A pair of students from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry want their fellow undergraduate researchers to show off their contributions at the next Canadian Society for Chemistry Conference and Exhibition (CSC 2025).

Liz Sylvestre and Jonathan Houser are co-chairs of a new symposium taking place for the first time at CSC 2025: “Emerging Scholars.”

“The idea is to promote undergraduate research,” says Houser, a biochemistry major.

“We’re encouraging undergraduates from across Canada and the U.S. to present their work and show how that has helped them academically as well how it has helped their supervisor’s research program.”

Participants will have an opportunity to present their research, attend a panel discussion, and network with fellow undergraduates as well as with professors and industry representatives.

Both students work in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry’s Trant Team lab run by Prof. John Trant, and attended the 2024 conference in Winnipeg where they won prizes for their research posters.

“At CSC 2024 there were only 60 undergraduates out of 1,300 attendees,” says Sylvestre, a biomedical sciences and biochemistry health stream major. “We’re trying to make a place for undergraduates at the CSC to have our own symposium to present our work without feeling daunted by more senior researchers.”

As a synthetic carbohydrate chemist, Sylvestre is looking at improving storage methods for organ transplants.

“You can freeze organs without a problem, but the way that you thaw it, and the way the ice crystals interact with the water, breaks the organ’s cells and ruins the organ.

“If we can stop that ice recrystallization mechanism with the product I’m making, then we can freeze organs and successfully thaw them. This means organs can be stored for longer and transported over greater distances, in effect increasing the number of organs available for life-saving transplants.”

Houser says he works with peptide-nanoparticle conjugates that target the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein.

“It’ll be used as an antiviral for COVID. It’s comprised of a peptide that is known to bind to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and a nanoparticle that can create local heating to denature the virus when exposed to an alternating magnetic field — basically nuking it.”

Teams of students at universities across the country are helping the co-chairs with organization, funding, and publicity. In Windsor, the Science Meets Art (SMArt) group will design the poster promoting the event.

“Ultimately we want to encourage professors to take undergraduate students into their lab,” says Sylvestre.

“Some universities don’t support undergraduate research the way UWindsor does,” Houser adds. “Because we’ve been so lucky to have this opportunity we want to show professors — and undergraduates — at other universities that we can make meaningful contributions to research and they should take undergraduates into their labs.”

Emerging Scholars: Showcasing the Contribution of Undergraduate Research to Canadian Chemistry will launch at CSC 2025, which runs June 15 to 19 in Ottawa. Abstract submissions are open through Jan. 30, 2025.

Samira Nariman and Ashley Pagliarella, both PhD candidates interested in exploring academic leadership, had the unique opportunity to spend a day with provost Robert Aguirre as part of the Career Centre’s Job Shadow Program, an experiential learning initiative.

Experiential learning is foundational to the University of Windsor student experience, and a great preparation for life after university, said Dr. Aguirre.

“At the core is the time-honoured idea of learning by doing. Job shadow gives students a privileged opportunity to see and understand how work is actually done — the considerations, contexts, and accountabilities for work, as well as its nuts and bolts,” he said. “The job shadow program gives our students windows into worlds they may otherwise never have a chance to see up close.”

The students observed Aguirre’s day-to-day responsibilities, participated in discussions around strategic academic initiatives, and gained insight into the critical role the Office of the Provost plays in shaping the University’s academic mission and student success.

Nariman said the experience helped her gain a deeper understanding of academic leadership and the responsibilities.

“It inspired me in my career path, giving me a new perspective on how university administration functions to create impactful changes,” she said.

Reflecting on her experience, Pagliarella said that it helped her focus on future professional development activities so that she is prepared when it comes time to start applying for a faculty position.

“The insight and resources shared with me will help me to achieve my future career aspirations,” she said.

Students interested in participating in the Job Shadow Program can look forward to the winter experience, set to take place during reading week in February 2025.

As co-ordinator of the annual Children’s Aid Society Holiday Program for the Odette School of Business, Linda Ingram always requested the largest family possible.

The program — a tradition on the UWindsor campus — collects gifts to bring joy to local children in need.

“Some years, we would include an independent youth, since we collected such a large amount,” recalls Ingram, who took on the volunteer task in 2011. “In every year we collected $900 to $1,100 from faculty and staff, although last year I made an e-transfer option available and collected $1,762.”

Secretary to the associate deans of business, she will retire at the end of this month — and says collecting for the adopted family will be one of the things she misses.

“Some people really enjoy shopping, especially those of us who don’t have little ones in our families anymore,” Ingram says. “I particularly always enjoyed buying something that the family would never buy for themselves.

“If there is at least one young child, I usually include the biggest teddy bear I could find. Can you just imagine the excitement Christmas morning? I always pause on Christmas day and try to imagine the kids finding things they were dreaming of.”

Aimee Robertson, secretary in the Odette Student Success Centre, will take up the reins as Ingram retires.

There is still time for departments and individuals to sign up to participate, says campus effort co-ordinator Sabina Howell.

“Anyone wanting that warm glow that Linda describes can help a local family or youth by getting a wish list and making some wishes come true,” she says.

Email Howell at Sabina.Howell@uwindsor.ca to indicate interest. Items must be delivered to the Welcome Centre on Dec. 10.

A group of students supervised by professor Dave Andrews in the Faculty of Human Kinetics aims to understand just how frequently head impacts occur during youth hockey games.

Besides the potential to prevent or mitigate brain injury, the project is giving the students experience in research: from conceptualizing a study to reviewing literature to working with data.

It all started during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Dr. Andrews.

“All the research in my lab requires human participants, so we needed to find ways that we could still study athletes while respecting social distancing. A group of undergraduate students, working as part of the Head Impact Research Team in the biomechanics lab, came up with some innovative ways of building on previous head impact research,” he says, mostly in football.

The team begin observing and videorecording hockey games at the Atlas Tube Recreation Centre, tracking every head impact and how they occur — whether they involve the head hitting ice, the boards, or other players.

The next step in the research is to quantify head velocities prior to and following impact, which gives an estimate of impact severity, Andrews says. He is also exploring ways to track player kinematics using technology such as GPS and cameras that use artificial intelligence.

“One day we’d like to work directly with players who are on the receiving end of the impacts we measure, so we can document concussive symptoms and correlate them to biomechanical variables such as head velocity and impact type,” says Andrews.

Learn more in the full article, “Taking aim at head impacts,” published in the Research and Innovation in Action report.

Operations have returned to normal at the University of Windsor following a temporary power outage that affected the campus on Monday afternoon.

All essential systems are now back online.

The University extends its gratitude to Facility Services and Information Technology Services (ITS) for their immediate response and efforts to restore power and services.

The cause of the outage is still under investigation.

Students affected by Monday’s class cancellations or exam postponements are encouraged to contact their instructors directly for further information.

As a reminder, the University encourages all members of the campus community to sign up for UWindsor Alert, the official alert notification system, to stay informed during situations that may impact campus operations and safety.

More than 60 student from across campus took on the role of delegates to the UWill Discover Model United Nations, Nov. 2 in the Ron W. Ianni Faculty of Law Building. Participants submitted position papers and networked and engaged in deliberative dialogues similar to what would be used at a UNICEF meeting.

Tim Brunet, chair of the UWill Discover Sustainable Futures project, said he was “delighted” to see students share a Saturday afternoon among peers interested in learning United Nations practices.

"In a world where so many follow prescriptions of what to say, what to do, and how to listen, this exercise brings participants to be better listeners, better advocates, and better human beings," Dr. Brunet said.

Before the event began, students heard from guest speaker Joe Comartin (BA 1968, LLB 1971), who represented the riding of Windsor-Tecumseh in the Canadian Parliament from 2000 to 2015 and served as consul general of Canada in Detroit from 2018 to 2022.

Delegate Elizabeth Spiridon called the event an unforgettable experience.

“Participating in my first Model UN competition was an amazing journey,” she said. “It pushed me to think critically, speak confidently, and productively collaborate with peers representing countries around the world.”

• At the conclusion of the conference, delegations winning special notice included:
• 1st overall: Kieran Narang, Alistair Parikh, representing the United Kingdom
• 2nd overall: Sohila Sidhu, representing Lesotho
• 3rd overall: Abhilaksh Abhilaksh, representing Italy
• Best position paper: Ricky Simpson III and Katie Savage, representing Singapore
• Best delegate: Matthew Livingstone and Elizabeth Spiridon, representing Georgia

Next up for the UWill Discover Sustainable Futures project is the call for proposals for the annual conference. Learn more at uwindsor.ca/uwilldiscover.

The Print Shop now offers high-quality UWindsor lanyards, available for purchase at just $5 each. Perfect for carrying keys, ID badges, or keeping track of your UwinCARD, these lanyards are a convenient and stylish way to show your Lancer pride. 

If you’re looking to order in bulk — whether for a department, student organization, or event — contact the Print Shop for special pricing options on larger orders. 

Visit the Print Shop to pick up your lanyard or email printshop@uwindsor.ca to learn more about bulk pricing.