In this video, Dr. Christopher Fullerton discusses the future of electric buses in Canada.
What is the future for electric buses in Canada?
Chris Fullerton, research, Sustainability, Transportation
Categories: News
Articles tagged with: research
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Student research recognized at 3MT final and Jack M. Miller award ceremony
REPOSTED FROM THE BROCK NEWS
APRIL 12, 2019 | by Cathy Majtenyi
Master student Alicia Azzano presents her research on how parents of infants displaying signs of autism spectrum disorder can be trained to teach their children skills. Azzano captured first place in Brock University’s 2019 Three Minute Thesis Challenge held Thursday, April 11.
Parents who observe signs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) early in their child’s life may be able to reduce the severity of ASD, or even prevent a diagnosis, with the help of special techniques.
Master student Alicia Azzano researches how parents can be trained to teach their infants using strategies aimed at improving specific behaviours characteristic of ASD. The training includes a program called Behavioural Skills Training and Natural Environment Teaching.
“The long-term goal of my research is to see whether early symptom identification and early intervention mediated by parents before children are diagnosed with ASD will make a difference to ASD diagnosis or severity,” says Azzano, who is with the Department of Applied Disability Studies. She says results so far are encouraging.
Azzano presented her research at the final round of Brock University’s 2019 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Challenge, capturing the first-place prize of $500.
She will represent Brock at the provincial 3MT competition, to be held at McMaster University Wednesday, April 17.
Now in its seventh year at Brock, the 3MT Challenge originated in Queensland, Australia in 2008 as a way for students to explain their research to a broad audience in plain, accessible terms. Presenters have three minutes and a single slide image to summarize their research.
“This whole experience has meant a lot to me because not only does it give me a chance to practise my presentation skills, but it also allows me to spread awareness about the importance my research can have for many families who have a child at risk for autism,” says Azzano.
Eight students competed in the 3MT preliminary round April 4, with three students — Azzano, Jennifer Wilkinson and Rachel Richmond, both from Applied Health Sciences — being selected to move to the final round April 11.
During the April 11 Mapping the New Knowledges conference, student research was also recognized through the presentation of the 2019 Jack M. Miller Excellence in Research Awards, given to research-based graduate students working on innovative projects. Recipients include (from left) Alison O’Connor, Sarah Walker, Carolyn Fast, Bradley Baranowski, Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Studies Heather Gordon, Matthew Mallette, Lynn Trudeau, Greig Inglis, Emily Ham, Fares Belkhiria and Carmen Long.
Richmond captured the second-place prize of $250 with her research presentation on the experience of how people manage their chronic pain. Wilkinson was awarded $100 for her talk on how the composition of membranes in muscle cells impacts the release of a particular protein that causes cell death.
Judging the presentations were Shane Malcolm, Executive Director of Leadership Niagara, Frances Hallworth, Executive Director of United Way Niagara and Mark Cressman, Regional Director, Postmedia.
“The three candidates were so great, it was a hard task to decide,” says Malcolm. “The level of how prepared each student was really elevated the calibre of the competition; all of them did an outstanding job.”
The 3MT finals were held during the Mapping the New Knowledges conference, an annual event that showcases graduate student research.
In addition to the 3MT challenge, student research was also recognized through the presentation of the 2019 Jack M. Miller Excellence in Research Awards, given to research-based graduate students working on innovative projects.
Miller served as Vice-President Research and Dean of Graduate Studies from 1999 to 2004. In his memory, students from Brock’s six Faculties are chosen to receive between $1,000 to $1,500 to support their research and scholarship.
“I’m thrilled to be recognized for my research, as it gives me the opportunity to share my work with the Brock community and strive for further academic excellence,” says Emily Ham, a master’s student in Earth Sciences who researches microplastics in Niagara’s environment.
This year’s Jack M. Miller award recipients are:
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
- Bradley Baranowski, MSc in Applied Health Sciences, “Role of exercise induced BDNF on brain health”
- Matthew Mallette, PhD in Applied Health Sciences, “Effect of local muscle temperature manipulations on neuromuscular function”
- Greig Inglis, PhD in Applied Health Sciences, “Sex differences in the neural control of muscle”
Faculty of Mathematics and Science
- Emily Ham, MSc in Earth Sciences, “Microplastics in Niagara water systems: Implications for Niagara ecosystems and waste”
- Sarah Walker, PhD in Biological Sciences, “MicroRNAs and regulation growth cone turning in invertebrate neurons”
Faculty of Social Sciences
- Stephanie Murray, MA in Geography, “Mobile ‘Homes’: An Ethnographic Study with American Vanlifers”
- Alison O’Connor, PhD in Psychology, “A Multi-Methodological Approach to Understanding Deception Across Adulthood”
Faculty of Education
- Rachel St Hilaire, Master of Education, “Enhancing Instruction in a Changing World: Kindergarten Educator Collaborating to Implement Technology to Support Students’ Reading”
- Lynn Trudeau, PhD in Educational Studies, “Indigenous Researcher Identity: Reconciling Differing Spaces from an Ojibway Perspective”
Faculty of Humanities
- Carolyn Fast, MA in History, “The Un-Making of Difference: The Winding Road of Deinstitutionalization (1960-2018)”
- Carmen Long, PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities, “Beyond Biology and Behaviour: Refiguring Pan/Epidemic Disease Stigma”
Goodman School of Business
- Fares Belkhiria, MSc in Management, “Does e-Government Technology Always Fit? Moderating Role of Technology-Job Fit”
awards, geography, graduate studies, MA Geography, research
Categories: News -
Brock-led poverty research project heads into second year
A research team spanning multiple Brock University Faculties and departments is continuing its evaluation of the services offered to those in poverty in Niagara.
A partnership between the Niagara Region and Brock announced last May is examining the Niagara Prosperity Initiative (NPI) and its impact on Niagara communities.
Lori Watson, Director, Social Assistance and Employment Opportunities for Niagara Region, said the research project “will help the Niagara Region develop an updated report outlining the state of poverty in Niagara — an analysis on the impacts, outcomes and offer recommendations on best practices moving forward.”
A Brock-led research project looking into poverty in Niagara is headed into its second year. Pictured are some of the researchers and students involved in the project.
The three-year research project was funded through a nearly half-million-dollar grant from the Government of Ontario’s Local Poverty Reduction Fund and will culminate in a final report to be released in 2021.
The NPI provides $1.5 million annually to support poverty reduction and prevention activities throughout the region. In its 10 years of operation, the NPI has funded some 365 projects delivered by 85 local agencies to help more than 100,000 individuals and families experiencing poverty across Niagara.
Brock’s transdisciplinary research team is led by Jeff Boggs (Geography and Tourism Studies), Michael Busseri (Psychology), Darlene Ciuffetelli Parker (Teacher Education), Joyce Engel (Nursing), Tiffany Gallagher (Teacher Education), Kevin Gosine (Sociology), Felice Martinello (Economics), Dawn Prentice (Nursing) and Dennis Soron (Sociology).
In 2018, the NPI evaluation team:
- Formulated a communications strategy
- Formed a community advisory team
- Reviewed previous research, statistics and the landscape of poverty and poverty reduction efforts in Niagara and comparable regions
- Interviewed people who were instrumental to the development and management of NPI, with a focus on NPI’s history and objectives
- Spoke with NPI-funded project leads with a focus on the impact of NPI funding
- Created a comparison of actual and expected outputs
- Analyzed testimonials from NPI service users
In 2019, the NPI evaluation team is aiming to:
- Form a lived experience advisory group
- Continue speaking with NPI-funded project leads
- Measure the impact of NPI assistance on service user well-being
- Survey a representative sample of Niagara residents affected by poverty
- Evaluate NPI-funded literacy projects
- Develop inclusive photo-reporting practices
- Assess service user feedback mechanisms
- Review the NPI request for proposal and review process
The NPI evaluation team received contributions and support from a number of places, including Brock’s Social Justice Research Institute, which initiated the partnership and facilitated the grant application process, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the wider Brock community.
Members of the Community Advisory Team, including Catherine Livingston, Diane Corkum, Jackie Van Lankveld and Jane LaVacca, reviewed and provided feedback on the project plan. Fourth-year Sociology students conducted 25 interviews with NPI-funded project leads. The Information and Analytics Team, a business unit with Niagara Region’s Information Technology Solutions division, identified and facilitated access to poverty-related data collected by the Niagara Region and its partners.
For more information, visit the NPI Evaluation project website at brocku.ca/npi-evaluation.
Story reposted from The Brock News.
community, geography, Human Geography, Jeff Boggs, research
Categories: News -
Film crew joins Crawford Lake research efforts
Scientists representing Brock, Carleton and McMaster University and Conservation Halton watch as Brock graduate student Joe Viscek, Professor Mike Pisaric and graduate student Scott Cocker recover the first core collected from Crawford Lake on Feb. 20. (Photo courtesy of Conservation Halton)
When a group of researchers returned to Crawford Lake to continue the search for evidence of a possible new geological era, they came with a film crew to document the occasion.
Toronto-based Mercury Films joined the team of scientists, led by Brock’s Department of Earth Sciences, shooting footage during last month’s trip to the Milton site to collect samples.
Brock Professors Mike Pisaric and Francine McCarthy, Brock undergraduate student Brendan Llew-Willams and Carleton Professor Tim Patterson discussing the stratigraphy visible in sediments. (Photo courtesy of Conservation Halton)
The team is studying the lake as a possible location to define a new geologic epoch called the Anthropocene. It is one of 10 sites being captured by Mercury Films.
The production company’s most recent film,Anthropocene: The Human Epoch, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September and is part of a multimedia project that includes a major travelling museum exhibition of photographs, short films and augmented reality. It has been featured at the Art Gallery of Ontario and National Gallery of Canada, and will be on display in Bologna, Italy, in April.
In addition to the field work, Mercury Films will visit Brock to obtain footage of the laboratory analysis component of this research effort. As part of a project, contracted through the German government, they will highlight each site’s candidacy for type section — a location where evidence of a time period shift can be seen — and cover all the steps leading to the formal proposal of the Anthropocene epoch.
In order to receive this ‘golden spike’ designation, a proposal must be submitted to the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) for evaluation. If the AWG approves of this proposal, it will then be evaluated by the International Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, chaired by Brock University Professor of Earth Sciences Martin Head.
While the world is technically in the Holocene epoch, the group researching Crawford Lake, which also includes researchers from Carleton and McMaster universities as well as Conservation Halton, hopes their findings can convince fellow scientists around the globe to establish the start of the latest geological age.
Researchers suggest the Anthropocene began around 1950. While it hasn’t been officially adopted as a geological epoch, Brock Professor of Earth Sciences Francine McCarthy and her team are attempting to build a case for Crawford Lake.
Annually laminated freeze core recovered from the deep basin of Crawford Lake. (Photo courtesy of Conservation Halton)
To get a better understanding of the history that exists within Crawford, annually laminated sediments called varves are recovered through freeze-coring — a process that involves dropping a dry ice and ethanol filled-metal sampler into the lake.
“Over the next year or so, various types of analysis of the varves and the overlying water will be conducted, including radionuclide analysis to look for the ‘bomb spike’ and evidence of the Great Acceleration since the Second World War,” McCarthy said. “If a good radionuclide signature, including plutonium, is present in the sediments of Crawford Lake, the site will be a strong contender as the type section, with a ‘golden spike’ at around 1950.”
Faculty of Math and Science Dean Ejaz Ahmed commended team members for their efforts.
“I would like to send my congratulations to the team for their work on this matter,” he said. “They should be both proud of their research and excited by the attention it is receiving.”
There is still plenty of work to be done before the Anthropocene is recognized as a geological era. Progress reports from 10 candidate sites will be presented in April at the upcoming European Geophysical Union Meeting in Vienna. Additionally, supporters from each site will travel to Berlin in May to discuss the next steps that need to be taken to establish the Anthropocene epoch.
Nick de Pencier of Mercury Films Inc. filming Brock Professor Mike Pisaric and graduate student Joe Viscek as they prepare to core Crawford Lake. (Photo courtesy of Conservation Halton)
Story reposted from The Brock News.
climate change, environment, graduate studies, Michael Pisaric, research
Categories: News -
Department welcomes visiting scholar from Huaqiao University, China
Dr. Michael Ripmeester welcomes Dr. Leon Lian Dong to Brock.
The Department of Geography and Tourism Studies is pleased to welcome Dr. Leon Lian Dong to Brock. Dr. Dong will be with our Department as a visiting scholar from February – August 2019.
Dr. Dong is a professor of Landscape Architecture, and the Director of the Center for Sustainable Landscape Research, School of Architecture, Huaqiao University, China. Dr. Dong obtained his PhD in Building Science, from Chongqing University, China, in 1992, and then did his post-doctoral research at Purdue University, Iowa State University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Dr. Dong has thirty years of teaching and research experience, multi-disciplinary background. He has completed more than 30 research projects and 40 consulting projects, published 6 books, and nearly 100 research papers.
Dr. Dong’s current research areas include:
- Sustainable site planning and landscape design for tourist destinations
- Landscape microclimate design
- Human-environment interactions
geography, Leon Lian Dong, Michael Ripmeester, research, tourism, Visiting Scholar
Categories: News -
Brock research encourages Niagara to explore becoming a UNESCO Global Geopark
Carol Phillips, Research Co-ordinator with the Niagara Community Observatory, presents a brief she wrote about the possibility of Niagara becoming a UNESCO Global Geopark.With the mighty cataracts, vineyards producing critically acclaimed wines and vast networks of bicycle paths, tourists coming to Niagara have many options of what to see and experience. There’s also a world of rocks, canyons, waterfalls and other land features that even many locals don’t know about.
Niagara’s unique, rich geology — and the economic and cultural activities connected to these features — might be better known if the region was to become a UNESCO Global Geopark, says new research from Brock University’s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO).
“Being designated a UNESCO Global Geopark allows Niagara to brand itself internationally as a destination for geotourism,” says Carol Phillips, author of the NCO policy brief Ohnia:kara: An Aspiring Global Geopark.
“Niagara has a fascinating Earth history that has created so many beautiful sites, culminating in Niagara Falls,” says Phillips. “And this brand allows us to showcase those sites as well as the history and culture that has developed around them.”
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) describes a Global Geopark as being a “single, unified geographical area where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development.”
Spearheading efforts for Niagara to become a UNESCO Global Geopark is the geographic educational non-profit group called Geospatial Niagara. The NCO policy brief says the group has identified more than 78 geosites in the region that are of geological, environmental or cultural interest.
These include the Welland Canal, the Wainfleet Bog, Beamer Falls, Balls Falls, the Mewinzha Archaeology Gallery in Fort Erie and historical sites from the War of 1812, among others.
The NCO policy brief says, under a geopark system, Niagara Falls would still remain the major draw for visitors to the area. But the tourism industry could be expanded by creating a niche for geotourists interested in seeing Earth history and the historical and cultural sites that have evolved from these unique and significant land features.
The brief notes that the Niagara Escarpment, on which Brock University sits, has been a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve since 1990. A geopark designation with infrastructure such as visitor centres and plaques with QR codes “can help the Biosphere Reserve tell its story by guiding people to lesser known geosites as the escarpment winds to its greatest asset, Niagara Falls,” says the brief.
Darren Platakis, Executive Director of Geospatial Niagara, says another big advantage of Niagara being designated a UNESCO Global Geopark is that it could provide a strong educational component for Niagara students from kindergarten to Grade 12.
“A Geopark will provide opportunities for students to not only learn and begin to understand our geology and how it is so interdependent with our environment, culture and history, but they can also gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the 12,000 years of Indigenous history in Niagara,” says Platakis.
“This Indigenous history is an extremely important element to the overall development of the application and programming for the Geopark,” he says. “Students, local residents and tourists will see Niagara with a new set of eyes.”
Platakis says the designation could also attract researchers and students to the area, with programs and services connecting into a wide range of studies at Brock and Niagara College.
Geospatial Niagara submitted an expression of interest to the Canadian National Committee for Geoparks and is in the process of applying to UNESCO to become a Global Geopark.
The NCO’s policy brief looks at the costs and benefits of geoparks in China, the United Kingdom and France and concludes that a UNESCO Global Geopark designation could benefit all 12 municipalities in Niagara.
“This policy brief encourages all levels of government and sectors of society in Niagara to consider the benefits of a UNESCO Global Geopark and how they may each play a part to make it a reality,” says NCO Director Charles Conteh.
“The vision behind the Global Geopark initiative in Niagara is closely aligned with the sociocultural and economic advancement of the region,” he says. “Leveraging and promoting this initiative should be a fundamentally community-driven effort if it is to be sustainable.”
The NCO brief lays out a number of “next steps” in making the UNESCO Global Geopark a reality in Niagara, emphasizing that it will take a broad community effort across the environment, education and tourism sectors.
Story reposted from The Brock News.
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Global geopark promises ‘potential and opportunity’
Brock University releases policy brief on initiative
REPOSTED FROM THE ST. CATHARINES STANDARD
February 07, 2019 | By: Allan Benner
Carol Phillips from the Niagara Community Observatory at Brock University discusses the potential held by establishing a UNESCO Geopark in Niagara. – Allan Benner , The St. Catharines Standard
Niagara’s tourism potential should not be limited to Niagara Falls.
And an initiative launched about five years ago by Geospatial Niagara should help the region boost its potential for drawing visitors to some of the more remote attractions the peninsula has to offer.
Niagara Community Observatory research co-ordinator Carol Phillips presented a new policy brief Thursday morning that focuses on the potential that developing a UNESCO Global Geopark could hold for Niagara — such as bringing more tourists to the area and giving them reasons to stay longer.
Phillips said a proposed geopark, to be called Ohnia:kara, would encompass the entire Niagara Region and highlight at least 78 attractions in all 12 local municipalities — “from Beamer Falls in Grimsby to Niagara Falls, from the Wainfleet Bog and Welland Canal, all the way on down.”
She described it as an “international geo-tourism brand” that can be used by communities to promote natural and heritage resources while focusing on sustainable economic development and fostering conservation and education.For a tourism-focused region such as Niagara, she said being designated a UNESCO Global Geopark “is a way to advertise to potential visitors that this is a geography that you need to see and experience, and that includes everything from its geology through to its cultural history and its economic character.”
She said there were 12.9 million person visits to Niagara in 2017, of which 8.4 million were visitors from elsewhere in the province, and those visitors spent $2.36 billion during their stays.
“But less than half of those visitors stayed overnight, and of those who did the bulk of them only stay one night, maybe two,” Phillips said.
A geopark designation, she added, will help promote Niagara “as more than just the day trip.”
Phillips stressed that there is no regulatory limitations associated with the UNESCO designation that would further limit land use planning in the region.
The initiative was first proposed about five years ago by Geospatial Niagara founder Darren Platakis, who first learned about a geopark in southern New Brunswick called Stonehammer.
“When I stumbled upon the Stonehammer geopark site, all I saw was potential and opportunity,” Platakis said.
He said the initiative is “all about creating those opportunities and living up to the potential that Niagara has, globally — beyond Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake.”
“We have such a wealth of sites to see, opportunities,” he added.
Platakis said the initiative holds a great deal of educational potential, too.
Although a mandate of Geospatial Niagara is promoting geo-literacy, he said many Grade 12 students can’t identify all the municipalities within Niagara Region.
“That’s because they’re not invested in their communities. They don’t learn about their communities.”
The global geopark initiative is “a way to attract students to Niagara to do research, to keep students here, for students that are from Niagara that go away to university it’s a stronger pull factor for them to come back to their communities if they become involved,” he said.
Geospatial Niagara secretary Ian Lucas said funding will be needed to continue moving the project forward.
“We have lofty goals and realistic expenses,” he said, responding to a question from an audience of about 40 people.
“We will be coming to the point very soon where we will be actually coming out and saying, here’s our ask. This is what we would like in terms of financial support, idea support, in-kind support.”
Lucas said the organization will continue meeting with municipal councils to discuss plans and potential.
Phillips said much of the preliminary work has been completed by Geospatial Niagara.
For instance, she said a formal expression of interest has been submitted to the Canadian National Committee for Geoparks, allowing Ohnia:kara to officially be identified as an aspiring geopark.
Platakis struggled with emotion while reflecting on the progress that had been made towards making a project he started five years ago a reality.
“If you would have said to me last year at this time we’d be here today doing this, I probably wouldn’t have believed it.”
But thanks to the work of Geospatial Niagara members, Niagara Community Observatory and community support, Platakis said efforts to establish the geopark have reached “the end of one chapter and the beginning of another one.”
Story reposted from The St. Catharines Standard.
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Brock research explores potential new tourism niche in Niagara through UN designation
New research by Brock University’s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO) says there’s potential to enhance Niagara’s vibrant tourism industry if the region were to become a UNESCO Global Geopark.
Visitors coming to Niagara have lots to see and do thanks to the region being a top tourism destination.
New research by Brock University’s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO) says there’s potential to enhance Niagara’s vibrant tourism industry if the region were to become a UNESCO Global Geopark.
A Global Geopark is an area containing “sites and landscapes of international geological significance,” according to UNESCO.
“Being designated a UNESCO Global Geopark allows Niagara to brand itself internationally as a destination for geotourism,” says Carol Phillips, author of the NCO’s policy brief Ohnia:kara, An Aspiring Global Geopark.
“Niagara has a fascinating earth history that has created so many beautiful sites, culminating in Niagara Falls,” she says. “This brand allows us to showcase those sites as well as the history and culture that has developed around them.”
The policy brief discusses the concept of a geopark in more detail, describes the efforts of the geographic educational non-profit Geospatial Niagara to apply to become a geopark, offers case studies from other areas of the world and outlines “next steps” in the application process.
The NCO will launch the policy brief Ohnia:kara, An Aspiring Global Geopark Thursday, Feb. 7 at Brock University. A panel will discuss the brief and the way forward for Niagara.
What: Launching of NCO policy brief Ohnia:kara, An Aspiring Global Geopark
When: Thursday, Feb. 7 from 9 to 11 a.m.
Where: Room 207, Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Research Complex, Brock University
Who: Carol Phillips, Research Co-ordinator, Niagara Community Observatory
Panelists: Darren Platakis, Geospatial Niagara, Ohnia:kara Steering Committee; David Fennell, Professor, Geography and Tourism, Brock University, Ohnia:kara Steering Committee; Walter Sendzik, Mayor, St. Catharines; Phil Davis, Indigenous Culture Liaison, Ohnia:kara Steering Committee.Story reposted from The Brock News.
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Department celebrates successes of 2018 with inaugural newsletter
In January 2019, the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies published its inaugural annual newsletter highlighting departmental successes in 2018. The newsletter is available to download on our Departmental Publications page.
geography, graduate studies, MA Geography, newsletter, research, student, Student Research, tourism, undergraduate studies
Categories: News -
Julia Baird and Marilyne Jollineau awarded SSHRC Insight Development Grant
On January 30, 2019, Drs. Julia Baird (GeoTour), Marilyne Jollineau (GeoTour), and Ryan Plummer were awarded an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for their project “A comparative analysis of approaches to evaluating ecological outcomes from environmental stewardship”. Read more about this project on Dr. Baird’s Water Resilience Lab website.
awards, environment, Julia Baird, Marilyne Jollineau, research, SSHRC
Categories: News
