Two University of Windsor chemistry professors have won awards of $250,000 each to fund research into neutron generation and new drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

John Trant and Drew Marquardt are among the first researchers in the country to receive monies from the New Frontiers in Research Fund. The funding initiative, paid through the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, supports early-career researchers as they make new discoveries.

Both Marquardt and Trant received the maximum amount available to researchers in the newly-created fund.

In addition, UWindsor’s Charu Chandrasekera, executive of the Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods, will be working in conjunction with a colleague at the Université de Montréal on research into conducting chemical safety assessment without the use of animal testing. That research project was awarded a grant of more than $220,000 over two years.

Dr. Trant’s research will focus on designing peptide drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Current treatments for the painful disease suppress the entire immune system, leaving sufferers more susceptible to infection and cancer. Trant proposes combining chemistry with computer design, 3-D bioprinting, biology and biophysics to create custom-tailored drugs that block the molecular events that lead to rheumatoid arthritis.

Trant’s research — to be conducted in partnership with immunologists, chemists, and other researchers in Canada and Australia — holds the promise of finding a new way to treat all autoimmune diseases.

“I am extremely honoured to have received this competitive award and it will allow my team here at Windsor and our collaborators to begin to test our hypothesis,” Trant said.

Dr. Marquardt’s research is into designing a new, compact instrument to produce neutrons which are used across a variety of scientific disciplines to investigate industrial and biological materials without destroying or altering them. This new neutron source, which will use the reaction between a low-energy proton beam and light elements such as beryllium and lithium to produce neutrons, will be the first of its kind, and will give Canadian researchers an alternative to using costly neutron sources in other countries now that the NRU Reactor at Chalk River has been decommissioned.

For his research, Marquardt will partner with the physics laboratory, TRIUMF, Canada’s national particle accelerator centre.

“I spent most of my PhD at the neutron source in Chalk River, and it is a real honour to be leading a project that will usher in the next generation of neutron sources,” Marquardt said.

“Neutron techniques have a broad range of applications ranging from biology to the automotive industry and even art history,” Marquardt explained. “We have gathered a team of experts from different disciplines to guide the specifications and capabilities of this new technology.”

The grants, funding Marquardt and Trant’s research over two years, is part of a $38.3 million announcement made recently by Kirsty Duncan, federal minister of science and sport, to support 153 early career researchers.

“Our government’s vision is for our researchers to take risks and be innovative,” Duncan said. She said the funding will give Canadian scientists and students access to state-of-the-art laboratories and equipment.

Ted Hewitt, SSHRC president and head of the committee that co-ordinated the New Frontiers in Research Fund, said financial support will allow Canadian researchers to make new discoveries and innovations.

“As society evolves, so must our means of doing research. The New Frontiers in Research Fund is supporting leading-edge research and promoting ideas that would have traditionally been unsupported,” he said.

“Through this program, we are truly paving the way for our emerging researchers to expand their horizons, take risks, and deliver outcomes that will benefit Canadians.”

─Sarah Sacheli

Two UWindsor researchers have shown that the sun’s wrath can affect your nation’s pocketbook.

Economics professor Michael Batu and master’s student Zichun Zhao have found that solar activity has a small but statistically significant effect on world economies.

The gross domestic product of the 34 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development decreases as solar activity increases, Zhao and Dr. Batu have demonstrated. On average, GDP decreases by at least 0.06 per cent for every increase of one per cent in solar activity, according to their research.

The correlation is most acute in the information and communication sector where a one per cent increase in solar activity lowers production by 1.07 per cent.

“Our study contributes to the larger empirical literature on the social and economic effects of geophysical and meteorological phenomena,” said Batu.

“While the study of space weather is a rapidly growing field, academic work to assess its overall social and economic impacts is in its infancy.”

Space weather phenomena can interfere with broadcasting, telecommunications, navigation, and power distribution, Batu explained. This is especially true at northern latitudes, he said.

The study uses data on sunspots published by the Royal Observatory of Belgium as a measure of solar activity since sunspots are often accompanied by solar flares and coronal mass ejections which send charged particles hurtling toward Earth, causing geomagnetic storms. Such storms are known to cause power outages; disrupt satellite, radio, and cellular communications; and wreak havoc at airports leading to cancelled flights.

The study is entitled From Space to Earth: Economic Effects of Solar Activity. Batu said he came up with the idea for the paper last fall and he and Zhao began gathering data in December.

Batu submitted the paper for presentation at the Canadian Economics Association’s 53rd annual conference, May 31 to June 2. Thanks to the financial support from UWindsor’s department of economics, professor Christian Trudeau, and the Graduate Students Society, Zhao is accompanying Batu to the event in Banff, Alberta, to present the research.

Under Batu’s supervision, Zhao completed a major research paper on a subset of the data dealing with the impact of geomagnetic storms on Canada’s economy.

─ Sarah Sacheli

Mary Jo Haddad was installed as the eighth Chancellor of the University of Windsor during the first session of the University’s 111th Convocation, Tuesday in the St. Denis Centre.

Dr. Haddad (CM, LLD, MHSC, BSCN), former president and CEO of the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and recipient of a 2005 honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Windsor, serves as the titular head of the University and confers all degrees and diplomas on behalf of the Senate.

She called her first experience in the job an “indelible memory,” citing the pomp and ceremony of graduation.

“The thrill of the day was absolutely the students,” she said. “Shaking hands with so many incredibly talented, passionate, energized students was just an incredible delight and I look forward to many more years.”

Watch a video interview following her investiture:

Haddad succeeds Ed Lumley, who received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree and the title of Chancellor Emeritus on Tuesday. Convocation ceremonies continue through Friday. Find images from the event on the UWindsor Facebook page.

While it’s true that librarians surround themselves with books each day, Heidi Jacobs will now see her name among the spines in the stacks.

Dr. Jacobs, responsible for the English and history collections at the Leddy Library, shares the story of Molly MacGregor, a character she created nearly 20 years ago while working on her Ph.D. in English at the University of Nebraska, in her debut novel Molly of the Mall: Literary Lass and Purveyor of Fine Footwear.

Set in Edmonton in the 1990s, Molly of the Mall allowed Jacobs to tell a unique story about the city she grew up in.

“I started this story while living in the US, working with the Nebraska Writing Project — we had to write and share three to five pages a day, every day for six weeks and I came up with this character and this scenario,” said Jacobs. “My American colleagues were amused and entertained by my Canadian antics, so I kept writing it.”

In a labour of love, Jacobs slowly pecked away at Molly’s story as she established her career as an English teacher and then librarian, roles that aided her storytelling — interlacing meticulous research and references to 19th century literature and 1990s pop culture.

Holding the final product at last, she says, only one word comes to mind — incredulous: “I still find it hard to believe that it is finished.”

An official book launch will take place 1 p.m. Sunday, June 2, at Sandwich Brewing Co. located at 3232 Sandwich St.

—Marcie Demmans

A team of University of Windsor students is proposing a more reliable and cost-effective way to monitor contamination in Lake Erie.

Comprised of engineering and law students, the group has entered its idea in Erie Hack — a competition created by the Cleveland Water Alliance and the Creativity and Innovation Team at NASA Glenn Research Center in hopes of accelerating technology solutions to the lake’s most pressing problems.

One of these problems is hazardous algal blooms primarily caused by agricultural runoff. These blooms release harmful toxins, which result in loss of plant and fish life and increase water treatment costs. Monitoring these blooms is a critical part of the mitigation process, says environmental engineering PhD student Mohammad Madani.

“Current methods include satellite imaging, which often falls short as the data is low resolution, inflexible in sampling frequency and often affected by cloud and fog cover, restricting data availability for much of the year,” Madani says.

The UwinTeam is proposing the use of drone technology coupled with spectral imaging hardware and hydrodynamic modeling to provide high-resolution water quality intelligence. The results generated by machine learning algorithms can be analyzed by water quality professionals and used by policy makers, public stakeholders, and other research groups.

“Our method generates higher resolution photos, more frequent sampling and more flexible data collection for a fraction of the cost of traditional methods,” says Saranya Jeyalakshmi, a doctoral student in civil engineering. “Data collected can be coupled with current hydro dynamic and water quality models, increasing understanding of these water systems and allowing for breakthroughs in mitigation and management techniques.”

The team’s law student will examine aviation law, land use planning, environmental law, and international policy to ensure the process is feasible as a real-world solution.

Vote for the UwinTeam on the Erie Hack website. Learn more about their project in their submission video.

—Kristie Pearce

The circus was in town — and its medical team took the opportunity to stop by the University of Windsor for a quick workshop on anatomy.

Physiotherapists, coaches, and a performer from the circus troupe Cirque du Soleil reached out to human anatomy demonstrator Sara McNorton with a request for some hands-on experience.

“The medical team reaches out to local universities when they are in various cities,” says McNorton. “They like to see what the universities have to offer, and they use that opportunity for a refresher course on anatomy.”

Vincent Turpin, a physiotherapist with Cirque du Soleil, says visiting various universities helps the medical team reconnect with the basics that sometimes get lost or forgotten due to the consistent environment they experience at the circus.

“We always see the same sort of injuries,” says Turpin. “We’re always in the cirque environment and the circus world, and always working in the same environment. These opportunities allow us to make professional exchanges with other like-minded people.”

The team visited the University of Windsor campus May 16 and looked at specimens in the anatomy lab as well as the new virtual dissection table.

“One of the big takeaways of the virtual dissection table is that it allowed us to see through the eyes of a surgeon,” says Turpin. “We could open up a body and see inside without actually doing it. It is great that the University of Windsor has access to this type of technology, as it made it more engaging to learn hands-on through that sort of medium.”

McNorton says she feels fortunate to have been able to facilitate the experience.

“While the team enjoyed the virtual dissection table, they were super-engaged in the dissection specimens we have in the lab,” she says. “They were very interested in the differences I presented between humans and cats and were eager to put on a pair of gloves and do some exploring.”

The troupe performed in Windsor May 15 to 19 as part of the North American tour of its production “Corteo.”

—Darko Milenkovic

The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has appointed Windsor Law professor Myra Tawfik to serve on an expert panel on the commercialization of intellectual property generated by universities.

The panel will look at ways to:

• improve the innovation outcomes for the benefit of Ontario’s economy;
• promote the creation and commercialization of intellectual property;
• review current commercialization capacity inside Ontario’s postsecondary education sector; and
• recommend strategies for improved generation and commercialization of research and intellectual property.

It is to deliver a final report in December.

Professor Tawfik holds the position of Professor of Intellectual Property Commercialization and Strategy at the Entrepreneurship Practice and Innovation Centre (EPICentre), and has founded and led a number of intellectual property clinical initiatives at the University of Windsor.

“Intellectual property rights are the currency in a global innovation economy and this province is increasingly reliant on the commercialization of ideas to drive economic prosperity,” she says. “This panel will assess the current university innovation ecosystem in Ontario to provide meaningful and considered approaches to enhancing the IP commercialization process for public sector research and development.”

The panel will be chaired by Jim Balsillie, retired co-CEO of Research In Motion, now Blackberry.

Find more information on the Windsor Law website.

—Rachelle Prince

Students in the Odette School of Business’ Master of Management, Logistics, and Supply Chain Management program took a field trip to a farm last week — but they didn’t visit a field.

Instead, the group learned about the greenhouse operations of Mucci Farms, which grows fruits and vegetables in Kingsville.

Logistics manager Bryan Miller provided the students with an overview of his role, how logistics fits into the larger organization, and the use of technology throughout the supply chain.

“Learning from the failures will always make the supply chain strong,” Miller said.

The students also toured the warehouse, where produce is prepared to be shipped to various customers.

“It was a great opportunity for us to understand different aspects of logistics in a real environment,” said Master of Management student Shahab Taheri.

Annual preventative maintenance will require an outage of electrical and steam services to campus on the weekend, reports Facility Services.

The electrical outage will disable card access, elevators, lighting, air conditioning, and all power supply and is scheduled for 12 hours, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 1. The following buildings will be inaccessible for this period: Education Building, Health Education Centre, Medical Education Building, Law Building, Chrysler Hall Tower Complex, Lambton Tower, Erie Hall. Find details in this document: Power Outage for Selected Buildings- Saturday, June 1, 2019, 6:00am-6:00pm.

The steam outage will also disable hot water and heating and cooling systems. It is scheduled to begin at noon Friday, May 31, and run through 6 p.m. Sunday, June 2. The shutdown will disrupt most campus buildings, with the exceptions of the Centre for Automotive Research and Education, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, Centre for English Language Development, maintenance and grounds buildings, and those located downtown. Find details in this document: Campus Wide Steam Outage, Friday, May 31 to Sunday, June 2, 2019, 12:00pm - 6:00pm.