UNews - Jennifer Mather

Campus Bird Checklist an open invitation to enjoy birding on campus spaces

trevor.kenney — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 17:22:48 +0000

With one of the most unique settings in Canadian post-secondary, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is home to an abundance of wildlife, not the least of which is an extremely robust population of birds. How many varieties and species of birds pass through campus aren’t known entirely but a new project by master’s student Samantha Krause, available to the public, provides bird lovers the opportunity to see the scope of just what’s out there.

Krause, at the behest of fellow birder Dr. Jennifer Mather (Department of Psychology) and with support from Agility and the Campus Ecology Project, has created a Campus Bird Checklist. From geese, swans and ducks to flycatchers and wood warblers, Krause has documented 135 different birds that, at various times, have made their way through campus.

“I'm not surprised actually, because in the Lethbridge area as a whole, over 300 bird species have been seen, so it is possible another 100-plus species have flown over campus at some point, they just haven't been seen or logged yet,” says Krause.

She utilizes the E-Bird software developed by the Cornell ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Lab of Ornithology as a means to document her sightings as well as draw on the huge database populated by fellow birders.

“It’s an app that is used all over the world,” she says. “It allows you to log the species you’ve seen and then includes metadata such as where you are, the time of year, how many birds you’re seeing and so on. Ornithologists can’t possibly do this sort of monitoring on such a vast scale — there aren't anywhere near enough of them. So, the birders who use this app play a key role in building and maintaining an online database that both they and scientists can use.”

Krause came to the U of L after completing an undergraduate degree in biology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Northern British Columbia. She’s completing her master’s in psychology under the guidance of Dr. David Logue, studying the Adelaide’s Warbler (Setophaga adelaidae) species in Puerto Rico and trying to figure out why mated males and females sing duets with each other. The Campus Bird Checklist came as an idea from Mather while they were out birding one day.

Master's student Samantha Krause says campus is on migration route for multiple species.

“There are quite a few good birders who consistently go to campus and have been building a database of birds they’d seen. I went online, downloaded the database and used that as my starting point for what birds had been recently logged on campus and what time of year they were logged there,” she says.

She credits local birders Ken Orich, Teresa Dolman and David Scott as experts who reviewed her checklist and added a few historic sightings, including the Sprague’s pipit, before it went public.

Krause describes the Lethbridge area as a migration corridor for birds as they move from the boreal forest regions down to southern climates and back again, hence the proliferation of multiple species.

“There are just tons that breed in the boreal forest and they use the prairies as a migration path, so there are way more birds out there than people realize,” she says.

Of the new species she’s logged this year, she’s most excited about spotting a Lazuli Bunting.

Krause is eager to grow the birding culture in the city and with the Campus Bird Checklist, it’s a way to get more people on campus and excited about the natural setting that invites these varied species.

“We’re looking at possibly putting a field guide together as well. This checklist is more for birders who know what they are looking for and can record their findings but with a field guide, we’d have pictures of birds that people could look at and then try and find throughout campus,” she says. “I’m already starting to talk to my local birding gurus about that.”

The Campus Bird Checklist is available here.

U of L professor Dr. Jennifer Mather served as the scientific adviser on Oscar-winning documentary

caroline.zentner — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 16:13:35 +0000

A documentary film 10 years in the making, My Octopus Teacher won an Oscar for best documentary feature at Sunday night’s Academy Awards ceremony and those cheering included Dr. Jennifer Mather, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge psychology professor and octopus expert.

“I was really pleased to see this wonderful documentary win an Oscar,” says Mather. “Craig has created a film that helps us understand more about octopuses and how intelligent they are.”

The film tells the story of a year Craig Foster, a South African filmmaker, spent with a wild octopus in the Great African Seaforest at the southwest tip of Africa. During the editing process, Foster wanted to ensure the film was scientifically accurate. In 2018, Mather flew to Cape Town and joined the editing team as a scientific consultant. She spent 10 days working with Foster to ensure octopuses were portrayed accurately.

“We got on really well when I was there and he’s part of a foundation dedicated to saving the oceans, especially the kelp forest where he visited the octopuses,” says Mather. “Craig’s a fabulous photographer and I borrowed some of his photos to use in a study about octopuses in camouflage. And I’m hoping to visit again in the future.”

Self-isolation works, says ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professor after recovering from COVID-19

trevor.kenney — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 15:37:15 +0000

Dr. Jennifer Mather has a simple message for everyone about the COVID-19 pandemic — just stay home.

While Mather, a world-renowned cephalopod researcher and member of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Department of Psychology, doesn’t research the disease itself, she has a unique perspective on COVID-19 — having just recovered from the disease after contracting it during an overseas teaching trip in early March.

“It amazes me that some people are not self-isolating because it is the most logical, simple, straightforward, common sense thing to do,” says Mather, who was teaching in Denmark Mar. 9-13 as part of a one-week course on animal pain. “COVID is apparently really, really, really good at spreading but if you’re not near somebody, you can’t spread it.”

Mather’s case was mild, picked up somewhere between Denmark and Calgary, a trip that included a five-hour layover in one of the busiest and most cramped airports in the world in Frankfurt, Germany. It was a trip she debated taking in the first place.

“As my trip got closer, it was obvious there was coronavirus but not much in Canada and not much in Denmark, just a few cases,” she says. “So, I had a choice between cancelling my commitment or going and, because they didn’t cancel the course, I felt as though I’d made a commitment and I needed to live up to it. In retrospect, I wouldn’t have gone, but we didn’t know how bad it was going to be.”

Mather arrived back in Canada on Mar. 14 and, having read extensively on the COVID situation and what to do upon returning from travel, self-isolated in her home. She was feeling the effects of a cold but after a few days, when shortness of breath and nausea set in, she decided to call 811 and was instructed to take the self-assessment online questionnaire. When it advised she be tested, an appointment was booked at the Alberta Health Services (AHS) drive-by site. On Mar. 18 she was tested and on the morning of Mar. 23, her positive result was confirmed.

Even though she didn’t feel gravely ill, she admits to being fearful of the unknown.

“I’m over 65 and that clearly increases my risk for bad outcomes. I spent a lot of time with the public health nurse asking questions and unfortunately, most of the answers were “We don’t know,” which is a really good way to generate fear.”

After being checked out at hospital, she was sent home with a quarantine order. A public health nurse checked in with her every day and she went through an exhaustive question-and-answer session to trace her contacts over the previous week. Fortunately, she had done everything right and only had one interaction with the taxi driver that took her home from the airport.

All the while, Mather continued to deliver her courses to her students.

“At that point, I and everyone else who was teaching were frantically changing our delivery system to remote and figuring out how to meet our teaching obligations,” she says. “I wasn’t sitting around, I was doing what everybody else was doing, figuring out how to teach properly.”

AHS cleared Mather on Monday, Mar. 30, and lifted her quarantine, but again, it’s unknown what happens next. Does she have some immunity now? Nobody is quite sure.

“It’s not going to change my behaviour very much at all. Quarantine means absolutely no contact with anybody whatsoever, and social distancing means really don’t unless you really have to,” she says. “They do not consider me to be contagious anymore and they think I might have some resistance against the virus, but they don’t know.”

She applauds the U of L for its quick closure and shift to a remote working model and implores the rest of the community to take heed.

“I’m still the only person in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community who has tested positive,” she says. “The fact there is only one person in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community who has the disease, and I didn’t pick it up here, is a real tribute to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s lockdown procedures — clearly it worked.”

She also wants to lessen fears about COVID itself.

“I had a mild case and I think this is something that everyone doesn’t realize. The media spends a lot of time waving their hands about how many cases there are and how many people are dying and it’s true, people are dying. On the other hand, about 95 per cent are mild cases,” says Mather, recognizing that often perpetuates the disease’s spread. “The scary thing, from my perspective, is that because so many cases are mild, people don’t know they’ve got it. That’s why blanket lockdown works so well.”

“Isolation works,” she repeated over and over, and if anyone should know, it’s someone who lived with the disease and took all the right steps.

“If I hadn’t had the cold on top of the COVID, I might not have gotten myself tested, but I’m happy I did,” she says. “I’m past the 14 days and I’m no longer contagious but it does take a while to get over this. You don’t rebound and feel well quickly. It’s been an interesting experience, and one I would have been very happy to skip.”

Anniversary gift to help create a more ecologically friendly campus

caroline.zentner — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 20:50:27 +0000

For more than 30 years, Dr. Jennifer Mather has called the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge her workplace home. She’s rather fond of the place and wanted to mark the U of L’s 50th birthday with a special gift.

Mather says she’s been thinking about campus ecology for a while, since she, like many others, gets a great deal of pleasure from the flora and fauna around the U of L. Whether it’s a newborn fawn or eagles soaring over the river valley, Mather takes note. That spurred her to donate some funds to the U of L as an anniversary gift with the idea they be used to create a more ecologically friendly campus.

Valentina Ibarra Galvis, at right, Dr. Jennifer Mather and Dr. Randall Barley talk about a coniferous cone they found in a wooded area on campus.

And on one of the coldest days of the winter, Mather and a student went around campus to take part in the annual winter bird count. She’d also conducted a bird count on campus during the summer and the total didn’t match Mather’s expectations.

“I didn’t see a lot of the birds I thought I should have seen,” she says. “I noticed that most of the campus didn’t have many. The places where I found birds were on the fringes where nobody had done campus improvement.”

That got her thinking about how campus ecology could be improved. Being a psychology professor, Mather knows that seeing a natural landscape, whether through a window or outside, has a beneficial effect on humans.

“We have an artificial environment here, we can’t possibly not because there are buildings, parking lots and roads. But to some extent, we can do the best we can with what we’ve got,” she says. “I thought if birds are any indicator, then we’re not giving the birds, and the animals and the plants, a good environment.”

Two biology instructors, Jennifer Burke and Dr. Randall Barley, expressed interest in getting the project going and an independent study was established. Funds from Mather’s gift will go to offset any costs incurred by students working on the project.

“I want students to be involved in this as much as possible,” says Mather. “The beginning will be mapping, figuring out the habitats, figuring out the soils and getting a bit of history. It’s a big project.”

Barley knew one of his students, Valentina Ibarra Galvis, was eager to get involved in a hands-on project. Ibarra Galvis, a third-year U of L student who recently switched her major to environmental science from biology, didn’t hesitate to accept.

“I’ve always been very passionate about the environment,” she says. “To me, Jennifer’s project sounded like an amazing opportunity, especially because it’s here on campus. It’s a learning experience and I more than willingly took on the project.”

Dr. Randall Barley, centre, and Valentina Ibarra Galvis, right, talk about the reeds found on campus with Dr. Jennifer Mather.

Ibarra Galvis has been gathering historical information about the U of L, including the ecological assessment that was completed before the construction of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall. She’s also toured the campus with Phil Dyck, U of L grounds manager.

“I couldn’t have hoped for a more enthusiastic student than Valentina,” says Barley. “She has been fierce in her pursuit of information.”

Ibarra Galvis says she learned that much of what grows on campus is artificial, and the construction of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall likely destroyed some habitat. She has evaluated microhabitats on campus and she’ll be identifying the species found in each one. U of L geographers will also be called upon to provide information to make a map of campus. Ibarra Galvis intends to establish a database with all her findings as a reference for other students who work on the project in subsequent years.

“Instead of wiping out what we already have here and putting in all prairie species—because that could be very costly—what we want to do is look at disturbed areas and see how we can restore them and make it more natural,” she says. “The goal is also to be more sustainable. When you have more native species, an area can sustain itself. At the end of the day, this would also hopefully reduce the cost to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ for fertilizer and pesticide.”

Richardson's ground squirrels are among the animals that make their home on the U of L grounds.

“There are limitations and it will be about finding that balance between the biology and all of the other considerations,” says Barley. “If we can create additional habitat for species at risk or that are endangered, then we’d view those as high-value species in this type of project.”

Once Ibarra Galvis has completed the foundational work, students from other disciplines could carry the project forward. For example, a geography student could analyze soil samples or an education student could be involved in educating the campus community about the environs.

“My goal at the end of this semester is to have a map with each microhabitat labelled, with a description of the history of each one,” says Ibarra Galvis. “People don’t understand the value of such a unique ecosystem. It’s important to take care of our environment. We live in it and we need it to survive, too; we can’t forget that.”

Local octopus expert Dr. Jennifer Mather featured in latest installment of Scientists in the Field book series

caroline.zentner — Mon, 25 May 2015 16:14:18 +0000

Growing up in Victoria, B.C., Dr. Jennifer Mather loved exploring the seashore. Rather than being drawn to larger animals like seals and whales, Mather was curious about much smaller life forms.

“It was just fascinating,” she says. “I was looking at snails, hermit crabs, sea anemones and I was turning over rocks to see the crabs underneath and collecting shells.”

Her captivation was so great she decided at the tender age of 10 that she wanted her life’s work to include the study of marine animals. To become the renowned octopus expert that she is today, Mather studied the habits of these intelligent masters of camouflage with eight tentacled legs and three hearts in aquariums and places like Hawaii and the Caribbean island of Bonaire.

An octopus watches Dr. Jennifer Mather approach in the waters off the island of Moorea.

In her 2013 expedition to the island of Moorea, an island paradise in French Polynesia, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professor and her team were joined by Sy Montgomery, author of the Scientists in the Field book series, and a photographer. The resulting book, The Octopus Scientists: Exploring the Mind of a Mollusk, will be launched June 2. The Octopus Scientists has already received great reviews and been honoured as a Junior Library Guild selection. Books in the Scientists in the Field series are geared toward children in middle school. Each book highlights people who are engaged in scientific careers in the natural world by illustrating their adventures as they seek to learn more about their particular subject.

“We feel privileged to have had Sy write about us. Sy is a wonderful person to be anywhere with; she’s curious, social and interested in everything. She was excited by the possibilities. It was great fun,” says Mather. “The idea of the book is to try to explain how field researchers get into field research and how they work.”

Mather, who teaches in the U of L’s Department of Psychology in landlocked Lethbridge, spent nearly a month in Moorea studying octopuses. She, along with Dr. David Scheel, a marine biology professor from Alaska Pacific ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, Dr. Tatiana Leite, a professor of marine ecology at Brazil’s ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Rio Grande do Norte and a former student of Mather’s, and Keely Langford, an interpretive specialist at the Vancouver Aquarium, undertook the field study to see if they could determine whether personality or prey availability play a role in what an octopus eats.

During a previous expedition to Hawaii, Mather found octopuses that ate only crab. Other studies done in various locations have shown that some octopuses eat a varied diet while yet other populations eat snails only. In Moorea, she hoped to gather more data to get closer to answering the question.

The Octopus Scientists describes the kind of work scientists do on a daily basis, from donning wetsuits and snorkeling as they searched for octopuses to administering personality tests and recording the octopuses’ responses to being approached and gently touched with a pencil. Scientists then collect the prey remains found near the den for sorting and identification.

“To figure out what an octopus eats you find its home and then you find its garbage heap,” says Mather. “They eat the soft part of the food and throw out the hard parts.”

During their time in Moorea, the team found 18 octopuses at five sites and collected, sorted and identified 244 shells and carapaces from the octopuses’ garbage heaps. At the end of the study, Mather was unable to determine if personality played a role in the diet of an octopus. For now, it seems habitat is more important than personality.

“I don’t know, but as a scientist I have to pursue all sorts of little alleys and say ‘maybe this’ and ‘maybe that,’” she says.

The decision that Mather made when she was 10 has given her a career that’s incredibly diverse. She has provided advice on regulations concerning the ethical treatment of animals and is the go-to octopus expert for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). In addition, Mather is passionate about good teaching and she often writes on that subject, too.

“So being an octopus expert leads me in a bunch of different directions,” says Mather. “That’s exactly why Sy writes this series of books — to show people the fascination of science and the scope.”

Octopus got your tongue?

trevor.kenney — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 17:42:52 +0000

It’s an unusual coupling: A linguist and a marine biologist are working together to investigate the human tongue. In their study, the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences researchers are using two species of octopus and tiny worms that helped win a Nobel Prize.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Dr. Jennifer Mather is a world renowned authority on cephalopods.

The work is funded by a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the investigators will use facilities at the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island for some of their research.

The research is funded through an NSF program called Integrated NSF Support Promoting Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) that “is intended to encourage investigators to submit bold, exceptional proposals.”

The project at USC Dornsife certainly fits that description.

“Most people are surprised by this combination of linguistics and biology,” said Khalil Iskarous, assistant professor of linguistics and a principal investigator on the NSF grant.

A USC Dornsife research team will study octopus behavior in the wild and in captivity at the USC Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island.

The project will compare the movement of the tongue to the movements of the arms of the octopus and the body of a very small and thoroughly studied worm known as C. elegans. All three muscular systems work without bones that function as rigid “levers.” Hydrostatic, their function is based on the resistance of fluids to compression. Squeezing water in one part of a muscle exerts pressure on water in other parts of the muscle, forcing it to move.

“The hydrostatic principle is the common denominator for these three systems,” Iskarous said. “For the worm, it’s for locomotion; for the octopus, it’s for manipulation; for the tongue, it’s for communication and speech.”

Iskarous will work with a USC Wrigley Institute faculty member, Andrew Gracey, associate professor of biological sciences and a co-principal investigator on the grant. Gracey will examine the nematode worm C. elegans and the connection between the worm’s proteins and its neurons to determine the connection between its genetics and its behavior. A third researcher on the project — the lead octopus expert — is Jennifer Mather, professor of psychology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada.

C. elegans has served as an “experimental workhorse” since the 1970s, and it was used in genetic research that led to the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 2002. (One of the Nobel laureates, Sydney Brenner, honored C. elegans as “Nature’s Gift to Science” in the title of his Nobel lecture.) C. elegans is a nematode, part of a phylum of worms found in nearly every ecosystem, from the tropics to the poles, from the lowest elevation to the highest, and it measures one millimeter end-to-end.

The worm C. elegans (Image/Alexander Lopez).

Iskarous described C. elegans as a “simple complex organism,” adding that decades of research have documented the characteristics of every one of its cells.

“We know the number of neurons in C. elegans; we know the connectivity between every neuron and every other neuron, and we know which neuron cells are connected to muscle cells,” Iskarous said. “If you know the neural layout and the neuromuscular layout, you have a chance at formulating simple mathematical ideas that are linked to movements of the organism and can be measured.”

The NSF project will develop algorithms and geometric analyses to create “numerical descriptors” for movements of C. elegans under a variety of conditions, including mutations to its genes. Gracey said gene mutations often have obvious impacts on the worm’s movements and coordination, and the numerical descriptors might be used to quantify the effects of different genes in C. elegans on movement. The same process might be used to describe the role of genetics in the movement of octopus arms and the human tongue.

Iskarous and Gracey will study the worm’s use of dopamine, a chemical released by nerve cells to send signals to other nerve cells. Iskarous wants to look for connections between dopamine signals in C. elegans to linguistic problems in humans, specifically the speech disorders associated with Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s is a cellular deficiency in the basal ganglia, a part of the brain that makes dopamine, and scientists are using C. elegans in studies of this degenerative disease.

Iskarous will examine how the degeneration of cells that produce dopamine affect speech, especially through impacts on the flexibility of the tongue. Before arriving at USC Dornsife in 2011, Iskarous pursued this line of research at Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Conn.

The octopus

In the search for rules that govern hydrostatic muscular systems, the project will examine one of the most versatile systems of all — the arm of the octopus. Each of its eight limbs can adopt so many configurations and perform so many manipulations that it seems to have “infinite degrees of freedom,” Mather said

Mather and a postdoctoral researcher will participate in the USC Dornsife project, including work with two species of octopus that live in the waters around Catalina Island.

Mather said each octopus arm has extraordinarily complex sets of muscles, and the animal can use some of them as a “skeleton” for support while other muscles contract.

“An octopus can extend or contract its arm, bend it anywhere along its length and twist as much as it likes,” Mather said. “Theoretically, it can make a knot in its arm and run the knot down its length and off the tip.

“But there must be rules for how they can move,” Mather continued. “For example, there must be different rules to run a muscle system that has no fixed skeleton, like the octopus, from the rules that run for a muscle system with a fixed skeleton.”

Mather is an ethologist — an expert in animal behavior — and she has been studying and writing about the octopus and other cephalopods since 1978. She will help Iskarous and Gracey search for similarities between the octopus’ manipulation of its arms with the movement and function of the human tongue.

Another octopus biologist, Jean Alupay, joined the research team this month. Alupay is finishing a PhD in the Department of Integrative Biology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of California, Berkeley, and will work as a USC Dornsife postdoctoral researcher on the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Park Campus and at the Wrigley Marine Science Center.

The research team will study octopus behavior in the wild and in captivity at the center. Alupay said the research team is interested in two closely related species — Octopus bimaculoides and Octopus bimaculatus — found around Catalina Island and throughout the northeastern Pacific Ocean.

“We hope to base most of our study of their natural behavior on field observations using scuba diving, snorkeling and video recordings by collaborators,” Alupay said.

The tongue

“The human tongue is a very different muscular system than the rest of the human body,” Iskarous said. “Our bodies are vertebrate mechanisms that operate by muscle working on bone to move. The tongue is in a different muscular family, much like an invertebrate. It’s entirely muscle — it’s muscle moving muscle.”

Khalil Iskarous, assistant professor of linguistics at USC Dornsife, is principal investigator on the National Science Foundation grant. (USC Photo/Erika Christianson).

Human speech is the result of a complex orchestration and timing of the tongue, the palette, the teeth and the lips. Degeneration of the brain cells that produce dopamine disrupts this orchestration and causes problems with motor control of the tongue, a condition known as dysarthria.

The NSF research will explore the promise of C. elegans as a model for the dysarthria caused by Parkinson’s disease. Dopamine synthesis and uptake in C. elegans will be manipulated to model the abnormal dopamine signaling in people with Parkinson’s disease.

“The degeneration of cells that produce this chemical neurotransmitter, dopamine, have effects on behavior,” Iskarous said. “C. elegans doesn’t have a brain or basal ganglia, but some of its cells use dopamine in a way similar to mammals. With the worms, we can manipulate dopamine in much finer ways than is possible in more complex organisms, and we may have a chance to understand more complex connectivity in an animal like an octopus or a human being.”

Finding a common language

This project was among the first awards that NSF announced last year through the INSPIRE program. Gracey said one of the challenges they face with this interdisciplinary work is developing a vocabulary that connects linguistics to the movement of organisms such as the octopus and the worm.

“Linguists have a way of describing speech,” Gracey said. “They have a nomenclature, a system of annotation for describing speech — how the tongue moves, how the palate moves, how the lips move — so when they describe the way different sounds are made, they have a standard vocabulary. There isn’t a similar structured vocabulary for octopus movements. In addition, we’re trying to find a mathematical way to describe the worm’s movement, which we can then directly apply to these other movements by the octopus arm and the human tongue.

“It’s a real challenge to compare multiple systems, and this has been a challenge in biology for a long time,” Gracey said. “You don’t have to do this if you’re going to work on one organism, but if you’re working on more than one organism, you need to be speaking the same language and be using the same types of descriptors.

“We’re still scratching the surface on this,” he added. “It’s a very complicated project.”

Story courtesy of USC News

Mather joins USC colleagues in comparing octopus movements to that of human tongue

trevor.kenney — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 23:44:47 +0000

How can the movements of an octopus and a worm relate to the human tongue and its ability to make speech sounds?

Dr. Jennifer Mather is a world-renowned authority on cephalopods.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Dr. Jennifer Mather (psychology) is in the midst of a three-year study, funded by a National Science Foundation INSPIRE grant, with researchers from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Southern California that will compare the movement systems of three very different animals that have some remarkable similarities.

“Most of us are used to the idea that we move around with muscles attached to bones, but many movement systems don't do that,” says Mather, who leaves this week for a field study at USC. “Systems that move without bones are called muscular hydrostats, and they include those from very different animals – the human tongue, the octopus arm, and the whole nematode worm.”

The hydrostatic principle explains these movements. Their function is based on the resistance of fluids to compression. Squeezing in one part of a muscle exerts pressure on water in other parts of the muscle, forcing it to move.

The simple questions researchers are asking include what are the general principles of muscular hydrostat movement systems and how can we find the principles and then apply them to more conventional systems that do use bones?

Mather is a world-renowned authority on cephalopods – a category of boneless marine creatures that includes octupuses, squids and cuttle fish. As one of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s most accomplished and longest serving faculty members, she has taught thousands of undergraduates everything from child development to the psychology of aging, all the while maintaining a rigorous research program.

Mather’s focus in the investigation is to create an ethogram, or catalogue of all the things that an octopus can do when it moves.

“For instance, all their eight arms can explore the sea bottom separately, and the mantle around its internal organs can blow water out the funnel to propel the octopus through the water,” says Mather of the amazing creatures. “Each of hundreds of suction cups on the arms can hold, lift and let go. They are even able to untie knots in surgical silk, unscrew lids off jars and move through mazes. But there must be rules for how they can move. There must be different rules to run a muscle system that has no fixed skeleton, like the octopus, from the rules that run for a muscle system with a fixed skeleton.”

Dr. Khalil Iskarous, assistant professor of linguistics at USC Dornsife, and a principal investigator on the project, will work with Dr. Andrew Gracey, an associate professor of biological sciences, as they examine the nematode worm C. elegans. Their portion of the project will study the worm’s use of dopamine, a chemical released by nerve cells to send signals to other nerve cells. Iskarous wants to look for connections between dopamine signals in C. elegans to linguistic problems in humans, specifically the speech disorders associated with Parkinson’s disease.

Gracey says the interdisciplinary nature of the project is one of the reasons it is so intriguing.

“It’s a real challenge to compare multiple systems, and this has been a challenge in biology for a long time,” he says. “You don’t have to do this if you’re going to work on one organism, but if you’re working on more than one organism, you need to be speaking the same language and be using the same types of descriptors. We’re still scratching the surface on this.”

Portions of this story are courtesy of Richard Hoops and USC News. A full text of their story is available here.

A voyage of self-discovery

trevor.kenney — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 22:26:39 +0000

Joanne Peterson was initially disappointed when she learned how many classes she'd have to take before she could pursue her master's of counselling degree. Now, having just graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology (with distinction), she has a true appreciation for the breadth of her educational experience.

"When I learned I needed to complete 20 courses at the U of L before applying for my master's, I felt discouraged," says the 46-year-old Peterson, a mature student who returned to post-secondary school after being in the workforce for years. "But I can truly say that the undergraduate courses I have taken have taught me more about myself than I could ever have realized."

Aspiring to be a registered therapist, Peterson found herself in classes she would never have considered taking beforehand, such as neuroscience.

"I discovered I had a passion for learning about and understanding the brain and behaviour," she says. "Now, I can see it really benefitting my career as a therapist. I've enjoyed the process of learning and in doing so, I realize that the more I learn, the less I know. It is both humbling and exciting at the same time."

Joanne Peterson is learning more about herself than she'd ever imagined when she returned to school as a mature student.

Peterson immersed herself in the university experience, taking full advantage of the opportunities afforded her.

She took an applied study course that placed her as a volunteer at Martha's House, an independent living seniors' community, where she had the opportunity to study quality of life issues for seniors. Through that association, she was introduced to the Lethbridge Seniors' Forum and now is an active committee member.

Her applied study resulted in the creation of a series of four brochures that reflected quality of life topics most important to the residents of Martha's House. Packaged as a Navigation Guide for Seniors, the brochures are now being published and distributed by the City of Lethbridge.

This experience led Dr. Jennifer Mather (psychology) to encourage Peterson to write an honour's thesis (Seniors Views on Quality of Life), and she turned the difficult task into an excellent experience of self-discovery.

"She recognized my lack of confidence, even though I was carrying a very high GPA," says Peterson, who had to present her thesis to an audience of professors, administrators, fellow students and invited guests. "Without her encouragement, I don't believe I would have pushed myself to write a thesis and it turned out to be such a rewarding part of my university experience."

She was later invited to present her thesis findings to the boards of directors at St. Michael's Health Centre and the Green Acres Foundation.

Throughout her educational journey, Peterson saw time and again the supportive nature of U of L faculty and staff, something that was in stark contrast to her first post-secondary experience, years before at a much larger institution.

"In attending a smaller institution, my experience as a student was much more personal and hands-on than what I'd experienced when I attended the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta years back," she says. "The class sizes, particularly in the 3000 and 4000-level courses were often 20 to 40 students, allowing me to engage in discussions with my professors that greatly enhanced my learning. I also found the accessibility of my professors to be remarkable."

It's another reason why she will not hesitate to apply for the master's program.

"I intend to take this next year as a professional development year and seek work experience in the counselling field before applying for the 2014 cohort," she says. "The encouragement and advice I've been given from the Master's of Counselling program, particularly Dr. Blythe Shepard and Dr. Dawn McBride, has really made an impact in my continued pursuit of a career as a therapist."

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

��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

Dr. Zen makes his pitch

trevor.kenney — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 21:10:20 +0000

He's got a cool name, a quirky video, is plugged into social media and is looking for your support. It might not sound like a pitch for a scientific study but
Dr. Zen Faulkes (BSc '89) is like any other researcher – he's just found a new way to grab your attention.

Faulkes, an associate professor of biology at The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Texas-Pan American, has just concluded his second SciFund Challenge fundraising project through the crowd-funding site rockethub.com. On each occasion, Faulkes earned enough donated cash to fund his projects, which involve the behavioural characteristics of crayfish and sand crabs.

"It's a concept that every charity has been using for years," says Faulkes, whose interest in aquatic species was cultivated at the U of L by Dr. Jennifer Mather (psychology). "It's pretty simple, get everybody to kick in a small amount of cash and then pool the money for a common aid."

It's a model that has been adopted with great success by artists, and one that science is just beginning to test.

"It is an ideological change in that there has been some resistance to self promotion to people outside of your professional community," says Faulkes of the public pitch concept. "It's not a change in that pretty much every scientist is going to tell you the importance of self promotion, networking and getting your work out there. The only difference is a slight shift in target."

Dr. Zen Faulkes with one of his Amazon Crayfish.

Faulkes uses an Indiana Jones-themed video in one of his pitches (Doctor Zen and the Amazon Crayfish Civilization) and admits it is offbeat.

"It's goofy, quite intentionally so, but that's just me and I'm not pretending that my approach is going to be the right approach for everyone," he says, adding that people don't necessarily have to understand your science to fund it, rather they might just follow it because it's cool.

"That's something I think we have undervalued in the past. People will support stuff just because they think it's cool," he says. "I think that has been highly underestimated, the willingness of people to support things just because."

Originally from Lethbridge, Faulkes moved around a lot as a kid before eventually returning to take his undergraduate studies at the U of L. He credits Mather for setting him on his career path, when he simply expressed an interest in the pending arrival of some octopuses for one of her studies.

"I was just talking to her about class and she mentioned she was getting some octopuses in and I made the mistake of saying, "That sounds interesting", and suddenly the door closed behind me and before I knew what was going on, she had recruited me," he laughs.

She later nominated Faulkes for a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) grant and he was on his way. That opportunity to participate in research as an undergraduate student would shape his studies years later.

"I'm in a university that has, in some ways, a similar kind of mindset to the
U of L," says Faulkes. "It has graduate studies but is still mostly an undergraduate institution, and people wondered how I could conduct studies without doctoral students at my disposal. I told them I came from a place where you can work with undergraduate students and have a research career and you can do research that's the equal of any place in the world. That's one of the things I learned from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge."

Faulkes will head to Florida in November to conduct his research funded by the SciFund Challenge. His website at doctorzen.net details his studies, while his SciFund projects can be viewed at www.rockethub.com.

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

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