Four graduate students from the Faculty of Science have won prizes in the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Science Action video contest. After three rounds of competition, Erica Geldart, Sara Mechael, Katrina Switzer, and Ian Thomas were selected among the 15 national winners in an announcement by NSERC on Wednesday.

“I am honored that my video was chosen as one of the 15 finalists and I’m grateful to all of the people who watched the video,” said Switzer, a PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences. “It’s exciting to see our research reaching so many people.”

The annual Science Action competition offers graduate students a chance to showcase their research through dynamic 60-second videos.

“These short videos help to make science more accessible to a broad audience,” said Switzer, whose video focused on her doctoral studies of tropical toads. “My friends and family now have better understanding of exactly what it is that I study during my graduate degree.”

University of Windsor graduate students performed very well in the national competition.

“We had more entries in the semifinals than any other institution in Canada,” explained Dan Mennill, associate dean of graduate studies and research for the Faculty of Science. “We were very proud of all of these finalists and their supporting research teams.”

Forty videos were selected for public viewing. The 25 most-viewed videos then moved onto a juried competition. Four UWindsor finalists were selected as runners-up in the juried competition, and each of them will take home a $2,500 prize:

• Geldart for “Eider Run or Duck and Cover”
• Mecheal for “We, Robot”
• Switzer for “Yellow Toad Chorus”
• Thomas for “Songbird Vocal Culture”

“Graduate students in the Faculty of Science are outstanding researchers and exceptional communicators,” said Chris Houser, dean of science. “Their strong showing in this national competition highlights the innovative research being conducted by our graduate students.”

Her research and advocacy has earned doctoral candidate Jane McArthur a $2,500 US scholarship from Sociologists for Women in Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of feminist sociological theory.

A PhD student in sociology and social justice, McArthur studies understandings of breast cancer risks in female workers at the Ambassador Bridge. She said she was “beyond thrilled and so sincerely honoured” to learn she will receive the Barbara Rosenblum Cancer Dissertation Scholarship at an awards reception August 11 in New York.

“The stories of the women at the bridge are stories that deserve to be told and to be acted upon,” said McArthur. “I am glad to be a part of that knowledge sharing process, and to see that the research is recognized for its value and its contributions to the field.”

The scholarship honours the memory of a long-time member of Sociologists for Women in Society, who died in 1988. It is intended to encourage doctoral research in sociology, anthropology, psychology, and related fields on women’s experience of breast cancer — and to make this type of research accessible to the public through speaking and publishing for lay audiences.

In announcing the award, the judges noted her background in communications and commitment to education and advocacy:
“Though her work for improved well-being and justice has often had breast cancer as a focus, she also works through broader issues of health and well-being as they intersect with gender, race, class and inequalities in power, all with a view to empowerment and social change from the grassroots up through various levels of governance.”

McArthur’s video on her research has been chosen as one of 25 finalists in the national Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Storytellers competition. She will travel to British Columbia in June to present it before a live audience at the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

While the 1994 Rwandan genocide has become part of the world’s collective memory, the 2009 Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka has not, says UWindsor sociology professor Rudhramoorthy Cheran.

With law professor Sharry Aiken of Queen’s University, he has written an article on the subject published Friday in the Conversation, which shares news and views from the academic and research community.

Fifteen years after the killing of an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutu in Rwanda, another slaughter unfolded — this time in northern Sri Lanka. The protracted civil war between the national government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was coming to an end, with the United Nations Secretary General later estimating civilian deaths at 40,000 over the final five months of conflict.

Efforts to prosecute ringleaders in Rwanda were part of an ongoing attempt to promote reconciliation, an attempt Dr. Cheran contrasts with failed promises in Sri Lanka.

“Sri Lanka has repeatedly reneged on pledges to investigate and prosecute wartime atrocity crimes,” he writes. “So long as impunity and the failure to address the root causes of atrocity crimes continue in Sri Lanka, lasting peace will remain elusive.”

Read the entire piece, “Rwanda and Sri Lanka: A tale of two genocides,” in the Conversation.

The new head coach of Lancer men’s basketball brings with him over 15 years of experience coaching at the post-secondary level.

Chris Cheng served five years as the first-ever coach of men’s basketball at Nipissing University, building the program from the ground up. Previously, he was an assistant coach at York University and Humber College.

He is just the sixth head coach in the history of the UWindsor team, which he called one of the country’s premier programs.

“They have a rich tradition of success on the court, in the community, and with their alumni,” Cheng said. “I look forward to connecting and working with the current student-athletes, alumni, athletics and recreation staff, university faculty and administrators, and the Windsor community.”

Read the full story at goLancers.ca.

The Office of Open Learning is offering a free, open online course that explores non-traditional pedagogies and emerging technologies for online and hybrid teaching and learning.

“Exploring the Edges of Online Teaching and Learning” will start May 27 and run for seven weeks, with a break June 15 to 23 for Reading Week. The course will cover such topics as:

• theoretical foundations of online and blended learning designs,
• open pedagogy and open educational practices,
• ePortfolios for teaching and learning,
• a brief introduction to virtual and augmented reality, and
• a critical look at learning analytics.

The course is flexibly designed for busy faculty and graduate students, with asynchronous components and one synchronous, live class a week.

“I want instructors to experience, in a supportive learning community, different designs of online teaching and learning,” says instructor Nobuko Fujita, a learning specialist in the Office of Open Learning. “We will experiment with technologies, but the focus will be on ways to foster a more humanistic education online.”

The course counts towards the Certificate in Open and Online Learning offered by the Office of Open Learning. Graduates will be recognized at the annual Celebration of Teaching Excellence.

It is open to all UWindsor faculty and graduate students, who can register at: https://bit.ly/COOLworkshops.

Direct questions about the course or the Certificate in Open and Online Learning to Fujita at nfujita@uwindsor.ca or 519-253-3000, ext. 2105.

People with celiac disease experience an immune reaction to the consumption of gluten, a protein found in certain grains.

The May 2019 edition of Workplace Wellness E-Digest, published by the Department of Human Resources’ Office of Employee Engagement and Development, addresses many aspects of the disease, as well as non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

Articles explain the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of celiac disease; the spectrum of gluten-related disorders; and foods to avoid on a gluten-free diet. Read the Workplace Wellness E-Digest.