Engineering student Emily Veinot wins the 2020 Montreal Women’s Memorial Scholarship

Emily Veinot

Congratulations to Emily Veinot, the winner of the 2020 Montreal Women’s Memorial Scholarship at Saint Mary’s University. Typically this award is presented at a ceremony on campus to observe the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence against Women.

Awarded each year to a female Engineering student, the scholarship honours the memory of the 14 women who were killed on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique, the engineering school at the Université de Montréal. At the time it was the deadliest shooting in Canada, and gunman killed only women in the anti-feminist attack.

“As a woman in engineering but also as a Francophone,
I believe it is extremely important that we remember and honor the lives and goals of the women who were lost on that day,” said Emily.

“This award is an important reminder of the vital role that women play in scientific fields, and that there is still work to be done to reach the goal of gender equality in all disciplines,” said Dr. Lori Francis, Dean of Science at Saint Mary’s.

“Congratulations Emily on achieving this honour, your enthusiasm for engineering is inspirational, and I’m so proud that your hard work has paid off.”

Emily grew up in the Acadian community of Clare on the south-western tip of Nova Scotia and attended École Secondaire de Clare. She was athletic, playing soccer and track and field, and was very interested in environmental work, doing a volunteer study with a teacher and professor from the University of Saskatchewan, looking at human infrastructure influences on wildlife.

With a diesel mechanic father who taught her how to how to change tires and the oil in her car, Emily grew up around cars, and says she has always found mechanical and technological systems complicated and exciting.

“I’ve been around machinery my whole life. That sparked my passion for problem-solving and led me to pursue a career in mechanical engineering,” she said.

“My parents are proud,” she said. “If I was ready to do it, they were ready to support me.”

Now in her second year of study, Emily has an impressive 4.04 GPA. She has won a number of academic awards and bursaries, including a renewable entrance scholarship to Saint Mary’s, the Dr. Robert and Suzanne Van Den Hoogen Bursary, and a Nova Scotia Future Engineers Award.

“I always loved math and physics and design…calculus is a good time for me,” she laughed. My first year I really loved it, and during Design I we built boats and I thought that was so cool… I thought “I’m doing mechanical, that’s so fun.’”

Along with her studies, Emily is a Teaching Assistant for the Design I class. She is a member of the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students and the Atlantic Council of Engineering Students. As the bilingualism commissioner for the Atlantic Council of Engineering students, she provides French representation so it’s more linguistically diverse, and appreciates learning from her colleagues, most of whom are in their fourth year of study.

Next year she plans to attend Dalhousie University to complete her degree in Mechanical Engineering, and has applied to the co-op program to further develop her professional skills.

Emily says that while she’s happy to have been born at a time with a lot more gender equality, “it’s still an uphill battle, and there’s still a lot of underrepresentation of women in sciences and engineering. I think a lot of women are intimidated and talked out of it, and I think that’s so unfortunate. It’s never going to change if we don’t make the change.”

On Giving Tuesday, Nova Scotia universities encourage support for student-led food security programs

In an unprecedented move, nine Nova Scotia universities, in partnership with their student unions, are combining their efforts to improve food security for students on Giving Tuesday, Dec. 1. The J & W Murphy Foundation inspired this collaboration, providing a minimum donation of $3,500 to each university with the potential for additional matching funds if the campaigns exceed this threshold.

Today is #GivingTuesdayCA. Thank you for considering your gift to the @smuhalifax Student Wellness Fund. The J & W Murphy Foundation will match your gift, doubling the impact on increasing food security for our students. https://t.co/91Br4Z84iJ #Food4thoughtNS #SMUCommunity pic.twitter.com/Am46ZrgvH5

— Rob Summerby-Murray (@smuprez) December 1, 2020

 "As COVID-19 shut down our schools and universities, libraries and restaurants, drop-in centres and meal support services, we knew we had to step up to help prevent vulnerable Nova Scotians from falling through the cracks,” says Lisa Murphy, on behalf of the family foundation she and her sister, Karen Spaulding, co-direct. “That includes students, many of whom have lost jobs and access to on-campus food services," says Murphy.

Food insecurity is the uncertainty that an individual is and will be able to eat well. It means they  struggle to afford, access and store healthy food, or to have the time and skills to shop for and prepare nutritious meals. According to Statistics Canada, food insecurity affects between 10 and 14% of Canadians and is more prevalent in families with children. Other studies show that these rates approximately triple amongst post-secondary students, suggesting that two out of five (39%) of Canadian university students have experienced some degree of food insecurity.

The nine universities participating are Saint Mary’s University, Dalhousie University, Mount Saint Vincent University, St. Francis Xavier University, Acadia University, Cape Breton University, Atlantic School of Theology, NSCAD University and the University of King’s College.

The excellence of SMU's Master of Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation recognized by major gift

The excellence of Saint Mary's University's Master of Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MTEI) program is being recognized by a major gift from a leading figure in Canada's business and entrepreneurship community.

Rishbah Arora, MTEI student; Dr. Robert Steele, DComm’18; and Laura Russell, MTEI student.

"I have always been impressed by Saint Mary's University and the Sobey School of Business. From my time as a student and in every interaction I have with a Saint Mary's student going back decades," says Dr. Robert Steele DComm'18. "I have seen the impact that a strong business foundation from Saint Mary's provides students. I know that through this gift, Saint Mary's will be able to continue to attract amazing students from Atlantic Canada, Canada and around the world to the MTEI program and the Sobey School. Students will learn from great professors and receive the support they need to successfully develop their business ideas and start-ups into thriving businesses that will give back to the economic vitality of our region."

Dr. Steele is investing a $2 million philanthropic gift in the Sobey School of Business' Master of Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation program which will enable it to double the size of the program, create new resources for research in the area of entrepreneurship, and support students by providing scholarships and awards to student entrepreneurs.

Over ten years, three major initiatives will be supported by this gift. They are:

• The Steele MTEI Scholarships: These scholarships will support bright, creative and motivated students who have chosen the MTEI program to help them achieve their dreams of being an entrepreneur.
  

• The Steele Entrepreneurship Awards: These entrepreneurship awards will be awarded to MTEI student entrepreneurs who are in the earliest stages of starting new businesses.
  

• The Steele Professorship in Entrepreneurship in the Sobey School of Business: This new professorship will provide additional capacity and support to expand and broaden entrepreneurship research intensity at the Sobey School. 

“This gift reflects the outstanding success of our MTEI program over the past six years and recognizes the tremendous impact of the program on entrepreneurship and innovation in Atlantic Canada,” says Saint Mary’s University President Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray. “Saint Mary’s and the Sobey School of Business are the entrepreneurship leaders in our region, and programs like MTEI show why we are part of a rising entrepreneurship tide both nationally and internationally.” 

“On behalf of Saint Mary’s University, the Sobey School of Business, and the MTEI program, I want to thank Dr. Steele for his commitment to the continued success of our institution and entrepreneurship in Atlantic Canada and beyond,” says President Summerby-Murray.  

The Master of Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Saint Mary’s University is a comprehensive, cross-sector program that combines the knowledge and skills of a management program with marketing, leadership, finance, accounting, communications, economics and information technology. Alumni from the program have started their own companies ranging from rope-less lobster traps to companies specializing in customized lighting, water quality measurement, and training for recreation gaming to e-sports. Alumni have also added value to companies by bringing their MTEI expertise to management at different businesses. Those business areas include companies that deal with cybersecurity, virtual conferencing solutions, and transitioning traditionally retail-based services to at-home delivery.   

“The Sobey School of Business is preparing the next generation of Canadian entrepreneurs and researchers in business and entrepreneurship,” says Dr. Harjeet Bhabra, Dean of the Sobey School of Business. “With the rapid change this year in how businesses operate, programs focused on the integration of technology and innovation like MTEI are more important now than ever before. With this gift, we can continue to expand the scope of the program, engage more entrepreneurs and researchers in growing knowledge creation and expanding the entrepreneurship and start-up sector.”

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.

Service learning moves online

In fall of 2020, 95 students are participating in the Service Learning program offered through our faculties in Career and Experiential Learning, a department within Student Affairs and Services. With 15 Community Partners offering virtual placements for students, students will apply what they learn in the classroom to support local organizations.

Virtual placements and projects this term included: 

• Mapping different species of eelgrass photographed throughout Nova Scotia.

• Collecting cherished watermark stories from Maritimers about their favourite waterfront memories.

• Helping a local organization to create new business plans and a rebrand strategy. 

• Creating an App to support clients at a local non-profit organization.

• Creating virtual events for long term care facilities, such as fundraising events, virtual trivia games and auctions.

• Mentoring and supporting young students at a virtual capacity through tutoring and reading support.

• Providing social media and website support to organizations.

Service learning planning is underway for winter 2021, and there is still time to incorporate service learning into your course. Whether a course is taught online, or using a blended model, service learning can help apply course content to community-based learning.

Faculty interested in learning more about service learning for winter 2021 can email service.learning@smu.ca to sign-up for access to a Service Learning Brightspace course. This resource covers everything from incorporating service-learning into your course to providing peer-reviewed research about service-learning. 

Saint Mary's University climbs into top tier of Maclean’s rankings

Saint Mary's University now ranks fourth among undergraduate universities in Canada.

According to Maclean’s magazine, the university is ranked fourth among primarily undergraduate universities for 2021. Saint Mary’s has continued to climb in the rankings over the past decade.

Among the highlights in this category, Saint Mary’s ranked:

• 1st in student awards (national awards won by students)

• 5th in medical/science grants for faculty

• 5th in student services (under student support)

• 5th in library acquisitions and expenditures

• 5th in the reputational survey

• 6th in faculty awards (national awards won by faculty members)

In addition to ranking fourth among undergraduate universities, both Saint Mary's and the Sobey School of Business's national prominence continue to rise. Saint Mary's is now ranked 33rd in the country when it comes to the national reputational ranking of all universities. This year, the Sobey School of Business ranks among Canada's top 15 business programs. The university's business program is tied for 14th in the country and has the highest reputation for business research in the Atlantic region.

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.

Celebrating the inaugural Sobey National Innovators and Sobey MBA Scholars

Top row (left to right): Ethan Stafford, Paige Bigelow, Max Legere, Susan MacInnis, Jonah Crowther, Bailey Hanna Sutherland, Brandon Legacy

Bottom row (left to right): Marley Raycroft, Connor Haines, Hannah Birru, Hallie Wedge, Aaron Currie, Alexander Bourque, Nicolas James Graham

Saint Mary’s University and the Sobey School of Business are proud to announce the first recipients of the new Sobey National Innovator and Sobey MBA Scholarships.

The Sobey National Innovator and Sobey MBA Scholarships are presented to exceptional students from across Canada in recognition of their accomplishments, and as encouragement and support for their success at Saint Mary’s Sobey School of Business. This scholarship program will support 150 students over the next ten years with the goal of supporting the best and brightest graduate and undergraduate business students in the country to come to Saint Mary’s University and the Sobey School of Business.

The following is a list of the inaugural Sobey National Innovators:

• Paige Bigelow, Northeast Kings Education Centre, NS

• Hannah Birru, Halifax West High School, NS

• Jonah Crowther, Halifax Grammar School, NS

• Aaron Currie, Charlottetown Rural HS, PE

• Connor Haines, Parkview Education Centre, NS

• Max Legere, Saint John High School, NB

• Susan MacInnis, Prince Andrew High School, NS

• Marley Raycroft, Lockview HS, NS

• Ethan Stafford, Kennebecasis Valley High School, NB

• Hallie Wedge, Notre Dame Catholic Sec School, ON
  

“I was very excited to learn that I have been selected as one of the winners of the scholarship. When I received the call, it brought tears of joy, not only to me but my family as well,” says Sobey National Innovators scholarship recipient Hannah Birru. “Thank you again for your investment in students like myself and our education. By awarding me the Sobey National Innovator scholarship, you are allowing me to focus on the most important aspect of school, learning.”

The following is a list of the inaugural Sobey MBA Scholars:

• Alexander Bourque, NS

• Nicolas James Graham, NS

• Brandon Legacy, NB

• Bailey Hanna Sutherland, NS
  

“I was overjoyed when I found out I had been selected for this prestigious award and feel truly honoured to be a member of this special group of Sobey scholarship recipients,” says Sobey MBA Scholar Alexander N. Bourque, BSc, MSc, PhD.

In 2019, Saint Mary’s University announced a historic gift of $18 million from the Sobey Family, Sobey Foundation and Sobeys Inc., which established this transformative scholarship program as well as investments in entrepreneurship, faculty support, research and new space for the Sobey School of Business.

Ten undergraduate entrance awards valued at $50,000 over four years are awarded annually to exceptional Canadian students entering the Sobey School of Business. Five entrance awards valued at $30,000 each are awarded annually to full-time students entering the MBA program in the Sobey School of Business.

“The support of the Sobey Family and Sobeys Inc. is enhancing the educational experience for every student in the School and further builds on our strength in preparing business students for leadership, social responsibility, entrepreneurship and innovation,” says the Sobey School of Business Dean, Dr. Harjeet Bhabra. “We could not be prouder of this first cohort of Sobey National Innovators and Sobey MBA Scholars and welcome them to the Sobey School of Business and Saint Mary’s University.”

Saint Mary’s University President Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray added, “The Sobey family, Sobeys Inc., and Saint Mary’s share a vision. A vision that focuses on people, impact, and purpose. Thank you to the Sobey family and Sobeys Inc. for their extraordinary philanthropic leadership, which is truly game-changing for Saint Mary’s University.”

“Congratulations to the new Sobey National Innovators and the Sobey MBA Scholarship recipients,” adds President Summerby-Murray. “Your selection as recipients of these awards recognizes your hard work, talent and leadership potential, and we are looking forward to supporting you for continued success and distinction at Saint Mary’s and beyond.”

To learn more about these scholarships, visit
https://www.smu.ca/academics/sobey/sobey-innovator-scholarships.html 

Saint Mary's Clean Catch Baits wins the Atlantic Canada 2020 AquaHacking Challenge

Left: Robel Berhane, Chief Financial Officer: Top right: Katherine vanZutphen, Operations Manager; Bottom right: Guillermo Villarreal De Lara, President & CEO

Clean Catch Baits, a company that creates biodegradable fishing lures, is the winner of the inaugural Atlantic Canada 2020 AquaHacking Challenge. 

Based out of Saint Mary’s University, Clean Catch Baits decided to address the challenge of microplastics in fishing gear. Their winning solution to this problem is a 100% biodegradable, PVC-free soft-bait fishing lure for recreational fishing, developed through a unique organic biopolymer solution. The people behind the idea and the company are Robel Berhane, Chief Financial Officer and a 4th year undergraduate student in Commerce; Guillermo Villarreal De Lara BComm’20, President & CEO; and Katherine vanZutphen BComm’20, Operations Manager.

“We are very happy to be the inaugural AquaHacking Challenge winners here in the Atlantic region,” says Guillermo Villarreal, CEO, Clean Catch Baits. “With this prize, we can expand the scope of our business and bring this solution into the hands of anglers across Atlantic Canada.”

The Atlantic Canada AquaHacking Challenge is a start-up competition designed to support technology and business development addressing environmental problems related to water. Through the Challenge, they then develop their solution into commercially viable products or services and establish start-up companies.

The following is a list of the five finalists, their rewards, and placements:

• 1st = Clean Catch Baits - $20,000

• 2nd = Well Warriors - $15,000

• 3rd = WIDE - $10,000

• 4th = ExTech MIP - $2,500

• 5th = What the Well $2,500

The teams can also match funds through the Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur program thanks to a national partnership between Mitacs Canada and Aqua Forum.

“Congratulations to all the organizers, sponsors and above all the finalists in the 2020 Atlantic Canada AquaHacking Challenge!” says Désirée McGraw, President & CEO of Aqua Forum. “I salute your ingenuity and for your commitment to a better future by solving wicked water problems. I am particularly pleased that, for the first time in the history of AquaHacking Challenges, a solution addressing the critical issue of microplastics wins. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for you and all the finalist teams. Thank you again for your dedication and for your participation.”

The AquaHacking Challenge is an initiative of Aqua Forum founded by the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation in 2015 to support technology and business development addressing environmental problems related to freshwater. After five successful years in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Basin, AquaHacking went national for 2020 with regional competitions across Canada.

The Atlantic Canada 2020 AquaHacking Challenge is powered by the RBC Foundation, with support from the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation along with other national and local sponsors.

For more information on the competition, the companies and their solutions, visit:  https://aquahacking.com/en/2020-atlanticcanada/.

SMU researcher to look at impact of COVID-19 pandemic on student-athletes

Dr. Cheryl MacDonald

Atlantic University Sport (AUS) student-athletes have found themselves in an unusual predicament since the cancellation of national championships last season and the current sporting season being on hold as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many classes have moved online and there are no current decisions regarding the status of AUS schedules in 2021.

After having conducted previous research with this demographic, Dr. Cheryl MacDonald of the Centre for the Study of Sport & Health at Saint Mary’s University has shifted her focus to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the everyday lives of AUS student-athletes. Participants between their second and fifth year of sport eligibility will be asked to complete an online survey and photo sharing exercise aimed at examining how their activities, relationships, and mental health may have been affected since March of this year.

“From both an academic and administrative perspective, it’s important to hear from the student-athletes themselves about how they are doing with the changes they have experienced,” said Dr. MacDonald. “We have an opportunity here to document their experiences and perhaps use that information to determine how to better support them right now, in the transition back to sport participation, and maybe beyond that.”

Dr. MacDonald is a sport sociologist who is best known for her research on masculinity and ice hockey, but university-level athletes have been participants in her studies since 2009. Her work has been published in the Sociology of Sport Journal, she has a forthcoming anthology on social issues in ice hockey, and she has twice been a media panellist for the Hockey is for Everyone initiative on behalf of the National Hockey League’s Edmonton Oilers. When the COVID-19 pandemic halted her most recent study on gender and sexuality education in ice hockey, she used the pause as an opportunity to change directions and find a way to serve the athletes with whom she was already working.

This survey and photo sharing project on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on AUS student-athletes’ lives will require between 30 and 90 minutes to complete because it involves some short answer questions and will thus depend on how participants respond. We have removed the collection of IP addresses in an attempt to anonymize responses and participants are cautioned to not include any names of people or places, to block out any university or team logos using emojis or other digital shapes, and to avoid sharing any criminal content (obscenity, illegal substances, etc.).

Click here to take the survey in either English or French.

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.