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Since 2018, the Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) hosts a "GRADflix" competition, challenging students from across campus to communicate their research to a general audience. With only 60 seconds at their disposal, competitors create videos, moving slideshows or animation, in order to tell us why their research is important!

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Professor Mark Servos has been working tirelessly to contribute towards our understanding of COVID-19, leading wastewater testing efforts locally and across Canada. His research has recently been highlighted in the media as wastewater surveillance becomes a significant tool in our community’s efforts to track the spread of COVID-19, and his efforts are being recognized with a Minister of Colleges and Universities' Awards of Excellence.

Fish have a lot to stress about right now. This could mean serious problems for the future of aquaculture and the fish on your plate.

The new À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Aquatic Threats in Environmental Research (WATER) facility at the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ aims to simulate and research aquatic stressors and threats so that we are better prepared to prevent current and future problems.

Firas Kamal Mansour, 50, passed away on December 29, 2021. An exceptional teacher and colleague, Firas dedicated his professional life to physics education and to the well-being of his students. With a larger than life personality replete with wit and charm, Firas had a passion for physics and physics education.

For Michael Houston, PhD ’93, BSc ’87, the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ is more than his alma mater. For a good chunk of his youth, the campus is where he called home.  

When it comes to hibernation, conserving resources is key for an animal’s survival. For bats of Western North America, water may be the key to assessing a bat species’ ability to thrive during hibernation.

New research that comes as part of a larger project to understand the potential impact of white-nose syndrome in the West found that bats are adept at finding similar hibernation conditions across their large geographic ranges, despite a variety of climates in these areas.

Establishing and supporting innovative research projects is an important priority for the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ. The Canadian Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund has recognized four Faculty of Science researchers to embarking upon research or technology development that is innovative, high quality and meets international standards.

From using microbes to breakdown contaminates in landfills to learning how to conserve our amphibian populations in the face of climate change, the Government of Ontario has awarded three À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Science researchers $140,000 each to advance ‘Ontario made’ research and innovation. 

Early Researcher Awards 

It’s Spring Convocation again, and this year the Faculty of Science will grant over 850 students their hard-earned Bachelor of Science degree. But for Susan and James Hadden, both BSc ’90 biology alumni, there’s one graduate in particular who they’re most excited to welcome into the club: their daughter, Jocelyn, who has earned her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences.

To a scientist, trial and error is common in laboratories to refine new tests and methods, and look for potential problems on the small scale. But what happens when these techniques are meant for human tissues, such as for surgeries, medical tests, and treatments, where multiple different trials are not possible?