long-Distance Relationships and Geographically Close Relationships,” which proposed surveying long-distance couples about their sexual satisfaction, an area Godin said she learned was a “big question mark” in her course on intimate relationships. Other projects were based on research that students had the opportunity to conduct, such as political science student Adam Garisto’s poster, “Ford Fest: Community BBQ or Ethical Nightmare,” which applied theories of utilitarianism and deontology to explored the ethics around the ways political parties communicate with different audiences.

Adam Garisto
Adam Garisto

Garisto, now in his fourth year, was excited to discuss his topic, having wanted to be involved in the fair throughout his studies. “I think any undergrad who is thinking about the fair should definitely apply,” Garisto said. “It’s been one of the best experiences, and it’s so great to get some exposure for your academic papers.”

Elizaveta Selezneva, a Glendon psychology student who participated in the event for the second time, echoed Garisto’s enthusiasm. “It’s a chance to share the findings you have with the community and educate people, and to meet other people who conducted research and find out something new.” Selezneva, who won the first-place prize for Best Honours Thesis/MRP for her project on susceptibility to fake news, was appreciative of the opportunity for “extra training” for future graduate studies. “We conduct research, we discuss findings,” she explained. “That’s what we do there!”

Elizaveta Selezneva
Elizaveta Selezneva

Many students agreed that the fair provided them with valuable experiential education to support their future endeavours. “I had a lot of experience doing research, both within the laboratory and through literature,” explained first place Library Information Award winner John Nguyen. “I was very happy that I could learn these new skills which could be used either in graduate or professional programs.”

Gloria Park, who won the second-place prize for Best Honours Thesis/MRP for her proposed policy solutions to address the high rate of mental and physical health concerns facing Indigenous inmates, was not alone in thanking her instructor for supporting her participation in the event. “She really encouraged me and provided me the tools I needed,” Park said of Assistant Professor Tuulia Law from York’s criminology program.

Gloria Park
Gloria Park

Interim Vice-President of Research and Innovation and Faculty of Science dean Rui Wang praised the undergraduate researchers and artists in remarks delivered at the fair. “This makes me want to go back to school, and I’m wondering whether you have openings in your research teams,” Wang said. “My CV is coming.”

Wang told attendees that the University is fortunate to benefit from its undergraduate researchers. “You bring the new ideas, new inspiration and new energy into the university research arena,” he said. “You are the future. You are the hope.”

Awards were presented in eight different categories, with students taking home monetary prizes for Best Lower-Year Project, Best Upper-Year Project, Best Thesis/Major Research Paper (MRP) Project, the Library Information Literacy Award, Best Poster, Best Group Project, the People’s Choice Award as well as the first ever Art Walk Exhibit Award.

Bach on Brass
Bach on Brass

All presenters received an invitation to submit an article on their project, to be considered for publication in the refereed e-journal Review YOUR Review (York Online Undergraduate Research Review) published by York University Libraries and associated with the fair. The Art Walk award winning submission will appear on the cover of the e-journal.

Entertainment at the event was provided by Bach on Brass, a group of music students in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design including Giancarlo Binetti (French horn), Maurizio Miserere (tuba), Blair Smith-Herbert (trombone), Brittany Zecha (trumpet) and Joshua Zhang (trumpet).

For more information on the Undergraduate Research Fair, visit the event’s website. A complete list of this year’s award winners can be found below, with photos by Rividu Mendis:

Dr. James Wu Prize for Best Lower-year Project

  • First prize: Anh T. P. Nguyen for “Smart Drugs? Cognitive Enhancing Drugs and the Consequences on Healthy Populations” (HH/PSYC 2010)

  • Second prize: Prakash Thambipillai for “Treating Trauma with MDMA: Legalizing MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for Trauma-Related Mental Health Disorders” (HH/PSYC 2010)

Dr. James Wu Prize for Best Upper-year Project

  • First prize: Claudia Dias Martins for “Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for Depression” (HH/PSYC 4061)

  • Second prize: Tatiana Espinosa-Merlano for “Eat Dementia Away! How does nutrition affect cognition and what are some nutritional practices to adopt or avoid?” (HH/KINE 4140)

Dr. James Wu Prize for Best Honours Thesis/MRP

  • First prize: Elizaveta Selezneva for “The Effect of Priming Caution on the Receptivity to Fake News” (GL/PSYC 4000)

  • Second prize: Gloria Park for “Are Canadian Prisons the New Residential School?” (AP/CRIM 4652)

Library Information Literacy Award

  • First prize: John Nguyen for “Time Flies when You’re Having Fun: A Fruit Fly Study on Aging” (SC/BIOL 4000)

  • Second prize: Susan K. Chen for “The Personality Transformations of a School Shooter” (HH/PSYC 4050)

Best Poster Presentation

  • First prize: Beatrice Sohler for “How Photographic Mediums Shaped and Challenged the Portrayals of Japanese Women in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Japan” (AP/HIST 4765)

  • Second prize: Taheera Sarker for “Constructing Canadian National Identity: Confronting multiculturalism, whiteness and the internal Muslim Other” (AP/POLS 4103)

Best Group Project

  • Alaina Thomas, Stacy Chiu, Christopher Lee and Nicole Maina for “Comparing Psychology and Non-Psychology Students’ Attitude Toward Care Seeking” (GL/PSYC 3525)

Art Walk Exhibit Award

  • Natalia Bonczek for “Misster E” (FA/VISA 3024)

People’s Choice Award

  • Shalini Iyer for “The Role of Lipids in Neuronal Plasticity – Link to Autism Spectrum Disorders” (SC/BIOL 4000)

York University researchers one step closer to creating organic batteries

FEATURED_Baumgarnter
FEATURED_Baumgarnter

York University researchers have discovered a way to make Lithium-powered batteries more environmentally friendly while retaining performance, stability and storage capacity.

Lithium-ion batteries use toxic, heavy metals which can impact the environment when they are extracted from the ground and are difficult to dispose of safely. Cobalt is one of those heavy metals, used in battery electrodes. Part of the problem is that lithium and cobalt are not abundantly available, and supplies are dwindling.

headshot of prof
Professor Thomas Baumgartner in his lab at York University

Using organic materials are the way forward and that has scientists like Professor Thomas Baumgartner of the Faculty of Science and his team busy developing and testing new molecules to find the right ones to replace the rare metals currently in use.

“Organic electrode materials are considered to be extremely promising materials for sustainable batteries with high power capabilities,” he says.

Their latest breakthrough is the creation of a new carbon-based organic molecule that can replace the cobalt now used in cathodes or positive electrodes in lithium-ion batteries. The new material addresses the shortcomings of the inorganic material while maintaining performance.

“Electrodes made with organic materials can make large‐scale manufacturing, recycling or disposing of these elements more environmentally friendly,” says Baumgartner. “The goal is to create sustainable batteries that are stable and have equally as good if not better capacity.”

The research is published and featured on the cover of the March edition of the journal Batteries & Supercaps, a ChemPubSoc publication.

Batteries poster“With this particular class of molecules that we’ve made, the electroactive component is very suitable for batteries as it’s very good at storing electrical charges and has good long-term stability,” he says.

Baumgartner and his group previously reported on the electroactive component in a paper published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.

“We have optimized this electroactive component and put it in a battery. It has a very good voltage, up to the 3.5 volts, which is really where current batteries are now,” he says. “It’s an important step forward in making fully organic and sustainable batteries.”

Baumgartner, along with postdoctoral researchers Colin Brides and Monika Stolar, have also demonstrated that this material is stable in long-term operation with the ability to charge and discharge for 500 cycles. One of the downsides of inorganic electrodes is that they generate significant heat when charging and require limited discharging rates for safety reasons. This new molecule addresses that shortcoming.

The next step, says Baumgartner, is to improve the capacity further. His team is currently developing the next generation of molecules that show promise in being able to increase current capacity.

Lassonde professor’s research is unlocking secrets in the deep Pacific Ocean

Neil Tandon
Neil Tandon

Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science, Neil Tandon, from the Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering at Lassonde, recently published in the Journal of Physical Oceanography. His paper looks at how the behaviour of the “ocean conveyor” – what oceanographers call the “overturning circulation” – varies from year to year.

Neil Tandon

The 2004 Sci-Fi/disaster film The Day After Tomorrow gave screen time to the overturning circulation in the Atlantic Ocean, the shut-down of which sends Earth into a new Ice Age (thankfully, such a shut-down is not expected in our lifetimes).

There is also an overturning circulation in the Pacific Ocean, it just doesn’t appear to reach as deep or extend as far from the equator. As a result, Atlantic overturning tends to hog the spotlight for both Hollywood directors and researchers alike.

Tandon’s research challenges this situation by showing that this appearance is deceiving. There is, in fact, a lot more motion in the deep Pacific Ocean than previously recognized. If one looks at how overturning strength (the speed of the conveyor) varies from year to year across all latitudes and depths of the ocean, the variability coming from the Pacific dominates over that coming from the Atlantic by approximately a factor of three. But if you average the overturning strength in time, then most of this Pacific variability gets filtered out, and the overturning in the Atlantic appears to dominate. This Pacific overturning variability is a potentially important influence on how regional climate varies year to year, because it plays a leading role in how ocean heat transport varies from one year to the next.

Understanding and predicting year-to-year (interannual) climate variations offers tremendous benefits to society.

“For example, during an El Niño, monsoon rains in South Asia might never arrive, resulting in devastating crop failures and massive economic losses. However, recent improvements in our ability to predict El Niño have allowed governments to plan for such disasters up to about one year in advance,” says Tandon.

Despite this progress, there remain significant challenges to interannual climate prediction that Tandon hopes to tackle.

“Greater understanding of overturning in the Pacific Ocean might be a key part of the puzzle. If current models aren’t getting Pacific overturning right, that might be throwing off their interannual climate predictions. Fixing such problems might produce great improvements in interannual climate prediction.”

You can read the full publication, Interannual Variability of the Global Meridional Overturning Circulation Dominated by Pacific Variability on the American Meteorological Society website here.

Welcome to the March 2020 issue of ‘Brainstorm’

Brainstorm graphic

“Brainstorm,” a special edition of YFile publishing on the first Friday of every month, showcases research and innovation at York University. It offers compelling and accessible feature-length stories about the world-leading and policy-relevant work of York’s academics and researchers across all disciplines and Faculties and encompasses both pure and applied research.

Virtual Reality assists those with dementia, original research proves – bonus video
A health researcher and expert in innovation and technology has led a study that showed how Virtual Reality can help older adults living with dementia. This groundbreaking research could have application in palliative care settings, during lengthy dialysis treatments and for those with autism. Read full story.

Four Indigenous scholars gauge progress in respecting culture, scholarship
Indigenous research and scholarship is about infusing higher education institutions with eons of wisdom that was dismissed and discarded through colonization. “Brainstorm” guest contributor Paul Fraumeni discusses the profusion of Indigenous wisdom at York University with four prominent thought leaders. Read full story.

Blending art and science, bioart project infuses poetry into plant’s genome
A compelling bioart project leverages climate geoengineering in an unlikely way: It introduces poetry into a plant’s biology through dew and in the process makes a profound statement about climate change, biodiversity and the interconnectedness of humans and the environment. Read full story.

Vision researchers undertake cutting-edge work on perception, orientation
VISTA and the Centre for Vision Research at York U are breaking new ground on fundamental and applied research in the vision sciences. Professor Robert Allison and York alumna Pearl Guterman recently published compelling new research on perception and balance. Read full story.

Books illustrate thought leadership in Indigenous-formed and -led research
Two new books from Osgoode Hall Law School, on Indigenous research and the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada, illustrate York’s thought leadership in this field. Professors Deborah McGregor and Karen Drake have produced edited collections that will make lasting contributions. Read full story.

Catching up with David Phipps, international leader in knowledge mobilization
At the helm of Research Impact Canada, David Phipps travels the world to share best practices in knowledge mobilization (KMb). He chats with “Brainstorm” about the outcomes and impact of this high-profile work. Read full story.

Launched in January 2017, “Brainstorm” is produced out of the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation in partnership with Communications & Public Affairs; overseen by Megan Mueller, senior manager, research communications; and edited by Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor.