UNews - Karl Staenz

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ recognizes faculty excellence

trevor.kenney — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:21:16 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge honoured faculty and postdoctoral fellows across campus who received academic research awards of distinction, secured research funding or published their research findings in the last year at Thursday's Celebrating Research Reception in Markin Hall.

The U of L also recognized those who had books published within the last calendar year.

Below is a list of the awards presented.

Research Awards: External

Alberta Science and Technology Leadership Foundation (ASTech) Award: Excellence in Science and Technology Public Awareness
Kristy Burke | Conference & Event Services

American Oil Chemists' Society Timothy L. Mounts Award
Roman Przybylski | Chemistry & Biochemistry

Campus Alberta Innovates Program (CAIP) Chairs
Chris Hopkinson | Geography, Terrestrial Ecosystems Remote Sensing
Greg Pyle | Biological Sciences, Aquatic Health

Canada Research Chairs
Louise Barrett | Psychology, Cognition, Evolution and Behaviour, Tier 1
Stacey Wetmore | Chemistry & Biochemistry, Computational Chemistry, Tier 2

Canadian Insolvency Foundation Lloyd Houlden Research Fellowship
Gordon Hunter | Management

Confederation of Alberta Faculty Association (CAFA) Distinguished Academic Award
Trudy Govier | Philosophy

Pat Clifford Award for Early Career Research in Education
Michelle Hogue | First Nations' Transition Program

Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal
Reginald Bibby | Sociology
Peter McCormick | Political Science
Richard Mrazek | Education

World Council for Curriculum & Instruction Distinguished Leadership Award
Peter Heffernan | Education

Research Awards: Internal

Ingrid Speaker Medal for Distinguished Research, Scholarship, or Performance
Joseph Rasmussen | Biological Sciences

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Board of Governors Research Chair

Igor Kovalchuk | Biological Sciences
Olga Kovalchuk | Biological Sciences
David Naylor | Physics & Astronomy
Sergio Pellis | Neuroscience

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholars
Janice Rahn | Education
Peter Visentin | Music
Judith Whitehead | Anthropology

Research Grants: External

Alberta Advisory Committee for Educational Studies Grant
Noella Piquette | Education
Jennifer Thannhauser | Education

Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development
Wei Xu | Geography

Alberta Centre for Child, Family and Community Research Grant
(2) Claudia Malacrida | Sociology

Alberta Foundation for the Arts
Mary Kavanagh | Art
Taras Polataiko | Art
Janice Rahn/Michael Campbell | Education/Art Co-Principal Investigators

Alberta Gaming Research Institute Grant
Yale Belanger | Native American Studies
Cheryl Currie | Public Health
Gabriela Novotna | Addictions Counselling
Claudia Steinke | Nursing

Alberta Inflammatory Bowel Disease Grant
Sameer Despande | Management

Alberta Innovates Health Solutions Grant
Gerlinde Metz | Neuroscience, Co-Director

Alberta Innovates Health Solutions Sustainability Funds
Roy Golsteyn | Biological Sciences
Aaron Gruber | Neuroscience
David Naylor | Physics & Astronomy
Paul Vasey | Psychology
Ute Wieden-Kothe | Chemistry & Biochemistry

Alberta Rural Development Network (ARDN) Grant
Shawn Bubel | Geography
Glenda Bonifacio | Women & Gender Studies
Jon Doan | Kinesiology & Physical Education
Leanne Elias | New Media
Carmen Mombourquette | Education
Monique Sedgwick | Nursing
David Slomp | Education
(2) Carol Williams | Women & Gender Studies

Alzheimer Society of Canada Grant
Shannon Spenceley | Nursing

American Cancer Society Grant
Raphael Lencucha | Public Health

ATB Financial
Gordon Hunter/Dan Kazakoff | Management

Canada Council for the Arts Grant
Mary Kavanagh | Art
Maria Ng | English

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation Grant
Olga Kovalchuk | Biological Sciences
Olga Kovalchuk | Biological Sciences, Co-applicant

Canada Centre for Remote Sensing
Nadia Rochdi/Karl Staenz | Alberta Terrestrial Imaging Centre/Geography

Canada Foundation for Innovation Leaders Opportunity Fund Grant
Aaron Gruber | Neuroscience
Paul Hazendonk | Chemistry & Biochemistry
Andrew Iwaniuk | Neuroscience
Hans-Joachim Wieden | Chemistry & Biochemistry

CIHR Emerging Team Grant
Gabriela Novotna | Health Sciences

CIHR Café Scientifique Grant
Penny D'Agnone | Office of Research & Innovation Services

CIHR Operating Grant
Sameer Deshpande | Management, Co-applicant
Judith Kulig | Nursing

CIHR Research Planning Grant
Sameer Desphande | Management, Co-applicant

Canadian Space Agency Contract
Karl Staenz | Geography
(2) David Naylor | Physics & Astronomy

Canadian Wildlife Federation
Richard Mrazek | Education

Department of Defense Contract
Albert Cross | Neuroscience

European Union FP7 Grant
David Naylor | Physics & Astronomy, Co-applicant

Grand Challenges in Global Health Grant
Gerlinde Metz | Neuroscience, Co-applicant

Health Canada Grant
Judith Kulig | Health Sciences, Co-applicant

Heritage Canada Grant for Aid to Scholarly Publication
Peter Heffernan | Education

Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction Grant
Judith Kulig | Health Sciences

Max Bell Foundation Award
Noella Piquette | Education, Co-applicant

Monieson Centre, Queen's Business School
Gordon Hunter | Management

National Science Foundation
Jennifer Mather | Psychology, Collaborating Consultant

NSERC Collaborative Research & Training Experience (CREATE) Grant
Robert Sutherland | Neuroscience

NSERC Discovery Grant
Louise Barrett | Psychology
Sarah Boon | Geography
Howard Cheng | Mathematics & Computer Science
Saurya Das | Physics & Astronomy
Jon Doan | Kinesiology & Physical Education
Cam Goater | Biological Sciences
Bruce McNaughton | Neuroscience
Jackie Rice | Mathematics & Computer Science
Elizabeth Schultz | Biological Sciences
Robert Sutherland | Neuroscience
Soroosh Yazdani | Mathematics & Computer Science

NSERC Research Tools and Instruments Grant
Amir Akbary | Mathematics & Computer Science
Paul Hazendonk | Chemistry & Biochemistry

Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences
Shahadat Hossain | Mathematics & Computer Science

SSHRC Aid to Scholarly Journals Grant
Peter Heffernan | Education
Edward Jurkowski | Music

SSHRC Insight Development Grant
Abdie Kazemipur | Sociology, Co-applicant

SSHRC Insight Grant
Harold Jansen | Political Science
Heidi MacDonald | History
Noella Piquette | Education, Co-applicant
Paul Vasey | Psychology

SSHRC Partnership Grant
Yale Belanger | Native American Studies, Co-applicant
Henning Bjornlund | Economics, Co-applicant
Glenda Bonifacio | Women & Gender Studies, Co-applicant
Abdie Kazemipur | Sociology, Co-applicant
Richard Mueller | Economics, Co-applicant
Ivan Townshend | Geography, Co-applicant
Wei Xu | Geography, Co-applicant

SSHRC Public Outreach Grant
Debra Basil | Management

TECTERRA
Wei Xu/Karl Staenz | Geography

Research Grants: Internal

Emmy Droog Research Awards in Health Sciences Grant
Cheryl Currie | Public Health
Ruth Grant Kalischuk | Nursing

Interdisciplinary Research Development Fund Grant
Leanne Elias | New Media
Team: John Usher (Management), Janice Rahn (Education), Michael Campbell (Art) and Cheryl Meheden (Management)
Roy Golsteyn | Biological Sciences
Team: Olga Kovalchuk (Biological Sciences) and David Naylor (Physics & Astronomy)
Josephine Mills | Art
Team: Louise Barrett (Psychology), Lisa Doolittle (Theatre & Drama), Emily Luce (New Media), Bruce MacKay (Liberal Education Program) and Tiffany Muller Myrdahl (Women & Gender Studies)
Nicole Rosen | Modern Languages
Team: Inge Genee (Modern Languages), Robbin Gibb (Neuroscience), Claudia Gonzalez (Kinesiology & Physical Education), Fangfang Li (Psychology) and Noella Piquette (Education)
Carol Williams | Women & Gender Studies
Team: Glenda Bonifacio (Women & Gender Studies), Bonnie Lee (Health Sciences), Linda ManyGuns (Native American Studies) and Patrick Wilson (Anthropology)

Parkland Institute Faculty Research Grant
Claudia Malacrida | Sociology

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Community of Research Excellence Development Opportunities (CREDO) Grant
Jerimy Cunningham | Anthropology
Claudia Malacrida | Sociology
Janay Nugent | History
Amy Shaw | History

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Internal
Artistic/Creative Grant
Michael Campbell | Art
Dagmar Dahl | Art
Mary Kavanagh | Art

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Internal SSHRC Grant
Michelle Hogue | First Nations' Transition Program
Janay Nugent | History
Kent Peacock | Philosophy
Amy Shaw | History

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Research Dissemination Grant
Glenda Bonifacio | Women & Gender Studies
Inge Genee | Modern Languages
Catherine Kingfisher | Anthropology
Janice Newberry | Anthropology
Hillary Rodrigues/John Harding | Religious Studies
Arlan Schultz | Music
Amy Shaw | History

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Research Fund Grant
Vishaal Baulkaran/Ebenezer Asem | Finance
Sarah Boon | Geography
Shawn Bubel | Geography
Michael Campbell | Art
Arundhati Dasgupta | Physics & Astronomy
Larry Flanagan | Biological Sciences
Claudia Gonzales/Fangfang Li | Kinesiology & Physical Education/Psychology
Ute Wieden-Kothe | Chemistry & Biochemistry
Jason Laurendeau | Sociology
Raphael Lencucha | Public Health
Hua Li | Mathematics & Computer Science
Heidi MacDonald | History
Kimberly Mair | Sociology
Steve Patitsas/Saurya Das | Physics & Astronomy
Adriana Predoi-Cross | Physics & Astronomy
Drew Rendall | Psychology
Shelley Scott | Theatre & Drama
David Siminovitch/Tony Montina | Physics & Astronomy
D. Andrew Stewart | Music
Mark Walton | Physics & Astronomy
John Zhang | Mathematics & Computer Science

Post-Doctoral Fellow Awards Alberta Innovates Health Solutions Postgraduate Fellowship
Ben Clark | Neuroscience
Corinne Montes-Rodriquez | Neuroscience
Jake Ormond | Neuroscience
Ivan Skelin | Neuroscience
Aaron Wilber | Neuroscience

Canadian Space Agency Space Science Enhancement Award Postdoctoral Fellowship
Matthijs Van Der Wiel | Physics & Astronomy

CIHR Fellowship
Hendrik Steenland | Neuroscience

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship (Short-Term) for North American and European Researchers
Noelle Gunst | Psychology

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Research Support Allowance (Short-Term) for North American and European Researchers
Noelle Gunst | Psychology

Book Awards 2013 recipients

M. Gordon Hunter & Dan Kazakoff (authors): Small Business: Journey to Success

Shawn Bubel, James McMurchy & Duncan Lloyd (authors): Record In Stone: Familiar Projectile Points From Alberta

Jean-Baptiste Leca, Michael A. Huffman & Paul Vasey (editors): The Monkeys of Smokey Mountain

Sarah Glassford & Amy Shaw (editors): A Sisterhood of Suffering and Service: Women and Girls of Canada and Newfoundland during the First World War

Geoffrey Hale (author): So Near Yet So Far: The Public and Hidden Worlds of Canada-U.S. Relations

Aaron Taylor (editor): Theorizing Film Acting

Marc R. Roussel (author): A Life Scientist's Guide to Physical Chemistry

Glena Tibe Bonifacio (editor): Feminism and Migration: Cross-cultural Engagements

Robert J. Williams, Robert T. Wood & Jonathan Parke (editors): The Routledge International Handbook of Internet Gambling

Arundhati Dasgupta (editor): Recent Research in Quantum Gravity

John S. Harding (editor): Studying Buddhism in Practice

Yale D. Belanger (editor): First Nations Gaming in Canada

Yongjian Bao & Wenlong Yuan (authors): The Contrarian Way of Crisis Management

Keith Roscoe & Rick Mrazek (authors): Developing Scientific Literacy: Ideas and Strategies for Planning, Assessment, and Instruction

Blythe Shepard & Lorna Martin (authors): Supervision of Counselling and Psychotherapy: A Handbook for Canadian Certified Supervisors and Applicants

Margaret A. Winzer & Kas Mazurek (editors): International Practices in Special Education: Debates and Challenges

Judith C. Kulig & Allison M. Williams (editors): Health in Rural Canada

Olga Kovalchuk & Igor Kovalchuk (authors) Epigenetics in Health and Disease

Alums Myshak, Brown turn knowledge into business

trevor.kenney — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 21:34:16 +0000

When they began their academic adventures at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, co-owners of the newly formed Isis Geomatics Incorporated, Steve Myshak (BSc '10) and Owen Brown (BSc '09) were heading down very different career paths.

In fact, Brown wasn't planning on staying at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ for long. Originally enrolled in pre-engineering, he intended to transfer to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary to complete his degree there, but one semester in geography at the U of L and he knew he was hooked.

Myshak entered the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge as a mature student, looking for a fresh start. He initially majored in history but after switching majors several times, he found his true passion.

"I took Geography 1010. They had it set up so that all the different geography professors came into the class and each took a week to show us the breadth of geography," says Myshak. "After I took that class, I decided that geography was what I liked and what I wanted to do."

Owen Brown, left, and business partner Steve Myshak are off and running with ISIS Geomatics Incorporated.

They both graduated from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ with their bachelor of science degrees, Brown in 2009 and Myshak in 2010, and are both set to complete their master of science degrees at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ this summer.

"I'd always thought about getting my masters. I had a good relationship with my professor, Chris Hugenholtz; I had done some independent studies with him and I liked the classes he taught. I took a semester off after I graduated, but when Chris asked me one day if I would be interested in the masters' program I just ran with it," recalls Brown.

Myshak, who began studying for his masters under the supervision of Drs. Craig Coburn and Karl Staenz, also began studying the possibility of starting up his own company.

"When I was doing my masters, I was working with Agriculture Canada and I spent a lot of time in the field. We were using ground-based remote sensing. I thought there had to be a better way to get the data. I came up with the idea to attach sensors to UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and get the data that way. I looked into government funding, IRAP and Techterra, and found that there was funding available, but I needed someone else's opinion," says Myshak. "Our masters' class used to unwind on Fridays at Backstreet Pub. That is where I approached Owen. I told him I needed a partner and asked him what he thought of my idea. We had taken a couple of classes together in our undergrad and in our masters. Owen is very mature in the way he thinks, he has worked in industry and hasn't just spent all his time at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. Working with Owen was just a natural fit."

"He caught me a little off guard I guess, because I always thought I would just get a job when I finished my masters. I never thought about a business. I talked to my parents and they were very supportive. I decided to try it," says Brown. "We got started right away. Steve had already gotten some government funding, so we put a business plan together, put our nose to the grindstone and got to work."

They incorporated in August 2011. Although there has been a definite on-the-job learning curve, both Brown and Myshak feel strongly about the knowledge base they received and the support they continue to get from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

"You gain a lot of critical thinking skills doing research and lab work at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. You are given a task and there may be several different ways to do that task. You just have to break it down and do it step by step," says Brown. "We have learned fantastic problem solving skills. The breadth of knowledge we have gained is unbelievable, and the support from our professors on our business has been great."

Using the technical knowledge they gained throughout their academic and work experiences, Myshak and Brown are quickly breaking into the agriculture industry. Judging by the feedback on their recent presentations, they are hopeful that ISIS Geo will soon become a familiar name in the oil and gas industry as well.

"We use UAVs to acquire imagery and then transform that imagery into data using geographic information systems (GIS). UAV's have been used in police and military applications but there are many applications for it in the commercial world," explains Myshak.

"For example, we do vegetation health mapping for remediation, livestock counting and recently we have been doing a lot of work for municipalities, measuring volumes of gravel piles for municipal audits. We have also done some mapping applications as well," says Brown.

Such aerial imaging work has traditionally been done by satellite, but ISIS Geo has a much more detailed response and quicker turnaround of data. With satellite information data, each pixel is 5m x 5m, but with UAV technology, Myshak and Brown can provide data that is 3cm x 3cm.

"One of the advantages is the much better resolution," says Myshak. "The other advantage is that we can fly and have the data the same day, whereas satellite data can take up to two-to-three months to get. We are also less expensive than satellite and we can work when it is cloudy because we fly the copter under the clouds."

Over the past eight months, they have been working on pilot projects that have proven to be highly successful. For this innovative new company, the sky's the limit.

This story first appeared in the February 2013 edition of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Food security concerns spawn project

trevor.kenney — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 18:24:26 +0000

Where is your next meal coming from?

Thankfully, the majority of southern Albertans are secure in the notion that there will be an adequate food supply available to fill their plates.

Such is not the case worldwide, and in fact by the end of 2011, it was estimated that one billion people in developing countries did not have enough food to meet their basic nutritional needs.

With food security one of the most pressing issues facing humankind, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers are embarking on a project that will develop a prototype system using geomatics information technologies, in combination with crop growth and socio-economic modelling to better monitor and forecast food security at local and regional levels.

"Alberta, really Canada in general, is a very important player in the world food market. Depending on the year, we are ranked fourth or fifth in terms of grain exports to the global food supply," says principal investigator Dr. Wei Xu, a professor and Chair of the Department of Geography. "Alberta is one of the major players in the game of food trade, so any decline in food production will not only affect our local communities, but also will affect the global food market. In that regard, the sustainability of food production at the local and regional level is very important."

Along with Drs. Karl Staenz, Henning Bjornlund, Stefan Kienzle, Craig Coburn, Jinkai Zhang and Z. Zhang, Xu's team will work for two years under funding from Alberta-based Tecterra, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, the National Engineering Research Center for Information Technology in Agriculture, China-based NERCITA and the Agriculture Financial Services Corporation. Tecterra is funding $495,000 of the $885,000 project.

"We want to start the project here and eventually expand to a global level," says Xu. "We want to help China, India, maybe African countries, so that they can, in their decision-making processes, adopt this kind of technology to help them assess and plan their crops more effectively."

The project is uniquely interdisciplinary and utilizes expertise from across campus. Xu, who classifies himself as a social scientist, has more than a decade of experience in conceptual design and system development for integrated assessments, while Staenz is a world-renowned expert in remote sensing technology. Add in the expertise of both Coburn and J. Zhang in remote sensing system development and design, the software development skills of Z. Zhang, Kienzle's worldwide experience in hydrological and crop modelling and Bjornlund's established knowledge in agricultural policy assessment and you have a comprehensive approach to the issue.

"We really tried to mobilize people from across campus," says Xu, recognizing the scope of the problem they are tackling. "This project will generate a geomatics solution to the problem of food insecurity that is of global significance."

The proposed prototype will fill a significant gap in the assessing and forecasting of food supply at a local and regional scale, offering governments new technology and information that can be utilized in policy development.

One would think that southern Alberta farmers, having worked the soil for generations, would understand what crops produced the best yields for our area but Xu says that is not necessarily so.

"Certainly we tend to claim that we know but, for example in 2001-02, when the entire region was severely hit by drought, nobody was expecting that," he says. "Given the uncertainty in climate, which is possibly getting warmer, the variability in the region, the greater demands on our water supply, the introduction of biofuel production, there are so many more factors at play.

"Our system will enable Alberta and Chinese governments to better monitor and assess the state of food production and security."

The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization has forecasted that an increase in food production of 70 per cent is required to feed the estimated world population of nine billion people in 2050.

"All these factors make this research very much relevant to our world," says Xu.

This story first appeared in the December 2012 issue of the Legend. For a look at the entire issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Impact of ORIS seen everywhere

trevor.kenney — Fri, 13 May 2011 20:37:20 +0000

The Office of Research and Innovation Services is active in promoting the interests of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge on a number of fronts. This includes ongoing support for faculty researchers and the establishment of research initiatives and partnerships at local, regional, national and international levels.

In the past year, we have seen a number of examples that highlight the behind-the-scenes work that ORIS does in supporting research interests at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and beyond.

Pictured (L to R), the U of L's Dr. Dan Weeks, Shaun Wedick (Consul of Canada, Chennai), Dr. Karl Staenz, Deep Mazumdar, Prashant Shulkle (Director General, Earth Sciences Sector, Natural Resources Canada).

The office was instrumental in establishing a branch Research Data Centre (RDC) through the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary. The RDC is a university-based laboratory that offers researchers secure access to confidential micro-data from a constantly growing number of datasets, primarily from Statistics Canada. Researchers also have access to fully equipped workstations, standard and highly specialized statistical analysis packages and technical support through this agreement, all provided free of charge.

ORS supported Dr. Abdie Kazemipur (sociology) during the process, as he was instrumental in this application, giving our researchers a secure level of access to vital data that they have never previously enjoyed.

The establishment of new initiatives also included support for the first inter-disciplinary conference on childhood in Canadian history, The Childhoods Conference: Mapping the Landscapes of Childhood. ORS worked with Dr. Jan Newberry, among others, to obtain funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Alberta Centre for Child, Family and Community Research to present the May 5-7 event, one that has the potential to spin-off into a childhood studies institute.

"Most folks from the U of L community will associate ORIS with providing researchers the expert support necessary for developing winning proposals for research grant competitions," says Vice-President (Research) Dr. Daniel Weeks. "However, it is equally important that we provide ongoing assistance to facilitate productive partnerships that allow our researchers to advance research and/or knowledge mobilization."

The ORIS also works to create partnerships beyond the walls of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ as it looks to push research interests in local and regional quarters. Recently, the U of L signed a memorandum of understanding with Lethbridge College, Lethbridge Economic Development and SouthGrow Regional Initiative and Community Futures, Lethbridge Region.

The memorandum formalizes a partnership that intends to push innovation and commercialization activities throughout the southern Alberta region, supporting business and industry by facilitating the flow of knowledge, stimulating the transfer of innovative ideas, advancing areas of mutual interest and providing greater access to business for our students as they look to gain practical experience through applied research projects.

"The increasing pressure to commercialize and innovate research outcomes is a challenge for universities," says Weeks. "Indeed, commercialization is not a primary function of a university. We have taken the position that creating stronger alliances between community organizations and other post secondary institutions can be enormously effective and yield important benefits for everyone."

The ORIS then works to take the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ message to the national and international level, facilitating partnerships that create the framework for global research projects. In January, Weeks was accompanied by Dr. Karl Staenz (geography) and Deep Mazumdar (PhD candidate, geography) as they participated in the Canadian Geomatics Science and Technology Partnering Mission in India. The mission sought to showcase how Canada's expertise and technology could assist India as it addresses its need for leading-edge geospatial solutions.

The scope of benefits gained by the U of L as it enhanced its presence in the Indian market and built essential business relationships cannot yet begin to be realized.

It is the amalgamation of this activity that makes up the breadth of the ORIS mandate and assists in growing the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's reputation as a comprehensive research institution both locally and beyond.

For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Staenz receives remote sensing award

trevor.kenney — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:51:24 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professor of geography, Dr. Karl Staenz, has been awarded the prestigious 2010 Gold Medal from the Canadian Remote Sensing Society (CRSS).

This award recognizes a significant long-term contribution to the field of remote sensing in Canada, and is the highest award in the country granted by the Society for Excellence in Remote Sensing.

Staenz's research is focused on spectral sensing, including the process of image data preprocessing, information extraction for various applications and building intelligent image processing and monitoring systems.

He worked at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing in Ottawa for over 20 years before joining the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2006. Staenz is also the science director of the Alberta Terrestrial Imaging Corporation (ATIC) in Lethbridge.

The gold medal was awarded to Staenz at the recently held 31st Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing – the Prairie Summit – in Regina, Sask.

He joins fellow faculty member Dr. Philippe Teillet (physics and astronomy) as a gold medal winner. Teillet received the CRSS Gold Medal in 2006.

Playing a role in resource management

trevor.kenney — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:04:46 +0000

Improving the management of natural resources in Alberta, Canada and around the world is the goal of a new research centre announced recently by federal Minister of State (Science and Technology) Gary Goodyear.

Funded under the federal Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) program and industry/government partners, the new Centre of Excellence for Integrated Resource Management will be the first of its kind in the world to focus geomatics science and engineering expertise towards the complex problems of large-scale resource and environmental management.

The centre will be led by Dr. Naser El-Sheimy, holder of a Canada Research Chair and the head of the Department of Geomatics Engineering in the Schulich School of Engineering at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary and involves partners at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and other Canadian universities, the Province of Alberta and industry partners.

"This is a research and development centre that will lead to the commercialization of geomatics tools that will help ensure the responsible maintenance and management of resources in Canada and in countries across the globe," U of C Vice-President (Research) Rose Goldstein says. "A centre of this calibre will undoubtedly attract some of the leading researchers in the field to our province."
"At the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, we have been working on – and investing in – this program for the past six years," says Dr. Dennis Fitzpatrick, Vice-President,
Research. "We brought to Lethbridge senior remote sensing scientists like Dr. Philippe Teillet and Dr. Karl Staenz to join Dr. Craig Coburn and Dr. Derek Peddle, and this group of experts is housed in our new Alberta Water and
Environmental Science Building. The optical imaging of the earth is important to Alberta – for land and water management, as well as other natural resources and urban issues."

Fitzpatrick adds that the new centre at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary and the collaborative focus between researchers and institutions represents a natural partnership where researchers can combine efforts to create a stronger program than they ever could individually.

"We expect the impact of this announcement, and the research generated from it, to have far-reaching implications," Fitzpatrick says.
"At the U of L, we are already at work on commercial applications for remote sensing through our partnership in the Alberta Terrestrial Imaging Centre, which we operate with pioneering local business Iunctus Geomatics. As well, we have numerous undergraduate and graduate students currently studying this technology. They will take advantage of the educational and research opportunities generated by our people and others involved in this high-tech activity."

The extended time frame for funding – up to five years initially – allows for the significant development of new research and researchers, according to Dr. Philippe Teillet, who joined the U of L faculty in 2006 (Department of Physics and Astronomy). Teillet is a remote sensing researcher working with colleagues in the Alberta Water and Environmental Science Building.

"I came to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge with my colleague Karl Staenz, and our goal was to help build research capacity and add to the projects that are already putting the U of L on the remote sensing map. This announcement is a validation of our approach, which was to be collaborative and flexible. Once programs are up and running, we will be working not individually, but in multiple teams. Together we can be even more productive."

UNews - Karl Staenz

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