Undergraduate Students Earn Paid Summer Research Positions

 With hard work and dedication to their studies, top undergraduate students at Saint Mary’s have won the opportunity to do paid research with their professors this summer. Some will be in labs, others in the field or working remotely.  

Research at Saint Mary’s University has an impact on our community and globally. These students are placed across the campus in Science, Arts and Business faculties. Research topics include applying human resource concepts to sports teams, analyzing data and images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the shift in approach to feminist policy in Canada, and analysing case studies on the collapse of fish stocks and fisheries worldwide.  

Canadian and International students are eligible for four award programs:

• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Undergraduate Student
  Research Awards (NSERC USRA);

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Explore Summer Research Awards; and,

• Dean of Science Undergraduate Summer Research Awards

• First Year Undergraduate Awards

Working with professors whose research is making positive changes in the world guides students on their educational path to become the next generation of researchers.  

“Saint Mary’s University faculty members excel at engaging undergraduate students in their research efforts, and these experiences are a transformational positive experience for every student that has the opportunity,” said Dr. Adam Sarty, Associate Vice-President, Research and Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research.  

“The one-on-one attention from our faculty members and teamwork with peers is a perfect complement to an undergraduate degree, and provides an exceptionally strong foundation for career entry, or future professional/graduate studies,” said Dr. Sarty.  

The Awards

USRA awards, open to Canadian students who have completed at least a year of a bachelor’s degree, are meant to help students develop their potential for a research career in the natural sciences and engineering.

SSHRC Explore awards are open to students studying social sciences and humanities. With these two award programs that are supported by our federal funding councils, combined with the Dean of Science and First Year awards, all Saint Mary’s University students, Canadian and international, have an opportunity to apply for summer research award positions, even after their first year of study. 

This year are students are working on these exciting and inspiring research projects:

Humaid Muhammad Agowun (Mathematics & Computing Science; Supervisor: Paul Muir) 

Tanisha Ballard (Chemistry; Supervisor: Clarissa Sit)

Continuing certain projects already initiated, my lab partners and I will be looking at improving plant growth, and potentially, pest control in crop production. This summer, hopefully we will be able to conduct field trials on various crops, as well as additional greenhouse and green roof trials this summer to investigate this.

Abigail Battson (Astrophysics; Supervisor: Vincent Hénault-Brunet)

I will be working on high-velocity stars in globular clusters. These stars are far too fast to have been produced by the typical cluster dynamics, and are likely produced by interactions between a binary star system and a black hole. My work involves finding these stars using the GAIA proper motion data and confirming that they are likely members of the cluster, with plans to apply this process to all the globular clusters I can. Eventually, I hope to analyze the three-body interactions that cause the star's high speed to discover what kind of black holes would produce the results observed.

Samantha Bennett (Environmental Science; Supervisor: Erin Cameron)

This summer I am going to be studying soil biodiversity and the effects of global change, climate change and invasive species on species distribution. I will spend part of the summer researching earthworms, looking into their distribution and dispersal. I am hoping to get the opportunity to go to Western Canada later in the summer to study the distribution of earthworms in Saskatchewan.

Hannah Birru (Economics; Supervisor: Joniada Milla)

Labour economics in Chile.

Abby Brouwer (Biology; Supervisor: Anne Dalziel)

Testing how freshwater tolerance evolves in stickleback or study the factors influencing hybridization rate and direction in killifishes. This work will involve collecting fish from the field, caring for fish brought back to the aquarium facilities, and conducting molecular and biochemical analyses in the lab.

Chloe Champion (Biology; Supervisor: Anne Dalziel)

Continuing field and molecular work in the Dalziel Lab on “Mechanisms affecting rates and directions of hybridization in killifish species producing asexual hybrids.”

Jakob Conrad (Mathematics; Supervisor: Mitja Mastnak)

The study and classfication of hopf algebras, using computational methods and tools, and studying the simultaneous triangularization of linear transformations and their corresponding chains of invariant subspaces.

Katrina Cruickshanks (Biology; Supervisor: Sean Haughian)

Analyzing lichen species of old growth forests of Nova Scotia to assist land managers with prioritizing conservation decisions. 

Myles Davidson (Psychology; Supervisor: Skye Stephens)

I am working with Dr. Skye Stephens on a prevention project for adults at risk of sexually offending against children. We are working on identifying what is considered best practice for preventing offending amongst this demographic.

Bryn de Chastelain (Political Science; Supervisor: Alexandra Dobrowolsky)

My research is supporting the development of an article by Dr. Dobrowolsky on the topic of feminist policy and gender equality in Canada. Specifically, I will be analyzing speeches and policy approaches under Pierre Elliott Trudeau and his son Justin Trudeau, demonstrating the shift (or lack thereof) in approach to feminist policy in Canada. This will inform a comparative analysis of the different political eras to showcase the realities of feminism and gender equality in Canada. 

Matthew Fancy (Marketing; Supervisor Tiffany Vu)

Helping to develop and test various theories in marketing pertaining to charitable giving and sustainability.

Mark Funnell (Geography & Environmental Studies; Supervisors: Matthew Novak & Khan Rahaman)

I am a first-year Geography undergrad working with the Wicked Problems Lab to assess the pandemic’s effect on local governance. This looks to answer how municipal government has been affected in Halifax and elsewhere in Canada through using qualitative data analysis software and other research methods.

Justin Gray (Mathematics and Computing Science; Supervisor: Stavros Konstantinidis)

A regular expression is a pattern that is used to match desirable word(s) in a text. Given a regular expression and a word, there are algorithms to determine if the regular expression matches the word; this is called the membership problem. This is often solved by converting the regular expression into an automaton, but can also be solved using other direct algorithms. My research will focus on algorithms and implementation of the membership problem for multi-dimensional word/regular expression tuples, which are studied in the area of what is formally known as rational word relations. This type of regular expressions is of current interest both in the theory of rational relations and their applications in areas like databases and computer security.

Samantha Henneberry (Chemistry; Supervisor: Rob Singer)

This summer I will be working with Dr. Singer and his team on a green chemistry project involving ionic organocatalysis. These ionic organocatalysts can potentially provide more green alternatives to traditional organic liquids. Another project involves the N-demethylation of opioids, using sonochemical / ultrasound methods. This project falls under the medicinal side of organic chemistry, and may even be published by the end of the summer.”

Jacob Hoare (Chemistry; Supervisor: Rob Singer)

Sam Julien (Chemistry; Supervisor: Christa Brosseau)

I am a 4th year chemistry honours student. I will be developing a novel biosensor for rapid detection of cardiac biomarkers. This technology may be useful for the early evaluation of heart attacks before the onset of physical symptoms.

Amy Kehoe (Engineering; Supervisor: Adel Merabet)

Maggie Kelly (Biology; Supervisor: Laura Weir)

I will be working with Dr. Weir and her study of the mating behaviour of Japanese Medaka fish.

Madison Kieffer (Modern Languages and Classics; Supervisor: Sveva Svavelli)

Processing artifacts and organizing documentation from the archaeological excavation at the Oenotrian-Greek site of Incoronata “greca” (Pisticci-Basilicata-Italy) (8th- 6th c. BCE). Current investigation of the site focuses on the relationships formed between Indigenous populations in southern Italy and incoming Greeks in the wider context of Greek colonialism and imperialism in the ancient Mediterranean.

Mayara Mejri (Biology; Supervisor: David Chiasson)

Nam Nguyen (Accounting; Supervisor: Vasiliki Athanasakou)

I am super passionate about working in the accounting and taxation field. I am currently participating in the research project of Professor Athanasakou to perform analysis on corporate reporting, and I am working full-time as an Excise Tax Examiner at the Canada Revenue Agency.  I am interested in this topic as I have the opportunity to review and evaluate annual reports and information forms from many different companies. Working with Professor Athanasakou and learning from her stories and experience will allow me to learn and gain more handy skills and knowledge, and this would help in pursuing my CPA designation.

Narmeen Oozer (Mathematics & Computing Science; Supervisor Mitja Mastnak)

Bibek Parajuli (Psychology; Supervisor: Arla Day)

Gwen Pearson (Women & Gender Studies/Criminology; Supervisors: Byers/Collins)

Collecting existing data and research on the subject in the media, including television shows and documentaries. I will examine the content relating to many different aspects like story arc, genre, and how characters are portrayed. I also expect to learn skills relating to criminology, media studies, and research, that will likely benefit me as I complete my degree. 

Bernice Perry (History; Supervisor: Heather Green)

Working alongside Professor Green and her collaborators on the Northern Borders Project, researching first and secondary sources for developing an open access online teaching module, surrounding aspects of borders and boundaries in the North. This project entails looking at physical borders and cultural and racial boundaries using scholarly and local perspectives. There is also an opportunity for independent research surrounding the project themes, which may be featured in the teaching module.

Grace Robertson (Environmental Science; Supervisor: Tony Charles)

I will be compiling and analysing case studies and other information from around the world on the collapse of fish stocks and fisheries, leading to a published report. I will also be working with simulation modelling of the impacts of marine protected areas on fisheries and marine biodiversity. Lastly, I will be engaging in the work of the Community Conservation Research Network through research and outreach activities.

Jacqueline Shaw (Psychology; Supervisor: Kevin Kelloway)

Working with Dr. Kelloway and his research group to study organizational response to the Covid-19 outbreak, as well as psychological injuries at work, stress interventions, and the relationship between personality and organizational outcomes.

Jaylynn Skeete (Psychology; Supervisor: Nicole Conrad)

I will be assisting Dr. Conrad with her research on the relationship between spelling and reading comprehension, and with statistical input and analysis as well as creating my own research study and design. 

Ashley Ta (Management; Supervisor: Terry Wagar)

Applying human resource concepts to sports teams, coaches, and athletes. I will also be assisting in writing literary reviews, assembling data, and conducting interviews. 

Devin Williams (Astrophysics; Supervisor: Marcin Sawicki)

Analyzing data and images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and other giant ground-based telescopes to study galaxy morphology, and learn how galaxies form, grow, and evolve in the early Universe.

Saint Mary’s Looks to Future with New Brand Story

Saint Mary’s University is looking to the future with the launch of a new brand.      

“It is time for Saint Mary’s University to assert our place boldly among the top Canadian universities and proclaim our advantages at home and around the globe,” says Saint Mary’s University President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray. “This is the brand for our university and for our times. Saint Mary’s University offers a bright, ambitious vision for the future.”  

The new brand platform results from months of qualitative and quantitative research and extensive consultation with a diverse group of more than 3,000 faculty, staff, students, alumni and other stakeholders.   

The new treatment includes a logo, wordmark and tagline, ‘World Without Limits.’    

“‘World Without Limits’ is a wonderful distillation of who we are and what Saint Mary’s strives for every day. It is about investment in people, about economies, international relations and social prosperity, changes in science, technology, environment and business. It is also about acknowledging and tackling the very real limitations placed on diverse and marginalized cultures and peoples, and addressing the mental health issues that many grapple with every day. It is about Saint Mary’s bold vision and our commitment to our university community, for Halifax and for Nova Scotia,” says President Summerby-Murray.    

“More than an updated look and feel, our new brand platform is a powerful way of telling the Saint Mary’s story,” says Erin Sargeant Greenwood, Vice-President, Advancement. “Saint Mary’s offers a unique experience. We are a caring community, more typically associated with smaller universities, combined with the research and student engagement opportunities of the largest institutions. We are moving the university forward in a way that reflects our traditions and values and embraces our bright future.”   

Related links

• Learn more about our new brand platform

• Learn about the Sobey School brand

• Learn about the Husky logo

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Environmental History course nets OER award for Dr. Heather Green

Migration, Old Crow, YT; photo by Jon Luedee

We often associate environmental research with STEM, focusing on the science of human-environment relationships that have impacted climate and ecosystems. For Dr. Heather Green, environmental research encompasses not only the tangible evidence of climate change but also the histories of how environmental change has affected Indigenous and settler populations, wildlife, and the natural world.

The Council of Atlantic University Libraries (CAUL-CBUA) sees the broader potential for Green’s research and teaching, announcing April 15 that she is among the first five recipients of its AtlanticOER Development Grants. The new grants are intended to encourage educators in the region to create open educational resources (OER), and increase student access to course materials. 

An assistant professor in the Department of History at Saint Mary’s, Green applied for the grant in relation to her course HIST 2833: Environmental History of North America. Her winning project aims to raise awareness of Northern issues and experiences by incorporating them into her course curriculum and creating an online teaching module on environmental histories of borders in the North.

This work is part of her current research with the Northern Borders Project, developed in collaboration with two other historians: Dr.Jonathan Luedee, Postdoctoral Fellow in the University of Toronto’s history department; and independent scholar Dr. Glenn Iceton, Williams Lake, B.C. (PhD University of Saskatchewan).

The project has been supported through web support by the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE), where she is an editor. The environmental humanities initiative is exploring “the dynamic socio-environmental contexts that have shaped the making of borders and boundaries throughout the circumpolar world from the nineteenth- century to the present,” says the project’s website.

A large portion of Green’s OER project is incorporating Indigenous and Inuit traditional knowledge and generational memory into course material and the public realm.

“Within the last 10 to 15 years, there has been a lot of controversy in the North around land claims, Indigenous sovereignty, certainly conflicts over resources, mining issues and of course climate change, so we are interested in examining the deep historical roots related to these issues. In keeping with our project goals, we want to ensure that this research is public,” says Green, adding this makes NiCHE an ideal home base for the project website.

“We wanted to approach an exploration of environmental and social contexts that have had a long history reaching into the present and look at how they have shaped the formation of borders in the northern region of North America,” Green explains.

On the flip side of that, she’s interested in understanding the role that borders themselves have played in the environmental crisis in the North today. Borders are more than geopolitical boundaries; they include racial and cultural boundaries, identity, gender, and the boundaries between Western knowledge production and Indigenous ways of knowing.

“Understanding ways in which knowledge is produced plays a crucial role in the lived experience of the North, because so much of northern residents’ lives have been shaped by southern influences from the nineteenth century onward,” says Green.

Further plans to boost accessibility to information about the Northern Borders Project include creating practical and applied mentorship and employment opportunities for students at Saint Mary’s.

“Our open, educational resource teaching module will consist of four different teaching units,” says Green. “These units will discuss broad conceptual themes, using different case studies in various forms of multimedia, including oral history, videos, photographs, and GIS (geographical information systems) mapping.” 

Through a SSHRC Summer Research Award, SMUworks and the OER funding, three students will work with Green during the summer months. They will help develop the teaching modules and conduct their own original research, which will be featured in the module units.

“This opportunity is exciting for students, as it will give them the skills training that is transferable outside of history,” says Green. “They will also have the chance to walk away from these work terms having completed their own original research and digital history project.”

Find out more about the Northern Borders Project and follow Dr. Green on Twitter at @heathergreen21. Her first book, The Great Upheaval: Gold Mining and Environmental Change in the Klondike, is forthcoming with the UBC Press Nature, History, Society series.  

Saint Mary’s University Researchers Take Part in CBC Earth Day Special

On Earth Day, Saint Mary’s University researcher Dr. Danika van Proosdij and honours student Makadunyiswe Ngulube took part in a special event hosted by CBC. They discussed climate change and, more specifically, the multi-million-dollar salt marsh restoration research project underway in the Chignecto area.

The project, Making Room for Wetlands: Implementation of Managed Realignment for Salt Marsh Restoration and Climate Change Adaptation in Nova Scotia, seeks to restore over 75 hectares of tidal wetland (i.e., salt marsh) habitat through the realignment and decommissioning of dyke infrastructure at multiple sites in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.

This project includes a well-established partnership between Saint Mary’s University and CB Wetlands & Environmental Specialists (CBWES) Inc. using innovative and proven techniques with a comprehensive monitoring program.

Click here to read more on Saint Mary’s participation in CBC’s special Earth Day coverage. Or listen to the researchers on CBC’s Information Morning here (~32 minutes into the segment).

Additional reading

• Government of Canada partners with Saint Mary’s to create new coastal habitat and combat climate change

• National recognition for Saint Mary’s geographer

• SMU faculty participate as scientific experts at G7 Oceans Inspiration Expo

Assessing global human progress with a new environmental twist

The International Development Studies program at Saint Mary’s is teaming up with the School of Social Sciences at Mahatma Gandhi University in India to co-host a virtual panel discussion on Monday.

The purpose of the April 19 event is to take a closer look at the 2020 Human Development Report, the 30th anniversary edition of the yearly report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Titled “The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene,” this latest version is quite different from its predecessors, introducing a new environmental lens to the report’s annual Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI typically tracks human progress in countries around the world by measuring such factors as a nation’s health, education and standards of living. For the 2020 report, the HDI also took the countries’ carbon dioxide emissions and material footprints into account. By adjusting the index to reflect planetary pressures, the report paints a sobering picture of humanity’s progress by making the wellbeing of both people and the planet central to the definition of human development.

“It’s a unique opportunity to have an international discussion,” says Dr. Gavin Fridell, SMU’s Canada Research Chair in International Development Studies and one of the panellists. “This report is quite different, and represents a massive turning point, so it’s worthy of us having a more serious discussion about it.” 

Joining him on the panel are Dr. Kate Ervine, also a faculty member in the IDS program at Saint Mary’s; Dr. Joseph Tharamangalam of the Sociology & Anthropology department at Mount St. Vincent University; and Dr. C.T. Aravindakumar, Pro-Vice Chancellor and faculty member in the School of Environmental Science, Mahatma Gandhi University. The panel’s moderator is Dr. Sabu Thomas, Vice Chancellor (President), Mahatma Gandhi University.

“The report is not very optimistic,” Fridell notes, adding the pandemic has also changed thinking around human development, further highlighting economic inequalities and environmental pressures.

“COVID-19 is teaching us a lot of things,” he says. “We have learned that in an emergency, we are capable of slowing down our economic growth … but who pays the price? And the report isn’t saying that we have to end economic growth, but constantly increasing economic growth is not compatible with the climate crisis.”

Each panellist will begin with a brief presentation, then the event will open up to a Q&A discussion. Similar conversations have been taking place around the world since the report’s release in December, but this is the first such public forum in the Maritime provinces. See the UNDP’s December 15 announcement for more details and perspectives about the 2020 report.

“While humanity has achieved incredible things, it is clear that we have taken our planet for granted,” Jayathma Wickramanayake, the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy Youth, said in the announcement. “Across the world young people have spoken up, recognizing that these actions put our collective future at risk. As the 2020 Human Development Report makes clear, we need to transform our relationship with the planet — to make energy and material consumption sustainable, and to ensure every young person is educated and empowered to appreciate the wonders that a healthy world can provide.”

Open to the public, the panel discussion begins at 10:30 am on Monday. See the event listing on the SMU Events Calendar for more information and the Zoom links. 

Bridget Brownlow receives Paul Harris Fellow Award

Bridget Brownlow

Saint Mary’s University’s Conflict Resolution Advisor and president of Peaceful Schools International, Bridget Brownlow, has received the Paul Harris Fellow Award from the Rotary Club of Halifax Harbourside.

The award, established in 1957, is given to a community member that has made an outstanding contribution to the community. Brownlow is being recognized for her notable service with Peaceful Schools International, teaching peaceful education to children from over 200 schools around the world.

The Paul Harris Fellow Award has been received by many household names, including: Mother Theresa, polio vaccine developer Jonas Salk, N.S. Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang, and former Saint Mary’s President Colin Dodds.

Congratulations Bridget!

SMU archaeologist brings history into focus with LiDAR and 3D tech

Dr. Jonathan Fowler is bringing Nova Scotia’s historic settlements into sharper focus, using advanced digital tools to combine archival maps with landscape data in his research and teaching at Saint Mary’s.

“This is about as close as you can get to time travel without a DeLorean,” says the associate professor of archaeology. Instead of going Back to the Future, the texture mapping technology offers a fresh approach to viewing the past, showing in stunning detail how our farmlands and fortresses looked hundreds of years ago.

In a current project, Fowler shows how Fort Anne National Historic Site would have looked in 1706, combining a centuries-old military map with a 3D terrain model created from current aerial Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data. 

“Airborne LiDAR has become a powerful tool for archaeologists to tell the stories about our heritage while also providing historical information for us to study and interpret,” says Fowler, who teaches in the Department of Anthropology.  

LiDAR technology has been around for decades, but the provincial government’s open data model is enabling an explosion of new research in many disciplines. Free LiDAR data is now available for much of Nova Scotia through GeoNOVA’s DataLocator Elevation Explorer portal. Aircraft mounted with LiDAR transmitters and receivers fly over landscapes across the province, emitting pulses of light energy. This provides detailed data about the ground surface, and archaeologists can filter out trees and other high vegetation to see a bare surface model.

To process LiDAR data, Fowler’s go-to is the Surfer surface mapping platform from Golden Software of Golden, Colorado. He has been using it for years to visualize geophysical survey data, and more recently to collate and analyze LiDAR data with old maps. The technology “essentially drapes historical maps over digital 3D models, creating a vivid visualization of the former landscape,” he explains.  

For his Fort Anne images, Fowler used high-resolution scans of historic maps of the fortress: a 1706 military map from France’s National Archives, and a 1753 map from the Library of Congress, showing the site under British rule. He put them through a georeferencing process in a Geographical Information System (GIS) program, then used LiDAR data to create a ‘bare Earth’ 3D surface model of the area’s current topography, minus vegetation and buildings. Combining them in Surfer created a 3D map revealing the original layout of buildings within the fort’s ramparts and beyond.   

“Interestingly, most of the fort’s buildings no longer exist, but some structures still stand today in [the town of] Annapolis Royal and are among the oldest buildings in Canada,” says Fowler.

Fowler hopes to unearth new information about Fort Anne and its surroundings. As he has in Grand Pré and other projects, he can use the new 3D imagery as a guide to return with Ground Penetrating Radar to further investigate what remains hidden beneath the surface.

“Dr. Fowler’s research demonstrates the value of visualizing and modeling multiple diverse data sets to gain deeper scientific insights,” adds Blakelee Mills, CEO of Golden Software.

In another study of the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site, Fowler used a map dating back to 1745, after the New England siege. Though Parks Canada rebuilt much of the town’s outer wall during the 20th century, LiDAR data shows evidence of the craters left when the British military attempted to demolish the site in the mid-1700s.

Aside from its research benefits, fun, and aesthetic value, this approach to historical mapping holds great potential for explaining landscape histories with vivid visualizations.

“Rather than asking someone to imagine a past environment, we can digitally render it in 3D, resulting in a much more immersive experience of the past,” says Fowler.

“As a teacher of history, archaeology, and heritage resource management and interpretation, I am thrilled that these tools are becoming more affordable and user friendly. We are presently integrating them into several of our archaeology courses, including Archaeological Remote Sensing, Landscape Archaeology, and Cultural Resource Management Archaeology.”

For more details on the Fort Anne project, read Dr. Fowler’s articles on LinkedIn and Facebook. Follow his updates on Twitter at @ArchInAcadie.  

An evening across the ocean with Doireann Ní Ghríofa

William Wordsworth defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility …” On March 4, the Irish Studies program welcomed acclaimed Irish writer Doireann Ní Ghríofa as guest speaker for its annual D’Arcy McGee Lecture, showing that Wordsworth is not alone in seeing poetry as a matter of feelings and inspiration. 

Ní Ghríofa is a poet and essayist who writes in both Irish and English. Her prose bestseller A Ghost in the Throat, an inventive hybrid of essay and fiction, was crowned Book of the Year at the 2020 Irish Book Awards. She also has six award-winning poetry collections, the most recent of which is Lies (an Irish Times Book of the Year and Irish Independent Book of 2018). 

“To give a lecture like this isn’t something that I’m used to at all,” Ní Ghríofa confessed at the outset of the virtual public lecture, which drew over 100 people. “I’ve no academic expertise that would qualify me to do so, well beyond what I’ve taught myself in quite a muddled way. I’m just a person who has slowly, over many years and with many missteps, taught themselves to become a writer.”

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

Ní Ghríofa added that she came to writing comparatively late in life: “I held a passion for reading, though, much earlier – I was a very bookish child, the kid who wants to bring home more books from the library than my arms could ever carry – but I only began to write in my late twenties, and I’ve never shaken off my astonishment at the fact that a life can take a drastic turn like that, that we can suddenly become absorbed in a new devotion, that feels like it comes upon us totally unexpectedly, and we find that it has changed everything.” 

Through her poetry, Ní Ghríofa explores the journeys of birth, death, desire, and domesticity. In her talk, she revealed how grief and motherhood sparked her way into poetry: “For a long time, I struggled to speak of that grief, but poetry allowed me a way to speak of the pain and longing and the loss that I felt, even after my subsequent children were born, for that first lost pregnancy,” Ní Ghríofa said before reciting a selection from “Sólás” in the book Lies, her collection of poems with a refreshing yet crafty presentation in both tongues.

“This poem grew from the moment I learned that in Irish folklore, the souls of miscarried and stillborn infants were believed to return as little birds – sedge-warblers – to comfort their mothers with birdsong,” she added. 

The poet also explained why her lecture focused on these interconnections between grief and literature. “My younger sister Éibhleann died very recently,” she said. “It’s such a painful loss, and something I can’t really bring myself to speak about very much. It’s a particularly lonely time to lose a family member, with the pandemic, when we’re are deprived of the company and comfort of others. But my writing practice has helped me through these difficult days and kept my head above water, if only barely some days, by connecting again with how grief has been such a deep source of my work.”

After thanking her audience in both Irish and English, Ní Ghríofa reminded us that reading and writing poetry is good for healing and transformation: “[Poetry] has never failed to bring me comfort, even now, as we persevere through such dark, uncertain times.”

Dr. Sara Malton researching hunger and fasting in the Victorian era

Current cultural dialogues about womanhood and agency are popular topics of inquiry in today’s social science research, yet society’s apparent need to contain the female body has been a poignant issue for centuries. Dr. Sara Malton has been researching the representation of women’s bodies – and women’s physical and psychological health – by revisiting understandings of fasting, starvation and selfhood in 19th-century literature and culture.

Dr. Sara Malton

“This research could help us approach with greater care our thinking about women’s relationships with their bodies and questions of agency and help us critically consider the ways that we tend to pathologize everything,” says Dr. Malton, a Professor in the Department of English Language & Literature.

Malton’s current research focuses on representation of the “fasting girl,” which she describes in her research abstract as “a phenomenon which became the focus of much scrutiny in British, European, and Anglo-American medicine and the popular press, as well as nineteenth-century literature. Fasting girls were frequently purported to survive on nothing but the Eucharist and sips of water often for weeks, months, or sometimes even years. On the one hand, such young women evoked a pattern of behavior that recalled that of earlier miraculous saints, such as Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-80), who was renowned for what was then termed anorexia mirabilis. Yet into the latter decades of the nineteenth century, doctors largely discredited the entire notion of anorexia mirabilis.”

Last summer, Malton received a federal SSHRC Insight Development Grant for her project, entitled “Wondrous Hunger: Salvation, Starvation and the Nineteenth-Century 'Fasting Girl.'” Further investigation on the subject has led her to the Welsh girl Sarah Jacob, a figure who has been addressed by authors ranging from Charles Dickens to Emma Donoghue in her recent historical novel, The Wonder [2016]. Cases such as Jacob’s “were at the nexus of this transition from the perception of self-imposed starvation as redemptive sacrifice to a pathologized illness, anorexia nervosa, which was defined in 1873,” says Malton in her abstract.

With “intermittent fasting” becoming popular again as a weight loss strategy, Malton hopes her research will contribute to current discussions on gender, agency and the body, as well as tensions that remain between medical practice and religious belief.  

“There has been a battle of authority between religion and science, and during the Victorian era there was a desire to pathologize and reclassify. Prior to the late 19th century, there was no specific medical pathology for anorexia. So, who controls these women’s stories? After their deaths we have trial records and medical records, but no records from the women,” Malton explains.

“In a time when we are so polarized in our discussions, I think that it is now useful to add nuance to historical issues where religious discourse relates to scientific discourse,” she adds.

In much of her research, Malton explores the intersections of fiction, finance, technology and law, as well as consumer and commodity culture. Her publications include the book, Forgery in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture: Fictions of Finance from Dickens to Wilde (Palgrave-Macmillan 2009).

She is the current Secretary and a past Trustee of The Dickens Society, and hosted the international 20th Annual Dickens Society Symposium at Saint Mary’s in 2015. A few months ago, Chicago's Remy Bumppo Theatre Company invited her to present Between the Lines: The Chimes, a pre-show lecture for its virtual performance of the 1844 Christmas story by Dickens.

Learn more about Malton’s work at saramalton.com and follow her on Twitter at @saramalton.

Dr. Evangelia Tastsoglou recognized for research excellence

The 2020 recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Research is Dr. Evie Tastsoglou, Professor of Sociology.

Dr. Evangelia (Evie) Tastsoglou is the recipient of the 2020 President’s Award for Excellence in Research at Saint Mary’s, to be recognized during the virtual Winter Convocation ceremony on February 13.

A highly regarded leader in Sociology research, Dr. Tastsoglou has legal training and expertise spanning other fields such as Women and Gender Studies and International Development Studies. Much of her current research focuses on the urgent issue of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in migration.

Dr. Tastsoglou currently leads as principal investigator the Canadian research team of a major international research program that is analyzing causes and impacts of violence against women migrants and refugees, with a view to shaping effective policy to address it. Working “remotely yet at full speed,” her Canadian team of scholars at four institutions is supported by funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The program was developed in response to a call from GENDER-NET Plus, a consortium of 16 organizations from 13 countries, aiming to strengthen transnational research while promoting gender equality through institutional change.

With a team of academics in Canada and Greece, Dr. Tastsoglou is also the principal investigator of a SSHRC-funded project, with preliminary results now in review for publication. This research seeks to understand gender-based violence and precarity “in the forced migration journeys of asylum-seeking women toward the EU through what is known as the Eastern Mediterranean route, in the tumultuous, second decade of the 21st century,” she says. “Our findings locate five points in this forced migration journey where precarity interweaves with violence, reinforcing one another, as well as show their gendered forms: border crossing, the asylum determination process, living conditions, services, and state response to GVB.”

Additionally, she is co-investigator in a project on the impacts of the pandemic on Canadians’ mental health, as analyzed through social media. Funded by NSERC Alliance COVID-19, the project includes industry partner Diversio and research teams from Dalhousie’s Faculty of Computer Science and Department of Psychiatry.

“This is a truly rewarding collaboration not only in terms of building substantive knowledge but also in pioneering interdisciplinary methodology that combines, with sociological input, machine learning methods applied to text mining, followed by qualitative analysis. Team members learn how to negotiate a common ‘language’ across very different disciplines,” says Dr. Tastsoglou.

Interdisciplinary approaches have always been vital to her research but the NSERC Alliance COVID-19 project is further expanding those horizons, she says. “My educational background is in law and sociology and although I appreciate the distinct lenses of the two disciplines, I consider them complementary in approaching complex social phenomena. This project takes me one step further in the direction of addressing research questions in the social sciences by using artificial intelligence methodologies to assist in coping with large amounts of text.”

Since arriving at Saint Mary’s in 1993, Professor Tastsoglou has served as a mentor for many undergraduate and graduate students. She was Chair of the former Department of Sociology and Criminology from 2006-2012. Cross-appointed since 2017 to the International Development Studies Program, she serves as its undergraduate coordinator.

“It has been a privilege to have spent most of my academic career working at Saint Mary’s University,” she says, adding she is deeply honoured to receive the research excellence award. “I have learnt and continue to learn a great deal from my colleagues and students. Working out of a smaller university has some unique advantages in terms of having less pressure to produce and more freedom to engage your passions, which can ultimately enrich both your work and life. I am very grateful to the Saint Mary’s community, which I have experienced as personable, caring and supportive throughout my career.”

Currently president of the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association, Dr. Tastsoglou was proclaimed “Sociologist of the Month” by the international Current Sociology journal in July 2018, and received a Fulbright / Niarchos Fellowship in 2017. She was an elected member of the Research Council and Executive of the International Sociological Association (2014-2018), and former President of the ISA’s RC 32 (Research Committee on Women in Society (2006-2014). She is the single author, co-author, editor and co-editor of numerous publications, including 11 peer-reviewed volumes, in national and international venues.

Established in 1989, the annual President’s Award honours outstanding research conducted by a full-time faculty member at Saint Mary’s. Recipients must have a record of continued and exceptional contribution to research and scholarship, as well as national or international recognition as an authority in a major field of knowledge.

History graduate receives prestigious SSHRC scholarship

Alex Myrick

It’s an interesting time of transition for Alex Myrick, whose master’s level research is now evolving to the doctoral level.  

Myrick will graduate from Saint Mary’s with a Master of Arts degree in History on February 13. The M.A. program in the History department gave him a great foundation for his next steps: he’s already working on his PhD at the University of Ottawa – remotely from his current home in Halifax – and recently received a prestigious Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).  

In October, Myrick successfully defended his master’s thesis, titled ‘From Isolated Asylums to the Medical Mainstream: Psychiatry's Journey Towards Normalization within Somatic Medicine, 1900-1970’. His research focuses on the once isolated practice of psychiatry and how it became more integrated into medical schools and general hospitals. Psychiatry had been separated from general medicine and was mainly practised in overcrowded asylums up until the mid-twentieth century.

Myrick first became intrigued by the topic in 2017, during a journalism project in his undergraduate years at the University of King’s College. “I wanted to know how, as a society, we got to the point of a quiet crisis in mental health care, with an overburdened system,” he shares. “What intellectual ideas have created the system we live in today? I hope to at least understand how psychiatry and mental health care have developed over the century.” 

He concentrated his master’s research on the prominent  20th century psychiatrist Adolf Meyer, whose theory of psychobiology specified that the mind and body are indivisible aspects of the whole human organism. Through psychobiology, an individual’s health could be based on the premise that the body’s anatomical and physiological nervous apparatus work in conjunction with its mental activities and behaviours, and all are part of the human organism’s adaptive response to stimuli in their environment.

Meyer’s influence also extended to Nova Scotia’s medical history, which provided a case study in Myrick’s thesis. Dr. Robert O. Jones, a student of Meyer’s at John Hopkins University, developed a curriculum and post-graduate program for psychiatry at Dalhousie Medical School. Jones became an advocate for Meyerian ideas in the province while teaching the specifics of Meyer’s approaches to psychiatry and medicine. Through Jones and his work, psychiatry was established as a discipline on par with other medical specialties in Nova Scotia.

Myrick is expanding the scope of analysis for his doctoral research to include other Canadian cities that saw psychiatry integrated into their health care systems between 1900 and 1970. He will also further examine the debates among psychiatrists and “the rest of medicine” over psychiatric treatment in hospitals.  

He is delighted to be the recipient of a SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship. This will provide federal funding of $35,000 annually for three years of his PhD program.

“The funding frees up so much financial stress,” says Myrick. “The nature of the scholarships means that I can focus entirely on my research. With this funding I also hope to travel to the United States or England to visit the institutions where Meyer’s students worked.”

Dr. Edna Keeble moderates U.S. - Canada Relations event

Dr. Edna Keeble

It’s a virtual event fitting the times. “Congress to Campus: U.S.-Canada Relations” on January 28 promises to be an engaging discussion directed to those in academia and beyond in Canada.  

The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States will have an impact on countries all over the world. Just hours after taking office this week, he revoked the permit that would have enabled western Canada’s Keystone XL oil pipeline project to expand into the U.S. On his first day, President Biden also indicated that his administration’s relationship with Canada is a priority – his first phone call to a foreign leader will be with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Congress to Campus event, which aims to explore many of the questions Canadians might have right now, is part of the outreach program of the United States Association of Former Members of Congress (FMC). It’s timely, as the effects of the recent U.S. election and the attack on the Capitol are still very fresh in the minds of the world. The event also has a connection to the Saint Mary’s community, with Dr. Edna Keeble serving as the discussion’s moderator.  

“It is important not only to discuss the possible directions of Canada-U.S. relations under the new Biden administration, but also to understand the future prospects of bipartisanship from those who have served in the halls of the U.S. Congress,” says Dr. Keeble, a professor in the Department of Political Science.

The two speakers for the event are former members of the U.S. House of Representatives, from both the Democratic and Republican parties:

• The Honorable Elizabeth Esty, who was the U.S. Representative for Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District covering central and northwest Connecticut from 2013 to 2019.

• The Honorable John J. Faso, who represented the 19th Congressional District in upstate New York from 2017 to 2019.

Dr. Keeble’s current teaching and research interests focus on Canadian foreign policy, re-definitions of security, and linkages between politics, gender and sexuality. She served as Chair of the Political Science department for six years (2003-2004; 2009-2014).

“I was invited to moderate by the U.S. Consulate General in Halifax, which was organizing the event with the Former Members of Congress organization before the horrific January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol,” she says.   

All are welcome to attend Congress to Campus, to be held Thursday, January 28 at 1:00 pm on Zoom. For more details about the speakers, see the SMU Events Calendar and sign up in advance for the webinar link.