This year鈥檚 awards were  by the Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Fran莽ois-Philippe Champagne. The awards are among 156 new or renewed CRCs at 36 institutions across Canada.

Alan Corbiere and Christina Sharpe are the two newly appointed CRCs at 91亚色, while the CRC appointments of Christopher Kyriakides and Sean Tulin have been renewed as part of the announcement.

鈥淲e are grateful to the Government of Canada for once again investing in the groundbreaking research being done at 91亚色,鈥� said 91亚色 President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton. 鈥淭he new CRC appointments of Alan Corbiere and Christina Sharpe will deepen our knowledge and understanding of the Indigenous and Black communities in Canada, and the renewed appointments of Christopher Kyriakides and Sean Tulin will help us answer important questions from refugee reception to the nature of dark matter. At 91亚色, we believe in the power of using research, scholarship, and dialogue to create social and economic impact, and these investments from the Government of Canada will allow us to continue to drive positive change here in Canada and around the world.鈥�

鈥淭he CRC program supports some of the most important and exciting research currently being undertaken at 91亚色. I congratulate professors Corbiere, Kyriakides, Sharpe and Tulin on this major accomplishment,鈥� said Vice-President Research and Innovation Amir Asif. 鈥淭he range of research areas represented in 91亚色鈥檚 CRCs 鈥� from Indigenous history to particle physics 鈥� speaks to the tremendous diversity at 91亚色 and provides recognition and resources to our star researchers to maintain research excellence.鈥�

Alan Corbiere, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous History of North America

There has been an increase in history publications adopting an 鈥淚ndigenous perspective鈥� based upon colonial documents. Yet many Anishinaabe elders state that their story is still not being fully told because their oral traditions and languages are not the main source nor medium. Anishinaabe conceptualizations of time, toponymy, history, historicity, literacy, orality, mnemonics and discourse have not been fully analyzed nor incorporated. Corbiere, an assistant professor in the Department of History in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS), proposes to 鈥渞e-right鈥� and 鈥渞e-write鈥� Indigenous history by privileging oral traditions, Anishinaabemowin and material culture (museum collections) while reinterpreting colonial records, weaving these sources together to the purpose of language/cultural/knowledge revitalization.

Christina Sharpe, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Black Studies in the Humanities

As Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Black Studies in the Humanities, Sharpe, who is professor in the Department of Humanities (LA&PS), will create a fulsome and vibrant research hub, rich with innovative research creation practices and projects. The program will convene the Black Still Life Research Group as a new model of study bringing together established and emerging Black studies scholars, graduate students, and visual and performing artists whose work investigates the myriad ways Black life is made and lived. Through collaborative, theoretical and community-based research methods, the program will explore interdisciplinary ways of knowing and acting to generate scholarly and creative outcomes in Black studies knowledges.

Christopher Kyriakides, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Citizenship, Social Justice and Ethno-Racialization

An associate professor in the Department of Sociology (LA&PS), Kyriakides' 鈥淩acialized Reception Contexts鈥� research program focuses on configurations of racialization in relation to the meaning of 鈥淓ast/West,鈥� 鈥淪outh/North,鈥� and articulations of racism and nationalism in the reception of refugees in Europe, North America and the Middle East. His research is guided by the understanding that racialization, particularly in light of the post-9/11 鈥渨ar on terror,鈥� works with the historical conditions of racism specific to a given national formation, but in a dynamic global context. The initial five-country analysis, which includes Canada, the United States, Italy, Greece and Jordan, will examine the extent to which policy instruments and media discourses related to the 鈥済lobal refugee crisis鈥� negatively impact racialized communities in each reception context.

Sean Tulin, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Particle Physics and Cosmology

The existence of dark matter is one of the universe鈥檚 great mysteries. All stars, planets and interstellar gas are made from atoms, and yet atomic matter represents only 15 per cent of the total matter in the universe. The remaining 85 per cent is dark matter. Dark matter provides the cosmic foundation for galaxies to form, but its microphysical properties remain unknown. Tulin, an astrophysicist and associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Faculty of Science, is researching new directions toward discovering dark matter鈥檚 elusive particle nature. By combining astrophysics, particle theory and cosmology, he is developing new ideas to illuminate dark matter鈥檚 particle dynamics through its effect on cosmic structure.

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This year鈥檚 awards were  by the Hon. Fran莽ois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and are among 156 new or renewed CRCs at 36 institutions across Canada.

Alan Corbiere and Christina Sharpe are the two newly appointed CRCs at 91亚色, while the CRC appointments of Christopher Kyriakides and Sean Tulin have been renewed as part of today鈥檚 announcement.

鈥淲e are grateful to the Government of Canada for once again investing in the groundbreaking research being done at 91亚色,鈥� said 91亚色 President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton. 鈥淭he new CRC appointments of Alan Corbiere and Christina Sharpe will deepen our knowledge and understanding of the Indigenous and Black communities in Canada, and the renewed appointments of Christopher Kyriakides and Sean Tulin will help us answer important questions from refugee reception to the nature of dark matter. At 91亚色, we believe in the power of using research, scholarship, and dialogue to create social and economic impact, and these investments from the Government of Canada will allow us to continue to drive positive change here in Canada and around the world.鈥�

鈥淭he CRC Program supports some of the most important and exciting research currently being undertaken at 91亚色. I congratulate Professors Corbiere, Kyriakides, Sharpe and Tulin on this major accomplishment,鈥� said Vice-President Research & Innovation Amir Asif. 鈥淭he range of research areas represented in 91亚色鈥檚 CRCs 鈥� from Indigenous history to particle physics 鈥� speaks to the tremendous diversity at 91亚色 and provides recognition and resources to our star researchers to maintain research excellence.鈥�

Alan Corbiere, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous History of North America

There has been an increase in history publications adopting an 鈥淚ndigenous perspective鈥� based upon colonial documents. Yet many Anishinaabe elders state that their story is still not being fully told because their oral traditions and languages are not the main source nor medium. Anishinaabe conceptualizations of time, toponymy, history, historicity, literacy, orality, mnemonics and discourse have not been fully analysed nor incorporated. Assistant Professor Alan Corbiere proposes to 鈥渞e-right鈥� and 鈥渞e-write鈥� Indigenous history by privileging oral traditions, Anishinaabemowin and material culture (museum collections) while re-interpreting colonial records, weaving these sources together to the purpose of language/cultural/ knowledge revitalization.

Christina Sharpe, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Black Studies in the Humanities

As Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Black Studies in the Humanities, Professor Christina Sharpe will create a fulsome and vibrant research hub, rich with innovative research creation practices and projects. The program will convene the Black Still Life Research Group as a new model of study bringing together established and emerging Black Studies scholars, graduate students, and visual and performing artists whose work investigates the myriad ways Black life is made and lived. Through collaborative, theoretical and community-based research methods, the program will explore interdisciplinary ways of knowing and acting to generate scholarly and creative outcomes in Black Studies knowledges.

Christopher Kyriakides, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in CRC in Citizenship, Social Justice and Ethno-Racialization

Kyriakides' 'Racialized Reception Contexts' research program focuses on configurations of racialization in relation to the meaning of 鈥淓ast/West,鈥� 鈥淪outh/North鈥� and articulations of racism and nationalism in the reception of refugees in Europe, North America and the Middle East. His research is guided by the understanding that racialization, particularly in light of the post-9/11 鈥渨ar on terror,鈥� works with the historical conditions of racism specific to a given national formation, but in a dynamic global context. The initial five-country analysis, including Canada, the United States, Italy, Greece and Jordan, will examine the extent to which policy instruments and media discourses related to the 鈥済lobal refugee crisis鈥� negatively impact racialized communities in each reception context.

Sean Tulin, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Particle Physics and Cosmology

The existence of dark matter is one of the Universe鈥檚 great mysteries. All stars, planets, and interstellar gas are made from atoms, and yet atomic matter represents only 15 per cent of聽the total matter in the Universe. The remaining 85 per cent is dark matter. Dark matter provides the cosmic foundation for galaxies to form, but its microphysical properties remain unknown. Tulin鈥檚 research provides new directions toward discovering dark matter鈥檚 elusive particle nature. By combining astrophysics, particle theory, and cosmology, he is developing new ideas to illuminate dark matter鈥檚 particle dynamics through its effect on cosmic structure.

Media contact:

Kayla Lewis, 91亚色 Media Relations, 416-455-4710, lewiskay@yorku.ca

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Professor Regina Rini, Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Moral and Social Cognition and core member of Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA), has a way of raising previously unimaginable moral questions that cut to the heart of things. She has done it again, this time in the esteemed聽Times Literary Supplement. Her article, 鈥淭he Last Mortals,鈥� was released to a global audience in May 2019.

Rini starts with the supposition that biomedical advances could mean eternal life in one hundred years鈥� time. She then delves into the most troubling moral dilemma in this scenario: What happens to the generation prior to the lucky cohort with eternal life? What happens when these folks, the last mortals, come face to face with the immortals and fully realize the gravity of their loss? Their anguish, she imagines, would be acute.

鈥淢y aim is to show that dying is worse for the last mortals than for earlier generations. The advent of immortality actually worsens the lives of those who fall closest in never reaching it,鈥� Rini explains.

Rini is the perfect person to dive deeply into this issue. Her work analyzes research from the social sciences, especially cognitive science and sociology, and through this lens, she determines then investigates key philosophical questions. She believes we cannot understand our individual moral decisions without also understanding how we relate to those of others.

Biomedical breakthroughs have got us this far

In the article, Rini first reminds us of the ever-expanding lifespan of Western civilization: If you were born in 1900, your lifespan was, on average, 47 years; if you were born in 1950, it was 68; if you were born today, you could possibly expect to see your 100th birthday. The human lifespan has so expanded that if you are currently under the age of 40, then you can plan to meet young people who will live to see the year 2157, Rini says.

This would be, of course, the result of consistent biomedical advancements, including vaccinations, new cancer treatment, transplants and much more. Medical research is also shifting from acute conditions, such as the flu, to chronic conditions including heart disease and diabetes 鈥� getting to the root of some of today鈥檚 most common causes of death. Furthermore, aging is largely determined by genes, which can be manipulated, Rini points out. This opens another avenue for a limitless lifespan.

Rini ferrets out the most disturbing moral question

Now comes the hard part. Rini considers the situation, the possibility of mortality, and ferrets out the most disturbing moral question within it. She asks: 鈥淲hat if this [eternal life] all happened sooner rather than later?鈥� She throws out a date 鈥� 100 years from now 鈥� and suggests that anyone alive in 2119 is likely to live for centuries, even millennia, possibly forever. (One caveat of immortality is that, given statistics about deathly accidents, sooner or later all 鈥渋mmortals鈥� would eventually die in some form of an accident.)

But what about those who just about make it to this hypothetical date of 2119, when immortality is possible? Rini elaborates on this conundrum: 鈥淲hat would it mean to realize that you very nearly got to live forever, but didn鈥檛? What would it mean if we were increasingly forced to share social space with young people whose anticipated allotment of time massively dwarfs our own?鈥�

The agony of nearly making it to eternity, when surrounded by those who鈥檝e effortlessly achieved this simply by the date they were born, is profound. She elaborates: 鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to imagine whippersnappers coasting into the next century. It鈥檚 another to know many will see the next millennium. The proportions are terribly imbalanced, and their distribution arbitrary. This is a sure recipe for jealousy. The last mortals may be ghosts before their time, destined to look on in growing envy at the enormous stretches of life left to their near-contemporaries. In one sense, it will be the greatest inequity experienced in all human history.鈥�

What does immortality mean, and do we really want it?

Switching gears to consider the life of the immortals, Rini next considers if an endless life is something that people would genuinely want. In most fiction works, this is shown to be boring, tedious and meaningless. The film 鈥淕roundhog Day鈥� with Bill Murray is a good example of this, as the lead character repeatedly wakes up to the same, inescapable day.

Rini also points out that if no one died, rampant overpopulation would certainly affect quality of life in a catastrophic way. Here, she unearths the fundamental human predicament: We may want to live forever, and do things to extend our lives, like eating right and not smoking, but the question of whether eternal life would be a blessing is unclear.

Rini鈥檚 article in the聽Times Literary Supplement聽is an accessible and hugely compelling read. She pushes through to the nucleus of moral questions, effortlessly drawing from a repertoire of thinkers from Greek philosophers Epicurus and Diogenes to the Roman Stoic Seneca, from feminist existentialist Simone de Beauvoir to J. R. R. Tolkien [Lord of the Rings], with an interesting fictional tangent about Sigmund Freud and an iPhone. Rini is an exceptional philosopher and thinker who, with everything she writes, takes readers on a veritable roller-coaster ride of highly charged moral dilemmas.

To read the article 鈥淭he Last Mortals,鈥� visit the聽. To learn more about Rini, visit her聽.

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91亚色, follow us at聽; watch our new聽, which profiles current research strengths and areas of opportunity, such as Artificial Intelligence and Indigenous futurities; and see the聽, a glimpse of the year鈥檚 successes.

By Megan Mueller, senior manager, Research Communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91亚色,聽muellerm@yorku.ca

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• Professor Mary Bunch, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design 鈥� Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Vision, Disability and the Arts;
• Professor Theodore J. Noseworthy, Schulich School of Business 鈥� Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Entrepreneurial Innovation and the Public Good (renewal);
• Professor Gillian Parekh, Faculty of Education 鈥� Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Inclusion, Disability and Education;
• Professor Nikolaus Troje, Faculty of Science 鈥� Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Reality Research;
• Professor Manus (Johnny) Rungtusanatham, Schulich School of Business 鈥� Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Supply Chain Management;
• Professor Joel Zylberberg, Faculty of Science 鈥� Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Computational Neuroscience.

鈥淭he CRC Program supports some of the most important and exciting research currently being undertaken at 91亚色,鈥� said Rui Wang, interim vice-president research & innovation at 91亚色. 鈥淚 congratulate Professors Bunch, Noseworthy, Parekh, Troje, Rungtusanatham and Zylberberg on this major accomplishment.鈥�

Tier 1 Canada Research Chairs

Manus (Johnny) Rungtusanatham, Canada Research Chair in Supply Chain Management

Rungtusanathamm, who will be joining the Schulich School of Business as a professor, researches supply chain breaches 鈥� for example, the removal or diversion of goods flowing towards or from a manufacturer (e.g., cargo theft), introduction of a substitute good (counterfeit) or a second good (contraband) into the physical flow of another good, and/or contamination of the good that is physically flowing (tampered goods). This research program advances a theory of supply chain securitization involving people, processes, and technology, informed through the lenses of immunology, military strategies and criminology.

Nikolaus Troje, Canada Research Chair in Reality Research

Troje, Professor in the Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science, is a core member of Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) team within 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Vision Research. In his BioMotionLab, he uses motion capture and 3D scanning technology to generate individualized avatars to be used in mixed realities. Using virtual reality (VR), he studies how we perceive objects and communicate with other people, how we experience and take ownership of our own body, and how we situate ourselves in the space that we seem to occupy.

Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs

Mary Bunch, Canada Research Chair in Vision, Disability and the Arts

Bunch, assistant professor in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, is an associate member of VISTA. Her teaching and research interests include interdisciplinary and collaborative critical disability, feminist and queer studies as well as critical theory and arts-based methodologies. Bunch asks how critical disability frameworks, peripheral perspectives and digital media arts can be employed to understand vision differently to challenge the cultural frameworks that treat vision as a neutral and objective route to knowledge. Starting from the premise that vision is partial, situated, embodied and connected to other senses, she explores the relationship between vision, the creative imagination and political praxis.

Gillian Parekh, Canada Research Chair in Inclusion, Disability and Education

Parekh, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education, explores institutional and structural barriers related to equitable access to education, particularly for students with disabilities. She conducts both quantitative and qualitative research investigating demographic, programmatic and experiential trends between public and post-secondary education. With a focus on special education and academic streaming, her work explores how schools construct and respond to disability. Her research addresses current issues in education and will make a difference in the lives of young people in the GTA and beyond.

Theodore J. Noseworthy, Canada Research Chair in Entrepreneurial Innovation and the Public Good (renewed)

Noseworthy, an associate professor in the Schulich School of Business, has research interests in new product design and innovation. He explores how people make sense of new innovative products and how marketers can better facilitate adoption. Noseworthy is also interested in product categorization, category ambiguity and visual processing. In 2012, he was appointed Scientific Director of the NOESIS: Innovation, Design, and Consumption Laboratory, a scientific lab specifically developed to explore the psychological and behavioural consequences of innovative goods and services.

Joel Zylberberg, Canada Research Chair in Computational Neuroscience

Zylberberg, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the Faculty of Science, is a core member of VISTA. He studies the way the brain represents information about the outside world, and the way in which those representations are learned. His immediate goal is to build on his expertise in machine learning and sensory neuroscience to create a camera to brain translator that could restore sight to the blind and could be used in computer vision systems.

To read the full CRC announcement, visit the .

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If you've consumed a soft drink or eaten a bag of chips, then you've consumed genetically modified foods. Derived from crops that were bioengineered to resist herbicides and pests, these consumables have been on grocery store shelves for decades. But in recent years, the public has become increasingly vocal and concerned.

Schulich School of Business PhD student Sean Hingston wanted to know why genetically modified (GM) foods are taboo to some consumers. Under the supervision of Professor Theodore Noseworthy, Canada Research Chair in Entrepreneurial Innovation and the Public Good and armed with funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, he set out to answer this question.

Hingston and Noseworthy found that if consumers view the GM food as man-made, and if they understand why it was created, then moral opposition to the product diminishes. Under these circumstances, customers then perceive the GM food鈥檚 functional benefits (e.g., it is healthier or does not require pesticides), which subsequently increases the potential of consumers to buy the product.

鈥淥ur results suggest that marketers can use packaging and promotion strategies to cue consumers to view the GM food for what it is 聽a man-made object. This will have major implications for the current GM food labelling debate,鈥� Hingston said.

The results of this research were published in the Journal of Marketing (2018).

Consumers believe natural = good

The GM food labelling debate has heated up in recent years. It is centered around the question of whether labels should explicitly indicate whether a product contains a genetically modified organism (GMO).

Hingston and Noseworthy鈥檚 contribution to the discussion, however, centres around how to best market GM foods, given the fact that some consumers oppose these foods on principle.

Tested hypothesis in four studies

The researchers began with one basic assumption: Moral opposition to GM food is based on the belief that these food products ought to be natural. Generally speaking, people believe that natural is good and right, while unnatural is bad and wrong. Simply labelling a product as 鈥渁ll natural鈥� will attract consumers 鈥� this was established by earlier research.

Next, the researchers developed a hypothesis for why the distinction between man-made objects and naturally occurring objects is critical in determining how consumers will respond to GM foods.

Here, they predicted how evaluations of a GM food will differ depending on the cues that marketers adopt when promoting it. They hypothesized that promoting a GM food as a man-made product could reduce moral opposition and change how potential consumers look at the product, helping consumers to perceive the product鈥檚 functional benefits.

The team tested their hypotheses in four studies, summarized in the table below:

Researchers discovered moral opposition can be reduced

This research demonstrates that transparent GMO labelling policies can be advantageous for firms selling these products, as long as they present the product as man-made, which overrides consumers鈥� moral barriers. By doing this, marketers can help potential consumers change their minds about GM foods under certain circumstances.

To read the Journal of Marketing article, visit the . To learn more about Theodore Noseworthy, visit his .

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91亚色, follow us at , watch the and see the .

By Megan Mueller, senior manager, research communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91亚色, muellerm@yorku.ca

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Faculty of Health Professor David Hood, Canada Research Chair in Cell Physiology, has led a study that determined that Parkin, a protein that breaks down or degrades unneeded proteins, is present and active in the degradation of muscle mitochondria during exercise.

鈥淢itochondria are the energy-supplying powerhouses of all cells. When they lose their ability to generate energy, they must be removed and degraded, or they will generate harmful free radicals (or reactive oxygen species) that can lead to premature cellular aging and death. The removal process is termed mitophagy,鈥� Hood explains.

Exercise is a stimulus that can accelerate mitophagy, thereby improving the quality of mitochondria within muscle. This exercise effect can only happen if the protein Parkin is present. It is well-known that mutations in Parkin cause one hereditary form of Parkinson鈥檚 disease, a central nervous system disorder, but the function of Parkin in muscle was not established until now. In the absence of Parkin, muscle accumulates non-working, dysfunctional mitochondria.

This research, funded by the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada, was published in the American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism (2018).

Hood鈥檚 area of expertise

Hood is the director of the Muscle Health Research Centre. This centre, based in the Faculty of Health, provides a centralized and focused research emphasis on the importance of skeletal muscle to the overall health and well-being of Canadians. It facilitates the integrated study of muscle biology in the broadest terms, including muscle development, disease, metabolism, blood supply, injury and regeneration, and adaptation to acute and chronic exercise. Approaches used by faculty and graduate students for the study of muscle include molecular, cellular and whole-body techniques.

Exercise is important for everyone, especially as we age. Physical inactivity contributes to metabolic disorders including Type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease. In fact, regular exercise is a common prescription to combat against these disorders. 鈥淭he benefits of regular exercise for the human body are well known as they relate to cardiovascular health, burning fat and strengthening muscles,鈥� explains Hood.

Aging, exercise and the ability of muscles to respond to exercise

The ability of muscles to respond to exercise 鈥� muscle plasticity 鈥� and the benefits of exercise is a large and rapidly evolving area of research. This is Hood鈥檚 area of expertise. Additional but related research foci include skeletal muscle and heart biochemistry and molecular biology, adaptations in muscle subject to chronic activity and cardiac muscle adaptations to thyroid hormone.

Study investigated the role of Parkin

Hood鈥檚 research team hypothesized that Parkin may play an increasing role in regulating skeletal muscle function and mitochondrial degradation with age. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the role of Parkin in acute exercise-induced mitophagy and possible age-related alterations brought about by endurance exercise.

Hood鈥檚 team discovered that Parkin was important to facilitate muscle mitochondrial degradation. Its absence was found to reduce the ability of muscle to breakdown dysfunctional mitochondria during exercise, and the activity of Parkin in muscle appears to be lost with age.

鈥淚n this original study, we identified Parkin as the protein that鈥檚 facilitating the breakdown of poorly functioning mitochondria in muscle. It is an important component in mitophagy in muscles during exercise,鈥� says Hood.

鈥淭hus, our results provide a greater understanding of the cellular underpinnings of the positive effects of exercise on muscle health,鈥� he adds.

To read the article, visit the. To learn more about Hood, visit his . To read a related YFile article, visit the

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91亚色, follow us at , watch the and see the .

By Megan Mueller, senior manager, research communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91亚色, muellerm@yorku.ca

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The Government of Canada the CRC recipients today. Researchers at post-secondary institutions across Canada will receive聽$158.7 million in funding under the CRC program; for each Tier 1 appointment the university receives $200,000 annually for seven years, while for Tier 2 CRCs it will receive $100,000 annually for five years. The CRCs are also supported with $8.3 million in research infrastructure funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

CRC appointments at 91亚色 include professors Regina Rini, Michael Brown, Kate Tilleczek and Ethel Tungohan. Today鈥檚 announcement also included CRC renewals for Gordon Flett and John Tsotsos.

鈥淭he CRC program supports some of the most important and exciting research being done at 91亚色,鈥� said Robert Hach茅, vice-president research & innovation. 鈥淲e are particularly proud that the four CRCs announced today, and the successful renewals of two more, represent research across the university, from the Lassonde School of Engineering to the Faculty of Education, and the Faculty of Health to the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.鈥�

The four CRCs announced today include:

Regina Rini, Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Moral and Social Cognition (Tier 2) Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies 鈭� Rini鈥檚 research focuses on how people in democratic societies justify their social beliefs to one another. Her work analyzes research from the social sciences, especially cognitive science and sociology, to draw conclusions about how public debate currently works. She also investigates philosophical questions about what it means to improve public debate. How can we take deep moral and political difference seriously while remaining respectful in a diverse society? Rini's central answer is a connection between public discourse and personal moral agency. She argues that we cannot understand our individual moral and political decisions without also understanding how we relate to those of others.

Michael Brown, Canada Research Chair in Computer Vision (Tier 1)
Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Lassonde School of Engineering 鈥�
Brown鈥檚 research aims to improve the understanding of the physical world through camera images by: investigating image formation models that describe how incoming light (i.e., physical scene irradiance) is converted to camera sensor responses under different imaging scenarios; and designing novel in-camera imaging pipelines that produce image outputs suitable for both photographic and scientific tasks. His program is strongly aligned with 91亚色鈥檚 $33.3 million Canada First Research Excellence Fund program, Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA), which focuses on research in biological and computational computer vision.

Kate Tilleczek, Canada Research Chair in Young Lives, Education and Global Good (Tier 1)
Professor, Faculty of Education (commencing July 1) 鈭�
Tilleczek鈥檚 research examines how education can better assist more young people and provides unique national and international data on critical risk and protective situations encountered by contemporary youth. Her work documents how marginal youth are affected by shifting global and local contexts such as digital technology and mental health challenges. It unearths the positive and resilient aspects of young lives and provides longitudinal and cross-cultural comparisons in Canada and beyond. Her research is mobilized to the academy, communities, and decision makers who are in positions to better support youth. The Chair also builds new global youth partnerships, linking young people across countries and cultures to develop social innovations for the greatest challenges they face.

Ethel Tungohan, Canada Research Chair in Canadian Migration Policy, Impacts and Activism (Tier 2)
Assistant Professor, Department of Politics, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies 鈭�
Tungohan will undertake an analysis of discourses that have underpinned the Canadian government鈥檚 policies towards temporary foreign workers from 1973 until 2017 and the nature of these policies and their effects on different groups of temporary foreign workers. She will also examine the range of migrant workers鈥� social movement activities that have emerged as a response, in particular, to anti-migrant discourses and policies.

CRC renewals announced today include:

John Tsotsos, Canada Research Chair in Computational Vision (Tier 1)
Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering &Computer Science, Lassonde School of Engineering 鈭�
Tsotsos鈥� research focuses on two main goals: to further understanding of how vision can be the primary sense that guides human behavior, and to use this understanding to build active agents that聽purposely behave in real environments. Using human experimental studies and the full spectrum of computational methods, Tsotsos will extend his model of visual attention to support visual reasoning and task execution in dynamic environments. These require interactions with memory, control, sensor sub-systems, and joint attention for interactions with other agents. The research is relevant for applications to autonomous driving, companion robots for the elderly and robots in manufacturing.anti-migrant discourses and policies.

Gordon Flett, Canada Research Chair in Personality and Health (Tier 1)
Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health 鈥�
Flett鈥檚 past research on perfectionism and its consequences has established that the perfectionism construct is complex and multi-faceted and associated with numerous costs and consequences. His research will now further increase understanding of the vulnerability inherent in dysfunctional perfectionism. A series of investigations will evaluate a failure orientation theory and test unique conceptualizations of the cognitive and motivational aspects of perfectionism. Research will also elaborate the developmental roots of perfectionism in children and adolescents. Finally, his research will assess conceptual models linking perfectionism with health problems.

91亚色 champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91亚色 students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91亚色 U is an internationally recognized research university 鈥� our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91亚色 is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni.

91亚色 U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

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Through its robot-making and machine-learning proficiency, 91亚色鈥檚 profile in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) world is ascending. In March 2018, 91亚色 hosted the FIRST Robotics Competition, where high school students鈥� robots squared off against each other. In May 2018, 91亚色 will host the 31st Canadian Conference on AI, which is sponsored by Vision: Science to Application (VISTA).

Building for the future, the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) in the Lassonde School of Engineering, is creating an AI specialization in its graduate program and will soon offer a professional degree program focused on AI.

Person-following robot to help aging population

Under Professor John Tsotsos (Distinguished Research Professor, Canada Research Chair in Computational Vision and VISTA member), students Raghavender Sahdev and Bao Xin Chen are building visually-guided mobile robotics 鈥� specifically, a person-following robot that can absorb visual information, then act on it.

鈥淲e built an extensive dataset for person-following robots under challenging situations. We evaluate the proposed system by comparing our tracking approach with existing real-time tracking algorithms,鈥� Sahdev and Chen explain.

As illustrated, this robot uses deep learning in challenging situations, including blockages, changes in target appearance or positioning changes, such as crouching.聽The video shows how the robot follows the target.

Sahdev and Chen see these robots playing a key role in future eldercare, as they could help seniors by following their charges around from room to room. This would be one of several important functionalities of a companion robot that would enable monitoring for falls and immediate requests for assistance, carrying items, or direct voice communication as one moves about a home or institution.

Person-following robots have many applications, including autonomous grocery carts or personal guides in hospitals or museums. 鈥淚 believe in working on projects that have applications in the real world,鈥� Sahdev explains.

鈥淚 believe in working on projects that have applications in the real world.鈥� 潭聽 Raghavender Sahdev

Importantly, Sahdev and Chen鈥檚 work has received awards at two conferences this year.

Potential for robotics in state-of-the-arts agriculture

Professor Dan Zhang, 91亚色 Research Chair in Advanced Robotics & Mechatronics and the聽Kaneff Research Chair in Advanced Robotics & Mechatronics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is also interested in robotics to aid society. His main research areas include robotics and mechatronics (technology combining electronics and mechanical engineering), sustainable manufacturing systems, rehabilitation robots and rescue robots.

In 2011, with his Postdoctoral Fellow (PDF), Zhen Gao, he invented a groundhog like rescue robot. More recently, with his PDF Bin Wei, he published Robotics and Mechatronics for Agriculture (CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018), which introduces the state-of-the-art technologies in the field of robotics, mechatronics and automation in agriculture.

Other Lassonde researchers are working on on-screen avatars that respond to commands, robocar technology, improved medical diagnostic tools, and visual and motor devices for use by disabled children and adults.

Successful start-up designs custom AI software

Custom software, naturally, plays a key role in AI. Ehsan Fazl Ersi, former PhD student supervised by Tsotsos, has joined with Innovation 91亚色 to launch a new company, OcularAI, which designs, develops and builds custom AI software. This is Innovation 91亚色鈥檚 first revenue-generating start-up.

OcularAI鈥檚 team of researchers, big data experts and software developers bring a top-notch knowledge base. This enables OcularAI to understand a company鈥檚 technical problem, so that highly accurate AI can be created. OcularAI has design capabilities in every aspect of AI, such as computer vision, natural language processing, big data and machine learning.

The services offered by this team also include image/video mining, text mining, social network analysis and scientific discovery.

Since last year, OcularAI has engaged with three Canadian companies.

Thought leadership highlights societal impact of this work

Lassonde researchers also contribute to thought leadership around AI. Professor Marcus Brubaker, VISTA member working in computer vision and machine learning, just wrote an article in Techvibes on the importance of impact in research, specifically in AI and computer sciences.

Brubaker, co-founder of Structura Biotechnology, which applies machine learning techniques to estimating the structure of biomolecules, believes that we鈥檙e only scratching the surface of AI鈥檚 potential. In the Techvibes article, he speaks about the transformative impact of AI, and urges researchers and practitioners to push ahead on the road to discovery.

鈥淎s researchers and practitioners, it鈥檚 ultimately up to us to decide how these techniques are applied and to prioritize which applications are most important. We make these decisions and set these priorities with each new project we undertake and, because of the responsibility these judgment calls entail, I believe it鈥檚 now more important than ever to question the value and societal impact of the work we do,鈥� Brubaker writes.

鈥淎s researchers and practitioners, it鈥檚 up to us to decide how these techniques are applied. I believe it鈥檚 now more important than ever to question the value and societal impact of the work we do.鈥� 聽潭聽 Marcus Brubaker

This is an area where 91亚色 will shine. Watch this space.

To learn more about 91亚色 robots, see article (Fall 2017). For more on Zhang鈥檚 work, see his . To learn more about his book, visit the . To learn more about Brubaker, see his , or read his article in Techvibes, visit the . To learn more about Structura Biotechnology, visit the . To learn more about OcularAI, visit the . For more on the upcoming聽 AI conference, visit the

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91亚色, follow us at , watch the and see the .

By Megan Mueller, manager, research communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91亚色, muellerm@yorku.ca

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Joel Katz

How can we improve our understanding of pain to help thousands of Canadians who experience chronic pain? The answer to this vital question starts with the development of valid and reliable measurement tools.

Canada Research Chair and Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology Joel Katz led a team of researchers from 91亚色, Toronto General Hospital and the Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l鈥橴niversit茅 de Montr茅al in a study that developed and assessed a new tool for measuring how people respond to pain as well as the thoughts and feelings they have when they鈥檙e in pain: the Sensitivity to Pain Traumatization Scale (SPTS).

The goal of this work, which was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), 91亚色, and the University of Toronto, was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the SPTS in people with and without ongoing pain.

The SPTS passed with flying colours. Katz鈥檚 research team concluded that it is an excellent new resource for assessing people鈥檚 reactions to pain, and published their findings in the Journal of Pain Research (2017).

鈥淭he SPTS measures the tendency for people to respond to pain in a way that鈥檚 similar to how they respond to other traumatic events. So, for some people, pain itself is a traumatic stressor, and living with pain on a daily basis can be traumatizing,鈥� Katz explains. 鈥淭he SPTS could lead to improved approaches in treatment for people who live with pain on a daily basis,鈥� he concludes.

Katz is one of Canada鈥檚 leading researchers in psychological, emotional and biomedical factors involved in acute and chronic pain. He is particularly interested in the processes involved in the transition of acute, time-limited pain to chronic, pathological pain; interventions to minimize acute post-operative pain; and the relationship between PTSD and chronic pain.

Link established between chronic pain and anxiety

For the past two decades, pain research has become increasingly focused on the link between pain and anxiety. This line of inquiry was influenced by the findings of a large American survey of 5,692 individuals in 2005, which revealed that anxiety disorders showed a strong an association with chronic spinal pain as did mood disorders. This research found that chronic spinal pain was very often present with other pain conditions, chronic diseases and mental disorders, and that this played a significant part in role disability associated with chronic spinal pain.

Researchers then started to consider the role of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and pain. They found core mechanisms that are mutually reinforcing, such as reminders of the trauma, emotional triggers and anxiety related to pain perceptions.

This research, collectively, started to paint a more cohesive picture of pain, anxiety and PTSD. This is what led Katz to develop the SPTS. In the 2017 research article, his team undertook three different studies, each adding a different piece to the puzzle.

116 91亚色 undergrads participate in Study 1

The goal of Study 1 was to create the new questionnaire, the SPTS, to accurately measure the possibility that, for some people, pain represents a traumatic stressor. In this study, a group of 116 first-year 91亚色 students completed a questionnaire about current pain and pain history. The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the research ethics board at 91亚色, the Human Participants Review Subcommittee.

Students provided information about fear and the physical symptoms of anxiety. The severity and impact of a traumatic event were also measured, as were levels of anxiety related to pain.

This study was successful in that the SPTS was shown to be consistent and highly reliable.

Students in Study 2 complete online survey about pain, anxiety

The objective of Study 2 was to evaluate the properties of the SPTS in two groups of 91亚色 students: those who were pain-free (555 in number), and those who were facing ongoing pain (268). Participants, totalling 823, were recruited between 2009 and 2013. Again, the study protocol was reviewed and approved by the research ethics board at 91亚色.

Participants were asked to complete an online survey that featured nine questionnaires to assess anxiety, traumatic responses, perception of painful experiences and depressive symptoms.

The SPTS was, again, proven to be consistent and highly reliable.

Toronto General Hospital surgery patients participate in Study 3

Study 3 took place at Toronto General Hospital. The study protocol was approved by the University Health Network Research Ethics Board at Toronto General Hospital and by the 91亚色 Human Participants Review Subcommittee.

In study 3, the participants, 345 in total with ages ranging from 25 to 90 years, had undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery聽 潭聽 the most common type of heart surgery聽 潭聽 a minimum of six months prior to the study.

Using the SPTS, the subjects completed questionnaires involving pain history, anxiety, traumatic responses, perception of painful experiences and depressive symptoms. Patients also rated their average post-surgical chest pain; movement-evoked pain, such as deep breathing; and pain upon gentle touch to the affected areas.

Thirty-seven per cent of participants reported chronic pain, a result of the surgery, with over 80 per cent of these patients reporting pain at the time of assessment. Twenty-seven per cent of participants reported ongoing pain unrelated to the surgery, with over 90 per cent of these patients reporting pain at the time of assessment.

Again, the reliability and validity of the SPTS were deemed excellent.

Sets the stage for future research

Taken together, all three studies (united in one comprehensive research paper) provide key evidence in support of the validity and reliability of the SPTS, and point to the possibility of new improved approaches for treatment for patients in pain based on how they score on the SPTS.

This research also opens the door for future work. Other avenues to explore could involve administering the SPTS at different points after surgery to better monitor pain and possibly predict spikes in pain; or the new tool could be applied in non-pain settings, nonsurgical chronic pain groups and the general population.

The article, 鈥�,鈥� was published in the Journal of Pain Research (2017). For more information about Katz鈥檚 research, visit his .

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91亚色, follow us at , watch the and see the .

By Megan Mueller, manager, research communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91亚色, muellerm@yorku.ca

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Graham Wakefield

It鈥檚 hard to imagine an aesthetic experience that weaves together art, music, virtual reality, mathematics, philosophy and software engineering to create an out-of-this-world encounter. If you were in Seoul, Korea last fall, you may have been lucky enough to experience this first hand.

Last October, 91亚色 Professor Graham Wakefield, Canada Research Chair in Interactive Information Visualization, contributed to an art exhibit at South Korea鈥檚 Seoul Museum of Art. 鈥淩equiem for Hybrid Life,鈥� curated by Kyoungmi Kim of the New Media Art Research Association, ran from Oct. 17 to 23, 2017, and featured the work of Wakefield and fellow artist-researcher and recent 91亚色 Visiting Professor Haru Ji.

鈥淩equiem for Hybrid Life鈥� flyer. Reproduced with permission of the New Media Research Association

What Wakefield and Ji created, after a feverish four-day installation process, was breathtaking.

鈥淭he excitement created by new immersive technologies that can generate life-like interactive experiences parallels the enthusiasm brought about by the birth of cinema,鈥� says Wakefield. 鈥淚nteractive virtual worlds and mixed realities will be increasingly important forms of creative content in the future,鈥� he adds.

Wakefield, who came to 91亚色 three years ago, is a core member of the high-profile Vision: Science to Application (VISTA) program and the director of the Alice Lab for Computational Worldmaking in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD), which constructs responsive artificial worlds experienced through mixed/hybrid reality technologies, including Virtual and Augmented Reality.

鈥淐onservation of Shadows鈥� integrates with historically charged space, creates something new

The title of Wakefield and Ji鈥檚 installation piece in the Seoul show is 鈥淐onservation of Shadows鈥� (2017). Part of an ongoing series called 鈥淎rtificial Nature,鈥� it is composed of 330 kilograms of salt; 12 nD::Node programmable circuit boards used to write and upload computer code developed by fellow AMPD researcher Professor Mark-David Hosale; 72 vibration motors, 132 bells, 150 meters of wire, two Kinect 360s, motion detectors for computers; and one HTC Vive HMD, which is a virtual reality system.

The Seoul exhibition space is quite large and barn-like with old timbers through which one can see the sky during daylight hours. It is rich in history that directly contributed to the installation, as part of the overall experience: 鈥淭his building, an extension of the Seoul Museum of Art, used to be part of the Korean government鈥檚 Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. It was used for the storage of infectious diseases and materials and various other forms of biological matter. So, it has a very charged atmosphere,鈥� Wakefield explains.

What visitors experience is unparalleled

Visitors enter the vast, dimly lit room, which features a series of well-placed bells 鈥� 132 miniature bells, in fact 鈥� attached to cables hanging from the ceiling like organic tendrils. The bells and their circuits were constructed with the assistance of four students in 91亚色鈥檚 Digital Media program: Nicholas Abbruzzese, Filiz Eryilmaz, Adiola Palmer and Amir Bahador Rostami.

The resulting sound creates a haunting interactive ambience. 鈥淭he miniature bells are activated by small vibration motors 鈥� the same kind that makes a cell phone vibrate. These bells and motors surround the installation space, hanging down from the rafters at different locations and different heights,鈥� Wakefield explains. 鈥淭he bells aren鈥檛 perfectly manufactured, so each has a slightly different tone, which helps create a richer and more variegated sonic experience,鈥� he adds.

Visitors feel and hear the salt granules crunching underfoot with each step as they progress farther into this engaging environment. Shadowy images, ghostly vortexes that represent other life forces, are projected downward from the ceiling where they mingle with the visitors鈥� shadows 鈥� each such interaction being distinct, unpredictable and impossible to replicate.

Those individuals choosing the virtual reality option can experience another layer, a different reality, where they witness mesmerizing, three-dimensional (3-D) flecks of dancing white formations that move together like a murmuration of birds against a limitless black background. In this alternative reality, fellow visitors to the installation space are captured as mysterious black voids, fully incorporated into the virtual reality setting. In this way, the visitors themselves become shadows that, again, interact with the projected shadows.

The bells are also replicated in the virtual reality space, such that the motors become more active and the bells ring more intensively when triggered. The effect 聽潭聽 organic, technological and metaphysical 聽潭 聽is unforgettable.

Wakefield wanted the images and sensations to swim together to create a compelling imagined world. He describes this process: 鈥淲e imagined unknown new beings growing fond of the wet texture of old wood [timbers overhead], the fragrance of sunshine smeared between cracks, and the quietness of murmuring and whispering. To let the new beings live, we extended senses to mix realities surrounded by softly ringing bells and the crunch of salt underfoot as their shadows pass by; and an alternate perspective through head-mounted display in which we become the shadows around which new beings play.鈥�

Audience response was overwhelmingly positive. 鈥淥ne of the comments that we received, many times, was how well the installation fit the space, given its unique character and history,鈥� says Wakefield.

Wakefield鈥檚 work will shape future of arts and entertainment sectors

Wakefield鈥檚 forward-looking work will lead to the development of new artworks and technologies for emerging art forms and creative industries. His research will help meet the demand for more immersive, dynamic and open-ended interactive experiences in the arts and entertainment sectors.

鈥淓ntertainment and software industries are already investing heavily in these areas while acknowledging the need for new software and aesthetic practices,鈥� says Wakefield.

To learn more about Wakefield, visit his . For more information about 鈥淎rtificial Nature,鈥� visit the . To learn more about the Alice Lab for Computational Worldmaking, visit the website.

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91亚色, follow us at , watch the and see the .

By Megan Mueller, manager, research communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, 91亚色, muellerm@yorku.ca

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