SPONSORED AND HOSTED BY GRAMSS AND THE FACULTY OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE
Conference Info
FMS GRaD Conference
Oct 3, 2025
Pond Inlet, Brock University
This event focuses on providing graduate students in the Faculty of Mathematics and Science (FMS) and beyond opportunities to talk about their research. The goal of FMS GRaD Conference is to celebrate the academic achievements of all FMS graduate students, to develop a sense of community among the FMS graduate students, and to showcase the FMS research to the Brock University community.
Main participants and presenters:
- Keynote speakers and guest speakers
- Current graduate students registered in FMS
- Incoming graduate students in FMS
Keynote speaker: Dr. Kelly Biagi, Brock University
Presentation Roster: Please download the FMS GRaD 2025 Program
Registration is FREE
Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.
Important dates:
Registration now open until Sept 19, 2025.
Oral and Poster Presentation abstract submission: Sept 19, 2025
Conference Date: Oct 3, 2025
Schedule
Friday, October 3, 2025
| Time | Description | Location |
| 8:30 AM | Registration | Pond Inlet |
| 9:30 AM | Opening Remarks with Dr. Peter Berg, Dean, Faculty of Mathematics and Science | Pond Inlet |
| 10:00 AM | Oral Presentation Concurrent Sessions 1 | Goodman Building |
| 11:30 AM | Coffee Break | Goodman Building |
| 11:45 AM | Oral Presentation Concurrent Sessions 2 | Goodman Building |
| 1:00 PM | Lunch | DeCew Residence |
| 2:00 PM | Poster Presentation Sessions | Goodman Atrium |
| 4:00 PM | Keynote Address by Dr. Kelly Biagi, Department of Earth Sciences | Pond Inlet |
| 5:00 PM | Reception | Pond Inlet |
| 6:00 PM | Closing Remarks + Awards Ceremony with Dr. Melanie Pilkington, Associate Dean, Faculty of Mathematics and Science | Pond Inlet |
| 7:00 PM | Social Hour | Pond Inlet |
| 9:00 PM | End of Day | Pond Inlet |
Awards and Prizes:
Please note: Submission for the 2025 Norgen Rising Star Award are now open. Please submit your applications by Sept, 23, 2025.
2025 Norgen Rising Star Award ($500)
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- The Norgen Rising Star Award is kindly sponsored by Norgen Biotek Corp and managed by GRAMSS. This award will be presented to two currently enrolled Brock graduate students presenting at the 2025 FMS GRaD conference. Candidates should demonstrate a strong aptitude for research and a potential for future leadership within their academic field. The candidate may also be or have been involved in graduate student representation on committees, or in activities that reflect well on graduate students.
General Guidelines for Oral Presentations:
Each oral presenter will be given a 15-minute presentation slot, consisting of a 12-minute talk and 3-minute Q & A period. Presentations should be in the format of a PowerPoint or PDF file.
All oral presenters must submit their final abstract by:
We strongly recommend presenters bring their presentation file on a USB drive to their session.
General Format for Poster Presentations:
Each poster presenter will be assigned to a 60-minute poster session. Presenters should prepare a 5-minute presentation introducing their poster to judges and visitors.
All poster presenters must submit their final abstract by:
Final posters should be printed in the 3 ft by 4 ft size before the morning of Oct 1, 2025. Information on requesting poster printing and locating the Brock Printing Services Office is found here: https://brocku.ca/printing/
Abstract Submissions are now closed.
Details:
Please upload your 250 word abstract before 11:59pm September 19 2025. After this point no other abstracts nor changes will be permitted. If you have questions or access issues please contact [email protected] or @gramssbrocku on social media.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Kelly Biagi, Brock University
When: October 3, 2024
Where: Pond Inlet
Kelly’s research aims to understand the effect of landscape mitigation practices on ecosystem hydrology and hydrochemistry to provide guidance on the effectiveness of those strategies. Kelly completed her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia (2008 – 2013). She continued her academic career at McMaster University where she obtained her M.Sc. (2013 – 2015) and Ph.D. (2016 – 2021) in environmental science with a focus in hydrological sciences. There, her research examined the hydrological and hydrochemical functioning of reconstructed wetland systems in the Athabasca oil sands region of Canada. One of the overall goals of this research was to evaluate the system’s trajectory and success potential to guide future design and construction of peatland-watersheds. Following these degrees, Kelly worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Toronto Metropolitan University where she studied the nutrient loads from Lower Great Lakes headwater streams to better understand the distribution of nutrient loads, their causes and potential mitigation strategies to limit excess nutrients. Currently, Kelly is an Assistant Professor in the Earth Sciences Department at Brock University where she combines the knowledge gained along her research career into her own research program which examines wetland restoration, nutrient transport and urban hydrology within the Niagara Region.
Thank you to our sponsors
- Faculty of Mathematics and Science
- Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
- Office of the Vice-President, Research
Oral Presentation Sessions Schedule - Session 1
| Time | GSB 306 — Big Ideas in Little Cells | GSB 405 — Oh, Behave | GSB 407 — Changing Wine and Changing People | GSB 408 — Let’s Get Physical |
| 10:00 | Visualizing endogenous proteins and RNA reveal a novel potential role of Notch1 in post-transcriptional regulation of target genes | Territorial and dispersal tactics displayed in male eastern carpenter bees (Xylocopa virginica) with observations on territorial male replacement | Rethinking fermentation: Non-traditional yeasts in the Ontarian wine industry | An analysis of X-ray diffraction patterns of skeletal olivines in hydrovolcanic setting |
| 10:15 | Characterization of endogenous Notch1 signaling condensates using CRISPR/Cas9 tagging, mass spectrometry, and nanobody-based tools | Who’s calling please? Examining individual vocal identity in Humboldt penguins | Enhancement of Vidal table wine aroma through alternative fermentation techniques | Experimental and numerical investigation of the mechanical properties of bamboo and bamboo–timber composites for sustainable construction |
| 10:30 | Examining biological structures and reaction kinetics in a simulated cytoplasmic fluid | Increased social motivation and altered D2/D3 receptor expression after prenatal alcohol exposure in rats | The hidden genetic heritage of Neanderthals and Denisovans in Modern Humans through the lenses of mobile elements | Ruthenium decorated cobalt selenide for efficient alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction |
| 10:45 | Electrochemical thrombin biosensor: Towards monitoring coagulation disorders | Examining the impact of fecal microbiota transplant on anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors in prenatally alcohol exposed animals | Myth versus Marker: Tracing the true genetic heritage of Northwest Pakistan | A trivalent network model for pnictogen solids |
| 11:00 | Targeted immunotherapy achieves durable tumor control in a murine renal cell carcinoma model | Examining the impact of household chaos on maternal sensitivity during interactions with 8-12-month-old infants | Transport in close-packed solids with stacking faults | |
| 11:15 | ||||
| 11:30 | Coffee Break | Coffee Break | Coffee Break | Coffee Break |
Oral Presentation Sessions Schedule - Session 2
| Time | GSB 306 — Oncology on Call | GSB 405 — Epidemics for Academics | GSB 407 — Serious Tech | GSB 408 — Beyond Space and Time |
| 11:45 | Mimicking the tumour microenvironment in vitro reshapes cancer hallmarks | The epidemiology of snakebite in Honduras | Privacy-preserving brain tumor classification with federated learning and diffusion-based synthetic MRI augmentation | Integrable evolution equations over octonions |
| 12:00 | Therapeutic vaccination induces tertiary lymphoid structures and improves survival in a mouse cancer model | Distinct and combined effects of core and skin temperature increases on heat-related symptoms in individuals with multiple sclerosis | A machine learning–enhanced universal dementia risk model with resting heart rate | Resolving time travel paradoxes with quantum entanglement |
| 12:15 | Oxidative stress-induced immunogenic cell death enhances whole-cell vaccine efficacy in a syngeneic pancreatic cancer model | Degenerative protein modifications promote inflammation and fibrosis in age-related chronic kidney disease | An impedimetric immunosensor for progranulin detection using streptavidin-biotin conjugation on carbon screen-printed electrodes | Wormhole geometries in modified gravity theories |
| 12:30 | Cytokine link between adverse childhood experiences and the onset of asthma in young adults | Study of rotationally dependent fluorescent viscosity probes | Disorder with a twist: How spins stay entangled in a magnetic material |
Poster Presentation Sessions Schedule - Session 1 - 2:00 - 3:00 PM
| Poster # | Title |
| 1 | Pollination synchrony along a Great Lakes thermal gradient |
| 3 | Exploring tri-trophic interactions in organic vineyard ecosystems |
| 5 | Physiological oxygen and nutrient levels modulate breast cancer cell hallmarks in vitro |
| 7 | Impact of physical exercise on food intake and metabolic hormone regulation in male rats exposed prenatally to alcohol |
| 9 | Interaction between prenatal alcohol exposure and cafeteria diet on obesity and metabolic outcomes in a rat model |
| 11 | Exploring mental health experiences, access to services, and the economic burden among immigrant youth in the Niagara region: A qualitative study |
| 13 | The role of EHRs as a mark of stigma for PWUD within healthcare settings: A systematic literature review and theoretical analysis |
| 15 | Accumulation of degenerative protein modifications reduces neuronal integrity in neurodegenerative diseases |
| 17 | Regulation of excitatory synaptic transmission and plasticity in postnatal hippocampal neurons by semaphorin 3A |
| 19 | Light-activated pyrenol as a dual antimicrobial and anticancer agent: From mechanistic insights to therapeutic potential |
| 21 | Diffusion-based multi-target de novo drug design |
| 23 | Reconfiguration-based genetic optimization of Hamiltonian toolpaths: From zone crossing reduction to component minimization |
| 25 | Evolutionary state optimization for proximal policy optimization in reinforcement learning |
| 27 | Visualizing carbon allotropes using adaptive force-directed algorithm |
| 29 | Fabrication and structural analysis of Sr(1-x-y)Ce(x)Dy(y)CoO3 thin films on SrTiO3 (100) substrates grown by pulsed laser deposition |
| 31 | Systematic study of Dy doping effects on Sr1-0.05-xCe0.05DyxCoO3 synthesized by solid state method |
| 33 | Engineered electrocatalysts for green hydrogen production |
Poster Presentation Sessions Schedule - Session 2 - 3:00 - 4:00 PM
| Poster # | Title |
| 2 | The effects of pollinator decline of floral morphology and reproduction |
| 4 | Operative temperatures of eastern garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) reveal a Goldilocks effect for habitat use |
| 6 | Modeling the muscle interstitial environment: A tissue-specific approach to cell culture media |
| 8 | The influence of social media use and diet content on breakfast eating behaviours among Canadian adolescents |
| 10 | Adolescent development of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function in male and female long-Evans rats |
| 12 | Compassionate goals in STEM: how care for others benefits grad student wellbeing |
| 14 | Investigating the impact of omega-3 fatty acids in breast milk on multiple markers of neurodevelopment in infancy |
| 16 | Characterizing synaptic dysfunctions in the humanized Ab-expressing mouse |
| 18 | C-reactive protein and vitamin D levels and the impact on carotid intima-media thickness among Canadian older adults: An analysis of the cohort study from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging |
| 20 | Developing effective autologous tumour vaccine for immunotherapy |
| 22 | Genetic algorithms for home healthcare routing and scheduling problem |
| 24 | Hamiltonian cycle reconfiguration in even staircase grid graph |
| 26 | Generating labeled graphs using conditional Wasserstein GANs |
| 28 | Direct observation of hot carrier photocurrent in perovskite solar cells |
| 30 | Synthesis and mechanistic study of substituted 1,2-bisphenylhydrazones: An unintended discovery |
| 32 | Investigating the influence of Ge doping on Beta-As2Te3 |
| 34 | Simulating PTFE/nylon-based triboelectric nanogenerators for energy harvesting |
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