UNews - Dr. Vishaal Baulkaran

Four research projects boosted by CREDO funding

caroline.zentner — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 17:29:55 +0000

The latest round of funding through the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Community of Research Excellence Development Opportunities (CREDO) program will provide $25,000 to each of four diverse research projects.

They include a local oral history project, a study into green bonds and their effect on the stock market, research into how children’s gender identity influences the way they produce sounds, and ways that countries with minority official languages can improve proficiency through education and training policies.

“The CREDO awards are the most generous and prestigious internal awards the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ offers,” says Dr. Claudia Malacrida, associate vice-president research. “Designed to support social science, humanities, arts, management and social health researchers, these funds provide seed money so our researchers in those disciplines can go on to seek more aggressive external funding. As a result, we can expect to hear much more about these exciting projects as they build momentum over the coming years.”

Dr. Carly Adams (Kinesiology)

Dr. Carly Adams

Dr. Carly Adams, a U of L kinesiology and physical education professor and member of the Centre for Oral History and Tradition (COHT), is collaborating with Dr. Darren Aoki of Plymouth ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in the United Kingdom and U of L adjunct associate professor, on a community-based oral history project to rescue the stories of Nikkei, Canadians of Japanese descent, between the 1950s and the 1970s. The researchers want to record people’s recollections of everyday life at a time when Nikkei communities, after suffering persecution during the Second World War, were being built again.

“I am delighted to be working with Dr. Aoki on this timely project. To carry out this historical study of this moment in southern Alberta’s past, we are partnering with COHT, the Nikkei Cultural Society of Lethbridge and Area, the Nikka Yuko Japanese-Canadian Friendship Gardens, and the Galt Museum and Archives. We hope to learn more about work, school, leisure, home and Nikkei identity,” says Adams.

Dr. Vishaal Baulkaran (Management)

Dr. Vishaal Baulkaran

A relatively new option for investing is green bonds, issued to finance capital projects that are environmentally sustainable. Dr. Vishaal Baulkaran, a management professor, will examine the need for and usefulness of this type of financing instrument in fighting climate change from a capital market point of view. As environmental and sustainable projects gain importance for both individual and institutional investors, Baulkaran wants to examine if issuing green bonds creates value for shareholders by measuring the reaction of the stock market.

“Capital markets and private financing will play an increasingly important role in fighting climate change,” says Baulkaran. “This project will examine one type of financial instrument available to market participants with the goal of alleviating the impact of climate change.”

Dr. Fangfang Li (Psychology)

Dr. Fangfang Li

Previous research has shown that a child’s gender identity can mediate a gender-specific way of producing the sound ‘s.’ Dr. Fangfang Li, a speech scientist and U of L professor, wants to know whether gender identity affects the development of other sounds to a similar degree, both in English and other languages. Working with Dr. Paul Vasey, a U of L sex researcher, their research will examine an established set of data on 160 children, including speech recordings in English and Mandarin Chinese.

“Boys and girls talk differently. The proposed research will allow us to understand how children learn to talk in a socially appropriate way,” says Li.

Dr. Alain Takam (Modern Languages)

Dr. Alain Takam

Dr. Alain Takam, a professor in the Modern Languages department, wants to investigate ways of raising proficiency in minority official languages. Both Canada and Cameroon have French and English as official languages and Takam will examine how education and training policies can increase mastery in a minority official language. Takam intends to compare the policy and planning frameworks around minority official languages in both countries and stakeholders’ perceptions and attitudes about language courses in general and minority official languages in particular, especially in technical training programs.

“This research will benefit students, teachers, parents and language planners,” says Takam. “Our results will help inform policy about the special demands and challenges of language acquisition in the education system and in technical training. Further, our results will eventually help facilitate trades and technical workers to be more mobile in a bilingual economy.”

CREDO was established at the U of L in 2008 to provide funding to launch bold and exciting new projects that enhance research excellence at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. The program helps support faculty as they build a research or artistic profile that helps them gain a competitive edge in national competitions or other external funding opportunities and provides skills and training opportunities for students. Since 2008, the U of L has bestowed more than $1 million which has led CREDO researchers to awards of more than $1.6 million in Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funding.

The application deadline for the next round of CREDO funding is Nov. 28. Funding is valued at $25,000 over two years. More information is available on the Research & Innovation Services website.

U of L team sweeps up the competition at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Trading Challenge

caroline.zentner — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 17:43:04 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge teams proved their mettle on the trading floor during the recent ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Trading Challenge (UTC), with one team capturing first place in all categories.

Cameron Pituley, the winning team’s captain, said their success was part hard work and part commitment. Other team members included Conner Williams, Brooke Winarski and Jason Murray.

“It was truly a team effort to bring it all together and it would be difficult for me to find a better group of people to work with,” says Pituley. “In each of the activities, we had one person who would shine. All of us are fairly involved as students and do as much as we can. Our extra level of interest in the competition helped drive us to succeed.”

Dr. Vishaal Baulkaran, far left, coached U of L students, from left to right, Conner Williams, Brooke Winarski, Jason Murray and Cameron Pituley, to a first-place finish in the recent ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Trading Challenge.

This was the first time the U of L hosted the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Trading Challenge, an honour the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ received after its Faculty of Management student team placed first in the real-time trading challenge and second place overall in the UTC in New York City last year.

“We were pleased to welcome five teams to the first ever ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Trading Challenge to be held in Canada,” says Dr. Shamsul Alam, a Faculty of Management professor. “The students performed well, responding to all the challenges put in front of them. We hope they not only had the opportunity to test out their financial skills, but also to enjoy themselves.”

Three U of L teams, two from Lethbridge and one from Calgary, one Lethbridge College team and one team from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Ont. participated. The U of L Calgary team captured second place and third place went to the Ontario team.

“A competition like this gives students the chance to test their financial skills in more of a real-world setting where pressure can be constant. Our program always emphasizes integration of theory into practice and the trading room facility helps our finance students experience real-world scenarios in a classroom setting, resembling a students-in-training program,” says Alam.

The UTC began with a month-long portfolio challenge and a case study. Pituley executed the trades and each morning he’d check in with his teammates to get their recommendations on buying, selling or holding. The team split up the work so that each member had about a quarter of the portfolio.

The team decided to take longer positions, instead of trading on a daily basis. They wanted to maximize their return and decided that holding their positions longer was less risky, a strategy that paid off at the end of the day.

For the case study, students presented their analyses and recommendations on competition day, Nov. 20. In addition to case presentations, students participated in two short-term trading challenges, a currency trading challenge and a fund management challenge.

“Conner was the shining star on the fund management challenge. He got first place in the individual category,” says Pituley. “Each person traded individually but the score was averaged as a team and we could co-ordinate what we wanted to do.”

Winarski’s skills in presentation proved invaluable after team members realized they had to rework their entire presentation a week before competition day. Murray’s financial acumen in the individual portfolio management category secured him first place and boosted the team’s overall performance.

The UTC was Pituley’s first competition and he heartily encourages other students to give it a try.

“I had a lot of fun. It was very stressful at times but when the day of the competition came around, I was excited to be in a room full of people who were not only as interested as I am in finance, but also really wanted to be there,” says Pituley.

Pituley had high praise for the team’s coach, Dr. Vishaal Baulkaran.

“He took time out of his days leading up to the competition. He provided excellent guidance and we would not have been able to succeed in the investment banking case without him. He was always available to meet if we had questions or got stuck on a concept,” he says. “I’m really happy with how everything went. I really am proud of my team and the work we put in. I would do the entire experience again if I had the chance.”

UNews - Dr. Vishaal Baulkaran

Four research projects boosted by CREDO funding

Related Topics

U of L team sweeps up the competition at the ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ Trading Challenge

Related Topics

U of L team sweeps up the competition at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Trading Challenge