UNews - Douglas Turnbull

Medal winners shine for 2021 Spring Convocation

trevor.kenney — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 15:18:06 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is excited to celebrate the achievements of its newest graduates this week during our online 2021 Spring Convocation.

Distinguishing themselves among the many outstanding graduates are the U of L’s medal winners for 2021. They are as follows:

Gold Medal of the Governor General — Douglas Turnbull
(Awarded to the student with the highest academic standing at the graduate level)
See writeup below

Silver Medal of the Governor General — Janelle Bykowski
(Awarded to the student with the highest academic standing at the undergraduate level)
Graduating with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry, Bykowski conducted research in chemistry professor Dr. Michael Gerken’s lab. Under his supervision, she completed two independent studies and an honours thesis. Bykowski will be continuing her education at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta. Read More

Undergraduate Academic Medals

Faculty of Arts & Science Gold Medal (Arts) — Grace Forster
A political science student with minors in philosophy and French, Grace Forster recently completed her honours thesis on labour party development. Not only has she excelled in her political science courses, she embodies the goals of the liberal education model, completing two minors in addition to her major. Her undergraduate research has led to publication in an undergraduate philosophy journal, and she has also presented her research at the Association of Political Science Students’ Research Colloquium. Her excellence in French language and literature led to her receiving the French Language Centre Book Prize in 2020. Read more

Faculty of Arts & Science Gold Medal (Science) — Jhanvi Mehta
Jhanvi Mehta completed an honours thesis studying the effects of cannabis on stroke recovery and has been awarded NSERC and AIHS grants to fulfill her research. Mehta also volunteered extensively in Dr. Robbin Gibb’s laboratory, and is applying for medical school to further her education. As notable as her achievements inside the classroom are her contributions to the broader community. She has been acknowledged for years of volunteer work at Chinook Regional Hospital with a Leaders of Tomorrow Award, the Healthcare Professionals of Tomorrow Award, and has been a two-time volunteer of the month. She was also a staunch supporter of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s Let’s Talk Science initiative. Read more

Faculty of Education Gold Medal — Lacey Rose
Lacey Rose completed her after-degree program in the Fall of 2020 with a Bachelor of Education in Physical Education and a minor in science education. Rose graduates with the highest academic standing in the Faculty of Education. She also excelled in her field experience placements. Her PS III internship at Lakeview school in Lethbridge required shifting from online to in-person teaching multiple times — all of which was done with skill, exceptional planning and care for the learning needs of the students. Read more

Alberta Teacher’s Association William Aberhart Gold Medal in Education — Sophia Larney
Sophia Larney completed her after degree in April 2021 with a Bachelor of Education in Social Studies. Larney excelled academically as well as in her field experience placements. At St. Paul’s school in Lethbridge, she was noted for building strong relationships with her students and having a strong presence in the classroom. Poised and self-confident, she presented her professional inquiry project at the semi-annual PS III symposium which investigated outdoor learning in core subjects. Read More

Faculty of Fine Arts Gold Medal — Dylan Bauer
Graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts - Multidisciplinary allowed Dylan Bauer to play saxophone for the U of L Jazz Ensemble, take courses in music, art, and new media, while maintaining a focus in technical theatre. He extended his academic excellence into the humanities, social sciences and sciences, all while participating in 19 theatrical productions. Bauer also held the role of technical director for the student-run theatre program Theatrxtra for two years. Read more

Faculty of Health Sciences Gold Medal — Cassandra Zucht
Cassandra Zucht, a Bachelor of Nursing graduate, stood out as an engaged student who cared about her work, her peers and her clients. Her maturity and self-awareness were characteristics that shone brightly in all her work, most notably in her senior preceptorship. Zucht embodies the caring, curious and dedicated student who will be a valuable and committed member of the nursing profession. Read more

Dhillon School of Business Gold Medal — Eric Turner
A Bachelor of Management graduate, Eric Turner completed a major in finance and a minor in family and small business management. A talented student who is curious, fully involved, engaged, hard-working, disciplined and driven, he was a strong role model to his peers and brought teams he worked with to a higher level of learning. Turner participated as a member of the CFA (Certified Financial Analyst) research challenge team and excelled in multiple extra-curricular activities. Read more

Graduate Academic Medals

School of Graduate Studies Silver Medal of Merit, Doctor of Philosophy — Douglas Turnbull
Dr. Douglas Turnbull completed his doctoral work at the Canadian Centre for Advanced Fluorine Technologies under the supervision of Dr. Michael Gerken. In Turnbull’s experimentally challenging research, he prepared novel fluorido tungsten complexes that are fundamentally important because of the range of their geometries. His research is highly impactful as it will serve to predict and explain geometries of new compounds. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at McGill ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. Read more

School of Graduate Studies Silver Medal of Merit, Master of Arts — Kacie Neamtu
Kacie Neamtu’s Pedagogy in Practice: an exploration of writing instruction in a high school English Language Arts classroom, brilliantly models the layers of expert knowledge that inform effective writing instruction in schools. Her work promises to provide new foundations for the design of teacher professional development programs, and pre-service literacy education programs. Celebrating this potential, the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers, honoured Kacie with The J. Estill Alexander Future Leaders in Literacy Award. Read More

School of Graduate Studies Silver Medal of Merit, Master of Nursing — Czarina Balbina Bonifacio
Czarina Balbina Bonifacio’s interest in the Health Care Aid workforce, whose voice until now had not been heard, demonstrates her commitment to enhancing the health of all Canadians. Her recommendations will undoubtedly help employers support this essential health care workforce. Read More

School of Graduate Studies Silver Medal of Merit, Master of Education — Kathryn Desrochers
Kathryn Desrochers excelled in all aspects of study, showing attention to detail and disciplined focus. Desrochers was a valued member of her cohort and always supported her peers. Since completing her MEd, she has made several presentations to successive graduate student cohorts and school leaders to share her research and experiences with the scholarly process. Her thesis marks the beginning of her academic journey as she considers future doctoral studies. Read More

School of Graduate Studies Silver Medal of Merit, Master of Science (Management) — Matthew Sentes
Matthew Sentes, a finance major, is known as a thoughtful, very hard-working and ideal student. His thesis, Director Charter and Firm Performance: Evidence from Canada, was extremely rigorous and of the highest quality. Read more

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge 2021 Spring Convocation is a virtual celebration this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For all things convocation related, visit the dedicated web page: uleth.ca/convocation/class-2021.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge awarded record $3.9 million in NSERC funding

trevor.kenney — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:04:26 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge was awarded a record $3.9 million of funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) this year, with U of L researchers earning support for projects in neuroscience, biological sciences, psychology, chemistry & biochemistry, physics & astronomy, geography and mathematics & computer science.

This unprecedented level of support was announced earlier today by Canada’s Minister of State (Science and Technology), the Honourable Ed Holder, at a national funding announcement in Oshawa, Ont.

Dr. Robert McDonald’s base grant of $355,000 (over five years) is the largest NSERC grant awarded to the U of L this year.

“This latest round of NSERC funding clearly demonstrates the outstanding research our faculty and students are undertaking,” says Interim Vice-President (Research) Dr. Lesley Brown. “That our research portfolio continues to grow as it does is testament to the quality of the work being done and also speaks to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ striking the right balance as a comprehensive teaching and research institution.”

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers receiving NSERC Discovery Grant funding include: Dr. Gerlinde Metz (neuroscience); Dr. Aaron Gruber (neuroscience); Dr. Alice Hontela (biological sciences); Dr. Jean-Baptiste Leca (psychology); Dr. David Logue (psychology); Dr. Artur Luczak (neuroscience); Dr. Robert McDonald (neuroscience); Dr. Majid Mohajerani (neuroscience); Dr. Gregory Pyle (biological sciences); Dr. Masami Tatsuno (neuroscience); Dr. Paul Vasey (psychology); Dr. Robert Laird (biological sciences); Dr. René Boeré (chemistry & biochemistry); Dr. Paul Hayes (chemistry & biochemistry); Dr. Locke Spencer (physics & astronomy); Dr. Mark Walton (physics & astronomy); Dr. Christopher Hopkinson (geography); Dr. Robert Benkoczi (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Shahadat Hossain (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Habiba Kadiri (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Nathan Ng (mathematics & computer science).

In addition, Drs. John Zhang and Olga Kovalchuk were each awarded NSERC Discovery Development Grants.

Luczak and McDonald will also both receive an additional $120,000 in funds through the Discovery Accelerator Supplements program (over a three-year period), while McDonald’s base grant of $355,000 (over five years) is the largest NSERC grant awarded to the U of L this year. He is studying neural circuits and mechanisms of context-specific conditioned inhibition.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s doctoral students were extremely successful in the NSERC Doctoral Scholarship competitions, led by Katie Wilson (chemistry & biochemistry), who was named a Canada Vanier Scholar, demonstrating leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies. Jason Flindall (neuroscience) was awarded a Canadian Doctoral Scholarship, while Kayla Stone (neuroscience), Allonna Harker (neuroscience) and Stefan Lenz (chemistry & biochemistry) were awarded NSERC Postgraduate Doctoral Scholarships. Additionally, five masters students were awarded the NSERC Canadian Graduate Scholarship, including: Justin Lee (neuroscience), Serena Shandik (neuroscience), Matthew Robbins (physics & astronomy), Rhys Hakstol (chemistry & biochemistry) and Douglas Turnbull (chemistry & biochemistry).

“We are pleased with the amount of money invested in our researchers and what this could yield in terms of the results they will achieve and the benefits their work will bring to society,” adds Brown. “Our continuing success with the federal research funding agencies is testament to our researchers’ ability to compete on the national stage.”

NSERC grants aim to develop, attract and retain the world’s most talented researchers at Canadian universities who are working in a multitude of scientific and engineering disciplines.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ celebrates medal winners at Spring 2015 Convocation

trevor.kenney — Thu, 28 May 2015 17:23:21 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge celebrates the achievements of its newest graduates at the 2015 Spring Convocation, May 28 and 29, in the 1st Choice Savings Centre for Sport and Wellness gymnasium.

Distinguishing themselves among the many outstanding graduates are the U of L’s medal winners for 2015.

Distinguishing themselves among the many outstanding graduates are the U of L’s medal winners for 2015. They are as follows:

Gold Medal of the Governor General – Jenni Karl
Jenni Karl was born in Lethbridge and raised in the small farming community of Foremost, Alta. After high school she pursued her BSc in Neuroscience at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge where she joined Dr. Ian Whishaw’s laboratory to study motor behaviour in a rodent model of Huntington’s disease. After working for one year as a research assistant in Melbourne Australia, Jenni returned to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and Dr. Whishaw’s laboratory to complete her MSc, and PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience. Her research is directed at understanding how the human brain generates the skilled hand and mouth movements that we use to grasp and manipulate objects. She is especially interested in how these movements and their underlying neural substrates arose through evolution, are established during development, and break down in various neurological disorders. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Western ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in London, Ontario.

Silver Medal of the Governor General – Douglas Turnbull

School of Graduate Studies Medal of Merit, Master of Science – Mohammad Akbari
Thesis: claVision: Visual Automatic Piano Music Transcription
Mohammad Akbari was born and grew up in Abadeh, Fars, Iran. He began his Masters in Computer Science at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2013 under the supervision of Dr. Howard Cheng. Also a musician, Akbari did research in an interdisciplinary field in computer science and music, which resulted in developing an innovative system named claVision for visual piano music transcription. Winning the 2014 Canadian Microsoft Imagine Cup Innovation Competition, filing a patent application for claVision and incorporating claVision Inc. are other achievements during his master studies. He is currently a PhD student in Engineering Science at Simon Fraser ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

School of Graduate Studies Medal of Merit, Master of Arts – Ann Holden
Thesis: Home and Native Land: How the Eeyouch in Quebec and the Sami in Norway Used Hydropower Developments to Democratize Legislation

School of Graduate Studies Medal of Merit, Master of Fine Arts – Christine Clark
Thesis: Here | Now | Look | See: Information Visualizations of Recent Climate Records in Alberta
Christine Clark grew up in Cochrane, Alta. and came to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2012 for the Masters of Fine Arts - New Media program. Her graduate research focused in the design of climate change data visualizations and design/science collaboration. Christine plans to continue collaborating with scientists, artists, research groups and non-profits as a graphic designer, data visualizer and new media strategist.

School of Graduate Studies Medal of Merit, Master of Counseling – Bethany Mills
Project: Increasing Adolescent Self-Esteem: A Focus on Wellness and Process
Bethany Mills authored an original group counselling (psychoeducational) program to improve self-esteem in adolescents. Bethany developed a targeted and very implementable program and is noted as an emerging academic with potential publications on the horizon.

School of Graduate Studies Medal of Merit, Doctor of Philosophy – Corinne Sidler
Thesis: A Role for Epigenetics in Aging and the Age-Dependent Response to Ionizing Radiation
Corinne Sidler’s research compares the ability of animal and plant models to repair DNA damage. Her PhD work has resulted in five publications thus far in highly ranked journals, with additional publications in their final stages. Corinne received several distinguished awards and prizes during her tenure as a PhD student. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Biochemistry, in ETH Zürich Switzerland.

Faculty of Arts & Science Gold Medal (Arts) – Maxime Chambers-Dumont
Max Chambers-Dumont's academic performance as a philosophy major with a minor in political science has been outstanding. He has served as a research assistant to two of his philosophy professors on issues of sustainable energy and climate change – an experience which has informed his undergraduate honours thesis on distributive justice and climate change.

Faculty of Arts & Science Gold Medal (Science) – Samuel Woodman
Samuel Woodman completed an honours thesis in conjunction with a degree in environmental science. Since the age of 16, he has worked as a research assistant in four different labs at the U of L. His research interests include plant physiology and adaptation, behavioural toxicology, parasitology and scanning electron microscopy. Following graduation, Sam will be working towards publishing papers associated with his research as well as starting new research projects in advance of beginning his PhD studies abroad.

Faculty of Education Gold Medal - Julia Vandezande
Julia Vandezande completed a double major in biology and earth and atmospheric sciences from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta before deciding to go into teaching and enrolling at the U of L. She completed a Bachelor of Education majoring in Science Education, achieving the highest final academic standing in the Faculty of Education.

The Alberta Teachers’ Association William Aberhart Gold Medal in Education – Emily Hildenbrandt
Emily Hildenbrandt grew up in Calgary and completed her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary. Emily decided to pursue an education degree at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and is commended for her amazing work ethic, strong classroom management skills and an ability to engage in thorough and thoughtful instructional planning. She is currently working at a middle school in Calgary.

Faculty of Fine Arts Gold Medal – Camille Rogers
Camille Rogers has been immersed in music since she was born. After discovering her love of performing while she was in high school at Lethbridge Collegiate Institute, she went on to study voice at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. During her studies, Camille has had the privilege of singing leading roles in several operas, including Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, all with the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra. Camille has been accepted to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto Faculty of Music where she will pursue a Master of Music in Opera Performance and is the recipient of the prestigious province of Alberta Heritage Fund Arts Graduate Scholarship valued at $15,000.

Faculty of Health Sciences Gold Medal – Arron Kardolus-Wilson
Arron Kardolus-Wilson is a dedicated and engaged learner who is committed to community projects and marginalized populations. Arron's academic work consistently exceeded expectations, and integrated critical thinking with thoughtfulness and creativity.

Faculty of Management Gold Medal – Carmen Greeff
Carmen Greeff has been an exceptional student, earning a Bachelor of Management with a major in accounting. Due to her outstanding academic achievements she has won several academic scholarships. Along with a rigorous program of studies, Carmen has worked part-time, volunteered and is an accomplished pianist. Carmen is currently studying in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Saskatchewan Master of Professional Accounting program.

UNews - Douglas Turnbull

Medal winners shine for 2021 Spring Convocation

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��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge awarded record $3.9 million in NSERC funding

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��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ celebrates medal winners at Spring 2015 Convocation

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��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge awarded record $3.9 million in NSERC funding

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ celebrates medal winners at Spring 2015 Convocation