Saint Mary’s students benefiting from Mitacs Accelerate Program experience

Dr. Hugo Medeiros, postdoctoral fellow

Graduate student Tabatha Thibault

Graduate student Daniel Meagher

The Mitacs Accelerate program allows Saint Mary’s University students to test their skills in a professional environment and earn the experience they need to thrive. Four Saint Mary’s student who participating share how they benefited from their Mitacs sponsored internships.

Graduate student Tabatha Thibault gained the confidence to assert herself as an expert in her field.

“I was applying exactly what I’ve been taught for four years,” says Thibault, who recentlyrecently started a second internship with Air Institutes. “It's helped me realize that I do have valuable skills and knowledge--that I have something to bring to the table.

Dr. Hugo Medeiros’s internship at Port Hawkesbury Paper helped him as a professional and as a newcomer, as he was able to practice his skills and improve his English.

“I now have work experience in Canada, which is important for a new immigrant, and a network outside of the academic setting. I have an opportunity to get a job that I don't know I would have without this internship,” says Dr. Dediros, postdoctoral fellow.

Even though his studies are focused on geology, graduate student Daniel Meagher jumped on the opportunity to challenge himself at an internship outside of his field at Dillon Consulting.

“It was a good opportunity to get something that was out of my comfort zone and expand my options. I could look into environmental jobs now as well as mining and exploration,” says Meagher.

After his internship at Clinical Logistics, Sree Babu Nukarapu, an M.Sc. in Computing & Data Analytics grad, says his profile became more appealing to recruiters.

“It has helped me gain expertise in the Canadian market, made me a much more confident person, and it has helped me prove my passion for analytics. I was able to secure a job at an MNC in Halifax,” says Sree.

For more information about the Mitacs Accelerate program, click here.

SMU named among top 50 Research Universities in Canada: Research Impact and Funding Rises

The impact of Saint Mary’s University’s research continues to rise, according to a new report released this week detailing Canada’s top 50 research universities.  

“Saint Mary’s continues to maintain a strong position among Canada’s top 50 research universities,” says Dr. Adam J. Sarty, associate vice-president, Research and Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. “The university shows continued excellent performance and growth in obtaining external research funding with an 18 percent growth in external research income compared to the year prior. It brings the university up to $10 million in external research funding, to rank 8th among other Canadian undergraduate universities.” 

The report comes from Research Infosource Inc., which releases a yearly list titled Canada’s Top 50 Research Universities. This year, Saint Mary’s ranked 48th overall and saw its ranking under ‘publication impact’ rise from 41st to 20th overall. 

“This strong growth in external research funding, coupled with the powerful impact of our research publications, continues to tell the story of Saint Mary’s University professors who are conducting top-level research,” says Dr. Sarty. “They are achieving research success while balancing a mission that is also dedicated to excellence in undergraduate education and support of select graduate programming.” 

Eight universities in Atlantic Canada were featured on the list, posting a combined research income of $408.9 million in Fiscal 2019. It marks a growth of 19.7 percent for Atlantic Canada in 2019, far surpassing the national increase of 5.7 percent. Saint Mary’s had the third-highest gain of all Atlantic universities. In Fiscal 2019, Atlantic universities accounted for 5% of the national research income total, up from 4% in Fiscal 2018. 

For more information on Canada’s Top 50 Research Universities list, visit https://researchinfosource.com/top-50-research-universities/2020. 

Supporting resilience and recovery focus of two new initiatives from the SMU Entrepreneurship Centre

960 Tower Road: Home of the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre (SMUEC) and the SMU Language Centre.

The Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre (SMUEC) is expanding its investment in the economic recovery and resilience of Nova Scotia with two new initiatives to support businesses and entrepreneurs amidst the pandemic.

“Saint Mary’s is known for our positive impact on the Atlantic economy through education, research, successful alumni, and our entrepreneurship centre helping people grow their businesses,” says Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray, President of Saint Mary’s University.  “As businesses closed due to COVID-19 to protect the health of our community, people’s livelihoods were in jeopardy. As a result, our entrepreneurship centre expanded its services. Now they are doing so again to help those directly impacted by the pandemic and to gather the information needed to build new programs and data-driven policy.”

The two new initiatives from SMUEC are an entrepreneurship certificate and research survey, which focus on the impacts of COVID-19 on business and entrepreneurship.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset Success Certification - COVID-19 Career Resilience Edition is a certificate made up of eight online workshops. It supports individuals who have found themselves unemployed or unable to find employment due to COVID-19. The certificate takes a customized approach to provide relevant skills training and exposure to entrepreneurship to help individuals feel prepared to re-enter a new and changed job market, return to work, or start their own business. Seven career experts from Job Junction, ISANS and the Career Service Centre of Sobey Business School act as mentors for the participants and deliver the workshops.  Registration is now open, and the workshops will run from Jan. 15 to Feb. 5, 2021.

The centre is also is studying the impacts of COVID-19 on Atlantic Canadian business through the COVID-19 Business Impact Survey. This longitudinal survey will collect quantitative and qualitative data using phone interviews and online surveys until the end of 2021. The main areas of interest are the use of government support, main challenge areas, and the tactics that businesses employ to respond to the specific challenges faced by their industries.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the centre has focused on two questions: how can they support businesses and entrepreneurs to be resilient enough to weather this storm? And how can they help them recover?

The centre’s first step was to expand their free business coaching sessions with the help of their new entrepreneur-in-residence, prominent alumna and successful serial entrepreneur Shannon Byrne Susko BComm’89 BSc’92. A series of presentations and workshops on various topics supplemented those sessions. Then came the launch of the Sobey School of Business’s Sobey Community Revitalization & Prosperity Network, of which SMUEC was an active participant. Now the centre's focus is on collecting the data needed to inform future pandemic business policy and a new initiative working with those who have found themselves unemployed due to COVID-19.

“We know the importance of evidence-based decision making. That is why we are gathering the information needed for policymakers and program developers like ourselves to best support the business sector during the pandemic,” says Michael Sanderson, Director of the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre. "On the opposite end of that sector-wide view is the immediate impact the pandemic has had on employment. By adapting our existing Entrepreneurial Mindset Success Certification, we can help directly with the immediate recovery while keeping an eye on data-informed methods to increase resiliency for the long-term." 

For more information about the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre and its initiatives, visit https://smuec.ca/.

Dr. Skye Stephens receives New Health Investigator Grant from Research Nova Scotia

Dr. Skye Stephens

Saint Mary’s University researcher Dr. Skye Stephens is receiving a New Health Investigator Grant from Research Nova Scotia. Dr. Stephens is one of 21 recipients across Nova Scotia receiving funding for new health research.

The New Health Investigator Grant supports new health researchers engaged in work that aligns with Nova Scotia’s health research priorities. The grant aims to provide two years of support of up to $100,000 for researchers who are within the first five years of their academic appointment in Nova Scotia or who are new to the field of health research. For the 2020-21 academic year, funding for this grant comes from the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness.

“There has never been a greater need to support new health researchers in Nova Scotia to help inform practice, policy and decision making,” says Stefan Leslie, CEO of Research Nova Scotia. “Today, we’re pleased to announce funding for these researchers and are confident their work will positively impact the health of Nova Scotians.”

Funding provided will support the establishment of independent research programs, support and expand the research productivity necessary for obtaining long-term funding from national and external agencies and expand the potential for early-career investigators to make significant contributions in their field.

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Project title: The Feasibility of a Program for the Prevention of Childhood Sexual Abuse.

Project description: Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a universal public health problem impacting 18% of girls and 8% of boys worldwide. Children are overrepresented as victims of sexual abuse, as 56% of police-reported sexual assaults in Nova Scotia involved victims under 18. Rates of sexual abuse in Nova Scotia are above the national Canadian average. CSA contributes to a significant disease burden, as it connects to a wide range of adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Effective prevention programs could stop CSA from occurring in the first place and prevent adverse health outcomes. In Nova Scotia, a significant gap in prevention programming is delivering comprehensive mental health services to individuals who may be at risk of CSA perpetration. Previous research has suggested that there are individuals who have not offended but struggle to stay offence free and experience mental health challenges. Through her research, Dr. Skye Stephens and the team aim to enhance capacity to provide CSA prevention programming in Nova Scotia by exploring development barriers. Knowledge gained during this study will lay the groundwork for developing and evaluating a prevention program that could reduce the occurrence of CSA and associated adverse health outcomes. Overall, the project could increase the health and safety of Nova Scotians by proactively addressing risk factors for CSA perpetration.

Team members: Etta Brodersen, Loren Klein, Angela Connors, Christina Shaffer, Amy Ornstein, Ray MacNeil, Ian McPhail, Jamie Livingston & Ainslie Heasman

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Research projects span a broad range of topics, including diabetes, cancer and dementia care, pre-term infant gut health, and food security during the COVID-19 pandemic. For a complete list of recipients and projects, visit https://researchns.ca/new-health-investigator-grant-recipients/.

Stayers and leavers: new SMU research looks closely at immigration in Nova Scotia

Dr. Ather Akbari

Who immigrates to Nova Scotia, who stays, leaves, and why is the focus of a recently released report from Dr. Ather Akbari, a professor with Saint Mary’s University’s Sobey School of Business. 

The report, Immigration in Nova Scotia: Who Comes, Who Stays, Who Leaves and Why?, was prepared for the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration. Its main purpose was to investigate why immigrants choose Nova Scotia as their destination in Canada and why some stay in the province while others leave.   

“Evidence-based research is important for policymakers to make the best decisions for Nova Scotians. They need to have a clear picture of what attracts immigrants to this province and what is their experience,” says Dr. Akbari. “My research helps to form a picture of the Nova Scotian immigrant experience, the successes and the areas that may need some changes.”  

This report marks the third report in a series of research reports. The first project report used 2016 Canadian Census data to study general mobility patterns of Nova Scotia immigrants. The second report presented a literature review on mobility motivations of individuals and their location choice. This third and final report analyzed the results of an online survey of 2,815 immigrants, representing a total of about 28,600 who arrived in Canada during 2011-2018 with either the intention to go to Nova Scotia or who lived in Nova Scotia at some point during the eight-year period. Focus group interviews were also held in Nova Scotia, Alberta and Ontario. 

When it comes to stayers and leavers, approximately 74 percent of immigrants who had arrived during 2011-2018 were still living in the province or 21,210 in total.  

“I think the most validating find for many Nova Scotians from this report is the positive comments from both immigrants who stayed and those who left, on the quality of life in our province and community safety,” says Dr. Akbari. “Both of these areas received the top satisfaction ratings from both those who stayed and those who left. When comparing Nova Scotia with other provinces, the top two features that received better ratings for Nova Scotia were community safety and cost of accommodation. If we can leverage these with increased employment opportunities and employer involvement in the immigration process, there is a real opportunity to continue to increase the immigration retention rate.”  

The main reason respondents gave for having left the province or for their intention to leave were to seek better employment opportunities.

The survey data indicates that economic opportunity is the most pervasive factor that encourages immigrants to remain in Nova Scotia. Many immigrants who leave Nova Scotia mention economic opportunities as the main reason they left. Many also note they reluctantly decided to go as they miss the positive social interactions and other aspects of living in the province. Opportunities are mainly related to finding a job and extending to finding the right position, or one that fits their level of education, skills and experience. 

The report recommends that immigrant attraction should focus on economic immigrants who come with their families. For their settlement and integration, employer involvement such as in the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program, is an important step taken at federal and provincial levels. Initiatives to strengthen immigrants’ social connectedness by encouraging volunteering, sports and recreation activities can also help raise their and their family’s satisfaction with living in Nova Scotia. 

Dr. Akbari is the Chair of Atlantic Research Group on Economics of Immigration, Aging and Diversity (ARGEIAD). To read this report, or learn more about ARGEIAD, visit https://smu.ca/centres-and-institutes/atlantic-research-group.html.

SMU students lauded for Remembrance Day research

A Canadian diplomat has expressed appreciation for the work of a Saint Mary’s Geography class, following his participation in Remembrance Day ceremonies in West Africa.  

Sébastien Beaulieu, Ambassador-Designate to The Gambia, travelled this week to pay special tribute to 10 Royal Canadian Air Force servicemen who are buried at the Fajara Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery. The airmen died in 1942 while serving with the 200 RAF Squadron and one had a Nova Scotia connection: Warrant Officer Basil Ralph Yorke was from Cumberland County.

It’s the first time an official Canadian delegation has honoured the fallen airmen. “Attending the ceremonies in person this week was important to me,” Ambassador Beaulieu said in an email exchange with Saint Mary’s.

“I find it very moving, as Canada's representative to The Gambia, that the many personal bonds between our two countries includes the fate of these brave Canadians from B.C. to Nova Scotia who died so far away from home, in WWII,” he said. “The research and field work of the students from Saint Mary's, led by Dr. Cathy Conrad, which was conducted in 2018, has helped connect the dots and contributed to ensure that these Canadians continue to be properly honoured and remembered.”

In the fall of 2018, Dr. Conrad’s Geography International Field School class did a lot of prep work in advance of their trip to The Gambia. They planned to honour Gambian veterans in a local Remembrance Day ceremony during their stay in Banjul, not realizing at first that Canadians were also buried in the cemetery. A flurry of research here on campus and during their trip helped them piece together a largely forgotten chapter of history that took place nearly 80 years ago.

The fallen airmen had served as part of an effort to supply troops in Northern Africa, and to combat German U-boats in the Atlantic Ocean. When Conrad and her students visited the gravesite, they generated quite a lot of media attention in Banjul and Halifax. They also met Sharon Wardle, then British High Commissioner to The Gambia, who shared photos of the students that day on her Twitter site.

“This is how the Canadian Ambassador learned of us,” recalls Conrad. “He emailed me to learn more and we have remained in contact ever since. I can only hope that we will be able to meet with him in the future on West African soil.”

Beaulieu, who grew up in Moncton, shared his own Remembrance Day highlights this week on his Twitter site at @Beaulieu_CAN. “As a fellow Maritimer, I'm so pleased to witness the rich connections between The Gambia and Canada, and the ties with Nova Scotia in particular,” he said.

Conrad plans to offer the next Gambia field school next fall, if COVID-19 travel restrictions allow by then. She’s hoping to forge new connections between Saint Mary’s and the University of the Gambia, and also to assist with plans for a commemorative plaque at the site where a Canadian warplane went down.

“I’m very grateful for my students who were so vigilant in connecting the pieces of our WWII history in The Gambia, and for participating in a wreath laying ceremony two years ago,” says Dr. Conrad. “They should feel enormous pride in the fact that a Canadian Ambassador went this year, acknowledging their work. Although we wish we could have been there to attend with him this year (as was the pre-COVID plan), the fact that he reached out to us to recognize our efforts is greatly appreciated.” 

New SMU lab tackles society’s wicked problems

Saint Mary’s University’s new Wicked Problems Lab is a teaching, learning, and research hub that brings big data, software, analytic techniques, and resources together to tackle wicked problems.

Wicked problems are complex and multifaceted issues that are difficult, if not impossible, to solve. Saint Mary's aims to take on these challenges, evaluating the problems from various perspectives and offering potential solutions to address the issue.

Made possible by gifts from The Windsor Foundation, the Hewitt Foundation and Dr. Daniel McCarthy BComm'76 DComm'11, this new lab’s mandate is to help students and researchers across the university tackle some of society’s most wicked problems.

"Our lab is working to build capacity in employing the large quantities of data currently available and advanced analytical tools to track, assess, and tackle wicked problems both locally and globally," says Dr. Mathew Novak, a Saint Mary's associate professor and director of the Wicked Problems Lab. "We invite students and faculty to bring us their wicked problems, and we will work them to find a solution.  We can help find data and use a host of analytical software that will help in understanding the complexity of the problem and contribute to our pursuit of new knowledge and solutions."

"The resources and expertise of the lab will help our researchers and our students in every discipline. Students writing a term paper may want to include data to support their arguments," says Dr. Novak. "We can help them with the skills, tools and support needed to wade through the mountains of publicly available data and demonstrate how to look at that data in new ways."

The lab follows three critical facets to its resourcing: teaching, learning, and research.

As a teaching resource, the lab offers problem-based learning activities for undergraduate and graduate-level courses. Each exercise has students engage with data and analytical tools to assess a problem while posing questions about challenges in tackling the issue.  These virtual classroom sessions are available for instructors in all disciplines and are timely demonstrations of how Saint Mary’s is innovating in its delivery of courses online.

As a learning resource, the lab will deliver individual and group training to any Saint Mary's community member that wants to enhance their knowledge and use of data analytics and specialized software tools and databases. Training sessions with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are already underway, demonstrating how the software may be employed in various disciplines across campus and offering participants hands on exercises in map making, data management, and spatial analysis. 

As a research resource, Saint Mary’s faculty and students can work with Dr. Khan Rahaman, the full-time research analyst, for free assistance in addressing their wicked problem.  Dr. Rahaman will work with the lab's clients and help them collect, manage, and analyze data for reports, theses, and other research outlets.

"We are very excited to be up, and we are embracing online learning and collaboration, offering our services remotely," says Dr. Novak. "We also look forward to when we can be back on campus, and our lab space will be available for in-person teaching and training as well as research assistance.”

“I also want to thank the people behind the gift that supports all of the work that we do,” adds Novak. “A special thanks to The Windsor Foundation, the Hewitt Foundation, and Saint Mary’s alumni Dr. Daniel McCarthy for making this possible.”

• For more information, visit the Wicked Problems Lab website.

Recognizing research at Saint Mary’s

The Saint Mary’s community has many reasons to be proud. Over the last twelve months 95 researchers from across the faculties in Science, Arts and the Sobey School of Business have secured over $8 million dollars in external funding through Canada Research Chair positions, tri-council grants and research contracts.

The impressive diversity of research takes us from re-examining Roman Villas in Italy to implementing nature-based adaptation strategies along Nova Scotia’s coast. The research effects go beyond geographic boundaries to promoting gender equality and using storytelling as a key approach to climate communication.

While under a global pandemic, members of our research community have also pivoted their focus to the covid-19 virus. Researchers are aiming to understand how covid-19 is impacting immigrant populations, whether we can make medical grade pulp for N95 masks from trees in Nova Scotia, looking at environmental factors and how social mobility is transmitting the virus.

Our researchers at Saint Mary’s are exceptionally talented in their fields of work. We have so many reasons to be proud of the calibre of research happening here. Let’s see where the next twelve months take us.

Undergraduate Students Spend Summer Conducting Paid Scientific Research

This summer, another crop of Science undergraduate students had the opportunity to conduct research with their professors at Saint Mary’s – despite unusual circumstances created by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

These awards, sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), a Government of Canada agency, and the Dean of Science Office at Saint Mary’s University, are awarded to undergraduate students. They are intended to help students develop their potential for a research career in the natural sciences and engineering, and often lead to students pursuing graduate work in their chosen fields.

Across campus a total of 34 awards were granted from a pool of more than 200 applicants. These were 12 or 16-week terms, and each student was been approved by a supervising faculty member.

Applications for these awards are open to undergraduate students who have strong marks in their studies, and who have completed at least one year towards a bachelor’s degree. Students work for 16 weeks on a full-time basis. Click here for more details, a full list of this year’s award winners, and watch this space for opportunities to apply for next summer’s awards.

Congratulations to the award winners. Here is a selection of the projects our students worked on this summer:

Humaid Agowun, Mathematics/Computing Science (Supervisor: Dr. Hai Wang)

During my research my main task was to optimize a segmented linear regression algorithm. The algorithm is used for business intelligence research and helps find relationships between two variables. We used algorithm design principles to speed up the algorithm execution so that it could realistically be used on larger datasets.

Tanaka Akiyama, Engineering (Supervisor: Dr. Adel Merabet)

This summer I continued to work on a project for the Laboratory of Control Systems and Mechatronics from last summer. I helped program the vision system for an autonomous retail robot for inventory management. I specifically worked on counting the number of products on a shelf. 

Abigail Battson, Astrophysics (Supervisor: Dr. Vincent Hénault-Brunet)

I worked on a problem involving the models of globular clusters, which are massive, dense, spherical balls of stars which orbit galaxies like the Milky Way. The current predictions overestimate the clusters’ ratio of mass-to-light produced, compared to the mass-to-light ratio from the observations of stars. This overestimation is significant, and is for the clusters containing the largest amounts of elements heavier than helium. Globular clusters lose mass over time, which is incorporated into the models, however the models may not accurately match which stars are primarily being lost, which are the lowest mass stars. 

My work involved figuring out if properly accounting for the loss of these low-mass stars from the clusters could decrease the prediction vs. observational discrepancy, as the loss would decrease the mass-to-light ratio of the clusters. Accounting for this loss of low-mass stars did improve the discrepancy, however there are still other factors which can be updated or incorporated to improve residual discrepancies.

Samantha Bennett, Environmental Science (Supervisor: Dr. Erin Cameron)

This summer, I worked with Dr. Erin Cameron on the study of earthworm distribution and invasion potential. The purpose of this research is to see how human activity above soil level will impact the distribution of earthworm species around the globe and how it will impact the distribution of invasive earthworm species around the globe. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the project was limited to literary review, during which I read various papers and worked on a database system that lists the earthworm species present in every individual country.

Adina Gherman, Psychology (Supervisor: Dr. Veronica Stinson)

This summer I had the amazing opportunity of working as a Research Assistant for the Victim Research Lab of the Psychology Department. I have read and coded from scratch about 190 sentencing rulings in English and French and filled the dataset for missing variables for over 500 rulings. I have also conducted research as a group and presented the results at the first Canadian Forensic Psychology Virtual Conference, at Saint Mary's. Our research focused on the relationship between victim impact statements and offenders' expression of remorse and apology. My work for the Psychology Department is ongoing; I am participating in weekly meetings to plan the next steps for various research projects and I am volunteering as a research assistant.

Sahana Kanabar, Environmental Science (Supervisor: Dr. Erin Cameron)

For the first part of the summer I collaborated on a global meta-analysis examining the effect of drivers (such as climate change, nutrient enrichment, etc.) on soil invertebrate biodiversity. The latter part of the summer was dedicated to planning my Honour projects, which is examining the impact of road salt on local lakes and the surrounding soil.  

Lindsay MacDonald, Biology (Supervisor: Dr. Anne Dalziel)

This summer Lindsay conducted research for her honours thesis topic on the mechanisms that lead to different breeding colouration in stickleback—small fish living across the northern hemisphere. In particular, we have a species that is only found here in Nova Scotia that becomes bright white when breeding, while closely related populations of fish become a blue/green/brown. Lindsay studied the pigment cells in the fish skin to determine what leads to these differences in breeding colouration.

Lindsay also played varsity soccer for four years while completing a very time-intensive degree.

Seamus MacInnes, Computing Science (Supervisor: Dr. Jiju Poovvancheri)

I received an NSERC USRA to continue research into different methods of modelling and tracking human movements with 3D cameras. The key aspect of the research was that the user would not be wearing any sensors or reflectors. Most of my time was spent developing the code that would model, render and mimic the position of the user.  

Jen McArthur, Psychology (Supervisor: Dr. Meg Ternes)

Worked on a variety of interesting projects with Dr. Ternes:

• Deceptive motivations – how personality variables relate to the reasons people lie. Jen analyzed data for this project and took the lead on writing a manuscript for submission to a journal

• Juror Instructions regarding the credibility of jailhouse informants – developed and collected data for this project, with plans to complete data analysis and writing this project even after the work term is over

• Deception behind a mask – how the deceiver/truth-teller wearing a mask affects our ability to detect deception – helped to develop this project, data collection will begin in September

• Alibi believability – how the strength of the alibi and the race and SES of the suspect affect the believability of an alibi –developed this research idea and project – we have recently gotten ethics clearance and plan to collect data in September.

Maiti McGrath, Astrophysics (Supervisor: Dr. Luigi Gallo)

My research this summer was a precursor to my honours thesis. I developed a few analysis techniques to be performed on a sample of radio loud black holes. With these analysis techniques and samples, we hope to see patterns in radio and x-ray emission that could potentially give us some insight into what processes could be the same across these similar sources.

Kaleigh McLeod, Chemistry (Supervisor: Dr. Christa Brosseau)

Kaleigh researched how to make an all wood-pulp N95 respirator as part of our COVID-19 project with Port Hawkesbury Paper. She is continuing the project on for the rest of this academic year as her honours project in Chemistry.

Mayara Mejri, Biology (Supervisor: Dr. David Chiasson)

After spending the first month reading scientific papers and reviews about the legume-rhizobia symbiosis, I spent the rest of my summer in the lab, applying the concepts that I learned, which was both exciting and overwhelming. I had the chance to work with DNA and plasmids, and I learned a lot of things related to genetics and microbiology. My experience was extraordinary;  I learned that the research community is so diverse yet united, as labs all over the world are working together to produce a “result,” for example, to sequence or synthesize a gene. I also felt that the research community is very welcoming. 

Terrell Roulston, Biology (Supervisor: Dr. Jeremy Lundholm)

This summer I helped complete a survey of insect pollinator (bees, wasps, hoverflies, etc.) populations on tidal saltmarsh and dykes in the Bay of Fundy dykelands. Surveying included laying pan traps to collect specimens to be identified in the lab; I also recorded other surrounding biotic and abiotic factors on each study sites. The objective was to compare the abundance and diversity of insect pollinators between these landscapes to better understand how each contributes to pollination services of adjacent agricultural land.

This project is part of a number of joint projects run by TransCoastal Adaptations; a collaboration of Saint Mary’s and other universities working to build a comprehensive list of ecosystem services (ES) that these dykelands provide.

These ES have implications for government and private stakeholders to make informed adaptation decision when facing potential dyke re-alignment and/or dyke breach as well as saltmarsh restoration as we continue to face rising sea levels. These ES surveys are also a part of a larger national strategic network (NSERC ResNet) across Canada. This is my third year being awarded the NSERC URSA and without these awards I would not have been able to have this amazing research experience.

Jacqueline Shaw, Psychology (Supervisor: Dr. Kevin Kelloway)

Over the summer, I worked with Dr. Kelloway and his research group to study organizational response to the Covid-19 outbreak. As part of the multi-study project, I helped gather, recode, and theme data, read papers for literature reviews, and interviewed participants. Additionally, with help from my supervisors I developed an experimental study to explore the effect of psychopathy on responses to workplace incivility (and is awaiting ethics approval).

Sophia Waddell, Astrophysics (Supervisor: Dr. Luigi Gallo)

This was my fourth summer working with Dr. Luigi Gallo, studying some of the most extreme, energetic, and massive objects in the known Universe supermassive black holes. In particular, we used the Japanese Suzaku satellite to look at X-rays, which come from the innermost regions of accreting supermassive black holes, known as active galactic nuclei (AGN). By studying the X-ray light, we can understand the geometry, composition and structure of the material closest to the black hole. We studied two different classes of AGN to search for similarities and differences in the X-ray light they emit. We found several differences, including some new and unexpected ones, which strongly suggest that the geometry and structure of the inner region is significantly different between the two classes. Our scientific article about this result was recently accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal. 

Sophia is now a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics. 

Conor Waterfield, Subatomic Physics (Supervisor: Dr. Rituparna Kanungo)

This summer I worked on a project that is searching to find or rule out the existence of a tetraneutron state. My work was developing a computer simulation of the experiment using the Monte Carlo method. The result of my simulation will be compared to the real experimental data to determine if a resonant tetraneutron state is observed in the data or not. This work will be part of my honors thesis which I will complete this year.

Mac Zinck, Biology & Psychology (Supervisor: Laura Weir)

For my research on “Mate Value on Dating Profiles,” I examined how individuals displayed their mate values on dating profiles according to identified gender and the type of arrangement they were seeking (a relationship vs. no commitment). Specifically, I looked at how subjects displayed dependency, meaning whether they showed that they had a dependent (like a pet or child) as a potential advertisement of their quality as a long-term mate.  

Such traits are attractive in a mate as they are expected to increase the likelihood of survival and later reproductive success of their offspring.  We found that males and females seeking relationships displayed their dependents with similar frequency, and more than members of the same sex seeking no commitment.  

I would like to do more of this work as it ties into parental investment theory which is the basis of my thesis for this fall.

MA graduate Grace McNutt finds the perfect hobby for a funny historian

Grace McNutt

Finishing a graduate degree is a monumental task, one that requires dedication, perseverance, and the internal motivation to complete a self-directed thesis.

While working on her Master of Arts thesis, recent graduate Grace McNutt also found time for a side project, a history podcast which allows her to share her passion for Canadian history.

The arrangement happened by chance, when Grace’s friend and co-host Linnea Swinimer, who she met at the Halifax Curling Club, recommended her as “a funny person who likes history” to Halifax podcast producer Marc Boudreau at BNV Media. Grace took that offhand mention and ran with it, writing a successful proposal for a funny Canadian podcast— with a twist.

“This is my moment, this is my opportunity to do a hobby I’d love,” Grace said with a laugh. “I love podcasts and I love history podcasts.”

Grace’s take on Canadian history is unique; she uses iconic Canadian Heritage Minute ads as a launching point to dig deeper into interesting historical figures and topics.

“The most transcendental piece of Canadian history, that everyone from history buffs to history newbs knows about, are Canadian Heritage Minutes,” said Grace.

 “When you only have a minute to talk about a topic, what crazy stories do you have to leave out of Canadian history? We expand that minute to an hour-long story – what else is there about this person?”

The weekly podcast, with 30 episodes and counting, is called MinuteWomen. It uncovers the “funny, weird, and terrifying stories left out of Canada’s national history. Recent episodes on Nova Scotian activist Viola Desmond, basketball inventor James Naismith, Laura Secord (the hero, not the chocolate shop!), and the dark underworld of maple syrup are illuminating, clever, and funny.

Grace, co-host and resident historian, says “Linnea is my guinea pig audience, who I force to listen to things I find interesting. It’s such a fun hobby, it has kept me so engaged during the pandemic.”

 Her thesis, which she completed under the supervision of advisor Dr. Peter Twohig, explores the development of the Indian Affairs Department in Nova Scotia, the treatment of the Mi’kmaq and indigenous people of Nova Scotia, and compares their experience with the experience of indigenous peoples in the rest of Canada.   

After completing her Bachelor of Arts Honours in History at Cape Breton University, Grace followed in her parents’ footsteps to pursue a Master of Arts in Atlantic Canadian Studies at Saint Mary’s; her parents graduated with the same degrees in the 1990s. She’s now investigating PhD programs in Nova Scotia and Ontario where she can further pursue her Master’s thesis topic, after taking a well-deserved gap year.

Patrick Power Library gets bookable

Starting next week, the Library is open for bookings for individual study space- including computer terminals, tables, carrels and study rooms- from 2-5pm, Monday-Friday. Local students can book space at https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/PatrickPowerLibrary1@smuhalifax.onmicrosoft.com/bookings/

The Paging Service continues, in which members of the Saint Mary’s community (students, faculty and staff) can put a hold on a book through the online catalogue, and make an appointment for curbside pick-up. Pick-up appointments are available between 12-5 pm, Monday to Friday.

The University Archives is also open for appointments only. Appointments are limited to 2 hours and are available between 10 am and 4 pm, Monday to Friday, based on staff availability. Material to be viewed must be requested in advance, so library staff can retrieve the items. A minimum of 24 hours of notice is required for appointments.

At this time, appointments are limited to faculty, staff, and students of Saint Mary’s University.

On-site Archives staff may be able to provide remote research/reference services and limited scanning of certain materials; contact hansel.cook@smu.ca for details.

Summer research projects enhance education for Arts students

One of the many benefits of attending an institution such as Saint Mary’s is the research opportunities afforded to undergraduate students. This summer, five students from various departments in the Faculty of Arts were able to gain skills, knowledge and experience in their chosen fields of study – two will even end the summer with publications in their name.

Yingjun Chen, a fourth-year Honours French student, jumped at the chance to work with Dr. Rohini Bannerjee translating “Coupeuses d’azur,” a feature poem by Mauritian artist Khal Torabully, from French to English. “I’m finding it really enjoyable, because I’m doing something I love,” says Chen. She’s discovering many intricacies involved in translation, including appreciating the challenges of word choice, and whether to keep a rhyme or focus on the meaning. The goal is to send the 35-page poem to a publisher and use this experience as the basis for her Honours thesis. 

Fourth-year Honours Psychology student Le Khoi Anh Pham spent his summer conducting research alongside Dr. Nicolas Roulin and two graduate students, on asynchronous virtual interviews and cross-cultural personnel selection. “Contributing ideas to the research gave me confidence and insight into what post-graduate-level research and academic work are like.” He will be named as a third author in an upcoming article using the research, and has already been hired to complete another project with Dr. Roulin.

Bethany Leal just finished her first year of university, but that didn’t stop her from applying to work with Dr. Alexandra Dobrowolsky on a project critically examining Canada’s image of being a diverse, multicultural, welcoming nation. The project began with the Trudeau blackface scandal but expanded from there, considering this summer’s events. “Learning and self-reflection is a lifelong journey,” says Leal. “It can’t really be condensed into one summer or one research project, but it really helps to have had this opportunity.” This experience helped to solidify her future goals. Now majoring in Political Science, she hopes to specialize in systemic reform and holding governments to account – especially around issues of race and culture.

Fifth-year IDS and Political Science student Katheryn Lewis has been busy this summer on projects, also with Dr. Dobrowolsky. She is helping round out research on the Atlantic Immigration Pilot program, legislative responses to COVID-19 among the provinces, territories and national government overall, and feminist governance with regards to COVID-19, comparing and contrasting feminist institutions in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

Minoring in Film Studies, third-year student Andrés Guardia is researching Nova Scotia film director Margaret Perry, with Dr. Jennifer VanderBurgh. He has been working to create a more in-depth picture of Perry’s life and work – to show she is an auteur, not simply a director of industrial (tourism) films. “Now that I have watched them, I am really seeing the artistic elements to the films and Ms. Perry’s authorship. It’s very powerful and, as art, I can appreciate it,” says Guardia of the unexpected outcome of his work. He wants to create music once he finishes his degree – and this experience has given him a good base and understanding of the principles to apply to his own creations.

The robust research experience gained by all five students this summer has already greatly impacted their future careers and aspirations, thanks to funding through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). These examples of undergraduate involvement in hands-on learning showcase the benefits and power of putting the motto “do what you do” into practice.