MTEI alumnus innovating in 3D to help fight virus

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kevin Gallant MTEI ’16, began making face shields for health professionals and customer service outlets through 3D printing.

Kevin Gallant MTEI ’16 and two of his 3D printed face shields.

Kevin Gallant is a professional engineer, entrepreneur, and an instructor and researcher with NBCC Miramichi.

“I was requested, from a few consultants and companies, to help in this request for PPE or protective gear for hospitals. For some reason, I expected this, based on my 3D printing network requests,” says Kevin. 

He posted about the shields on LinkedIn and was surprised to receive over 13k views, along with comments and requests to help. “This surprised me, that people were empowered to see how something so simple for me made such a large impact. I wanted to share how volunteerism can help support health professionals or people on the front lines that need PPE.”

“I purchased a $25 face shield from a local retail store three weeks ago,” he adds. “Now I can make them for one-fifth the price, but we are trying to price it properly to cover costs, shipping and provide some incentives to volunteer 3D printer shops. Safety is a concern with any product supply chain movement.”  

So how do you start making face shields? For someone who revels in technology, this part was easy: “I knew a company called PRUSA had shared a prototype design that they have perfected through dozens of prints, called the RC3.1 face shield.”

The company had gone through dozens of prototypes and two verifications with the Czech Ministry of Health. The work is shared under a license under a Creative Commons 4.0 International License. 

“I downloaded the 3D print file and imported it into my own 3D printer software for Ditto-pro supported formats. This was a great design, and fit 100 clear shields perfectly.” 

“I have two brands of 3D printers in my own home basement lab. These can print a face shield support in three hours each.”

Kevin used the rope skills he developed lobster fishing to tie the elastic rear backings for a comfortable fit. The backings were supplied from Anne Bracken Formals.

Kevin is now working with a supply chain to maintain over 25 3D printers in a network creating the PPE pieces. The clear shields are currently supplied, but there are plans to stamp out their own rolled sheets once the supply chain is broken. 

Face shields isn’t the end of it though – he’s already working on the next way to help. “Another different COVID-19 project is our NO-touch door knob for senior facilities.  This custom door knob attachment that can allow people only to use their arm or elbow to open and pull.  This will help with a no touch or prevent contamination in high-touch zones.”  

“As an engineer and inventor I promote community projects such as new cedar planters for food banks which have rain gutters to support self-watering leveling tanks,” says Kevin. “I’m always open to explore new projects, including sustainable and renewable technologies. I invite people who are looking for an engineer partner for their social enterprise or sustainability project to check out my video profile.”

Kevin has been teaching 3D and innovation for more than 26 years.

Additional notes:

• Check out Kevin Gallant’s 3D printed face shields in this video

• View an explainer video of the no-touch door knob attachment.

• View Kevin Gallant’s professional video profile.

Commerce and engineering students shine at international competition in Montreal

(l-r) Clifford Isenor, Andrew Herold, Kaitlyn Anderson and Kevin Schwarzer

During February break, Clifford Isenor and Andrew Herold represented Sobey on a cross-faculty elite team that travelled to Montreal to take part in the ENGCOMM Case Competition, billed as "the cross-disciplinary case competition combining both engineering and commerce." The competition was hosted by the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University and aims to collaboratively find solutions to real-world challenges faced by modern industries.

Representing the engineering side of the equation were Kaitlyn Anderson and Kevin Schwarzer, a student who had worked with the David Sobey Centre on their recent retail robot initiative. Team coaches were Sobey's Case Competition Coordinator Breagh Matheson, MBA, and professor Luke MacDonald of the Division of Engineering.

Fourteen schools competed including the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, University of Vermont, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, Western, York, Ryerson, McMaster, the Technological University in Dublin, Ireland, and the American University in Cairo.

Over four days, students completed and prepared case analyses on sponsor companies Global Medic, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and L3 Harris.

Overall: Saint Mary’s University was extremely competitive, with judges applauding their creativity and seamless flow of presentations. The team improved with every presentation, scoring higher with each consecutive day. After the 12-hour final case prep presentations, they were scored only three points behind the leader in their respective pool, making it a very close competition. The students refined their analysis and presentation skills and overall, had an incredible time.

During the opening dinner the team was seated with several executives of L3 Harris, providing our students with incredible networking opportunities.

The team would like to thank the following sponsors: Sobey School of Business, Dr. Malcolm Butler, Vice-President Academic and Research, the BComm Advising Centre, the Dean of Science Office/Science Advising, Engineers NS and SMUSA.

Saint Mary's student wins YMCA Peace Medal

SMU student Trayvone Clayton - here with the Hon. Mayann Francis, BA'72, LLD'12 — won one of three 2019 YMCA of Greater Halifax/Dartmouth Peace Medals. (Photo credit: YMCA Greater Halifax/Dartmouth)

This article by Amy Brierley, journalism student at the University of King’s College, was originally written for and published on The Signal. Re-published with permission. Follow Amy on Twitter: @amybrierley

With his community beside him, Trayvone Clayton pushes for peace

Trayvone Clayton is being recognized for his work to create a thriving, more vibrant community — but he says he isn’t doing it alone.

On Tuesday morning, Clayton stepped onto the stage at Halifax’s Pier 21 to accept one of three 2019 YMCA of Greater Halifax/Dartmouth Peace Medals.

“I had to go to school in a suit and everyone was putting me on their Snapchat and social media,” Clayton says, laughing, recounting his friends’ enthusiastic reactions to his win in an interview this week.

When Clayton, 21, first found out he won the award, he was in shock. “I was thankful, but I didn’t really know what to say,” he says. “But I can’t take full credit.”

He says friends Kate Macdonald, DeRico Symonds, Shevy Price, dad Marcus James, and many others in his community have been there with him all the way.

“I have a lot of support behind my back and it’s a great feeling to have that.”

For 31 years, the YMCA has honoured people who have made exceptional contributions to peace building in their communities with the YMCA Peace Medal.

Clayton joined other award winners across the country on Monday in being recognized for their work in, “building and rebuilding conditions of fairness, inclusion, empathy, security, and respect for diversity,” according to the YMCA’s website.

Clayton — a third-year criminology student at Saint Mary’s University, athlete, youth mentor and community organizer — says he’s been there for his community for as long as he can remember.

It was earlier this year, while attending the National Black Canadians Summit in Ottawa, though, that he began to see and speak out about how his experience of discrimination in Halifax reflects larger, systemic racism in Canada.

Through supporting youth in his community to follow their dreams and changing the systems that take those dreams from them, Clayton is making waves in Halifax and beyond.

“My community, Uniacke Square, has always been discriminated against, judged, there’s always been barriers in front of us,” says Clayton.

“I want the kids coming up to be able to do what they feel they can do and have faith in their vision and be able to see that they can be a lawyer, they can be a doctor, they can be a judge, they can be whatever they want to be.”

Amanda Rose, development co-ordinator at YMCA of Greater Halifax/Dartmouth and Clayton’s nominator, says she has seen first-hand the impact Clayton’s advocacy has had on Halifax.

“He is a very strong advocate and role model for African Nova Scotian youth in Halifax, and youth in general,” she says. “He’s very passionate about supporting young leaders in our communities and he does that by being a young leader himself.”

THE POWER OF MENTORSHIP

Last year, one of Clayton’s beloved mentors, the late Wade Smith, received the YMCA Peace Medal. Clayton says this made winning the award that much more special.

“He was a mentor, he was a leader, a true community leader,” says Clayton.

He texted Smith’s wife soon after his win. “I just said thank you for everything, this is clearly all happening for a reason and she said, ‘trust me Tray, he’s up there smiling with all teeth right now.’”

This support is what gives Clayton hope — hope that’s sometimes hard to muster with the loss he has experienced through anti-black violence committed against his friends, family and black communities. And it’s the kind of support he wants to offer other young people.

“It’s definitely a long road ahead, change doesn’t come with a blink of an eye or in one day,” says Clayton.

At a recent community conversation about street checks, Clayton says he stood up to share what was heavy on his chest.

He says he asked the panelists to recognize that black communities have been calling attention to racism in policing for years. Now, he says, government and police must be the ones to reach out to remedy the injustice and mistrust caused by anti-black racism.

Clayton says speaking up in moments that can seem incredibly difficult is crucial to building peaceful communities.

“When kids see me doing the things I’m doing, they’re like ‘oh OK, well I can do it,’” he said. “We have to break down these barriers and break down these walls.”

AMY BRIERLEY

Amy is a journalism student at the University of King's College. She calls Antigonish N.S.--and more recently, Halifax-- home. She cares a lot about communities and the things that make them fair, just and thriving for everyone.

Three Saint Mary's Huskies inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame

The 2019 Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame inductees. Front row (left to right) Henry Boutilier; Justine Colley-Leger and Roger Caulfield. Back row (left to right): Suzanne Muir: Jackie Barrett; Jody Shelley; and Morgan Williams of Cole Harbour. Photo courtesy of the NSSHF, credit: Nick Pearce.

On the evening of Friday, November 15, the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame inducted three exceptional former student-athletes from Saint Mary’s University.

Taking place at the Halifax Convention Centre, five athletes and two builders were celebrated for their outstanding contributions to Nova Scotia sport. 

The inductees include arguably Nova Scotia’s greatest female basketball and soccer players in Justine Colley-Leger BComm’14 and Suzanne Muir BComm’93, and the first-ever Special Olympics athlete to be inducted, powerlifter and Special Olympian Jackie Barrett BComm’98. 

Also inducted were Mooseheads legend and former NHL player Jody Shelley and the record-holder for the most caps as a Canadian rugby scrum-half, Morgan Williams. In the builder category, long-time Little League coach, baseball manager and community hero Henry Boutilier, along with international basketball official and mentor Roger Caulfield. 

Justine Colley-Leger BComm’14

Justine Colley-Leger is the all-time leading scorer in the history of CIS women’s basketball. Her impressive play earned her two CIS National Player of the Year awards, and she led the Saint Mary’s Huskies to four consecutive AUS championships and CIS silver and bronze medals. She was also a two-time AUS MVP, four-time All-Canadian and five-time AUS first-team All-Star while playing more than 40 games with the Canadian national team.

Jackie Barrett BComm’98

 A force to be reckoned with in the sport of powerlifting, Jackie Barrett dominated Canadian Special Olympics powerlifting competitions throughout his career. Barrett won 20 gold medals, and he has represented Canada well at the World Special Olympics competition with an incredible 13 first-place finishes. In his final year of competition (2015), he set three Special Olympics world records, lifting 277.5 kg, 297.5 kg and 697.5 kg in the squat, deadlift and triple combination events, respectively. In the same year, he also became the first Special Olympics athlete to be nominated for the Lou Marsh Award as Canada’s top athlete.

Suzanne Muir BComm’93

Suzanne Muir was named AUS Rookie of the Year during her time playing with the Saint Mary’s Huskies women’s soccer team. Her standout skills also earned her two AUS MVP awards, five-time AUS All-Star status and two-time All-Canadian honours. Twice named Athlete of the Year at Saint Mary’s University, Muir went on to play with Canada’s national women’s team from 1992 to 1999. She played with the national team at the 1995 and 1999 World Cups. She was inducted into the Saint Mary’s Sport Hall of Fame in 2014.

Big win for Saint Mary's at the Atlantic Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards

Aditi Joshi, founder of AJDesigns; and Saint Mary’s students Mubdu Alali, founder of Bloxo; and Nevell Provo, founder of Smooth Meal Prep

Earlier this month, four East Coast university students competed in the Atlantic Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards (GSEA), for a chance to win cash and prizes valued at nearly $100,000. The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) is the premier global competition for students who own and operate a business while attending college or university.

Among the Atlantic competition, Aditi Joshi, founder of AJDesigns; Mubdu Alali, founder of Bloxo; Ross Arsenault, Co-founder of Ashored Innovations; and Nevell Provo, founder of Smooth Meal Prep. Each entrepreneur pitched their business to a panel of industry experts and local entrepreneurs with hopes to gain access to major prizes such as $1,500 cash, flights, coaching services, retail space, and the chance to move on to the National GSEA Competition in Toronto.

Ross Arsenault, BComm’18, was named the local winner and will move on to compete against the world’s best student entrepreneurs at the Global Finals for a chance to win a $40,000 worth of cash and prizes, and the title of EO Global Student Entrepreneur. Arsenault, a Saint Mary’s University student of the Master’s in Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation program, is developing sustainability-enabled technologies to modernize trap fisheries. Annually, 640,000 tons of fishing gear is lost and becomes ocean waste, resulting in 140,000 deaths of protected species annually. Ashored is developing a ropeless fishing system to minimize the risk of whale/animal entanglement and trap loss, while allowing fishers to fish in zones closed to fixed-gear fishing.

"The local recognition from GSEA Atlantic means a great deal in terms of resources, and personally as a founder with a maritime mission. Starting/running a business while still being a student definitely isn't the easiest at times, but it's benefitted Ashored as a company in countless ways!” says Arsenault. He will travel to Toronto to compete on the national stage in January 2020.

GSEA is an Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) program. EO was founded in 1987 by a group of young entrepreneurs. With over 10,000 members in 144 chapters in 48 countries throughout the world, they’ve enabled business owners to learn from each other to experience greater business success while forming strong professional and personal relationships. EO provides events, leadership development, a forum for online discussion, and educational opportunities with the goal of teaching, inspiring, and transforming entrepreneurs into active members of a global business community.

Celebrating the inaugural recipients of the Viola Desmond Bursary

Saint Mary’s University students Leah Matheson and Kendra Smith, the inaugural recipients of the Viola Desmond Bursary

Saint Mary's University and the Delmore Buddy Daye Learning Institute joined together on Friday, November 8, to celebrate the legacy of Viola Desmond and support the next generation of female African-Nova Scotian business leaders.

Leah Matheson, a second-year commerce student, and Kendra Smith, who is in her final year in accounting, are the inaugural recipients of the Viola Desmond Bursary.

"I feel blessed with how many people came to this event to support us and honour the legacy of Viola Desmond," said Smith. "I am very grateful to be one of the first recipients."

The Viola Desmond Bursary was announced on November 8, the date of Viola's heroic anti-discrimination action in 1946. The bursary is fully-endowed and is awarded each year to full-time African-Nova Scotian students at Saint Mary's.

"I have had a lot of support from my family, and from Saint Mary's, that has helped me during my degree," said Matheson. "I am looking forward to more people having the opportunity that Kendra and I did through the Viola Desmond bursary, an opportunity for them to pursue what they love."

The award amount marks the year of Viola Desmond's anti-segregation action, 1946, with students receiving $1,946. While this award is not renewable, it may be awarded to the same student more than once.

While preference for the bursary is given to students in the Sobey School of Business, the bursary may also be awarded to students in programs featuring entrepreneurship. Preference will also be given to female students from Halifax County. Students must also have a financial need.

This award was established with the permission of the Desmond Family and through the generosity of The Honourable Wilfred P. Moore, Q.C., LL.D., and Ms. Jane Adams Ritcey.

"Viola Desmond has been very good to our city, our province and our country," said Senator Wilfred Moore. "My family is very pleased to assist Saint Mary's University in this most noble virtue—the transfer of knowledge. We do so in keeping with the bedrock tradition of Saint Mary's, offering a hand up."

MTEI grads win $75k in US business challenge

The Ashored founders: Aaron Stevenson, left, Ross Arsenault and Maxwell Poole. (Photo courtesy Peter Moreira, Entrevestor.com)

Saint Mary’s alumni Ross Arsenault BComm'17, MTEI'18 and Aaron Stevenson MTEI'19 along with partner Max Poole BComm'17 on their company, Ashored, have won $75k USD Platinum win at the MassChallenge in Boston.

The company was selected back in May as the sole Canadian company to enter the well-recognized accelerator program, one of 100 start-ups competing for funding.

"Headquartered in the United States with locations in Boston, Israel, Mexico, Rhode Island, Switzerland, and Texas, MassChallenge strengthens the global innovation ecosystem by accelerating high-potential startups across all industries, from anywhere in the world for zero-equity taken." - MassChallenge.org

The MassChallenge Boston program provides training, collaboration space, connections to experts and mentors and is zero cost. Cash prizes are for zero equity. This isn't Dragon's Den, this is money to drive business growth, free of obligations.

Ashored Innovations were one of 12 companies awarded on October 24. Over $1 million USD in zero-equity prizes were awarded, provided via partnerships MassChallenge has with Boeing and the International Space Station National Lab.

This competition plants another flag in the Boston startup ecosystem, which Sobey School's Venture Grade and MTEI have been making inroads into for the last several years.

Ashored adds the winnings to their growing funding pool, including a recent $30,000 investment from Sobey School's Venture Grade group.

Alumni win top honours for athletic achievements

Justine Colley-Leger

Jackie Barrett

Suzanne Muir

Saint Mary’s has a long history of athletic excellence. This fall, three exceptional former student-athletes are being given top honours for their accomplishments.

Basketball legend Justine Colley-Leger BComm’14, powerlifter and Special Olympian Jackie Barrett BComm’98, and soccer star Suzanne Muir BComm’93, will be inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame on November 15 in Halifax.

They are among five athletes to be celebrated not only for their outstanding contributions to Nova Scotia sport, but each rising to national acclaim.

A force to be reckoned with in the sport of powerlifting, highly decorated Special Olympics athlete Jackie Barrett will make history as the first Special Olympian joining the Hall of Fame this year.

Originally from Spryfield, Barrett has dominated Canadian Special Olympics powerlifting competitions throughout his career with 20 gold medals, and he has represented Canada well at the World Special Olympics competition with an incredible 13 first-place finishes. In his final year of competition (2015), he set three Special Olympics world records, lifting 277.5 kg, 297.5 kg and 697.5 kg in the squat, deadlift and triple combination events respectively. In the same year, he also became the first Special Olympics athlete to be nominated for the Lou Marsh Award as Canada’s top athlete.

Justine Colley-Leger is the all-time leading scorer in the history of CIS women’s basketball. Her impressive play earned her two CIS National Player of the Year awards and she led the Saint Mary’s Huskies to four consecutive AUS championships and CIS silver and bronze medals. She was also a two-time AUS MVP, four-time All-Canadian and five-time AUS first team All-Star, while playing more than 40 games with the Canadian national team.

Suzanne Muir was named AUS Rookie of the Year during her time playing with the Saint Mary’s Huskies women’s soccer team. Her standout skills also earned her two AUS MVP awards, five-time AUS All-Star status and two-time All-Canadian honours. Twice named Athlete of the Year at Saint Mary’s University, Muir went on to play with Canada’s national women’s team from 1992 to 1999. She played with the national team at the 1995 and 1999 World Cups. She was inducted into the Saint Mary’s Sport Hall of Fame in 2014.

On a related note, Justin Palardy BA’11, geography major and former Husky, was a pro football player with CFL and now a coach for the Dalhousie Tigers. He is being inducted on Nov 1 to the Colchester County Sports Hall of Fame.

Tickets for the 2019 Induction Night are on sale now at the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame. Call 902-404-3343 to place your order.

Saint Mary’s launches Career Week

Saint Mary’s Student Affairs and Services is pleased to announce the first-ever SMU Career Week 2019, from October 28th - November 1st.

The free conference is curated for 3rd and 4th-year students, recent graduates, and alumni.

Over the course of five days, participants will have the opportunity to attend fun interactive sessions, networking opportunities, social events, skill-developing workshops and more. There are also career fairs for Indigenous students and students wanting to pursue international opportunities.

Session topics include:

• Resume and cover letter help

• New and emerging careers

• The impact of AI and what this means for entry-level positions

• Government-funded employment initiatives and how to access them

• The Atlantic Immigration Pilot Project and the best path for permanent residence

Students can sign up at career360.smu.ca. For more information see the schedule below or visit smu.ca/careerconference

Undergraduate Astrophysics student publishes a lead-author scientific paper

Saint Mary’s University Astrophysics student Sophia Waddell

Publishing a lead-author scientific paper is always an exciting milestone for graduate students, one that comes after a lot of research, hard work and persistence to work through multiple edits with advisors and journal editors.  

Sophia Waddell has already achieved this goal after her third year of undergraduate studies, having published a paper with the Royal Astronomical Society. The Astrophysics student has also co-authored four other papers: one with a graduate student after her first year at Saint Mary’s, two with her supervisor Dr. Luigi Gallo, and another led by a postdoc.  

After coming up with the idea for the paper in her High Energy Astrophysics course, she wrote the paper and worked with Dr. Gallo on a series of revisions. She then submitted the paper to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society for an anonymous review, which resulted in just a few changes before the paper was accepted.  

“It’s very rare that an undergraduate student is able to publish a lead-author paper,” said Dr. Luigi Gallo, Professor of Astronomy at Saint Mary’s. “Sophia has an amazing work ethic that is driven by her passion for the subject matter.  She is constantly reading papers, working the data, asking questions, and often stumping me.”  

Waddell’s paper, titled Multi-epoch X-ray spectral analysis of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 478, explores X-ray data from a supermassive black hole (SMBH) called Mrk 478. “This black hole in particular is called an active galactic nucleus (AGN), which means that it is actively sucking in material, forming an accretion disk around the black hole,” explained Waddell.  

“The material located closest to the black hole gets so hot, that rather than radiating optical light (light our eyes can see), it emits high-energy X-rays. Using special space-based observatories, we can study the X-rays coming from active black holes, which can tell us about the structure and properties of the innermost regions.” 

In her paper Waddell used different models representing different physical structures of the inner region of this SMBH, and applied them to data collected with X-ray satellites. 

“Using the models, and a couple of other techniques, we were able to determine the structure and geometry of the inner region of this black hole, which can help tell us more about the evolution of galaxies and the Universe itself,” she said. 

“Sophia is currently following up on her results and is now looking at the rapid variability on time scales of a day, to see if those fast changes are consistent with the same model,” said Dr. Gallo. 

Black Holes

A black hole is a region of space that has experienced a gravitational collapse leaving behind a region from which nothing can escape, not even light. Supermassive black holes are the largest type of these astronomical objects, and are considered to be at least hundreds of thousands of times the mass of the sun. The concept of black holes was first considered in the 18th century, and the formation of supermassive black holes, first mentioned in the 1960s, is still a topic being researched by astronomers. The first photo of a supermassive black hole was only captured in the spring of 2019.   

Plans for the Future

Waddell has “loved all things math and science” since she was a small child, and with two parents who graduated from the Engineering program at Saint Mary’s, she had plenty of support at home for her STEM interests. After a unit in astrophysics in a high school physics class she was hooked and now plans to pursue an academic career as a physics and astrophysics professor. She’s currently applying to grad schools and would like to continue studying X-ray astronomy.  

“I think it’s incredible that we get to work with data taken by satellites in outer space, studying some of the most extreme objects in the Universe,” said Waddell. “I also love talking about my research and science in general, and I can’t wait to keep sharing my science with others!”

Saint Mary’s PhD graduate wins international award

Dr. Samantha A. Penney

Saint Mary’s University is proud to announce that Dr. Samantha A. Penney, a recent PhD graduate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, has received the prestigious 2019 Kenneth E. Clark Student Research Award from the Center for Creative Leadership and the International Leadership Association.

“It is an absolute honour to have my dissertation research recognized internationally,” said Dr. Penney.

In her award-winning paper on leadership titled Fostering a Psychologically Healthy Workplace through Leadership, Dr. Penney created and validated a scale to assess leadership behaviours that contribute to a healthy workplace, and then designed a workshop and phone-based coaching program which she delivered to leaders in eight organizations across seven provinces.

The training includes knowledge of what a healthy workplace is, leaders’ roles in creating that healthy workplace, and goal setting and skill development to act on that knowledge. “For example, infrequent feedback, such as only having annual performance reviews are a concern in organizations. Research has suggested that employees are more likely to change their behaviour and attitudes when they receive frequent positive and constructive feedback,” she explained.

 “The results demonstrate that leadership behaviours can be trained,” said Dr. Penney, adding that while many of the leadership behaviours identified aren’t new information, giving leaders the tools and training to apply the knowledge is key. “Employees often move up within an organization into a leadership role because they’re good at their jobs, but they don’t always have leadership skills.”

 “Working with leaders and organizations to provide practical recommendations is something that I am very passionate about, and my research ties into my new role of conducting leadership assessments for the purposes of selection and development,” she said.  

“Dr. Penney, and her research, are very deserving of this international recognition,” said Dr. Arla Day, her dissertation supervisor. “Not only does this award demonstrate her expertise and innovation in the area, but it also reinforces the reputation of Saint Mary’s as a high-caliber training institution with a strong level of research expertise in occupational health psychology.”

Background

Dr. Penney recently completed her PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Saint Mary’s. She completed her Master of Science in Applied Psychology at Saint Mary’s and has an Honours Bachelor of Arts from Lakehead University.

She has authored several journal articles and book chapters on leadership and employee well-being, and has presented her work at national and international conferences.

Her experience as an independent consultant and leadership coach, developing both leader-level and employee-level training programs, and as a facilitator, delivering workshops and seminars to corporate clients aligns with her background in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

She recently accepted a role as a Talent & Leadership Development Assessment Analyst at Lee Hecht Harrison Knightsbridge in Toronto.

About the Kenneth E. Clark Award

The Kenneth E. Clark Student Research Award recognizes one outstanding unpublished paper by undergraduate and graduate students each year. It is sponsored by the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) and the International Leadership Association (ILA).

Papers are evaluated by 13 CCL research faculty members through a multi-rater, blind review process. Winners of the international award receive a cash prize, and a trip to ILA’s Annual Conference to present the winning paper there and in various multimedia ILA publications.

Dr. Penney follows in the footsteps on another Saint Mary’s alumna in winning this award. Aleka MacLellan, who was then a recent PhD graduate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and won the same award in 2017.