News

  • First female Associate Dean for Math and Science

    Monday, January 08, 2018 | By

    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

    Monday, January 08, 2018 | By

    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.

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

    Monday, January 08, 2018 | By

    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.

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  • CCOVI Lecture Series kicks off with tribute to industry icon Karl Kaiser

    Tuesday, December 19, 2017 | By

    Brock University’s annual Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) Lecture Series will be returning in January with a tribute to the late wine industry mogul Karl Kaiser.

    The CCOVI Lecture Series will begin on Monday, Jan. 15 with long-time winemaker David Sheppard giving a special presentation of Kaiser’s popular talk, “Pinot Noir: The Savage Yet Seductive Grape.”

    Sheppard is a 35-year industry veteran and winemaker at Flat Rock Cellars in Jordan Station. He also worked under the tutelage of Kaiser at Inniskillin in Niagara-on-the-Lake for 21 years, largely with a focus on the production of Pinot Noir.

    Kaiser’s lecture on the Canadian-winter-friendly red wine grape was first given at the 2008 CCOVI Lecture Series.

     

    Sheppard will be presenting the lecture on Monday, Jan. 15 at 2 p.m. in Mackenzie Chown Room H313 at Brock The lecture is free and open to the public, and it will also be livestreamed and can be viewed at brocku.ca/ccovi.

    The CCOVI Lecture Series will continue to run Monday afternoons until March 26 at the same time and location. More information about the series and the complete list of speakers will be announced in the early 2018 and can be found on the lecture series website.

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  • Fifth-year Neuroscience student Monster Pitch finalist

    Monday, December 18, 2017 | By

    The rewards are starting to add up for Ethan Foy. The fifth-year neuroscience student from Oakville, is working on his business idea called LifePoints. The mobile application rewards users for time spent at a fitness facility with points they can later cash in at local businesses. The application is now live on the App Store for iPhones, with a version soon to follow for Android users.

    Foy will be presenting LifePoints on the stage at the upcoming Monster Pitch competition Monday, Jan. 8 at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

    It’s a moment he’s had his eye on for more than a year.

    LifePoints had been percolating in Foy’s mind since before last year’s Monster Pitch and his goal was to one day join the finalists on the stage to share his vision with the judges. Having previously worked as a student ambassador with BioLinc, Brock’s business incubator run by the Goodman School of Business, he was familiar with the resources that would benefit him when it came time to launch his own business.

    Foy began to work on his idea for LifePoints and it paid off at the end of last year’s event, when BioLinc announced that he was one of two recipients of the Deborah E. Rosati Entrepreneurship Award, which provided him with mentorship and funding over the summer while he worked full time on his business.

    Foy is passionate about the idea of having customers receive monetary rewards, and has designed his mobile application as an experience-driven reward platform, breaking away from the conventional loyalty model companies use to reward customers for their purchases through accumulated points and product discounts.

    “I fell in love with the idea of being able to provide a monetary reward for every other aspect of life, outside of work life,” said Foy.

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  • As cider booms, Brock’s CCOVI continues to be a key industry partner

    Thursday, December 14, 2017 | By

    Grocery stores across the province are vying to be one of 95 new retailers authorized to sell cider to Ontario consumers next year. With Ontario’s thirst for cider far from quenched, Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) continues to be at the forefront of advancing the booming industry.

    CCOVI is the only institution in Canada to offer a certification in cider production through the Cider Institute of North America, and it also provides analytical testing services to help cider makers deliver the best product possible.

    CCOVI’s Continuing Education Manager Barb Tatarnic says that pairing the foundational educational program with testing services brings a holistic approach to the learning process.

    “CCOVI has been able to branch out into an industry that is important here in Niagara and all across Canada,” Tatarnic says. “By delivering the foundational learning elements and then providing the opportunity to test the finished product, we are ensuring cider makers are delivering the quality of product their communities are looking for.”

     

     

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  • CCOVI’s Fizz Club goes national as it toasts five years at Brock

    Wednesday, December 13, 2017 | By

    As wine consumers begin pondering which bottle of bubbly to serve this holiday season, 40 winemakers from across Canada gathered at Brock University to swap secrets for making the best sparkling wine.

    The fifth anniversary of the annual Fizz Club, organized by Brock’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI), took place Thursday, Dec. 7 in Inniskillin Hall.

    Restricted to sparkling winemakers only, the sold-out event allowed those in the industry to discuss triumphs and challenges and to learn about new research projects taking place at CCOVI and around the world.

    The theme this year was From Field to Fizz, which took a vine-to-glass approach for the first time by including research and discussions on both viticulture practices and winemaking, including CCOVI research on leaf removal, clones and soil type trials and their impact on sparkling wine quality.

    CCOVI senior oenologist Belinda Kemp, who has been organizing the event since its inception in 2013, said she is excited by how much the event has grown. “When we started this, there were fewer than 40 wineries making sparkling in the province and most of the winemakers who attended Fizz Club were based in Niagara,” she said. “Five years later, the event continues to sell out and we have winemakers coming from all across Canada, which is fantastic.”

    The growth in popularity of Fizz Club is reflective of the massive growth in the sparkling wine industry. As Kemp pointed out, the number of wineries with a sparkling wine program in Ontario has ballooned to 90 and is constantly increasing. This year’s Fizz Club drew in attendees from across Ontario as well as B.C. and Nova Scotia.

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  • Support strong for women in STEM

    Tuesday, December 12, 2017 | By

    Thanks to the generous financial support of the Department of Computer Science, six female Brock Computer Science students were able to attend the ACM Canadian Celebration of Women in Computing Conference (CAN-CWIC) last month in Montreal.

    For Lindsey Tulloch, one of the attendees, the conference was much more than a networking event; it was an opportunity to band together and show support for some in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) based programs. As she looked around the packed room filled with more than 500 women, she felt a sense of inspiration and hope for the future.

    “It was inspiring to be around so many women that are interested in the same things I am,” Tulloch said. “There’s only a handful of us (women in Computer Science) at Brock, which could lead one to mistakenly believe that women just aren’t that into tech, math or ‘nerdy’ stuff, but we totally are.”

    With significantly less women than men choosing to enrol in university STEM programs, building a strong network is critical. While working in a field dominated by men can be challenging, Tulloch has found support as well as role models and mentors at Brock.

    With the backing of her department and opportunities to attend events for women, created by women, the future for women in STEM looks bright for Tulloch and many others.

    “Women are doing a lot of interesting things in tech, both in the industry and in academics,” she said.

     

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  • President honours outstanding staff and faculty

    Monday, December 11, 2017 | By

    Stephen Renda didn’t expect to hear his name called at the President’s Holiday Celebration.

    “When the President said the recipient designs and builds equipment, I knew it was someone from Tech Services,” he said. “I thought it was another guy in our shop.”

    Renda is a machinist who designs and builds teaching and research equipment for Brock’s Faculty of Mathematics and Science. He also services lab equipment like sterilizers, bench top centrifuges, vacuum pumps and liquid nitrogen stations.

    He was one of four people honoured with the President’s Distinguished Staff Service Awards.

    His nominator, Steve Crumb, boasted in the nomination application that Renda is one of the department’s most valued assets. “Whatever he designs, you know that great thought went into it and it is truly a work of art. He is the person I tell students to see,” Crumb wrote.

    “It’s not lost on me that I’m ‘the guy,’” Renda said. “I like being helpful. I don’t do it for bragging rights or any other reason. That’s why I’m here. At the end of the day, it’s gratifying to know that these people come to me to help them.”

    Renda was one of 35 faculty and staff who were honoured at the annual holiday event, which saw a record attendance of nearly 350 people.

    Quarter Century Club

    Several faculty and staff were recognized for their long-standing commitment to Brock University. This year, 22 employees were inducted into the Quarter Century Club, joining 215 others who have worked for Brock for 25 years, including:

    • Fiona Hunter, Biological Sciences
    • Brian Ross, Computer Science

    35 years of long-standing service

    Eight people were recognized for 35 years of service, including:

    • Dave McCarthy, Computer Science
    • Jan Vrbik, Mathematics

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  • Brock integrating computer programming into mathematics education

    Friday, December 08, 2017 | By

    As Chantal Buteau, Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics notes, “Few post-secondary mathematics programs address the 21st century need by adapting the curricula to combine mathematics and computer programming.”

    Brock is the exception.

    Educators at Brock University are working outside the traditional ‘paper and pencil’ box and teaching their students how to tap into the power of computers to model, simulate, visualize and choose the best alternatives in calculations.

    “It’s using computer programming as an instrument to engage in mathematics investigations,” says Buteau. “It’s taking a scientific, experimental approach to mathematics: asking questions, conjecturing, testing math problems or applications with programming and seeing the outcomes through computer simulations, then further tweaking the problem or model to continue the math work.”

    Buteau teaches in the sequence of Brock’s Mathematics Integrated with Computers and Applications (MICA) undergraduate courses. Created in 2000 under the leadership of fellow mathematician, Bill Ralph, this sequence of MICA courses is the only one of its kind in Canada.

    “It’s really outstanding that Bill Ralph and the Department of Mathematics had that vision ahead of their time,” she says, adding it’s only recently that integration of coding in school curricula around the world has started to increase.

    Buteau is heading a research team, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), to study how MICA students learn to use computer coding for their mathematical investigations.

    The issue is not just academic. She notes that a number of mathematicians are already taking this approach and that “it seems natural to expose our students with this cutting-edge way of doing mathematics.”

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