News

  • FMS celebrates best in teaching, research and experiential learning

    Faculty and staff members who have set positive examples for their colleagues were honoured by the Faculty of Mathematics and Science during Wednesday’s Celebration of Excellence. The fourth annual event, held Jan. 24 in Pond Inlet, saw awards of distinction presented for research, teaching, student experience and experiential learning.

    “This awards ceremony provides us with an opportunity to gather together and acknowledge the accomplishments of our faculty and staff in front of their Math and Science family, as well as our larger Brock family,” Dean Ejaz Ahmed told the group during his remarks at the Jan. 24 event in Pond Inlet.

    “Once again, we have much to celebrate and recognize. From research excellence and distinguished teachers and scholars to those who provide our students with exceptional experiential learning opportunities that further the Faculty’s mission, vision and values. I am proud of your dedication and commitment and I look forward to continuing to celebrate your accomplishments at this great event.”

    Following remarks from Gary Comerford, Board of Trustees Chair, and Thomas Dunk, Provost and Vice-President, Academic, the awards portion of the event began with Associate Dean Research and Graduate Studies Cheryl McCormick serving as Master of Ceremonies.

    Department of Chemistry Professor Jeffrey Atkinson received this year’s Distinguished Teaching Award – Faculty for his long and successful record of supervising students, mentoring high school seniors through Brock’s Science Mentorship Program, his involvement in the design and implementation of Brock’s first PhD program in Biotechnology as well as his outreach teaching activities through BioTalent Canada.

    “During his career at Brock, Dr. Atkinson has earned a reputation for being one of our most gifted teachers,” said McCormick. “His teaching evaluations are outstanding and he routinely receives comments from students calling him an excellent professor, the best professor they’ve ever had and more equally enthusiastic and complimentary praise.”

    Atkinson’s dedication to his students and their education has helped create an environment of teaching excellence within the Faculty, she said.

    The Distinguished Teaching Award for Staff was captured by full-time instructor Paul Zelisko, also from the Department of Chemistry. Zelisko was recognized for his untiring dedication to education and graduate student recruitment.

    McCormick noted that Zelisko has been a consistent representative of the Faculty, organizing Brock representation every year for a number of events including the McMaster University Graduate Fair, undergraduate trips to the east coast and, most notably, last year’s Graduate Studies Open House. This event, created for undergraduate students at Brock thinking of transitioning to graduate research, helped increase student engagement and was well received.

    This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award – Faculty was awarded to professor Jon Radue from the Department of Computer Science, who has earned a reputation for caring deeply about many aspects of teaching and education.

    A true innovator, he incorporated technology such as clickers into the classroom to further student engagement long before it was commonplace. He has been actively involved with the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation as a faculty associate and member of the Teaching Council and his work on academic integrity extends beyond the department and throughout the University.

    “In the Department of Computer Science, Radue spearheaded the development of the Applied Computing minor along with many of its courses. His knowledge and dedication made him an easy choice for teaching large first-year context courses taken by a wide variety of students from all disciplines,” said McCormick.

    “His passion for education, combined with his knowledge and dedication have become part of his legacy at Brock.”

    The Distinguished Research Award for Faculty was presented to Henryk Fuks from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics for his excellent record of accomplishment in research, focused in the areas of mathematical modelling, complex networks as well as the history of mathematics and numismatics, the study of currency.

    Along with serving on editorial boards for several prestigious journals and on scientific program committees for international conferences, Fuks also regularly receives international recognition for his research. Last August, the Royal Canadian Numismatic Society honoured him with the Guy Potter Literary Award, recognizing two of his articles which popularized the history of mathematics in the area of numismatics.

    Gaynor Spencer from the Department of Biological Sciences also received the Distinguished Research Award for Faculty. Promoted to Full Professor in July, she is currently supervising three graduate students and two undergraduate thesis students in her lab.

    “Gaynor has maintained high quality research productivity while providing great service to the University and research community,” said McCormick. Her longstanding history of research excellence is evidenced in part by her strong record of NSERC Discovery Grant funding, an Ontario Premier’s Research Excellence Award as well as quality, peer-reviewed publications; 38 papers, five invited reviews and four book chapters.

    Additional awards distributed at the Jan. 24 celebration included:

    •  Dean’s Distinguished Scholar Award — Faculty awarded to Mei-Ling Huang (Department of Mathematics and Statistics) and Fereidoon Razavi (Department of Physics) for their contributions to research, teaching and service.
    •  Distinguished Staff Award won by Jacinta Dano (Department of Biological Sciences) for the creation and implementation of the highly successful LabSkills+ program, which recognizes the importance of experiential learning and provides students with the laboratory skills they need to market themselves in an increasingly competitive industry.
    •  Earth Sciences Professor Frank Fueten received the Student Experience, Recruitment and Outreach Award for Faculty. For more than 20 years, he has devoted countless hours to high school students through Brock’s Science Mentorship Program. Fueten has also been particularly active in experiential learning both in the classroom and in the field, lending his experience and expertise to hundreds of geology students.
    •  Daniel Lonergan received the Student Experience, Recruitment and Outreach Award for Staff. During his time as the Experiential Education Co-ordinator for the Faculty, he played a significant role in enhancing the student experience through experiential education. He also represented the Faculty at several key events including the Ontario University Fair, Open House and Fall Preview Day.
    •  The new Experiential Education Leadership Award was given to Earth Sciences Professor Uwe Brand, who received the Distinguished Research Award last year. For nearly 30 years, Brand has provided students with unique, high-quality, hands-on learning experiences. His approach to experiential education links in-class learning with practical applications designed to help prepare students for the real world.

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  • Applications open for teaching, learning innovation grants

    From funding a course held in Algonquin Provincial Park to supporting volunteer initiatives with local seniors, the impact of Teaching and Learning Innovation Grants within the University has been widespread.

    A new round of grant funding is now available and faculty members are being encouraged to apply.

    The Teaching and Learning Innovation Grants are administered by the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation (CPI) and Experiential Education and are designed to support initiatives that make a positive contribution to the teaching and learning environment of Brock University.

    Funding is available in the categories of experiential education, high-impact practices, international course development, online/blended courses, and professional development and special projects. The first four categories may receive a maximum of $3,000 per course (or up to $5,000 for international course development), while the professional development and special projects may receive a maximum of $500, which must also be matched by another source in order to be distributed.

    Proposals are adjudicated as they come in and distributed until March 1 or earlier if funds are exhausted.

    An information session is being held Tuesday, Jan. 30 from noon to 1 p.m. in TH135 (beside CPI).

    All full-time, tenured and probationary faculty are eligible to apply.  To access details of the grants or to submit a proposal, visit the CPI website.

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  • Brock researchers create groundbreaking DNA reader for disease detection

    A chemist and a parasite expert at Brock University have teamed up to produce and test out a simple device that can detect diseases from DNA samples. It’s a scaled-down version of what is normally an expensive and complicated DNA laboratory technique, yet it’s fast, inexpensive and accurate, making it ideal for use in developing countries.

    Brock University Assistant Professor of Chemistry Feng Li’s device consists of a strip of paper attached onto a glass slide. The paper contains several rows of what look like thermometers, lines with markings projecting out of bulb-like circles. DNA samples are loaded onto the circles and move up the lines, much like mercury rises in a thermometer.

    “Different concentrations of the genetic disease biomarkers in the samples would migrate different distances,” says Li. “So, all you need to do is read the distance they penetrate, just like you’d read a ruler.”

    Known as the quantitative paper-based DNA reader, each device costs only about 10 cents. They work with a scaled-down version of a traditionally expensive and complex DNA laboratory technique.

    While testing for the presence of disease markers, health-care workers use a technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which makes millions of copies of a particular section of DNA. The PCR technique normally requires highly specialized equipment and expensive molecular probes. But Li’s device is able to read DNA samples through a PCR technique using simple technology and low-cost chemicals.

    “This is going to be extremely useful in resource-limited settings where you don’t have a lot of facilities to interpret the results,” says Li.

    One such setting is the National Autonomous University of Honduras, where Brock University Professor of Health Sciences Ana Sanchez runs an internationally-renowned research program focusing on parasites. She and her research team collected worms that had been expelled by children suspected of having soil-transmitted helminth infection, a disease affecting about 1.5 billion people worldwide and a major cause of childhood malnutrition and physical impairment.

    The researchers used the quantitative paper-based DNA reader to test the worms for helminth infection. She applauds the speed and sensitivity of the device, saying that diagnostic techniques in developing countries are traditional, basic and rely on the expertise of the person observing the sample.

    Sanchez says the device goes beyond just a yes or no result by measuring the amount of genetic disease biomarkers in the DNA sample.

    Both Sanchez and Li say they are happy with their research partnership, which evolved from casual conversations as they worked next to one another in their labs in Brock’s Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex.

    The research team’s results are in their study “Paper-Based DNA Reader for Visualized Quantification of Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections,” published Tuesday, Jan. 16 in the journal ACS Sensors. PhD student Alex Guan Wang and master’s student Tianyu Dong are the study’s first authors.

    Read the full story here

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  • Early indicators of potential applicants particularly strong for FMS

    Early indicators of potential applicants for Ontario universities this fall are showing some strong signals for Brock.

    It will be months before universities have a clear expectation of September enrolment, but the first round of data shows Brock’s numbers up by more than five per cent over 2017 in terms of Ontario Grade 12 students putting Brock among their top choices of universities to attend this fall.

    Figures released Monday, Jan. 22 by the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (OUAC) show the number of Ontario Secondary School applications to Brock is currently 15,534, an increase of 773 from a year ago.

    The OUAC report shows Brock gained 5.2 per cent more applications from Ontario Secondary School students, and a 1.4 per cent increase in the volume of Ontario Secondary students selecting Brock as their first choice institution  — an increase in Brock’s marketshare.

    The OUAC report does not include applications from outside Canada, outside Ontario, nor students transferring to Brock from other institutions.

    Overall, Brock has received 17,768 applications to date, an increase of 1,290 (7.8 per cent) over the same time last cycle, providing a strong indicator that Brock is a top choice in a fiercely competitive market.

    This year’s early indicators for Brock are particularly strong for the Faculty of Mathematics and Science, the Faculty of Social Science and the Goodman School of Business.

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  • Biological Sciences grad student develops computer codes to measure, track mitochondria

    Mitochondria are essential to human and animal life, but analyzing their ever-changing configurations through a microscope is a challenge. As they continually fuse and fragment, they affect how cells, and therefore bodies, work.

    Studying the tube-shaped organelles that provide energy to cells has recently been made easier through the work of a Brock University graduate student. Andrew Valente, a student in the Department of Biological Sciences with an interest in computer coding, has developed a set of tools that researchers around the globe can freely access to better measure and understand the movements of mitochondrial networks.

    “I use a lot of open source software,” he says. “I thought it would be a good idea to adopt open source code because then we can have everybody looking at it and verifying that it’s working correctly.”

    In an open source software arrangement, anyone can study, modify and distribute software for any purpose, which encourages widespread collaboration and free, public use.

    Valente, from Thorold, is studying the structure and movement of mitochondrial networks, and is developing methods to track them for his master’s program.

    Valente and his MSc supervisor, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Jeff Stuart, are now collaborating with research teams in Italy and Germany, with several international students and postdoctoral fellows visiting Stuart’s lab to learn more about mitochondrial networks.

    Mitochondria create most of the energy that the body needs in order to live and support the functioning of organs. More than 220 illnesses are associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, according to MitoCanada.

    Read the full story here

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  • Grad’s cancer research continues at University of Cambridge

    “I wouldn’t be where I am today without my experience at Brock,” said Biological Sciences grad, Lucas Maddalena. “Having such a great relationship with my supervisors has been important for me, allowing me to keep growing as a student.”

    Maddalena credits the support of his Brock supervisors, Biological Sciences Associate Professor Jeff Stuart, whom he worked closely with during his time at the University, and Professor Jeffrey Atkinson in Chemistry.

    The research that began in Brock University’s labs has taken Maddalena (BSc ’12, MSc ’17) nearly 6,000 kilometres across the Atlantic to one of the world’s most renowned institutions. Maddalena crossed the pond this past fall in order to walk the halls of the University of Cambridge, where he has accepted a prestigious $300,000 scholarship to complete his PhD.

    The Thorold native was the only overseas recipient of the Cancer Research U.K. Cambridge Centre 2017 Non-clinical PhD Studentship Award, of which five were awarded in 2017. The scholarship covers three years of study, the typical length of a PhD program at Cambridge, and will support the costs of Maddalena’s research, as well as his living expenses.

    “It’s surreal. That’s probably the best word to describe it,” he said of this new chapter in his life, which has him researching within Cambridge’s Department of Medicine.

    His research continues the theme of his master’s work, which explored mitochondrial function and oxygen usage in the context of health and disease.

    Read the full story here

     

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  • Neuroscience student Ethan Foy wins Monster Pitch

    Monday proved to be a dream come true for Ethan Foy.

    The fifth-year neuroscience student from Oakville won a $14,000 prize package at Monster Pitch, an entrepreneurial pitch competition hosted by the Brock Innovation Group in partnership with the Goodman School of Business and BioLinc and sponsored by Spark Power Corp.

    More than a year ago, Foy began working on his business called LifePoints. He envisioned a mobile application that would offer monetary rewards to its users based on the time they spent at fitness facilities.

    He first applied for Monster Pitch last year and although he was not selected to present at the competition, he had started on a journey toward his vision. He also applied for — and received — the Deborah E. Rosati Entrepreneurship Award, which provided him with funding, space and mentorship to help him launch his business. Since receiving the award at last year’s Monster Pitch event, he has worked tirelessly to build his business.

    This year, he returned to Monster Pitch armed with a year of experience and with his mind set on winning. He did just that, walking away with much more than the $14,000 prize package.

    “The biggest thing I was looking to get out of Monster Pitch was being able to present in front of a world-class group of judges. I wanted to know where LifePoints stands in the eyes of the them and to get feedback from individuals who have seen a multitude of businesses,” he said.

    Read the full story here

     

     

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  • First female Associate Dean for Math and Science

    Cheryl McCormick is no stranger to the road less travelled.

    Her passion for STEM research (science, technology, engineering and math) has driven her forward in the once male-dominated field, and recently led her to a new position at Brock after more than two years as Director of the University’s Centre of Neuroscience.

    McCormick began her three-year term as Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies for the Faculty of Mathematics and Science on Jan. 1, becoming the first female appointed to the role.

    In her new position, she hopes to inspire other women to pursue a career in STEM research, particularly at Brock.

    McCormick’s main goal is to help promote the success of research at the University.

    Along with primary thesis supervision, she has supervised the research training of 13 graduate students and more than 70 undergraduates. Passionate about helping and recognizing the research of students, McCormick works with Science Without Borders research interns, participates in the Faculty’s Science Mentorship Program and assists with Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council-funded (NSERC) research.

    She has been with Brock’s Department of Psychology and Centre for Neuroscience since 2004, participating in various Department committees and speaker series. She also remains part of the Behavioural Neuroscience Committee, which she has served on for the past 14 years.

    McCormick is an associate member of the Department of Biology and has been a member of the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre since 2013.

    Along with departmental, faculty and University committees, McCormick has also served on numerous national and international research committees during her time at Brock. Most recently, she was a presenter for an NSERC grant workshop through the Office of Research Services and helped complete an internal review of graduate student scholarships for the Dean of Graduate Studies.

    She is the recipient of several awards, scholarships, internal and external grants and has been an invited symposia and colloquia speaker across Canada, the U.S. and abroad.

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  • State-of-the-art fermentation equipment for CCOVI

    Scientists at Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) will be able to determine ideal fermentation conditions for a range of wine styles and varieties thanks to a new $482,000 state-of-the-art facility.

    With support from the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, CCOVI is purchasing 30 individually controlled stainless steel tanks along with a computerized glycol heating and cooling system that controls the temperature of the fermentation process occurring within each individual tank.

    This is done through a ‘jacket’ that wraps around every custom built 50-litre tank. A glycol solution pumped into the jacket can cool the tank to a low of -10°C or up to a high of 40°C.

    “The ability to manipulate fermentations on an individual basis allows us to simultaneously research the impact that different conditions have on the quality of a certain wine style or variety for effective, immediate industry uptake,” says CCOVI Director Debbie Inglis.

    The tanks and the heating and cooling system are among an impressive list of CCOVI equipment being funded by a $960,000 research infrastructure grant from Ontario’s Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, announced Monday, Jan. 8 by Minister of Research, Innovation and Science, Reza Moridi.

    This money adds onto a $960,000 Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) grant awarded towards the end of last year.

    The two grants, plus contributions from industry, amount to a $2.4-million project that expands and enhances CCOVI’s fermentation, wine flavour and consumer behaviour facilities.

    Read the full story here

     

     

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  • Ontario grant helps Brock create first-of-its-kind wine consumer lab

    The Ontario Government has announced $960,000 in funding to help Brock University create the world’s first augmented reality, virtual reality and sensory reality consumer laboratory.

    The new money from the Ontario Research Fund matches a recent federal grant, and combines with support from the grape and wine industry that will enable Brock’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) to launch the landmark facility, to be known as the R3CL.

    The Ontario grant was announced Monday, Jan. 8 by Reza Moridi, the Minister of Research, Innovation and Science. The $1-million R3CL lab is part of a $2.4-million project that will greatly enhance CCOVI’s research and studies into fermentation, wine flavour and consumer behaviour.

    After making the announcement Monday, Moridi was invited to test out the virtual reality technology that will be included in the $1-million R3CL (Physical, Augmented and Virtual Reality Consumer Lab), which will be used to create a variety of environments in which people purchase and consume wines. Researchers will study how a range of factors such as sights, sounds and smells impact choice and impression of wine.

    Read the full story here

     

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