UNews - engineer

Costa realizing academic, athletic dream

trevor.kenney — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 21:04:25 +0000

Sometimes all the recruiting efforts in the world pale in comparison to a word-of-mouth endorsement and a Google search.

Such was the case for Brazilian international student Guilherme Costa, who showed up on the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge doorstep this past January looking first for an opportunity to study kinesiology and physical education, and secondly to play soccer.

"A few years ago my brother did an international exchange through the Rotary International program and we hosted a girl from Edmonton at our house for five months," says Costa, a 24-year-old from Sao Paulo, Brazil.

"She introduced me to Canada, and I was amazed to learn about the people, the nature and everything that was here. I decided then to come to Canada; it was my dream."
He first landed in Vancouver, B.C. and spent eight months there before finding a university that suited his interests.

"I heard about the kinesiology program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and about the chance to do research. Now that I've been here for almost a year, I just love it," says Costa. "I did an independent study when I earned my degree in Brazil and that's what I want to keep doing here, and I thought that Lethbridge would be the perfect spot."

International Brazilian student Gui Costa played a key role in the success of the Horns men's soccer team this past fall.

A third-year student in kinesiology, he comes from a family that values education and is extremely supportive of his goals. His father is an engineer, his mother a lawyer and his brother a doctor.

"My interest of study is in sport and rehabilitation," he says. "I want to work with metabolic disease in sports. We all know about the impact of physical activity in sport and metabolic disease, and I want to see how indoor sports like indoor soccer, volleyball and basketball have an impact on the body."

Coming from the world's seventh largest city in population, it is obviously a huge culture shift to arrive in a city of less than 100,000, but Costa seems at ease with the transition.

"It's a pretty calm city and I'm really enjoying that. Sao Paulo is so busy so we don't really have time for anything, and living here is pretty relaxing," he says. "I'm really looking forward to my parents coming here for Christmas. They're going to spend a month with me and we plan to travel all over Canada."

Costa grew up playing soccer and even looked at trying to play professionally in Brazil, but he prioritized education over sport, something that suits him well now as a Canada West student-athlete.

"It's been a little bit hard, because this was my first year and I've had to manage my soccer, my school and work, because I have to support myself here," he says of his job with Sodexo. He also plans to work on the Horns' game day staff team through the winter.

"I chose my classes well so that I could manage things and now that soccer season is over I plan to study and work more."

It was a banner year for the Horns men's team, which set a new team record for total points and equaled its best ever win total. That the team still fell one win shy of qualifying for the playoffs has Costa and his teammates eager for next season.

"I think we were all happy with what we did but at the same time we were frustrated because looking back, there were probably five games we should have won and didn't, and that was the difference at the end," says the first-year centre-midfielder. "So, we know we can do more next year and it makes us confident.

I think everyone wishes next season started tomorrow."

As with soccer and Costa's educational aspirations, this year is only a beginning.

"I want to finish my undergrad degree and then start a master's degree," he smiles. "I want to stay in Canada, that's my plan. Hopefully Canada will accept me."

In many ways, the country already has.

GET THE FACTS

· Horns men's soccer posted a 4-5-6 record on the year and finished three points behind the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Saskatchewan for the final Canada West playoff spot

· Costa played last summer with the Lethbridge Football Club in the Alberta Major Soccer League

· Many of the Horns will play together throughout the indoor soccer season, an opportunity to further develop their skill set for next fall

· Costa says he has no issue with the snow and cold he encounters in Canada but he could do without Lethbridge's winds. "It shocks me a little," he says

This story first appeared in the November 2012 issue of the Legend. To view the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Speaker Series to debut at Galt

trevor.kenney — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:33:11 +0000

The Friends of the Galt Museum Society has selected an engaging lineup of local agricultural entrepreneurs for its new fundraiser speaker series to be held monthly at the Galt Museum & Archives as part of the Galt's Thursday evening program.

"Agricultural innovations have created quite a stir in southern Alberta," says Dr. Glenn Coulter, President of the Friends of the Galt, and Chair of the Speaker Series. "We are pleased to highlight these with our new speaker series, which also provides us another opportunity to support Galt Museum education initiatives."

The program was developed in consultation with a number of community organizations, including the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. The first three speaker series events are as follows:

Thursday, Jan. 19

Coal Banks to Cow Manure: Is this Full Circle?

SPEAKER: Stefan Michalski, a consultant with ECB Enviro North America Inc., a bio-based co-generation facility being built in North Lethbridge.

Michaleski's discussion will focus on the conversion of manure and other biological by-products of agriculture into energy, such as electricity and hot water.

ECB Enviro North America Inc., founded in 2001, has access to European Bio-Energy technologies such as highly innovative biogas and biodiesel processes and to new Canadian Hydrolysis Technology.

It plans to develop, engineer, built and operate Bio-Energy facilities all over Canada and North America and initiate agro-industrial clustering, rural revitalization, alternative sustainable energy production opportunities and local employment.

Thursday, Feb. 16

Current and Future Status of Biofuels

SPEAKER: Jim Thacker, Director at Kyoto Fuels Corporation, formed in 2003 and located in Lethbridge.

The Corporation recently received a $31 million 6-year investment from the Government of Canada, allowing it to produce up to 66 million litres of biodiesel annually by converting vegetable or cooking oil or animal fat into biodiesel.

It intends to sell the product to diesel producers in Western Canada and the northwestern United States. The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from biodiesel can be as much as 80 percent over regular diesel.

Thursday, March 15

Thebaine Poppy Innovation

SPEAKER: Glen Metzler, President, API Labs Inc. an early-stage pharmaceutical fine chemicals processing company establishing the groundwork to create a thebaine industry in Western Canada.

Glen Metzler has been involved in market development and research in Canada and internationally. He has worked with major companies in both the United States and Canada in product development and product launches and has an agricultural background.

Each program starts at 7:30 p.m. with networking opportunities, a presentation and then discussion. Tickets are priced at $20/person for each program and will be available at the door.

Shaping the future

trevor.kenney — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:36:04 +0000

Town Hall meeting to discuss development of complex Jan. 18

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge campus has undergone significant change over recent years with the addition of a number of prominent buildings – but the biggest project is yet to come.

A proposed 300,000 square foot complex that will transform the Faculty of Arts & Science in particular and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ as a whole is just now in the planning stages and one of the U of L's newest employees, Chris Eagan, is at the forefront.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's new executive director of Facilities looks at the $255 million project as an opportunity for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ to take a major step forward, one that will further define the U of L as a leading comprehensive research institution.

Chris Eagan, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's new executive director of Facilities, will play a key role in the development of a complex that could cost more than $255 million and add 300,000 square feet of building space to campus.

"We're at that natural point where the space that was built in 1969 is ready for renovation," says Eagan. "We've changed as a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and the things we're doing now, the old space doesn't fit us well. It is now constraining us fairly significantly and most seriously in the science labs, where safety is a major factor."

Eagan comes to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ from Lethbridge College, where he spent the last three years. Prior to that, the Nova Scotia-born but Saskatchewan-raised engineer worked six years as the director of planning, design, and construction for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Regina.

He sees many similarities between the U of R and the U of L and brings to Lethbridge experience with the construction of Regina's Research and Innovation Centre (RIC).

"I built one of these facilities at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Regina that's very comparable in terms of scope to what we're planning," he says. "So, to some degree I've taken this journey before but it's always a learning experience. It's a great feeling to have an opportunity to be generally familiar with the process."

To put the U of L project into context, 300,000 square feet is equivalent to adding two-thirds the size of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall to campus. And that's just the start.

"The new construction is just one part of the project," says Eagan. "Part two, or the second domino, is the renovation of the vacated space in UHall and the repopulation of that space. The third domino is the infrastructure required, such as roads, heating plant and all that's needed to keep the campus functioning."

Eagan loves the complexity of a major development and revels in the responsibility his team has in setting the direction of a project.

"Winston Churchill used to say that for a short time we shape buildings and for a long time, they shape us," says Eagan.

"Everybody has lived in a home or office environment that doesn't really work for them. Bad environments make people work harder, not smarter."

A typical project of this magnitude, Eagan says, lasts 15 years. To get to this point there's been a lot of essential work already done, laying the foundation for where the project is at today, in its first phase of planning. This initiation phase is largely strategic planning work defining what the project needs to do for the institution.

"It's not super prescriptive at this point and is designed to make sure the project works in terms of schedule, budget and scope," says Eagan, who expects to move onto phase two, predesign feasibility and planning, by February.

The final piece of the puzzle is implementation, design, tender and construction.

"We want to make sure that in the first two phases that our needs are well understood, well discussed and well defined because the consultants do an excellent job of translating our needs into the physical spaces and organizing those spaces, that's what architects do well," he says. "They love it when we show up with binders of needs and know what we want, because then they don't have to guess."

He stresses that the consultation phase will be comprehensive, all in an attempt to construct a complex that will satisfy the needs of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ for years to come.

"Whatever we don't do we own and fight with for the next 40 years, so that drives us to get it right," he says.

GET THE FACTS

· In September 2011, the Alberta government pledged $2.3 million in planning funds for a new complex on the U of L campus

· A Town Hall meeting to discuss the progress to date on the initiation phase of the new complex will be held Wednesday, Jan. 18 from 2 to 4 p.m. in C674

· A best-case scenario timeline for the project includes starting construction in March 2013 and moving people into the new space by spring 2016

· Eagan, who holds a bachelor of engineering (civil) degree from Dalhousie ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, is married and a father of four children

This story first appeared in the January edition of the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Measuring the odds

trevor.kenney — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:31:26 +0000

Greg Christie (BFA '05) knows his way around graphic-design programs. It just so happens he also knows his way around neuroscience research labs. While on paper his polar interests seem an unlikely pair, in practice Christie's love of art and science melds perfectly in his research that uses neuroimaging to study addictive behaviours.

After attending high school in Cochrane, Alta., Christie enrolled in the engineering program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary. It didn't take him long to realize he didn't want to be an engineer, so Christie transferred to the U of L to explore the artistic side of his science-inclined personality.

"I really liked computers and computer graphics, so I thought I would combine the technical with the artistic and study computer arts," Christie recalls.

Christie graduated with a BFA in computer arts in 2005 and worked as a professional graphic artist for two years before the lure of the science lab drew him back.

"I discovered that art is something I love to do as hobby, not a livelihood," Christie says. "I'm a scientist at heart. I knew the neuroscience program at the U of L was exceptional, and I loved my time here, so it was an easy decision to go back."

As a master's student in the neuroscience program at the U of L, Christie has been studying brain dynamics related to feedback processing. He conducts tests on subjects to see how their brains react during gaming activity, watching the electrical responses to both positive and negative feedback – what happens when people win, and when they lose. So far, Christie's research has focused on people who don't have any issues with gaming. Now, with a good understanding of the brain dynamics of that group under his belt, Christie feels the time is right to turn his focus to a group of people that epitomizes the study – compulsive gamblers.

Interestingly, compulsive gambling hasn't been unanimously accepted as a form of addiction in the scientific community. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (published by the American Psychiatric Association) lists pathological gambling under the category of impulse control. While the manual alludes to the fact that compulsive gamblers have other addictive tendencies, it does not label gambling itself as an outright addiction. Christie isn't comfortable with the sidestepping. He's out to show, one way or the other, if compulsive gamblers are afflicted with a problem beyond their control, and hopefully change public opinion about addiction in the process.

"There is a notion that willpower can overcome anything, that addiction is something people should be able to handle," Christie says. "We glorify stories of people who quit something 'cold turkey.' The reality of addiction is much more complicated than that. We don't really understand or legitimize addiction, particularly with compulsive gambling, because it hasn't been studied much. If we don't understand it, we can't really treat it."

Since returning to his scientific roots and to the U of L, Christie has dedicated his time and investigative talents to finding out why some people know when enough is enough, while others don't. Christie knows what should be going on in the brain during gaming; what he wants to find out is why it doesn't happen in certain individuals. Ask him why the research is important, and Christie doesn't hesitate in his response.

"I remember one day when a participant came into the lab," Christie recalls. "When I asked her if it would be OK to participate in a gambling experiment, she was contemplative for a minute and then agreed, saying that someone in her family was an addictive gambler. She obviously had great contempt for gambling, but agreed to participate in the study in the hope that it might help to find a solution to a problem that had greatly affected her. Compulsive gambling isn't just a problem for the gambler, it's a problem for their family and friends, too."

While Christie's research is geared specifically toward gaming, he sees the applications of his findings having much greater reach.

"We all receive dozens of positive and negative feedback messages every day," Christie says. "If you look at how you discipline your children, for example, some methods work and others don't. If you continue to use a method that doesn't show good results, you have to wonder why you go back to it."

The next phase of Christie's research took place throughout the spring 2010 semester. Findings are expected to be published in NeuroImage, a journal available on the U of L campus.

To view the entire issue of SAM in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Gambling on education

trevor.kenney — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:25:06 +0000

Greg Christie (BFA '05) knows his way around graphic design programs. It just so happens he also knows his away around neuroscience research labs. While on paper his polar interests seem like an unlikely pair, in practice Christie's love of art and science melds perfectly in his research that uses neuroimaging to study addictive behaviours.

After attending high school in Cochrane, Christie enrolled in the engineering program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary. It didn't take him long to realize he didn't want to be an engineer, so Christie transferred to the U of L to explore the artistic side of his science-inclined personality.

"I really liked computers and computer graphics, so I thought I would combine the technical with the artistic and study computer arts," Christie recalls.

Greg Christie, left, has returned to the U of L to pursue his masters of neuroscience.

Christie graduated with a BFA in 2005, and worked as a professional graphic artist for two years before the lure of the science lab drew him back.

"I discovered that art is something I love to do as hobby, not a livelihood," Christie says. "I'm a scientist at heart. I knew the neuroscience program at U of L was exceptional, and I loved my education here, so it was an easy decision to go back."

As a masters student in the neuroscience program at the U of L, Christie has been studying brain dynamics related to feedback processing for the last couple of years. He conducts tests on subjects to see how their brains react during gaming activity, watching the electrical responses to both positive and negative feedback – what happens when people win, and when they lose. So far, Christie's research has focused on people that don't have any issues with gaming. Now, with a good understanding of the brain dynamics of that group under his belt, Christie feels the time is right to turn his focus to a group of people that epitomize the study – compulsive gamblers.

Interestingly, compulsive gambling hasn't been unanimously accepted as a form of addiction in the scientific community. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (published by the American Psychiatric Association) lists pathological gambling under the category of impulse control. While the manual alludes to the fact that compulsive gamblers have other addictive tendencies, it does not label gambling itself as an outright addiction. Christie isn't comfortable with the sidestepping. He's out to show, one way or the other, whether compulsive gamblers are afflicted with a problem beyond their control, and hopefully change public opinion about addiction in the process.

"There is a notion that willpower can overcome anything, that addiction is something people should be able to handle," Christie says. "We glorify stories of people who quit something 'cold turkey.' The reality of addiction is much more complicated than that. We don't really understand or legitimize addiction, particularly with compulsive gambling because it hasn't been studied much. If we don't understand it, we can't really treat it."

Since returning to his scientific roots and to the U of L, Christie has dedicated his time and investigative talents to finding out why some people know when enough is enough, while others don't. Christie knows what should be going on in the brain during gaming; what he wants to find out is why it doesn't happen in certain individuals. Ask him why the research is important, and Christie doesn't hesitate in his response.

"I remember one day when a participant came into the lab," Christie recalls. "When I asked her if she would be willing to participate in a gambling experiment, she was contemplative for a minute and then agreed, saying that someone in her family was an addictive gambler. She obviously had great contempt for gambling, but agreed to participate in the study in the hope that it might help to find a solution to a problem that had greatly affected her. Compulsive gambling isn't just a problem for the gambler, it's a problem for their family and friends too."

While Christie's research is geared specifically toward gaming, he sees the applications of his findings having much greater reach.

"We all receive dozens of positive and negative feedback messages every day," Christie says. "If you look at how you discipline your children for example – some methods work and others don't. If you continue to use a method that doesn't show good results, you have to wonder why you go back to it."

The next phase of Christie's research took place throughout the course of the spring 2010 semester. Findings are expected to be published in NeuroImage – a journal available on the U of L campus. For more information on the study of neuroscience, follow this link.

UNews - engineer

Costa realizing academic, athletic dream

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Shaping the future

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Measuring the odds

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Gambling on education

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