York Professor Lily Cho to host Massey College Book Club Gala
Share
York University English Department Professor Lily Cho has been named the incoming Chair of the Massey Book Club Committee, a book club organized by University of Toronto’s Massey College.
Lily Cho
Cho will host and moderate this year’s Book Club Gala, which has been moved to an online format and takes place on May 1 at 7 p.m.
This year’s gala is “An Evening with Massey College Senior Fellow Margaret Atwood in Conversation with University of Toronto Writer-in-Residence Susan Swan.” Swan, York University professor emerita and former York Robart Scholar for Canadian Studies, will discuss with Atwood her book The Testaments by livestream.
In addition to being an associate professor, Cho is also the associate dean, Global and Community Engagement, and interim associate dean, Graduate Studies and Research.
Hungry galaxies grow fat on flesh of their neighbours
Share
Galaxies in deep space
Galaxies grow large by eating their smaller neighbours, finds an international research team, including York University.
Exactly how massive galaxies attain their size is poorly understood, not least because they swell over billions of years. But now through a combination of observation and modelling, researchers, including the Faculty of Science’s Leo Alcorn, a York Science Fellow, have found a clue.
Distribution of dark matter density overlayed with the gas density. This image cleanly shows the gas channels connecting the central galaxy with its neighbours. Credit: Gupta et al/ASTRO 3D
The research team, led by Post-Doctoral Researcher Anshu Gupta from Australia’s ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D), included scientists from Australia, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Belgium and the Netherlands. They ran their modelling on a specially designed set of simulations known as IllustrisTNG.
By analyzing how gases within galaxies move it is possible to discover the proportion of stars made internally – and the proportion effectively cannibalized from elsewhere.
“We found that distant, massive galaxies, about 10 billion light years away from us, have more chaotic or random internal motions,” says Alcorn. “This is likely because these galaxies have merged with smaller galaxies, producing gravitational disruptions to the orbits of stars and gas. This matter is incorporated into the massive galaxies, growing the galaxy in mass and size.”
Because light takes time to travel through the universe, galaxies further away from the Milky Way are seen at an earlier point in their existence. The team found that observation and modelling of these very distant galaxies revealed much less variation in their internal movements.
“As these huge galaxies gain more stars, they are able to gravitationally attract and merge with more surrounding small galaxies. Over billions of years, these old, massive galaxies grow increasingly chaotic, disordered and large, constantly feeding on nearby neighbours,” says Alcorn.
This is a multi-year, international project that aims to build a series of large cosmological models of how galaxies form. The program is so big that it has to run simultaneously on several of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
Teaching and learning focus of Virtual Town Hall held April 21
Share
A Virtual Town Hall led by members of York University’s leadership team on April 21 aimed to address concerns raised specifically by the University’s faculty and instructional staff. The hour-long event is one of several group-specific Virtual Town Halls the University will be hosting, and follows the April 2 event that shared York’s plans for moving forward during the global pandemic.
York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton
This most recent Virtual Town Hall featured President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton, along with Vice-President Academic & Provost Lisa Philipps, Vice-President Equity, People & Culture Sheila Cote-Meek, and Interim Vice-President Research & Innovation Rui Wang, who answered questions and provided information relating to teaching, research and human resources.
Lenton opened with remarks on the community’s strength in coming together during this unprecedented time, and shared an update on the University’s plans for the Summer and Fall terms.
“We have summer planning well underway, and we will very soon begin thinking about the Fall and the broader issues that are going to have an impact on us in the long term,” she said. “All of our decisions are, first and foremost, about ensuring the safety and well-being of our community.”
She acknowledged the desire for the uncertainty to be resolved, and reminded viewers that the University’s decisions on lifting restrictions in response to the pandemic are guided by Toronto Public Health and the government. The University, she said, is working on scenario planning and administration has considered three different scenarios: full campus opening in the Fall; a more conservative opening in the Fall leading to full opening in January 2021; and an intermediate scenario, which involves the assumption that there will be significant social distancing still in place, with the possibility that smaller groups may be able to be on campus for the Fall.
What she could say with more certainty is that these decisions will likely come in mid-May.
Another major consideration is whether international borders will remain closed, which could result in a significant decline in international student intake. That, combined with other losses of revenue such as those from ancillary services and The Bookstore, and more robust investments in technology to respond to distance learning, the University could be looking at a significant financial impact.
“Based on [pandemic planning for] Winter and Summer, there is ample evidence that this community has the ability and the commitment to support our students and ensure that we are all prepared to manage the Fall term,” she said.
Community concerns over supports and resources available for faculty as more courses move online were also addressed, with news of the Teaching Commons launching the BOLD Institute (Blending and Online Learning Development), which offers faculty members and instructors an opportunity to explore pedagogy and planning for online formats. UIT will continue to support online learning with the offer of technology where needed, said Philipps.
In addition, the University is offering spaces on campus that can be opened up for single-person use for faculty members to use for providing lectures, etc., if their home setup is not suitable.
“We are also interested in hearing what additional supports you are looking for in making the transition to online learning, and additional suggestions are welcome,” said Philipps.
Vice-President Academic & Provost Lisa Philipps
In response to a question about whether contract faculty will be compensated for the extra time and expenses invested in moving courses online, Philipps said there are provisions in the collective agreement about additional compensations, and the University continues to work with the unions to find solutions.
The issue of the collective agreement right for an instructor to choose the format of their course was also raised. Lenton, in response, said at a time when face-to-face instruction isn’t possible, instructors who feel they are unable to move to an online format should work with their respective deans to find solutions.
“In order to minimize obstacles for our students and supporting them in advancing through their programs, we have worked very closely with various unions and Senate on making decisions surrounding the move to online and remote delivery formats,” said Lenton, adding they are always trying to accommodate individual faculty members’ preferences with student learning experiences.
“If we are in a situation where there’s a real difficulty that requires the union, then we will sit down with the union,” she said.
Concerns were also raised on how York will ensure online materials and lectures will be secure and not “migrate over to the broader Internet.” Lenton assured that the University is taking “all the normal steps that we always take for the online courses the University offers.” Philipps suggested sending reminders to students on intellectual property rights when providing material.
A question on how the University will move forward with fair and equitable proctoring of exams was posed, and Philipps acknowledged this as “the most challenging area to sort out.” Students have expressed concerns with privacy and personal settings in these instances, and the University is working on better solutions.
There is also an issue with courses requiring in-person instruction, such as labs, and community members asked how the University will move forward with those elements in the Fall. The solution, as it stands, is to rethink the timing of where those courses sit within a program and whether they can be deferred to the Winter semester. Some faculty members, said Philipps, have come up with “ingenious” ways to do virtual labs – but she concedes that certain in-person sessions would be difficult to replace in a virtual setting.
“With grad students and grad programs, that’s a whole other layer there – and every grad program director is working to identify what are the possible solutions for those students,” said Philipps.
As well, students will continue to be supported with access to technology where needed, as well as access to financial relief funds and accommodations where needed. Instructors look to support their students with existing, or new, accommodations should reach out their associate deans.
Community members asked about whether the University has approached the government for financial support. Lenton said conversations are ongoing, but also acknowledged that the province has made public health its priority. Discussions with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities led to a $25-million relief fund for Ontario’s post-secondary institutions to offset some of the costs of restructuring during the pandemic. She shared that executive heads of post-secondary institutions in Ontario have come together to determine their collective top three priorities, asked for by the province, which include: supporting students and making it possible for students to return to their studies; stabilizing higher education given the potential losses (including delaying of SMA3 implementation and removing the international student costs); and asking for financial support so each University could develop custom strategies to support online education. The University, said Lenton, has also been advocating at the federal level to be included in a recently announced infrastructure relief fund.
“I very much understand the need for clarity and I want to acknowledge we do not have all the answers yet,” said Lenton. “We will have to work collectively together to figure out how to deal with the potential financial impact of this, but I am grateful for the way community has come together and am confident in our ability to find innovative solutions to the challenges we face.”
Co-habitating and self-isolating: What does it mean for your relationship?
Share
hands relationship love heart
Humans crave connection: emotional, physical, sexual. But how will the way couples interact change when they are suddenly forced to be home together all day, every day?
Most people aren’t used to being in closed quarters with their spouse or partner for weeks on end, as the response to COVID-19 has prescribed that many of us do. So what happens to relationships? How do we work, live, play together and keep our relationships thriving? How do we nurture togetherness so we come out of the pandemic with stronger connections?
Amy Muise
Professor Amy Muise, a York Research Chair in relationships and sexuality and director of the SHaRe (Sexual Health and Relationships) lab at York University, says there are a lot of different challenges for couples who are self-isolating together.
Some people may not be getting their personal needs met, says Muise, citing those who have lost jobs or are struggling to work from home, and those that have had to shift their outside activities, like exercising, to work within stay-at-home parameters.
Fulfilling personal goals, such as those related to work, exercise or hobbies, can fuel confidence, but when these are threatened, it can translate to how we manage our relationships.
Add to that the fact that couples can’t do many of the activities they used to do to connect, and we can begin to see why relationships may struggle.
“It takes a while to build up the things in our lives that help facilitate our well-being and productivity – and that has shifted. A lot of the outlets we had might be gone or have changed drastically, and we may need to find new ways to connect with others and facilitate our well-being,” says Muise.
One area Muise has studied (outside of the COVID-19 pandemic) is the idea of self-expansion, and achieving it through relationships. For instance, doing new things with a partner and having new experiences with a partner can revive some of those feelings of relationship satisfaction, even in these longer-term relationships, when satisfaction often declines.
During a pandemic, this may require couples to “think outside the box” to embark on a novel experience and create opportunity to find new connections.
Maybe that’s exploring a new hobby together, or dressing up and having a date night at home, but finding new ways that can bring about positive experiences may help a relationship thrive even during this challenging time.
Muise, who is a faculty member in York’s Department of Psychology, is embarking on a study to investigate the relationship of couples who are in self-isolation together during the pandemic.
“We want to understand how people feel their relationship has changed given their situation,” says Muise. “We expect that people might have more health issues, such as problems with sleep, anxiety, depression and loneliness, and we want to understand the role of relationships in these experiences.”
The study will look at what relationship factors might buffer against conflict and challenges, and how people were able or unable to meet the needs of their partner that might be threatened.
Professor Amy Muise is launching a study to investigate the relationship of couples who are in self-isolation together during the pandemic to look at what relationship factors might buffer against conflict and challenges
“We want to know if there are there any positive things that come out of this, and if couples have had the opportunity to connect, what does that look like and what are these resiliency factors that help couples maintain satisfaction during this challenging time.”
Other factors the study will look at are whether couples have kids, how the division of labour has changed during self-isolation, personal experiences with COVID-19, socioeconomic status, broader network supports and how people are connecting with that network.
In a recent study published March 14 (unrelated to COVID-19), Muise found that memories and feelings of nostalgia can sometimes help people manage unfulfilled sexual and relationship needs.
“This new paper is about how, during times when we feel like our sexual or romantic needs are not being fulfilled, some people will reflect back on their previous sexual experiences … and there is some evidence that people can use memories and thoughts about their previous connection to make it through challenging times,” says Muise.
Muise says there is also evidence that when couples go on a double date, it can spark novel experiences, so leveraging social media or apps that allow couples to spend time together “virtually” with friends may help.
“Just because we are socially distancing doesn’t mean we have to be totally socially isolated,” she said.
If you and your romantic partner would like to participate in Muise’s study on how couples are coping with COVID19 together, visit the study website at www.covidtogether.me for details. The website also provides tips and resources for couples, and for parents, on coping during the pandemic.
By Ashley Goodfellow Craig, YFile deputy editor
Do you have a story to share about how you are coping, or what you are doing differently, during the COVID-19 pandemic? Email us at yfile@yorku.ca.
York and T2K experiment researchers closer to solving antimatter puzzle
Share
Why is there an abundance of matter compared to antimatter in the Universe? This question has stymied physicists for years, but researchers at York University, along with other Canadian institutions as part of the international Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) Collaboration, have found neutrinos may hold the answer.
The international T2K experiment is aimed at unraveling this matter-antimatter conundrum by studying neutrinos, subatomic particles produced in huge numbers immediately after the Big Bang. They come in three types – electron, muon, and tau neutrinos – and are created in stars, inside the earth, the atmosphere and at accelerators, such as J-PARC in Japan, where the T2K experiment is conducted.
Sampa Bhadra
To tackle this puzzle, the T2K team, including York University Faculty of Science physics Professor Sampa Bhadra, the project leader for the optical transition radiation (OTR) detector for the experiment, was looking for behavioural differences of neutrinos (matter) and antineutrinos (antimatter) as they change states during flight into electron neutrinos and electron antineutrinos, respectively.
If matter and antimatter exhibit the same behaviour, charge-parity symmetry implies that the laws of physics are the same for matter and antimatter. But this doesn’t appear to always hold true. For example, there is way more matter than antimatter in the Universe. To account for the observed level of asymmetry, researchers believe there must have been a violation of charge-parity symmetry in the early Universe initiated by neutrinos.
T2K team found the strongest indication yet of this violation in charge-parity symmetry between neutrinos and antineutrinos, but more work is needed to definitively prove it.
The results, published in the journal Nature, are a major step forward in the study of what caused the original difference between matter and antimatter.
“Neutrino transformations are a beautiful way to study the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe,” says Bhadra, who is also a TRIUMF affiliate scientist. “What can be more exciting than studying a particle that may hold the clue to our very existence?”
The T2K experiment used a beam consisting primarily of muon neutrinos or muon antineutrinos created using the proton beam from the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex in Tokai, Japan. A small fraction of the neutrinos (or antineutrinos) are detected 295 km away at the Super-Kamiokande water Cerenkov detector in Kamioka, Japan. Previously, T2K studied how the original neutrinos (antineutrinos) transition or oscillate into electron neutrinos (antineutrinos) as they traverse the distance from Tokai to Kamioka (hence the name T2K) in a process called “neutrino oscillations.” This was the subject of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2015.
The T2K collaboration consists of close to 500 scientists from 12 countries, including Canada. The Canadian effort provided some of the most challenging and critical detectors of the project – the time projection chamber, the fine-grained calorimeter and an OTR detector – and contributed to the success of T2K through key leadership roles.
“Canadian scientists look forward to building on the success of the T2K experiment to realize even more precise measurements of neutrino oscillations through upgrades of the experimental apparatus,” said TRIUMF Professor Mark Hartz, the corresponding author on the paper, former research associate at York, and leader of the Canadian-led Intermediate Water Cerenkov Detector project.
Bhadra says, “York will continue to be involved in neutrino physics with more sensitive neutrino experiments being built in the future that will surely provide an answer to the question: what happened to the antimatter?”
York researchers publish new book on employment standards enforcement
Share
The Closing the Enforcement Gap research team, headed by York Politics Professor Leah F. Vosko and involving York Sociology Associate Professor Mark P. Thomas and Osgoode Hall Law School Professor Eric M. Tucker, has published a new co-authored book from the University of Toronto Press.
Closing the Enforcement Gap. Book cover image provided by the authors
Closing the Enforcement Gap: Improving Protections for Workers in Precarious Jobs is the first book to offer a comprehensive analysis of the enforcement of employment standards in Canada – with a focus on Ontario – in comparative context. The nature of employment is changing: low wage jobs are increasingly common, fewer workers are represented by unions, and workplaces are being transformed through the growth of contracting-out, franchising and extended supply chains.
Precarious employment is pervasive, and enforcement strategies have not kept up. In particular, the upheaval caused by COVID-19 has brought into stark relief the precarious nature of work in the 21st century. According to Deena Ladd from the Workers’ Action Centre in Toronto, a central community partner on the SSHRC-funded Partnership Grant from which the book originated, workers such as cleaners, now doing work deemed essential to public safety, have long been considered “low-skilled,” subject to low wages, and, as Ladd specifically points out, hired as “independent contractors” rather than employees, meaning they are not covered under the Employment Standards Act (ESA).
A similar situation has surfaced recently in the case of pizza delivery drivers; as reported in the Toronto Star in early April, delivery drivers have launched a class action law suit against a major pizza chain, arguing they were incorrectly classified as independent contractors and thus denied basic workplace protections under the ESA. Delivery is also now an essential service in the world of COVID-19. Furthermore, as labour market insecurity is shaped by the social relations of gender, race, (dis)ability, and citizenship and migration status, a large portion of the precariously employed are women, people of colour, and migrants.
Closing the Enforcement Gap explores issues like employee misclassification in extraordinary depth. Based on an extensive analysis of administrative data provided to the team by Ontario’s Ministry of Labour, as well as interviews with workers and enforcement staff and archival and policy research, the book situates employment standards within the context of the rise of precarious employment, outlines the system for making an employment standards claim (and why workers would be hesitant to make one), mechanisms (often ineffective) of wage recovery, the reactive (not proactive) approach to inspections, the (limited) use of deterrence measures, and options for the inclusion of non-state actors in enforcement.
Chapters on Britain, Australia, Québec, and the United States situate Ontario and Canada more broadly within an international context, identifying best practices that could be used in the province. A key contribution of the book, as Professor Sara Charlesworth from RMIT states, “is the attention paid to structural barriers…in particular, feminization, racialization, and migration and citizenship status. The analysis draws attention to the ways in which these barriers intersect and exemplifies the benefits of using critical and feminist political economy as conceptual frames.” Consequently, Gerhard Bosch from Universität Duisburg-Essen calls the book “a must read” and Janice Fine from Rutgers University states it is “an incredibly important book…exhaustively researched and nuanced.”
As we begin to collectively imagine a post COVID-19 Canada, the book offers a number of recommendations for improving labour protections, ensuring that workers no longer fall through the enforcement gap. Recommendations include:
allowing third parties to file complaints on behalf of workers,
eliminating performance measures based on quantity for Employment Standards Officers,
expanding liability for payment of monies to employees to address fissuring,
moving towards proactive inspections with limited advanced notice, and
actively using the deterrence tools provided for in the ESA and using them in more strategic ways.
Measures such as these would provide stronger labour protections for the increasing numbers of workers, particularly those already vulnerable, engaged in precarious jobs.
The book is co-authored by Leah F. Vosko, Guliz Akkaymak, Rebecca Casey, Shelley Condratto, John Grundy, Alan Hall, Alice Hoe, Kiran Mirchandani, Andrea M. Noack, Urvashi Soni-Sinha, Mercedes Steedman, Mark P. Thomas, and Eric M. Tucker. International/Québec contributors are Nick Clark, Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteau, Tess Hardy, John Howe, Guylaine Vallée, and David Weil. The research was funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Grant. The book is available from University of Toronto Press.
York University offers up to $250,000 for COVID-19 research proposals
Share
An illustration showing the novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
In these unprecedented times, York University is issuing a call for time-sensitive, special research proposals with a COVID-19 focus. The University has committed $250,000 to this call as a demonstration of its ongoing commitment to research and innovation in this most difficult period. Applicants from across the University are encouraged to apply with a focus on any aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rui Wang
“As communities around the world struggle to face this pandemic, we have seen the devastating impacts ripple through society,” said Rui Wang, interim vice-president Research & Innovation. “Members of York University’s exceptional interdisciplinary research community are called to respond to this unique challenge with proposals that span all aspects of the pandemic management and its affects and effects: from the personal, social and human health impacts, to the public health and emergency management challenges, and beyond.”
Applicants should be in a position to initiate the work immediately. The competition is open to all disciplines and submissions can be from individual researchers or teams taking an interdisciplinary approach. Matching funds from industry, non-profits or other partners, while not necessary, are welcome. Research results may range from publications to all other forms of scholarly and creative production.
Objective: The University is seeking innovative and original projects that engage with a made-in-York question/solution interrogating some aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic. This question, its investigation and outcomes should take up the challenges we face in a unique way.
Value: Funding level is open dependent on project needs.
Duration: 12 months.
Deadline: Submission of applications to Vice-President Research & Innovation are due April 22, by noon (12 p.m.)
Announcement(s) of award recipients: April 30.
The proposals will be reviewed by an interdisciplinary committee of scholars. For this reason, it is important to make the proposal as clear as possible to an informed, articulate reader who may not know your field. To submit a proposal, complete the hyperlinked MACH form and include the following information:
What is the COVID-19 related challenge you hope to address? (Describe the scope of the problem.) Limit to one-half page.
What do you expect to accomplish within 12 months, how do you plan to do it and why is it innovative? (Outline details of the methodology/feasibility/risk.) Limit to two pages.
What community or communities will be impacted by your research and its outcomes? Limit to one-half page.
Budget and budget justification. (Overhead is not an eligible expense.) One page.
References. One page (maximum).
Research biographical sketch. How are you (and your team members) uniquely positioned to lead and accomplish this work? Limit to one page.
Proposals will be judged on originality, clarity, soundness of design and the biographical sketch as detailed in the sections above. The goal will be to distribute the funds equally (approximately) across the three broad areas to encourage the exploration of diverse perspectives and issues. These are:
Arts/humanities/social sciences
Health
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
However, depending on the number of proposals, their ranking and funds approved, the distribution may vary.
For questions or additional information, contact Celia Haig-Brown, associate vice-president Research, in the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, by email to haigbro@yorku.ca.
Primary symptoms of coronavirus are fever and cough, don’t ignore fatigue and muscle aches
Share
An image of the COVID-19 virus. Image: CDC
A comprehensive review of studies on COVID-19, including clinical, epidemiological, laboratory and chest imaging data, shows that the most common symptom was fever (82 per cent), followed by a cough (61 per cent), then muscle aches and/or fatigue (36 per cent), says York University Postdoctoral Fellow Nicola Bragazzi, a co-author on the paper.
Shortness of breath appeared in 26 per cent of the cases, followed by a headache in 12 per cent and a sore throat in 10 per cent. Gastrointestinal symptoms appeared in nine per cent of patients.
“It’s important to not to overlook non-respiratory symptoms, such as headache, fatigue, sore throat and gastrointestinal symptoms,” says Bragazzi of the Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics at the Faculty of Science.
“COVID-19 symptoms are indistinguishable from other viral respiratory illnesses, making it difficult to diagnose, especially as the amount of time before a fever manifests is unknown. This may cause patients to be missed initially and some may be asymptomatic.”
Chest imaging for SARS-CoV-2, however, does show a different pattern, which is becoming a hallmark of COVID-19 infection.
The review found the most prevalent co-morbidities were hypertension, diabetes, chronic liver disease and smoking.
To understand the infection better, more research is needed, especially on the rate of asymptomatic patients and beneficial treatments, says Bragazzi.
Do you have a story to share about how you are coping, or what you are doing differently, during the COVID-19 pandemic? Email us at yfile@yorku.ca.
Jeffrey D. Schall appointed inaugural scientific director of the York Visual Neurophysiology Centre
Share
York Provost and Vice-President Academic Lisa Philipps and Interim Vice-President Research & Innovation Rui Wang issue the following announcement to the York University community:
We are delighted to inform the York community that Professor Jeffrey D. Schall will join York University on Jan. 1, 2021 as the inaugural scientific director of the York Visual Neurophysiology Centre and professor in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science.
Jeffrey Schall
Professor Schall comes to York University from Vanderbilt University, where he is a professor in the Department of Psychology and the E. Bronson Ingram Professor of Neuroscience; he has served as founding director of Vanderbilt University’s Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience since 2000. From 1998 to 2015 he also directed the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center; he was principal investigator of a “core grant” from the National Eye Institute, which funded staff and services designed to facilitate vision and eye research in laboratories across departments and schools at Vanderbilt.
Professor Schall is an innovative, prolific and internationally renowned scholar in the field of visual neurophysiology. He earned his PhD in anatomy at the University of Utah School of Medicine (1986) and subsequently completed postdoctoral training in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. His research, which has been supported by grants from the National Eye Institute, National Institute of Mental Health, National Science Foundation, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, explores how the brain makes decisions and controls actions using cognitive neurophysiology, anatomical and computational approaches. His scholarly accomplishments have been honoured with awards from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the James S. McDonnell Foundation and the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience, as well as the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences. He is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and he was president of the Vision Science Society for its 2019 meeting.
At Vanderbilt University, Professor Schall has been responsible for supporting the operations and compliance of a similar neurophysiology facility since 1993; over the years, this facility has supported the research of between five and 10 faculty members at any given time. He has taught courses in a range of areas including visual systems, neuroscience and law, neuroethics, and psychology of human motor control, brain and behaviour.
Professor Schall will be a core member of the Vision: Science to Application (VISTA) program. VISTA is a world-leading institutional research program, located at York University and partially funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF); it expands and integrates York’s strengths in visual neuroscience, computer vision, arts and humanities to address 21st century opportunities and challenges. As scientific director of the York Visual Neurophysiology Centre, he will be charged with bringing to life a strategy for the neurophysiology facility, positioning the centre to make an impact locally and globally. He will have responsibility for the development of a new $32-million research facility devoted to neurophysiology, which will incorporate facilities for molecular biology, and serving as principal investigator with oversight of planning, execution and success of the Canadian Foundation for Innovation-funded project. He will also coordinate research activities and scientific staff in the facility, work collaboratively to recruit outstanding junior faculty to strengthen York’s research capacity in this area, and interact with health and industry partners.
We look forward to welcoming Professor Schall to York University in 2021.
The new Dahdaleh COVID-19 Global Health Portal offers clarity in a time of uncertainty
Share
An image of the COVID-19 virus. Image: CDC
The novelty, speed, scale, and the differing, evolving patterns of the COVID-19 pandemic make it difficult to stay informed. The purpose of the new Dahdaleh COVID-19 Global Health Portal is to provide some clarity in this time of uncertainty, and to allow users to find the information they need.
The Dahdaleh COVID-19 Portal offers:
Regular updates on the state of the pandemic prepared by Dr. James Orbinski, a medical doctor, professor and the inaugural director of the Dahdaleh Institute of Global Health Research at York University, and Dahdaleh Fellow Aria Ilyad Ahmad.
Credible, intelligible, and useable sources of information.
The Dahdaleh Institute’s framework for understanding COVID-19 as a global public health emergency.
The T2K experiment used a beam consisting primarily of muon neutrinos or muon antineutrinos created using the proton beam from the 
