![\"Charles](\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/MNKAwards5.jpg\")
<\/a>Biological Sciences Associate Professor Charles Depr\u00e9s addresses the crowd after winning a 2017 Graduate Mentorship Award.<\/p><\/div>\n
Despr\u00e9s and Computer Science Professor Michael Winter won the 2017 Mike Plyley Graduate Mentorship Awards after being nominated by the students they\u2019ve supervised.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe nomination was fantastic. You see where the students go and what they do in life, but they never tell you how you played a role in their lives. So just the fact they wrote something is well appreciated and is a testament that I had a positive influence on their life. That makes me very happy,\u201d Despr\u00e9s said.<\/p>\n
Applied Health Sciences Professor Nota Klentrou, meanwhile, won the Marilyn Rose Graduate Leadership Award, which is given out to someone who contributes \u201cvision and leadership in a variety of areas such as administration, academic programming, research and scholarship, student services and student experience initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Klentrou, the Applied Health Sciences Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies since 2011, said she believes \u201cthe future of Brock University is bright, and grad students are our future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also handed out Tuesday were the 2016-17 Jack M. Miller Excellence in Research Awards. Named in honour of the Dean of Graduate Studies from 1999-2004, the awards are given to grad students who \u201cstand out for projects that are highly original and are addressing significant questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
This years recipients were:<\/strong><\/p>\n Angel Phanthanourak, MSc, Applied Health \u2014 Phanthanourak examines how individuals prepare for upcoming physical movement. This preparation is known as anticipatory postural adjustment \u2013 APA for short. She\u2019s bringing new insight about APAs in relation to fall risk and advanced age.<\/p>\n Aly Bailey, PhD, Applied Health \u2014 Bailey dissertation puts her at the forefront of body image research. She is among the first to investigate body image from a positive perspective. Her project provides a unique approach to the promotion of well-being in diverse populations.<\/p>\n Sheri Mallabar, Master of Education \u2014 Mallabar\u2019s thesis is a rich analysis of a peer-mediated model designed to develop social skills in children with autism spectrum disorders. She is the first to embed this teaching intensive model in the wider context of whole-class instruction.<\/p>\n Jennifer Brant, PhD in Educational Studies \u2014 Brant\u2019s dissertation is a rich, deep account of indigenous women\u2019s responses to Indigenous Maternal Pedagogy, which connects maternal pedagogies with women-centred indigenous epistemologies to provide holistic supports for students.<\/p>\n Helen Hsu, MA, Classics \u2014 Hsu\u2019s research focuses on the characterization of sex labourers in the comedies of the Roman playwright Plautus, writing at a time of socio-economic change. Her research aims to break the traditional binary view of the women that dominates the secondary scholarship on these plays.<\/p>\n Jill Planche, PhD, Interdisciplinary Humanities \u2014 Planche\u2019s research project investigates the present and potential role of contemporary theatre in postapartheid South Africa where the social architecture of apartheid persists in its socio-economic, political and cultural conditions.<\/p>\n Eric de Hoog, Master of Science, Biological Sciences \u2014 de Hoog\u2019s studies are based on the examination of the neural effects of the Vitamin A metabolite, retinoic acid, on adult neurons. Retinoic acid has long been known to play an important role in the development of the nervous system, enhancing the outgrowth of nerve processes.<\/p>\n Van Hung Mai, PhD, Chemistry \u2014 Mai carries out comprehensive studies on the reactivity of a chemical catalysis that serves as a key chemical phenomenon that contributes to 25 per cent of GDP of industrialized countries. He is contributing to advances in green chemistry to develop more economical and cleaner methods.<\/p>\n Taylor Heffer, MA, Psychology \u2014 Heffer\u2019s thesis examines coping and adjustment among university students over time. Her research encompasses a much broader investigation of coping and adjustment, with a specific interest in understanding how to promote positive adjustment.<\/p>\n Mark Hoffarth, PhD, Psychology \u2014 Hoffarth\u2019s thesis is truly original. He is investigating how religious attendance shapes attitudes toward gay rights, for example marriage and adoption. This project has the potential to be a game changer.<\/p>\n Luciano Lapa, MSc, Management \u2014 Lapa is studying the potential benefits of offering a suitable mobile commerce experience to customers. His research has far-reaching contributions to the rapidly growing mobile commerce industry across the world.<\/p>\n\n\t