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Passings: Martin Muldoon

York University Professor Emeritus Martin Muldoon of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Faculty of Science, died on Aug. 1 after a short illness.

Martin Muldoon

Muldoon was born in County Mayo, Ireland, in 1939. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and his PhD in 1966 at the University of Alberta, under the supervision of Professor Lee Lorch.

Muldoon was a highly achieved scientist, with significant contributions to the fields of special functions and orthogonal polynomials, and to related topics in ordinary differential equations, functional equations and approximations. He had many important publications in influential journals, including the Journal of Mathematical Analysis of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics and the Transaction of the American Mathematical Society. He was a much sought-after invited speaker in seminars, colloquia and conferences globally, and an active member of the SIAM Activity Group on Orthogonal Polynomials & Special Functions. In 2004, he received the 25-year Research Achievement Award from the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Muldoon served the Department of Mathematics & Statistics in a number of capacities, including as departmental Chair, director of the applied mathematics section and member of the departmental executive committee. During his time as Chair, he was responsible for introducing the Mathematics for Commerce program, which led to a significant increase in mathematics enrolments.

“For many decades, Martin has been a consistent source of profound wisdom, integrity and dedication from which the department could draw its strength,” said Walter Tholen, former departmental Chair, interim dean and associate vice-president of research. “On numerous occasions throughout the years, like many others, I was able to rely on his invaluable advice, for which I am profoundly grateful.”

It was not just in the department that Muldoon was held in high regard; he was very active in the Faculty of Arts and served the University as a member of senate multiple times (1974-75, 1976-80, 1984-86, 1982-93, 1994-95 and 1997-2000). His major committee assignments included serving on the Senate Executive Committee, the President’s Advisory Committee on Recruitment and the President’s Advisory Group on the appointment of a vice-president of academic affairs.

Muldoon was a dedicated educator, exceptionally attentive to teaching and individual student supervision. He contributed significantly to the MA program in mathematics for researchers. He participated regularly in outreach programs and gave numerous talks to high-school and elementary students and related audiences, with themes such as “How mathematics can help and mislead,” “Chaos,” Mathematics in careers” and “Peace, war and mathematics.”

He was also actively involved in the organization Science for Peace, serving on its executive committee, board and finance committee. He was also in charge of its web pages.

Muldoon is remembered by his colleagues as an extraordinarily patient and supportive gentleman.

His family will receive friends at the Humphrey Funeral Home A.W. Miles – Newbigging Chapel, 1403 Bayview Ave. (south of Davisville Ave.) for a celebration of life at 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13.

York to receive federal funds that support cutting-edge research

research graphic

Two research projects out of York University will receive part of a $61-million federal government investment to provide state-of-the-art labs and equipment for research in Canada.

The infrastructure investment, announced Aug. 12 by Canada’s Minister of Science and Sport, Kristy Duncan, comes from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leader Fund (JELF) and will support 261 projects at 40 universities nationwide.

The fund helps university scientists conduct leading-edge research by giving them the tools and equipment they need to become leaders in their fields.

Professors Arthur Cheng and Steven Connor

York will receive $275,000 for the following two projects:

  • $150,000 will support the project “Investigating the role of Intracellular Calcium Dynamics on Skeletal Muscle Function in Ages Muscle,” led by Professor Arthur Cheng in the Faculty of Health. The funds will help to develop a lab specialized in understanding the mechanisms underlying skeletal muscle weakness and fatigue in aged muscle, thereby enabling researchers to work toward improving the quality of life in elderly Canadians.
  • $125,000 will support the project “Characterization and Targeted Reversal of Synaptic Mechanisms Contributing to Autism Spectrum Disorder,” led by Professor Steven Connor in the Faculty of Science. The funds will enable researchers to move toward their goal of identifying molecular mechanisms driving synapse deficits identified in patients with autism spectrum disorder and develop novel drug treatments that reverse these pathologies.

“York University is delighted to have professors Cheng and Connor receive the John R. Evans Leaders Fund from CFI,” said Interim Vice-President Research and Innovation Rui Wang. “A vital strategic investment tool, this funding helps institutions to attract and retain the very best researchers – particularly early-career researchers – who are undertaking truly innovative work. It ensures that they will excel in their field.”

The John R. Evans Leaders Fund enables a select number of an institution’s researchers to undertake leading-edge research by providing them with the foundational research infrastructure required to be or to become leaders in their fields. In turn, this enables institutions to remain internationally competitive in areas of research and technology development, aligned with their strategic priorities.

“Researchers in Canada know that cutting-edge tools and labs are necessary to make discoveries and innovate,” said Duncan. “That is why our government is announcing funding for the infrastructure needs of Canadian researchers. Their groundbreaking contributions to science and research have an enormous impact on the breakthroughs that help make our visions for a better future a reality.”

About the Canada Foundation for Innovation

For more than 20 years, the CFI has been giving researchers the tools they need to think big and innovate. And a robust innovation system translates into jobs and new enterprises, better health, cleaner environments and, ultimately, vibrant communities. By investing in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment in Canada’s universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions, the CFI also helps to attract and retain the world’s top talent, train the next generation of researchers and support world-class research that strengthens the economy and improves the quality of life for all Canadians.

Multi-institution research project sheds light on protein complex involved in transcription and gene expression

biology lab

Did you know the DNA in any cell of the human body – or any organism for that matter – contains the genetic information required to develop every possible type of cell within that organism? Yet cell types differ markedly from each other, both structurally and functionally. This is manifest through the production of different proteins encoded in the genetic information of the cell.

How is the information in DNA expressed as different proteins in diverse cells, such as those in a human liver, brain, heart or, maybe more pressing to ask, in a cancerous tumour? This kind of fundamental question is the focus of molecular biologists, particularly those with an evolutionary bent, who seek to understand how life evolved and how gene expression and cell development occur.

Ronald Pearlman

Jeffrey Fillingham, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology at Ryerson University, and Ronald Pearlman, University Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology at York University, are molecular biologists who ask these basic questions. Among their areas of interest, the two researchers study transcription and gene expression.

“Transcription is the process by which the information contained in DNA is turned into RNA, which carries the messages that direct the synthesis of proteins involved in making a particular cell,” said Pearlman. “The question is, ‘How, when, why and where are genes activated so they can be transcribed into cell-specific proteins?’”

Recently, a team based at Fillingham’s Ryerson research lab in the MaRS Discovery District explored this question, working with researchers in Pearlman’s group at York University and supported by others in Jack Greenblatt’s research group at the University of Toronto, as well as contributions from the SciNet HPC Consortium at the University of Toronto, along with Université Laval.

The team studied protein complexes involved in transcription using two experimental techniques: affinity purification and mass spectrometry. To do so, they looked at transcription in a single-cell eukaryotic (contains organelles such as the nucleus bounded by a membrane) model organism called Tetrahymena, which is an ideal system to study because it is easy to work with and manipulate molecularly, biochemically and genetically, and grows quickly. Its genome has more evolutionary similarity to humans than other non-mammalian model research organisms.

The objective of the study was to better understand the function of a protein complex called Mediator, which plays a central role in gene expression through transcription, with particular focus on a protein called Med31, a subunit of the Mediator complex.

Med31 is interesting to molecular biologists because it has been conserved through millennia of evolutionary change, which means that highly similar versions of the protein are found in organisms as divergent as Tetrahymena and human beings. (Tetrahymena Med31 has approximately 42 per cent sequence identity with human Med31.) Previous studies have demonstrated Med31 has ancient roots, is present in almost all organisms alive today, and plays a central role in cell development regulation in mammals.

These aspects of Med31 – and Mediator – lead to some interesting questions.

“The fact that Med31 is so conserved in evolution indicates that it plays some key fundamental role in transcription,” said Fillingham. “What is it doing? What is its role? Those are questions the answers to which nobody has really got at yet.”

The team’s investigation shed some light on the functioning of Mediator and Med31 in Tetrahymena by suggesting some ways that Mediator may function in developmental regulation for organisms. The findings were published in an article called “The Med31 Conserved Component of the Divergent Mediator Complex in Tetrahymena thermophila Participates in Developmental Regulation” in the highly regarded journal Current Biology, one of several in the prestigious Cell Press stable of journals.

Current Biology’s decision to publish the article is notable because it focuses on publication of research with a broad general interest, which means the journal editors and reviewers believe the findings of the research team are of interest and value to the wide biology community. What’s also interesting is that another paper using the same Tetrahymena model system published in the same journal issue reached similar conclusions to this study by asking different research questions, which amplifies the veracity of the team’s findings.

“In the field of transcription and gene expression, our findings are very interesting,” said Fillingham. “People will be interested to know how Tetrahymena Mediator is functioning in gene regulation and what this tells us more generally about transcription and regulation of gene expression.”

The three main contributors to the study were Pearlman’s long-time research associate at York University, Jyoti Garg; Fillingham’s current doctoral student at Ryerson, Alejandro Saettone; and Fillingham’s former master’s student, Syed Nabeel-Shah, who is now a doctoral candidate in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto in Greenblatt’s lab.

Other co-authors included Mathew Cadorin, another former master’s student in the Fillingham laboratory; Marcello Ponce, a bioinformatician associated with the SciNet consortium; Susanna Marquez, a former bioinformatics postdoctoral fellow in the Pearlman lab; and Shuye Pu, a bioinformatician associated with the Greenblatt laboratory. Rounding out the team was Jean-Phillipe Lambert, assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Université Laval, who contributed his expertise in mass spectrometry to the project.

NSERC grant could lead to more sustainable drug discovery, development

research microscope

Organic chemistry is at the centre of a new $440,000 Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Collaborative Research and Development (CRD) Grant led by York chemistry Professor Art Orellana of the Faculty of Science. This collaborative research with F. Hoffmann-La Roche could result in an increase in the number of small molecule drug candidates in the next few years.

That is because Orellana’s team has developed a conceptually new, gentler approach to making pyridines, which are small molecules widely used in drug discovery and development.

Arturo Orellana

“For a number of years now, the mentality in our research group has been that we are going to target hard synthetic challenges that are actually going to provide solutions to real-world problems,” said Orellana.

The synthesis of complex heterocyclic molecules is an integral part of drug development and manufacturing. Pyridine, an aromatic organic compound with one nitrogen atom, is the most widely used heterocycle in FDA-approved drugs and its derivatives are in high demand. The problem is that current methods to create pyridine derivatives are so harsh they are not widely used. The development of new reactions will facilitate large-scale manufacturing of drug molecules, reduce costs and environmental impact, and could lead to a greater availability of new drugs.

“We have devised a conceptually new approach to make pyridine derivatives using exceptionally mild conditions that tolerate a wide range of functional groups,” said Orellana. “These reactions also provide immediate access to small molecules that possess ‘drug-like’ qualities and that are hard to make by other means. Our approach to these molecules can generate new structures to explore as drug leads.”

This is of particular interest to Roche, the largest biotech company in the world for sustainable drug manufacturing. The current CRD Grant leverages Roche’s $241,000 investment in Orellana’s fundamental research in synthetic organic chemistry.

“At Roche Small Molecule Technical Development, we develop the synthetic routes to bring our global pipeline of candidate molecules through clinical studies and to commercial production,” said Dan Fishlock, a principal scientist in process chemistry and catalysis at F. Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, Switzerland. “Powerful new methodologies, such as those developed in the Orellana group, contribute to the organic chemistry scientific community and give us the tools that we need to bring innovative new drugs to patients around the world.”

Through their collaborative research project, “Cross-Coupling Reactions Leading to Chiral Heterocyclic Scaffolds for Drug Development and Manufacturing,” Orellana and the process chemistry and catalysis group at Roche will work on perfecting these new methods. In addition, once developed, these methods will be broadly applicable to the pharmaceutical sector in Canada and around the world.

“I am quite gratified to have been invited to apply for this internal grant program by the process chemistry group at Roche,” said Orellana. “This tells me that the work we are doing is meaningful. There is no better indicator of this than receiving this kind of support from a major player in the pharmaceutical sector.”

The collaboration and CRD Grant will also have training benefits for current and future graduate students in organic synthesis and problem solving related to drug development and manufacturing at York and with Roche. Already, one of Orellana’s students travelled to Roche global headquarters in Basel to present the group’s work to date.

“Visiting the Roche campus in Basel was an amazing learning experience for both my current work and future as a chemist. Presenting my work as well as listening to the work being done in other collaborative projects really highlighted how meaningful our work can be in the pharmaceutical industry,” said Isabelle Hunter, a first-year graduate student.

“When touring the campus and different divisions of the company, it was interesting to see how the molecules and methodology that we are working on can be taken and used in building larger compounds. Seeing the different aspects of what the company does, including the scale-up process, gave me a taste of what working in a pharmaceutical company would be like.”

In addition, Nour Wasfy, a second-year graduate student in the group, recently presented the group’s work in this area at the Canadian Society Chemistry Conference in Quebec City and earned an oral presentation award.

“We are very grateful for the support of fundamental organic chemistry research at York by Roche and NSERC,” said Orellana. “This will help elevate our research capacity and profile, and will benefit many students as well.”

High-school students get hands-on STEM experience at York

High-school students from the community had the opportunity to engage in a hands-on gene editing course at York University through the Helix Summer Science Institute, a program that offers innovative programs designed to inspire youth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The course, CRISPR: Hacking our DNA and Beyond, ran July 15 to 19 and was one of three courses offered through the biomedical stream in the Faculty of Science as part of its Science Engagement program.

Students and instructor Kashif Aziz Khan pose for a group photo

CRISPR is a new cutting-edge technology for gene editing that has the potential to treat many non-curable diseases in humans. This course was developed and offered by Kashif Aziz Khan due to exponentially increasing interest and controversy around CRISPR gene editing.

The instructor works as a research associate in the Department of Biology.

Students in the course learned the basics of gene editing as well as applications of the technology through hands-on labs, lectures, discussions and debates.

The other two courses offered through the biomedical stream for Grades 11 and 12 students were: Biotechnology in Human Health and Disease, taught by instructor Uzma Nadeem, July 8 to 12; and Fundamentals of Neuroscience, taught by instructor Bianca Baltaretu, July 22 to 26.

The Helix Summer Science Institute runs week-long, non-credit courses annually in July, developed and delivered by professors, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars and graduate students.

Two outstanding students win Faculty of Science gold and silver medals

Image announcing Awards

Two graduating students recently received Faculty of Science gold and silver medals, given annually for outstanding achievements academically and beyond.

Kevin Joseph, who completed a major in statistics and a minor in computer science this year, won the gold medal for his stellar academics. The medal goes to a graduating student who has exceptionally strong grades.

Kevin Joseph

In 2018, he received an Undergraduate Summer Research Assistantship to explore content-based news recommendation, working under the supervision of Lassonde Professor Hui Jiang. Specifically, Joseph conducted experiments using Python and MySQL.

Joseph also won the George & Frances Denzel Award for Excellence in Statistics for 2017-18 from the Department of Mathematics & Statistics.

Biophysics student Neil McCall in the Department of Physics & Astronomy won the silver medal, given to a graduating student who has combined outstanding academic achievement with the greatest contribution to undergraduate student life.

Neil McCall
Neil McCall

McCall received a Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Undergraduate Summer Research Assistantship three times, working with different researchers and on various topics. In 2018, he worked under the supervision of Professor William Pietro in the Department of Chemistry. That same year, he also won the Ruth Hill Memorial Award from the Faculty of Science and the Emeritus Professors’ Award from the Department of Physics & Astronomy.

Physics Professor Patrick Hall, who nominated McCall, wrote, “His research works as an undergraduate display a maturity rivalling that of a PhD student and a breadth rarely seen even at that level.”

In addition to his academics, McCall was actively involved in public outreach through the Allan I. Carswell Observatory at York and as a leader in the Physics Society and the Astronomy Club.

Next year, he will begin his master’s degree in physics at York University.

Innovative, pan-University capstone classroom launches in September

A new, full-year capstone course is being pilot tested this fall at York University. C4: The Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom brings together third- and fourth-year students from different faculties into multidisciplinary teams focused on solving pressing, real-world challenges posed by organizations operating in both the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds. C4 partners include the Yonge Street Mission, the Al and Malka Green Artists’ Health Centre, Glendon’s Globally Networked Learning Project, and Panoplo Inc.— among many others.

Danielle Robinson

“Capstone courses provide high impact learning opportunities for students that set them up to succeed after graduation,” says Danielle Robinson, the director of the York Capstone Network and an associate professor in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance, & Design. ”These important experiential learning courses, which are offered in many departments across the University, apply and thus consolidate what a student has learned in his or her major. This is achieved generally through an individual or group project, but placements can also serve as excellent capstone experiences for students, if they are integrated with ongoing critical reflection and assignments that apply students’ skills and knowledges.”

Franz Newland

Robinson and Franz Newland, an assistant professor in the Lassonde School of Engineering, are co-facilitating C4 as an extension of the York Capstone Network they founded last year, with integral support from the Teaching Commons and the Career Centre. The YCN, which is now bolstered by a two-year AIF Grant, brings together dozens of faculty who have been, are, or want to be teaching capstone courses. Network members gather for monthly cafés, where capstone students, pedagogy experts, and York staff allies explore the immense rewards and challenges of capstones.

C4 is a pan-University classroom, but not yet an official course, that requires students to register in a three- or six-credit independent study, directed reading, senior thesis, or capstone course in their home department. Once students gain entry to C4 through their department, they will meet senior students from other faculties, form interdisciplinary teams, and then get to work on real-world problems provided by community partners, who will mentor them over the course of the school year.

“The advantage of this approach to capstone teaching is students get a taste of the ‘real-world’ before leaving York,” says Carolyn Steele, a career development coordinator in the Career Center and adjunct professor in Humanities. “The world along with its challenges and opportunities are intrinsically multidisciplinary; however, many degrees are not—they are typically disciplinary in focus. C4 gives participants the opportunity to collaborate with students from other majors as well as with professors and professionals outside their departments. In this way, they come to know what they have to offer the world as well as the value of their discipline and their York degree.”

The pan-University nature of C4 speaks to its dedication to true interdisciplinary collaboration and creation. “Other multidisciplinary capstones typically bring together students from only two or three pre-selected disciplines,” says Natasha May, an educational developer in the Teaching Commons and adjunct professor in mathematics. “In contrast, C4 makes it possible for as many as eight students—all coming from different academic backgrounds—to come together to engage in problem-based learning, with the potential for each group to have a completely different disciplinary makeup. This all makes for very rich experiential learning that will set C4 students apart on the job market.”

Robinson and Newland are supported in this groundbreaking endeavor by a resource team that is as diverse as C4’s participants: Carolyn Steele (Career Centre and LAPS), Natasha May (Teaching Commons and Science), Bridget Cauthery (AMPD), Alice Kim (Health), and Kai Zhuang (Lassonde). They are backed up by Lassonde and its Student Engagement Team and as well as a host of York’s experiential education (EE) coordinators, who have spent the summer building relationships with multiple community partners and curating nearly 40 “real-world” challenges for multidisciplinary teams of York students to tackle.

C4 students will work in Interdisciplinary teams to solve real-world problems

At the end of the full-year course, C4 student teams will present their projects to all the community partners at a capstone showcase event that will be open to the whole York community. Newland says that “C4 ends with a big celebration—of these students and all they have accomplished this year, of the partners and all they have contributed, and of York and its commitment to pedagogical innovation, experiential education, and student success.”

He urges students who are looking for a “real world” experience before they graduate to confirm their interest in C4 as soon as possible by contacting their home departments and the C4 Team directly at c4class@yorku.ca.

“Pitch Day, where the community partners pitch their challenges to the student teams, is Sept. 6th from 4 to 7 p.m and the first C4 class meeting takes place Sept. 9th from 6 to 9pm,” says Newland. “Programs and students who don’t want to miss this terrific opportunity should email us right away—all are welcome.”

To learn more, visit the C4: Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom webpage on the York Capstone Network website.

Three Faculty of Science researchers receive more than $2.27 million in CIHR grants

What is the link between obesity and heart failure? How can the most common and deadly form of ovarian cancer be stopped? How does the regulation of healthy cells under stress go wrong and cause diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration?

These are the questions three Faculty of Science biology researchers, who recently received more than $2.27 million in Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) project grants, will tackle over the next five years.

Professor Chun Peng, along with co-applicants chemistry Professor Arturo Orellana, biology Professor Yi Sheng and chemistry Professor Derek Wilson, will develop ways to inhibit the growth and spread of the most common form of ovarian cancer, epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), which could lead to targeted therapies for EOC patients. Professor Mark Bayfield will look at what goes wrong with the regulation process in healthy cells when they are under stress and how that can lead to cancer and neurodegeneration. Professor Gary Sweeney will try to figure out if excess fat is altering the structure and function of the heart, causing heart failure, and how.

Dr. Rui Wang
Dr. Rui Wang

“York is delighted to see professors Peng, Bayfield and Sweeney receive project grants from CIHR. To award these extremely competitive CIHR grants reflects a recognition of the excellence of York researchers in the biomedical and health research field,” said Interim Vice-President Research and Innovation Rui Wang. “These three projects are prime examples of how York researchers are focusing on improving health outcomes and bridging new knowledge and applications to improve the understanding, prevention and treatment of disease and injuries, and to provide healthier environments for individuals and communities.”

Peng’s project, “Development of novel ß-catenin inhibitors as potential therapeutics for ovarian cancer,” received a CIHR grant of $879,750.

Chun Peng

Epithelial ovarian cancer – the most common form of ovarian cancer – has the highest mortality rate of female cancers. The low survival rate for women with EOC results mainly from an inability to detect the disease at an early, curable stage and from the lack of effective treatment for advanced cancer. The Wnt/ß-catenin pathway is known to play critical roles in cancer development, such as maintaining the cancer stem cells, promoting the spreading of cancer cells from the primary tumour into other organs and inhibiting the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapies. Peng and her team searched for novel inhibitors of this pathway and identified two compounds that have strong anti-tumour effects. The team will further characterize the effect of these inhibitors on cancer stem cells, tumour growth and metastasis, and see how these inhibitors disrupt ß-catenin signalling to exert their anti-tumour effects. They will also generate structurally similar compounds to identify molecules that have better drug-like properties. The research could lead to the development of novel targeted therapies for EOC. Since the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway is involved in the development of many types of cancers, the small molecular inhibitors Peng and her team develop will be useful for targeting a wide range of cancers.

Bayfield’s project, “Translational Control by the La and La-Related Proteins,” received a CIHR grant of $669,376.

Mark Bayfield
Mark Bayfield

Healthy cells have evolved several ways to respond to their environment and adapt to stresses. One critical way that cells respond to such cues is by controlling the cohort of proteins they synthesize, which allows the cell to adapt to new situations. However, dysregulation of these responses can lead to diseases like cancer and neurodegeneration. One class of factors known to have an important function in the control of protein synthesis is the La and La-related proteins. Dysregulation of function of the La and La-related proteins has been linked extensively to cancer and infection by viruses, but how this happens is not yet understood. In this proposal, Bayfield will identify the genes that rely on these factors, as well the ways in which they control protein synthesis. The research could lead to a substantial new understanding for many challenges to human health.

Sweeney’s project, “Investigating novel mechanisms of lipocalin-2 mediated cardiac dysfunction and their translational therapeutic potential,” received a CIHR project grant of $722,926.

Gary Sweeney

Many reports have established a correlation between obesity and cardiovascular complications such as heart failure. A causative role of obesity, and the accompanying diabetes, is well known. Heart failure is a progressive problem, which occurs due to changes in the structure and function of the heart, yet the precise mechanisms responsible for regulating these changes in obesity remain to be determined. Given the escalation in the occurrence of obesity, it is imperative to focus on understanding the mechanisms linking excess fat tissue to alterations in the structure and function of the heart to help prevent heart failure and potentially enhance the understanding of how to protect against the progression of heart failure.

For more information, visit the CIHR Project Grant website.

Passings: Charles Hammond Dugan

York University Professor Emeritus of Physics Charles Hammond Dugan died peacefully on June 23. He is survived by his wife, Gisela Argyle, a senior scholar of comparative literature at York University.

Charles Hammond Dugan
Charles Hammond Dugan

Born in Annapolis, Maryland, son of Hammond James ‘Red’ Dugan and Frances Smith. Hammond served in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict. He was stationed in San Diego, California, where he met his first wife, Mona Gwendolyn Cowell Finn (who died in 2002). After an honorable discharge he attended Harvard University and graduated with a PhD in Physics.

His research interests were in atomic, molecular and optical physics, as well as spectroscopy and astro-chemistry. In 1967, the family moved to Toronto, Ontario, where Hammond took up a teaching position at York University until his legal retirement age. Hammond had an informed interest in current events, politics, art, history, music, birds and nature, and enjoyed including his children in all these pursuits. His commitment to debate was softened by a sense of humour and fun. His kindness to those around him and his civility were remarkable and enduring.

For several years, he served on the Board of Cummer Lodge for long-time care in North York, during which time he also successfully added the study of carving, painting, and drawing as well as of the alto recorder to his expertise. They all engrossed him and contributed to family entertainment.

Hammond and Gwen had five children: Melanie Dugan (Don Maynard), Dr. Alison Dugan, M.D., Ann Dugan (Paul Knight), Dr. Frances Dugan D.V.M. (Carl Gosselin), and John Dugan, BEng (Lorri Angelloz). He is also survived by his sister Darnall Stone. A memorial service will be scheduled for later date. Questions or memories should be directed by email to his daughter Ann at duganknight6@gmail.com.

Hammond is survived by his grandchildren: Dugan Maynard, Hayden Maynard, Annie Christie, Hamish Dugan, Max Dugan-Knight, Tess Dugan-Knight, Seth Dugan-Knight, Tristan Dugan, Sam Gosselin-Dugan, John Angelloz-Dugan, Finn Angelloz-Dugan, and his two stepsons Ferris and Malcolm Argyle.

Celebrate 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 at free event with York University’s Observatory team

Image of the moon in the night sky

Poster detailing the information contained in the story about the events surrounding the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landingIt was 50 years ago this July that the first man walked on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission. Come celebrate that lunar achievement at a free event with York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory team in the Faculty of Science, from July 16 to 18.

There will be a screening of the film Apollo 11, lunar presentations and celestial viewing.

Be part of the excitement of the 50th anniversary of that successful Moon-landing mission where Neil Armstrong, followed by Buzz Aldrin, were the first to set foot on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins orbited the Moon.

It was during those first few steps that Armstrong uttered those now famous words, “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.”

Multiple telescopes will be set up on top of the Arboretum Parking Garage at the William Small Centre for observing the Moon and other celestial objects each night from 9 p.m. to midnight.

The screening of Apollo 11 will take place nightly at 8 p.m. in Room 317 of the Petrie Science & Engineering Building, Keele Campus. Hourly presentations on Lunar Exploration will follow, starting at 9:30 p.m. each night.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, check out the Allan I. Carswell Observatory at York University website or on twitter @yorkobservatory.

In addition, from July 15 to 26, the Steacie Science & Engineering Library and Scott Library will display memorabilia from July 1969.

Here is where to find the memorabilia:

Scott Library

Atrium (2nd floor) – Display cases: Toronto newspapers documenting the moon landing

Map library (1st floor, Scott Library) – astronomical maps, moon globe (map library hours 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)

Steacie Library – maps, books, publications documenting the moon landing. There will also some videos of the moon landing playing on the LCD screen.