Lurking in the depths of the Great Lakes are massive “living fossils” that have been a vital part of the ecosystem for millions of years, but due to human intervention, have long been considered at risk.

That’s why Master of Science student Olivia Galloway is focusing her research on lake sturgeon. These prehistoric, scaleless fish are the largest freshwater fish in Canada, growing up to two metres long and weighing up to 200 pounds. She is working to improve their environment and help reintroduce these “dinosaurs” back into their habitats.

“We’re experimenting with different methods to enhance survival rates,” Galloway explained. “Right now, there are programs focused on raising juvenile fish in hatcheries and releasing them into the Great Lakes, but unfortunately, many do not survive. So, our goal is to find ways to enhance these reintroduction programs.”

Galloway, whose work is carried out in the Pitcher Lab at the Great Lakes Institute of Environmental Research (GLIER), explained that for hundreds of years, human pressures have contributed significantly to the issues facing these fish and their habitat. Overharvesting, the construction of dams, pollution, and climate change have all led to the decline of these important fish.

“Overfishing posed a large issue several hundred years ago, with fish being caught from the water despite being considered undesirable for consumption,” she said. “Additionally, the construction of dams has significantly fragmented the sturgeon’s habitat, obstructing their migration from lakes to rivers where they spawn.”

Galloway’s work lies in determining the best rearing environment for the hatchery and how it may influence their growth. For example, by adding rocks to the tanks, she is mimicking the natural riverbeds, such as those in the Detroit River, where sturgeon typically live and spawn.

“We're trying to see if by making it a little more natural in the hatchery, they will have better chances of survival afterward. While I haven’t seen any concrete results yet, they are growing, which is good news,” Galloway said.

This work is part of a larger international collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“The goal is to eventually release them and see how they fare. If we find that adding structures to their habitat helps them, we can inform our partners who manage sturgeon hatcheries and hopefully boost their survival rate. Right now, only about one per cent survive once they’ve been released.”

Preserving Living Fossils

Sturgeon have been a part of the ecosystem for millions of years, and in that time, their body plan has remained largely unchanged, Galloway said.

“They haven’t evolved much because their existing traits suit them well,” she noted. “If you were to examine fossils of sturgeon from the past, they would closely resemble present-day sturgeon because they are resilient fish. They’ve existed for a very long time, and our goal is to ensure their continued survival for even longer.”

Sturgeon have a sort of vacuum mouth and gather their food from the bottom of the river or lake, transferring that energy up to the top. They also eat invasive species such as gobies and mussels and are considered a “keystone species” in the Detroit River.

“Essentially the ecosystem can’t really live without them,” Galloway said. “That’s why we’re concerned about them potentially going extinct.”

These ancient fish are not only key to the Great Lakes environment but also hold special cultural significance to the Indigenous peoples of the area.

“Lake sturgeon served as a food source and has also been included in stories and special ceremonies,” she explained.

Professor Trevor Pitcher, who established and runs the Freshwater Restoration Ecology Centre at GLIER, said since these important fish have been around for so long, we don’t know what the ecosystem would look like without them.

“This is a six-foot animal that lives 100 years; it’s the closest thing to touching dinosaurs,” Dr. Pitcher said. “These sturgeons are so old, they were swimming around when your grandparents were born.”

Navigating the Waters

Galloway has long had an interest in these dinosaurs of the Great Lakes. Ever since she was given a book highlighting the life cycle of white sturgeon and their status as an at-risk species, she was hooked on the “iconic fish.”

As an undergraduate, Galloway had the opportunity to work with at-risk turtles at Parks Canada, prompting her passion for species at risk and launching her path toward a career as a conservation biologist.

She said she “got her hands dirty” working in conservation for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for a while, sparking her to continue her studies at the Pitcher Lab, which explores evolutionary biology, reproductive ecology, and conservation biology using fish from the Great Lakes basin as well as both the east and west coasts of Canada.

“It’s the most well-known lab in Ontario for aquatic research. So, I reached out to Dr. Pitcher, the expert on all things fish, and asked if we could get sturgeon. He said, ‘We can make that happen,’ and with help from our partners at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we now have 200 baby sturgeon,” Galloway said. “It’s been a dream come true since then.”

Pitcher said he and those at the lab have been working with their U.S. partners for quite some time, realizing they had to do something and couldn’t keep watching the sturgeon populations dwindle. They joined a program to supplement the fish and reintroduce them; however, they weren’t surviving.

“So, we get on the boats with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. I bring Olivia or other grad students with me, and they come on the boat with no experience, but we train them how to safely work with adult sturgeon, how to collect the eggs, and how to do all the work from scratch. The best part is they get in-field science lessons and hands-on experience,” he said.

From there, Galloway continues her work to finesse the sturgeon’s environment to determine best practices to keep them thriving and give them the best opportunity for survival once reintroduced, which Pitcher said will make waves far beyond this project.

“The research itself is important,” he said. “But what I think is unusual about her work is that it’s not just cool science that she’ll produce and publish, but it changes the way they do business in terms of policy and how they will release the fish in the future. It’s being applied almost immediately after she finishes her work in the real world. She’s doing fundamental science that federal agencies will apply right away.”

As part of her thesis, Galloway will be releasing the sturgeon this week with the Wildlife Service using hard- and soft-release strategies.

Securing the Future

The researchers at GLIER are taking an active part in not only protecting sturgeon but also other species at risk and educating the public about them. According to Pitcher, freshwater species are in more trouble than those living in our oceans but don’t get the same attention.

“They call it the ‘invisible collapse’ as the freshwater systems are falling apart to some extent, much faster than the marine system, but they don’t get the same attention because marine ecology, sharks, and orca whales are very attractive to people,” he explained.

And the unique thing about Windsor-Essex, Pitcher said, is that it’s surrounded by the most at-risk set of freshwater fishes in the country.

“In the River Canard, for example, we have these things called pugnose minnows, and the only large population in Canada that’s sustainable is right there,” he said. “And of course, we have the lake sturgeon in the river and lakes, all right in our own backyard.”

Seeing the need to protect these and many other species is what prompted Pitcher to establish his lab in the Windsor area nearly two decades ago.

“We’re doing things that nobody else is really doing, and we’ve been mapping this out for years,” he said.

“Since I work to take species off the endangered or at-risk list, the irony is my goal is to work myself out of a job.”

While there’s still much to be done, he said he is working to lay the groundwork for the future generation, getting researchers like Galloway and other talented students ready to take on this important work.

“When you talk about species at risk, it’s important to recognize these are multi-generational problems. This isn’t something that will be solved in the next five or 10 years. It’s the next 25 to 30 years,” Pitcher said. “I’m actively recruiting students who are passionate about these questions, providing them with the necessary skills and access to equipment that’s not available elsewhere in Canada. That way, they get the experience they need to get hired by agencies to help solve these problems.”

To learn more about GLIER and the ways its researchers are contributing to the protection of our water systems, visit uwindsor.ca/glier.

An agreement with the University of Windsor will give students of the Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board access to the Toldo Lancer Centre and adjacent facilities.

Under the conditions of the agreement, Catholic schools across Windsor-Essex will be able to use at reduced rates — based on availability — the track and courts in the fieldhouse, the multipurpose room, the gymnasium, and the pool, from September to June. It will also allow them to use the stadium, including the turf field, the track, and the grass soccer fields, in the spring and the fall.

“This agreement will help us fulfill our commitment to our students to promote their well-being, while providing them with access to such beautiful learning environments like the $73 million Toldo Lancer Centre,” said WECDSB director of education Emelda Byrne.

In return, the university will have access to gym facilities at Assumption College and Holy Names high schools when the Lancer Centre is being used for Convocation ceremonies, as well as in the evening and on weekends between Oct. 1 and June 15. The agreement also allows for the University to use athletic fields at Assumption from May 15 to Oct. 31.

Linda Rohr, dean of the Faculty of Human Kinetics, said the reciprocal arrangement will benefit both partners.

“This agreement confirms our ongoing commitment to fostering strong local relationships by creating opportunities for our wcommunity and the University to engage with and benefit from each other,” she said. “We are happy to welcome students and educators to our campus and the Toldo Lancer Centre.”

Swim, lift, bike or play, the Lancer Centre invites community members to join in for a week of free access to all types of physical activity.

In collaboration with partners throughout Southwestern Ontario, the athletics department is a participating member of “In Motion Week,” which will see recreation facilities opening their doors and encouraging community members to get active, Oct. 1 to 7.

As its contribution, the Toldo Lancer Centre is offering free one-day facility passes; recreational swims from 7:15 to 9:15 p.m. Oct. 2, 4, and 7, and 1 to 4 p.m. Oct. 5; and access to all Lancer Fit programs for the week.

Find details on the Lancer Recreation website.

Over the last three years, SMArt Communications Masterclasses have been educating students on artistic ways to communicate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics. Now it is time to showcase the creative works of participants.

The SMArt Communications exhibition, entitled “Creating Connections: SMArt Communications Masterclasses,” will have an opening reception on Wednesday, Oct. 2, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the SoCA Gallery in the Armouries. The exhibition is co-curated by UWindsor graduate students Grace Dycha (BSc 2022) and Robyn-Jean Susko (BASc 2023).

“Overall, we are hoping to focus on showcasing the fantastic work that participants have created in these classes, as well as highlight the importance of the interconnectedness of art and science,” says Dycha, master’s student in integrative biology.

The hands-on workshops launched virtually in 2021 with the aim of building and enhancing students’ ability to communicate STEM topics through various artistic mediums. In addition to being held in person, the 2024 workshops were opened to students and members of the public and included collaborations with several community partners, including Art Windsor Essex, JEM farms, and future partner, the Windsor International Film Festival.

“In collaboration with science and engineering faculty, masterclasses are created by professors in FAHSS and teach participants how to use artistic and creative skills to enhance their communication of STEM topics,” says Dycha.

“With the guidance of professors from various fields, participants produce creative, science communication-themed pieces of artwork.”

Three faculties came together to create the workshops: science, engineering, and arts, humanities and social sciences. It received support from first a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grant and later a one-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) program called the Connection Grant.

The culmination of work generated in these masterclasses in the fields of music, creative writing, drama, visual arts, creative ecologies, and film, will be on display for a week.

“This exhibit is intended to remind observers that each discipline cannot work at its full potential without the other,” Dycha says.

“We welcome guests to explore artworks created by masterclass participants and journey through SMArt Communications Masterclasses as they have transformed throughout the years.”

The project team is led by School of Creative arts instructor Jaclyn Meloche, as well as associate dean of science Dora Cavallo-Medved, Incubator lab director Jennifer Willet, engineering learning specialist Lisa Salfi, and experiential learning specialist Michelle Bondy in the Faculty of Science, along with four student research assistants.

UWindsor nursing alumna Nancy Edwards (BScN 1974) worked as a community health nurse in the west African country of Sierra Leone for five years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

She chronicles a journey that is both poignant and humorous in her solo show Rethinking Good Intentions, which she will perform during the 50th reunion of her graduating class, Oct. 3 in the SoCA Armouries.

Edwards, now based in Ottawa, shares stories both poignant and humorous of how her experiences in villages of Africa rattled her cultural preconceptions, provoked her notions of social privilege, and forever deepened her global connections.

With the patient guidance of local mentors, she adjusted to life and field-work realities and rethought the delivery of preventive maternal and child health services. The play is filled with stories about Edwards’ initially blundered and then inspired encounters with village chiefs, traditional birth attendants, and subsistence farmers.

She has performed it at five fringe festivals this summer and will bring it for a free presentation at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Armouries’ Performance Hall. Register here to attend.

The nursing class of 1974 reunion runs Oct. 3 to 5.

Admitting rap lyrics as evidence of criminality should be the exception rather than the norm in court cases, says UWindsor law professor David Tanovich, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

His research on the phenomenon of putting rap on trial was considered by a Toronto judge to exclude lyrics by drill rapper Top 5, who was charged in 2021 with first degree murder. The Crown’s case rested largely on his rap lyrics which they say supported their theory that the killing was gang related and involved Top 5. Prosecutors suspended their case after the judge would not allow the rap videos to be used as evidence.

In his 2016 article, “Rethinking the Admissibility of Rap Lyrics in Criminal Cases”, Prof. Tanovich warned of the dangers of assuming that rap lyrics, which are often grounded in an attempt to be “authentic” or to document life on the streets, are autobiographical. He also warned of the dangers of wrongful convictions and unfair trials given that rap lyrics are likely to be over-valued by a jury and they may trigger or reinforce stereotypical assumptions about Black men given the systemic nature of anti-Black racism in Canada.

Commenting on the case this past weekend in a Toronto Star feature on the issue, Tanovich noted that the recent decision did not alter the legal landscape as it relates to the admissibility of rap lyrics. What he says is significant about the decision is the care the trial judge took in assessing the relevance of the evidence and the sensitivity he showed in giving effect to the inherent prejudicial effect of admitting rap lyrics as evidence.

According to Tanovich, Top 5’s case is one of the unfortunately rare cases where rap lyrics have been excluded in criminal cases.

“All too often in Canada and the United States, this evidence receives insufficient scrutiny at the admissibility stage,” says Tanovich. “Admissibility should be the exception not the norm. My hope is that the decision will begin the much needed process of bringing an end to rap on trial.”

Ed Tech Magazine has recognized Nick Baker, director of the Office of Open Learning, as one of the Higher Ed IT influencers to follow in 2024.

The publication is dedicated to exploring the intersection of technology and education and has a worldwide audience. Its list spotlights individuals for “lending their voices to promote the continued adoption and integration of technology.”

Erika Kustra, UWindsor associate vice-president academic, extended congratulations to Baker.

“Nick is an internationally recognized advocate for educational technology,” she noted. “The editors selected him based on his industry knowledge and the leadership he shares online.”

Baker has been director of the Office of Open Learning since 2012. In that time, he has contributed expertise in digitally enabled, online, and open learning to his efforts advancing equitable access for students, staff, and faculty.

UWindsor researchers are invited to an Oct. 3 presentation on high-performance, advanced and cloud research computing facilities and services available to the campus.

The presentation will be by Paul Preney, UWindsor’s on-campus SHARCNET staff person who offers support to researchers for its high-performance, advanced, storage and cloud computing needs.

The University of Windsor is a founding member of SHARCNET, the Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network, a consortium of 19 Ontario academic institutions, which provides high performance computing clusters, storage, and cloud resources and services to its researchers. SHARCNET is also part of Compute Ontario which is part of the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (formerly Compute Canada). Collectively these organizations work together to seamlessly provide Canadian researchers access to compute clusters, storage, and clouds.

Thursday’s presentation will introduce and explain these facilities and services, and how they can be accessed and used by researchers and their students.

The presentation will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. in Workshop Room 239 on the second floor of the Joyce Entrepreneurship Centre. Registration is not required.

Students, faculty, and staff are invited to the 18th annual Celebration of Teaching Excellence scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 9, in the CAW Student Centre’s Alumni Auditorium, with presentations beginning at 4:30 p.m.

The celebration, jointly hosted by the Office of the Provost and the Centre for Teaching and Learning, will highlight the achievements and initiatives of faculty who have received international, national, and cross-campus awards.

Those wishing to attend are encouraged to register by visiting the CTL’s registration system.

When signing up for new online accounts, you might be a prime target for cyber threats.

Protect yourself by choosing strong, unique passwords for each account. Never re-use passwords across different platforms. Whenever possible, enable multifactor authentication — it may seem like an extra step, but it’s a critical layer of defense against hackers who want to access your private information.

For more details on keeping your passwords secure, visit Information Technology Services’ password care webpage.

Remember, cybersecurity is a shared responsibility. By following these practices, you not only safeguard your own online presence but also help protect the Lancer community. In early 2024, the University of Windsor implemented mandatory cybersecurity training for all faculty, staff, post doctoral fellows, adjunct professors, sessional instructors, and student employees. If you have not completed the mandatory training, do so by Oct. 31.

Stay alert and take control of your digital security.

Led by Information Technology Services, Cybersecurity Awareness Month efforts highlight electronic data safety issues relevant to the UWindsor community. Find helpful resources at uwindsor.ca/cybersecurity.

Suzanne McMurphy will lead the Office of Research Ethics and the Research Ethics Board, addressing outstanding queries and related matters.

A member of the REB since 2010, Dr. McMurphy brings 26 years of experience in research ethics across Canada, the United States, and internationally. She previously served as REB chair from 2016 to 2022 and again from 2023 to 2024.

As interim chair, McMurphy will prioritize an initiative to examine the REB’s governance and oversight, focusing on its organizational structure, leadership, education, and succession planning to enhance the support provided to the research community.

She plans to establish a committee dedicated to addressing outstanding applications and developing a restructuring plan for the REB, ensuring a more efficient process for the research community.