Distinguished Research Professor Archives | Research & Innovation

91��ɫ celebrates its researchers

ls1207 — Wed, 19 May 2021 17:19:42 +0000

One of the most anticipated events of the academic year, the 91��ɫ Research Awards Celebration, took place May 11. While the event was held virtually due to ongoing pandemic restrictions, the format still offered a wonderful opportunity for researchers to pay tribute to their colleagues and applaud the recipients of the 2021 President’s Research Awards.

This annual celebration was cancelled in 2020 due to the emerging crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. One year later, mass vaccinations are hinting that there will be an end of the pandemic. Organizers decided to proceed with the celebration, which was offered over Zoom and co-hosted by the Office of the President and the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation.

Welcome remarks were delivered by President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton and Vice-President Research and Innovation . Lenton presented each of the 2020 President's Research Awards. The 2021 award recipients were announced by Asif. The celebration also included a series of videos, which featured all of the 140 recipients from 2019 and 2020. Faculty of Health Professor , associate vice-president research, MCed the celebration.

The recipients of the 2020 President’s Research Awards are:

Christopher Perry

, School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health, was selected for the President’s Emerging Research Leadership Award (PERLA) in Cluster 1: Engineering, Science, Technology, Health and Biomedicine, as a reflection of his outstanding leadership in and contribution to the fields of exercise physiology, metabolism and skeletal muscle health.

Since 2012, when he came to 91��ɫ, Perry has contributed significantly to the success of the University, both internally and externally. He established the only human muscle biopsy lab at 91��ɫ, where he investigates the basic cellular mechanisms of muscle fitness and applies these discoveries toward developing novel therapies to treat muscle weakness disorders.

In 2016, he was elected to serve as a director, academic, for the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, Canada’s major authority in exercise science and prescription. This society focuses on integrating state-of-the-art research into best practice. It comprises professionals interested and involved in the scientific study of exercise physiology, exercise biochemistry, fitness and health.

Perry was the recipient of the 2017 Faculty of Health Research Award (early career). He has also received multiple internal and external awards, including funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Research Fund, the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada, the James H. Cummings Foundation, the Rare Disease Foundation and industry funding.

Theodore J. Noseworthy

, Schulich School of Business, was chosen for the President’s Emerging Research Leadership Award (PERLA) in Cluster 2: Social Science, Art & Design, Humanities, Business, Law and Education Cluster), for his extraordinary leadership and contribution to the fields of marketing and consumer studies. As the Canada Research Chair in Entrepreneurial Innovation and the Public Good, he develops insights that inform business and policy-makers about the benefits of effectively communicated innovation and the potential costs to susceptible consumers and society. He examines how marketers can better communicate product and service innovations to maximize adoption and awareness. This work focuses on new product design and innovation, as well as product categorization, category ambiguity and visual processing.

In 2012, Noseworthy was appointed scientific director of the NOESIS Innovation, Design & Consumption Laboratory, a world-class behavioural lab at Schulich, to extend his primary research programs. The NOESIS lab is intended to foster innovative research into consumption, consumer behaviour and design. Noseworthy has developed this lab with the specific goal of conducting high-quality research, training skilled personnel and facilitating knowledge mobilization. Broadly speaking, Noseworthy’s research program is designed to help combat Canada’s innovation deficit by helping the private sector transfer knowledge into commercialized products and services to grow the economy.

Debra Pepler

, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health, was selected for the President’s Research Impact Award (PRIA) for her innovative contributions to psychology and mental health in the areas of bullying, aggression and violence, especially among marginalized children, youth and families.

In recognition of these contributions, Pepler was named an Officer of the Order of Canada by the Governor General. She is the only psychologist recognized by the Canadian Psychological Association for distinguished contributions to both psychology as a science and public or community service.

Pepler received a Network of Centres of Excellence grant to establish PREVNet – Promoting Relationships & Eliminating Violence Network, funded from 2006-19. She built this interdisciplinary network with her former PhD student Wendy Craig (Queen’s University), with over 120 researchers, 150 graduate students and 62 national organizations. PREVNet’s researchers and partners co-created over 150 resources for bullying prevention and healthy relationships. PREVNet was the culmination of Pepler’s decades of research linking science with practice and public policy for children’s healthy development and healthy relationships.

Pepler’s research embedded in clinical and community settings has real impact on the lives of children, youth and families. She has a strong publication record, having written or co-edited 10 books and more than 200 journal articles, chapters, and reports. In 2007, Pepler was recognized as a Distinguished Research Professor by 91��ɫ for her groundbreaking research.

Eric Hessels (image: Paola Scattolon)

, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Faculty of Science, was chosen to receive the President’s Research Excellence Award (PREA) in the Engineering, Science, Technology, Health and Biomedicine Cluster, for his exceptional contribution to atomic, molecular and optical physics.

Hessels, 91��ɫ Research Chair in Atomic Physics and a 91��ɫ Distinguished Research Professor, has led numerous research projects that have far-reaching consequences for the understanding of the laws of physics. He is leading a collaboration whose goal it is to use ultraprecise measurements of the electron to study one of the fundamental unresolved questions of physics.

In 2019, Hessels led a study published in the esteemed journal Science, which found a new measurement for the size of the proton at just under one trillionth of a millimetre. The study confirmed the 2010 finding that the proton is smaller than previously believed. The year before, Hessels led a team that achieved the most precise measurement of the fine structure of helium ever recorded. His researchers had been working on this for eight years.

Hessels is now leading a collaboration (EDMcubed) that is attempting to measure the shape of the electron – or, more specifically, whether its charge is evenly distributed. This measurement will try to shed light on one of the fundamental mysteries of physics: why the universe is made entirely of matter (electrons, protons etc.) and, unexpectedly, has no antimatter (anti-electrons, antiprotons etc.).

The recipients of the 2021 President’s Research Excellence Awards are:

Pouya Rezai

, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lassonde School of Engineering, was selected as the recipient of the President’s Emerging Research Leadership Award (PERLA) in Cluster 1: Engineering, Science, Technology, Health and Biomedicine.

The award demonstrates the complexity and relevance of Rezai’s research in utilizing science and engineering concepts built on the fundamentals of fluid mechanics, material engineering, electronics and microbiology to tackle pressing global challenges in both the health and safety sector, and in the field of bioengineering. His impact on his discipline is demonstrated by his receipt of funding as a principal investigator that spans Tri-Council, industry and provincial sources.

His research has resulted in 47 journal papers, seven book chapters, two issued and two submitted United States patents and 50 conference papers. His achievements were recognized by the prestigious Early Researcher Award from the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation & Trade in 2019 as well as the I. W. Smith Award from the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering in 2021.

Rezai joined 91��ɫ in 2013 and initiated a graduate program in Mechanical Engineering at Lassonde in 2015 while serving as the graduate program director since 2015. His work has earned four competitive best paper conference awards, the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada Visiting Fellowship in 2012, and multiple awards obtained by his students in the past five years. His work has also been recognized in 2017 and 2018 by the Early Researcher Lassonde Innovation Award and the Early Researcher Lassonde Innovation Fund. He provides leadership in his innovative research program and his mentorship and supervision. He has built international connections and his engagement has raised 91��ɫ’s research profile.

Rebecca Bassett-Gunter

, School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health, is the recipient of the President’s Emerging Research Leadership Award (PERLA) in Cluster 2: Social Sciences, Art & Design, Humanities, Business, Law and Education. The award illustrates her leadership in the field of research on the promotion of physical activity among children with disabilities.

Bassett-Gunter has developed an interdisciplinary program of research that has made contributions to the fields of behaviour change psychology, physical activity promotion, health communication and knowledge translation.

Since joining 91��ɫ in 2013, she has published 42 papers in leading journals, and she has shared her research at numerous conferences throughout Canada and internationally. In 2018, she earned the prestigious Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation.

Bassett-Gunter has secured significant external research funding in competitive, peer-reviewed grants as both a principal investigator and co-investigator from major granting agencies, including the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Her mentorship impact is evidenced by the success of her students, many of whom have had their research published in leading journals and have secured Tri-Council and other funding. Bassett-Gunter provides leadership in her innovative research programs and in her mentorship and supervision. She has built international connections and her engagement has raised the research profile of 91��ɫ.

Carl E. James

, the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora, Faculty of Education, was selected as the recipient of the President’s Research Impact Award (PRIA). James is the senior advisor on equity and representation in the Office of the Vice-President of Equity, People & Culture.

James is a leading Canadian scholar and researcher in the areas of equity and inclusivity in education, community development, immigration policies and settlement, and critical ethnography. In relentlessly documenting and addressing inequities related to Black and other marginalized groups, James has become internationally renowned for tackling and naming issues of racial inequity, and forging evidence-based policies and actions through innovative participatory research.

His track record clearly speaks to his strong success in designing and carrying out funded programs of research, including ministry, Tri-Council, corporate, school board, foundation, and community-based grants and contracts. He successfully engages his graduate students, involving them in writing and presentations, as co-authors of scholarly work and as active partners in knowledge mobilization activities.

In 2008, he founded the 91��ɫ Centre for Education & Communities, which he directed until 2018. James’ impressive scholarly output includes over 20 authored and co-authored, edited and co-edited books; over 130 book chapters and articles in refereed journals; reports, reviews and educational resources; and hundreds of presentations and workshops. With research that reaches a wide range of audiences, from scholars to policy-makers to the public, and that has undoubtedly enhanced 91��ɫ’s research reputation, James is most deserving of the 2021 PRIA.

Jennifer Hyndman

, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change, was selected as the recipient of the President’s Research Excellence Award (PREA). The award is in recognition of her outstanding accomplishments and leadership as an internationally recognized scholar of human displacement, humanitarian response, feminist geopolitics and refugee subjectivity.

In January 2021, she was appointed associate vice-president research in the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. Hyndman has been an exceptional leader in building research programs at 91��ɫ and in training the next generation of scholars. From 2013 to 2019, she served as director of 91��ɫ’s Centre for Refugee Studies, expanding its mandate and strongly supporting faculty to compete successfully for funds to facilitate innovative research and publish in top peer-reviewed journals and books.

Hyndman is a prolific scholar whose list of publications – in peer-reviewed journals and with esteemed book publishers – is extensive. Most recently, she co-authored, with 91��ɫ Professor Emerita Wenona Giles, Refugees in Extended Exile: Living on the Edge (Routledge, 2017). She has two monographs, Managing Displacement: Refugees and the Politics of Humanitarianism (Minnesota University Press, 2000) and Dual Disasters: Humanitarian Aid after the 2004 Tsunami (Kumarian Press, 2011), plus a co-edited volume with Giles, Sites of Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones (University of California Press, 2004). She has conducted community-based research, applied work for the United Nations and governments, and is one of 91��ɫ’s most highly cited scholars in the social sciences and humanities.

To view the program for the 2020 Research Awards Celebration, click here. To view the program for the 2021 Research Awards Celebration, click here.

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91��ɫ: follow us at ; watch the new , which profiles current research strengths and areas of opportunity, such as artificial intelligence and Indigenous futurities; and see the snapshot infographic, a glimpse of the year’s successes.

Courtesy of YFile.

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Lassonde forges Jetsons-like future where helpful ’bots enhance our lives

muellerm — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ’s AI profile is on the rise thanks to a compelling variety of projects from Lassonde, including person-following robots and robotics in agriculture. This is real-world application with social impact and value.

Through its robot-making and machine-learning proficiency, 91��ɫ’s profile in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) world is ascending. In March 2018, 91��ɫ hosted the FIRST Robotics Competition, where high school students’ robots squared off against each other. In May 2018, 91��ɫ 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

Above: From left, Raghavender Sahdev and Bao Xin Chen

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 – specifically, a person-following robot that can absorb visual information, then act on it.

“We 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,” 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. 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. “I believe in working on projects that have applications in the real world,” Sahdev explains.

“I believe in working on projects that have applications in the real world.” ̶ Raghavender Sahdev

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

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

From left, Professor Dan Zhang and the cover of his book that he co-edited with Bin Wei

Professor Dan Zhang, 91��ɫ Research Chair in Advanced Robotics & Mechatronics and the 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��ɫ to launch a new company, OcularAI, which designs, develops and builds custom AI software. This is Innovation 91��ɫ’s first revenue-generating start-up.

OcularAI’s team of researchers, big data experts and software developers bring a top-notch knowledge base. This enables OcularAI to understand a company’s 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

Marcus Brubaker

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’re only scratching the surface of AI’s 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.

“As researchers and practitioners, it’s 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’s now more important than ever to question the value and societal impact of the work we do,” Brubaker writes.

“As researchers and practitioners, it’s up to us to decide how these techniques are applied. I believe it’s now more important than ever to question the value and societal impact of the work we do.” ̶ Marcus Brubaker

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

To learn more about 91��ɫ robots, see article (Fall 2017). For more on Zhang’s 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 AI conference, visit the

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

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

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91��ɫ Research Chair links adaptations of bilingualism to brain’s performance

muellerm — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 08:00:00 +0000

World-leading bilingualism expert sifts through all existing research and concludes that multiple languages involve adaptations that are apparent in cognitive performance.

Ellen Bialystok

91��ɫ Professors are undertaking ground-breaking research the impact of which is felt on a global stage. Psychology Professor Ellen Bialystok in the Faculty of Health is a shining example of this. An Officer of the Order of Canada, a Tier 1 91��ɫ Research Chair (YRC) ̶ the Walter Gordon 91��ɫ Research Chair in Lifespan Cognitive Development -̶ and Distinguished Research Professor, she examines the effects of experience on cognitive function and brain organization across the lifespan, with a focus on bilingualism.

She recently authored a paper in Psychology Bulletin, with funding from the NIH National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the NIH National Institute on Aging. It is a comprehensive review of the research showing modifications of brain and cognitive systems that could be attributed to bilingualism.

She concluded that lifelong bilingualism involves adaptations that are linked to the brain’s performance.

“If experience can shape brain structure and cognitive ability, then bilingualism is a prime candidate for such effects,” Bialystok explains. “Bilingualism is an experience that has the potential to modify brain and cognitive systems more generally, much as enriched cages do for rats and socioeconomic status does for young children,” she adds.

Massive review of research considers studies as far back as mid-1980s

More than half of the world’s population is multilingual, most researchers agree. They also believe that there’s a connection between bilingualism and cognitive and brain processes. This makes sense; it seems logical that because language is so wholly inter meshed with the human experience and the connections between linguistic and non-linguistic processing. But Bialystok sought to dig deeper and investigate these connections, to find the modifications of brain and cognitive systems that could be attributed to bilingualism. To do this, she turned to existing literature, from the mid-1980s to present day (2017).

Her review of the literature describes, in considerable depth, studies investigating the relation between bilingualism and cognition in infants and children, younger and older adults, and patients, using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods. This paper illustrates the very best in literature reviews, as Bialystok succinctly and methodically presents decades of research in this area – a huge portion of which is her own work.

Bialystok’s literature review sought to find the modifications of brain and cognitive systems that could be attributed to bilingualism

Bialystok concludes that bilingual minds adapt to their unique situation and that the adaptation has consequences for mind and brain. “Beginning in infancy, the attention system is adapted to the particular demands of a bilingual environment, and these adaptations become apparent in cognitive performance across the life span,” she explains. “Attention begins to develop at birth and evolves throughout childhood so it is well positioned to provide the basis for a set of findings that extend across the entire life span,” she adds.

Along the way, she underscores and unpacks some important mechanisms, such as lifelong neuroplasticity, defined as the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new connections throughout life. In bilingualism, this plays a vital role, allowing bilingualism to influence performance. Other key factors connecting bilingualism to performance are the executive function, located in the frontal lobe of the brain, necessary for cognitive control; and an enhanced attention system, enabling bilinguals to selectively attend to relevant stimuli (something that evokes a specific reaction) and exclude irrelevant stimuli.

Beginning in infancy, the attention system is adapted to the particular demands of a bilingual environment

Conclusions affirm suspicion that bilingualism changes the way that language processing works

In many ways, this research is a confirmation of what Bialystok had suspected. “Experience has the power to modify cognitive and brain systems, and of all the experiences in which we engage, the way we use language must be among the most intense and the most profound. It is perhaps not surprising that bilingualism changes the way language processing is carried out,” she concludes.

However, Bialystok presses for more research and warns against simplistic interpretations of this multifaceted work. “Nothing is as complex as the human mind, and investigations of the myriad factors that shape human cognition cannot be reduced to single-factor models that erase the inherent complexity of the question as an expedient to arrive at a simple answer,” she explains.

The article, “,” was published in Psychology Bulletin (2017). For more information on Bialystok, visit her .

To learn more about Research & Innovation at 91��ɫ, watch the , see the or visit the .

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

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Call for nominations for Distinguished Research Professor

muellerm — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Nominations are now being accepted for the title of Distinguished Research Professor, to be conferred at the spring or fall 2013 convocation.

The title of Distinguished Research Professor is awarded for life and evolves into a Distinguished Research Professorship Emeritus/a, on retirement. All of 91��ɫ’s Distinguished Research Professors are encouraged to continue their involvement in the intellectual life of the University following retirement. There are 23 individuals who currently hold the title of Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus/a. 91��ɫ currently has 24 active (as opposed to emeritus) Distinguished Research Professors. Under Senate policy, there may be up to 25 active Distinguished Research Professors at one time.

The major criterion for this honour is sustained and outstanding scholarly, professional or artistic achievement where a significant portion of the candidate’s work has been accomplished at 91��ɫ. This award includes all full-time faculty members in all disciplinary areas at 91��ɫ.

Nominations must reach the Faculty of Graduate Studies Council Office (230 91��ɫ Lanes) by Friday, Nov. 30. For more information on how to submit a nomination, contact Peter Mulvihill, FGS associate dean, at ext. 66957, or M. Michael Schiff, FGS Council assistant secretary, at ext. 22264 or by e-mail to mmschiff@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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Call for nominations for Distinguished Research Professor

muellerm — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Nominations are now being accepted for the title of Distinguished Research Professor, to be conferred at the spring or fall 2013 convocation.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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Researcher awarded prestigious Banting Fellowship comes to 91��ɫ

muellerm — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:00:00 +0000

Nielson Bezerra, who received his PhD at Universidade Federal de Fluminense in Brazil in 2010 and now teaches at Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, has been awarded a prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue his research program at 91��ɫ’s Harriet Tubman Institute.

The awards were announced by Gary Goodyear, minister of state for science & technology, Thursday, Sept. 13. Bezerra will receive $140,000 in research funding over two years.

Nielson Bezerra

Bezarra’s research project, Liberated African Slaves in Brazil in the Nineteenth Century, examines patterns of forced migration of enslaved Africans to the Americas after the British and North American abolition of the slave trade. The research focuses on the 100,000 enslaved Africans who were destined for Brazil, but were removed from slave ships by the British Royal Navy after 1820 and declared “Liberated Africans”.

The individuals taken off these ships provide a representative sample of the migration to Brazil in this period. They will be studied for the purposes of revealing the broader pattern in determining where people came from in Africa and what happened to them in the Americas. Bezerra has published four books and is a member of the Board of Directors of Museu Vivo do São Bento in Duque de Caxias.

"The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships are Canada's most prestigious awards for postdoctoral researchers," said Goodyear. "These internationally competitive awards allow our country to retain and attract some of the best and brightest researchers in the world, thereby building Canada's economic and competitive edge."

91��ɫ’s Vice-President Research & Innovation, Robert Haché, said, “We are most pleased to have Dr. Nielson Bezarra pursue his research program at 91��ɫ. The Banting Fellowship program leverages an opportunity to attract, retain and recognize exceptional postdoctoral researchers and support them early in their careers.”

As a post-doctoral fellow at 91��ɫ, Bezerra will be supervised by Professor Paul Lovejoy, Distinguished Research Professor, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Canada Research Chair in African Diaspora History and director of the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples. Bezerra joins a research team that is digitizing and analyzing documentation on Liberated Africans in Sierra Leone, Angola, Cuba, and elsewhere, besides Brazil.

The purpose of the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships is to build world-class research capacity by recruiting top-tier Canadian and international postdoctoral researchers at an internationally competitive level of funding. Seventy fellowships are awarded yearly through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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Professor Debra Pepler inducted into Canadian Academy of Health Sciences

fmaquito — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ Distinguished Research Professor Debra Pepler, considered an international leader in research on child and youth bullying, aggression and victimization, was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) during its annual general meeting yesterday in Ottawa.

Election to Fellowship in the CAHS is considered one of the highest honours for individuals in the Canadian health sciences community. Pepler was elected to the CAHS for her demonstrated leadership, creativity, distinctive competencies and a commitment to advance academic health science.

Left: Debra Pepler

“I am very honoured to be nominated as a Fellow and look forward to contributing to the academy's efforts in health promotion through our collaborative efforts to promote the healthy development of children and youth through healthy relationships,” says Pepler.

Pepler has conducted two major research programs on children at risk within the context of peer relationships at school and in context of the family. To study aggression and bullying, she developed an innovative methodology to observe children’s interactions, which would normally be hidden from adults.

She was awarded a Networks of Centres of Excellence: New Initiatives grant to establish PREVNet – Promoting Relationships & Eliminating Violence Network together with Wendy Craig, her first 91��ɫ PhD student. This collaborative and interdisciplinary initiative brings together 62 researchers from 27 Canadian universities and 49 national organizations. The grant, the first stage of Canada’s largest funding mechanism, is the culmination of many years of work for Pepler, who has been tirelessly involved in community-based research and public policy development on pressing social issues related to children and youth.

Pepler’s research has changed the way people think about bullying, aggression and other forms of violence, especially among marginalized and alienated young people. She speaks widely to professional and community audiences about children at risk. She has also edited four volumes in the past four years on understanding and addressing children’s aggression, bullying and victimization.

A professor in 91��ɫ’s Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Health since 1988, Pepler was also director of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence & Conflict Resolution from 1994 to 2002. She has been a senior associate scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children since 2001.

In honour of her research, Pepler has previously been awarded the Contribution to Knowledge Award from the Psychology Foundation of Canada, the Educator of the Year Award from Phi Delta Kappa (Toronto), the University of Waterloo Arts in Academia Award and the Canadian Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public or Community Service.

Established in 2004, the works in partnership with the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineering to form the three member academies of the Council of Canadian Academies. The CAHS provides timely, informed and unbiased assessments of urgent issues affecting the health of Canadians.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ honours four distinguished professors

fmaquito — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ bestowed titles of the highest order upon four of its long-serving faculty members at Spring Convocation this year.

Historian Nicholas Rogers and mathematician Jianhong Wu were named distinguished research professors for sustained and outstanding scholarly, professional or artistic achievement largely accomplished at 91��ɫ.

Political scientist David Dewitt and education scholar Don Dippo were named University professors for extraordinary contributions to 91��ɫ as colleagues, teachers and scholars.

The following profiles are based on citations given at convocation ceremonies in June:

Distinguished Research Professors

Nicholas Rogers (right) is one of the world’s leading scholars of the political culture of 18th-century British and Atlantic worlds.

In his writing, Rogers blends keen insights into the nature and operation of the early modern state with a detailed understanding of the social and cultural contexts in which it functioned. He has explored a remarkably diverse range of topics, from reactions to press gangs in British ports to religious conflicts amongst London’s crowds, from food riots to public reactions to blunders made by admirals, and even the genealogy of Halloween festivities. His compelling prose, intellectual rigour, powers of synthesis and painstaking archival research has allowed him to produce works that have served as models for subsequent writers on these and other topics.

In 1999, Rogers was awarded the Wallace Ferguson Prize for his book Crowds, Culture and Politics in Georgian Britain, a study of 18th-century Britain that fundamentally transformed our understanding of early modern Britain and prompted historians to reconsider how they treat the interplay between politics and culture. He brilliantly and persuasively mapped the pathways of political power and identified those who opposed, resisted and deflected its effects.

Jianhong Wu (left) is best known for his groundbreaking work on the application of mathematical modelling to the epidemiology of infectious diseases and was instrumental in establishing the MITACS Centre for Disease Modelling at 91��ɫ. This research has had a direct impact upon public health policy in Canada and abroad. After the SARS crisis in Toronto he was asked to establish a national working group on disease modelling and since then his research has advanced our understanding of H1N1, West Nile virus and avian influenza, to name but a few.

Wu joined 91��ɫ in 1990, and was named Canada Research Chair in Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 2001. He has made fundamental advances in a number of seemingly disparate areas, from wave theory to neural network theory to differential equations and his intellectual achievements have made him an international leader in the field of applied mathematics. His career exemplifies 91��ɫ’s emphasis on interdisciplinarity and on the application of research to real-time issues.

University Professors

Since political scientist David Dewitt (right) joined 91��ɫ in 1984, he has demonstrated the utmost commitment to 91��ɫ through his scholarship and outstanding service to other researchers, and in his two terms as the associate vice-president (AVP) of research in the humanities and social sciences.

Dewitt is a widely respected expert on human security and was instrumental in establishing the 91��ɫ Centre for International & Security Studies. At the heart of his research into arms proliferation, conflicts in the Asian Pacific and the Middle East and national defence policies have always been a concern for managing conflict and the safety of peoples. He has passed these essential concerns on in his mentoring and supervision of generations of graduate students and junior faculty.

As AVP, he has been pivotal in transforming 91��ɫ’s research culture. He has been a motivating force in improving service support for researchers, increasing the number of external grants, creating facilities for organized research units and establishing an influential 91��ɫ presence on national research councils. In all of these endeavours he has been mindful that research is not the exclusive preserve of those in science, engineering and medicine. His constant attention to 91��ɫ’s enduring research strength in the humanities and social sciences has made him an ideal ambassador both to this University and for research and scholarship in all fields of human knowledge.

Don Dippo (right) has made an extraordinary contribution to the University as a colleague, teacher, mentor and scholar. He has played an important, consistent and multifaceted role in the development of the Faculty of Education and to 91��ɫ. Through his teaching, administration and scholarship, he has also helped others learn how and why community engagement matters.

Before he joined 91��ɫ in 1987, Dippo was an elementary school teacher specializing in music. He has brought the same skills, knowledge, dedication, patience and energy he used as a teacher to his academic life to great and wide acclaim.

Dippo has served as graduate program director and twice as associate dean of preservice education. He has spearheaded new initiatives and educational innovations dedicated to enhancing social justice and inclusivity. He has encouraged advanced study that will transform lives and communities. And he has posed urgent and difficult questions.

Dippo devotes long hours to initiatives that involve schools and community organizations. He is actively affiliated with 91��ɫ’s Centre for Refugee Studies. He is sought out by graduate students who enjoy his lively mind and capacious scholarly reach.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Ellen Bialystok speaks to the New 91��ɫ Times about the bilingual advantage

fmaquito — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 08:00:00 +0000

A cognitive neuroscientist, Ellen Bialystok has spent almost 40 years learning about how bilingualism sharpens the mind, wrote :

Her good news: Among other benefits, the regular use of two languages appears to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease symptoms. Dr. Bialystok, 62, a distinguished research professor of psychology at 91��ɫ [Faculty of Health] in Toronto, was for her contributions to social science. We spoke for two hours in a Washington hotel room in February and again, more recently, by telephone. An edited version of the two conversations follows.

Q. How did you begin studying bilingualism?

A. You know, I didn’t start trying to find out whether bilingualism was bad or good. I did my doctorate in psychology: on how children acquire language. When I finished graduate school, in 1976, there was a job shortage in Canada for PhDs. The only position I found was with a research project studying second language acquisition in school children. It wasn’t my area. But it was close enough.

As a psychologist, I brought neuroscience questions to the study, like “How does the acquisition of a second language change thought?” It was these types of questions that naturally led to the bilingualism research. The way research works is, it takes you down a road. You then follow that road.

Q. So what exactly did you find on this unexpected road?

A. As we did our research, you could see there was a big difference in the way monolingual and bilingual children processed language. We found that if you gave 5- and 6-year-olds language problems to solve, monolingual and bilingual children knew, pretty much, the same amount of language.

But on one question, there was a difference. We asked all the children if a certain illogical sentence was grammatically correct: “Apples grow on noses.” The monolingual children couldn’t answer. They’d say, “That’s silly” and they’d stall. But the bilingual children would say, in their own words, “It’s silly, but it’s grammatically correct.” The bilinguals, we found, manifested a cognitive system with the ability to attend to important information and ignore the less important.

Q. How does this work – do you understand it?

A. Yes. There’s a system in your brain, the executive control system. It’s a general manager. Its job is to keep you focused on what is relevant, while ignoring distractions. It’s what makes it possible for you to hold two different things in your mind at one time and switch between them.

If you have two languages and you use them regularly, the way the brain’s networks work is that every time you speak, both languages pop up and the executive control system has to sort through everything and attend to what’s relevant in the moment. Therefore the bilinguals use that system more, and it’s that regular use that makes that system more efficient.

Q. One of your most startling recent findings is that bilingualism helps forestall the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. How did you come to learn this?

A. We did two kinds of studies. In the first, published in 2004, we found that normally aging bilinguals had better cognitive functioning than normally aging monolinguals. Bilingual older adults performed better than monolingual older adults on executive control tasks. That was very impressive because it didn’t have to be that way. It could have turned out that everybody just lost function equally as they got older.

That evidence made us look at people who didn’t have normal cognitive function. In our next studies, we looked at the medical records of 400 Alzheimer’s patients. On average, the bilinguals showed Alzheimer’s symptoms five or six years later than those who spoke only one language. This didn’t mean that the bilinguals didn’t have Alzheimer’s. It meant that as the disease took root in their brains, they were able to continue functioning at a higher level. They could cope with the disease for longer.

Q. So high school French is useful for something other than ordering a special meal in a restaurant?

A. Sorry, no. You have to use both languages all the time. You won’t get the bilingual benefit from occasional use.

Q. One would think bilingualism might help with multitasking – does it?

A. Yes, multitasking is one of the things the executive control system handles. We wondered, “Are bilinguals better at multitasking?” So we put monolinguals and bilinguals into a driving simulator. Through headphones, we gave them extra tasks to do – as if they were driving and talking on cellphones. We then measured how much worse their driving got. Now, everybody’s driving got worse. But the bilinguals, their driving didn’t drop as much. Because adding on another task while trying to concentrate on a driving problem, that’s what bilingualism gives you – though I wouldn’t advise doing this.

Q. Has the development of new neuroimaging technologies changed your work?

A. Tremendously. It used to be that we could only see what parts of the brain lit up when our subjects performed different tasks. Now, with the new technologies, we can see how all the brain structures work in accord with each other.

In terms of monolinguals and bilinguals, the big thing that we have found is that the connections are different. So we have monolinguals solving a problem, and they use X systems, but when bilinguals solve the same problem, they use others. One of the things we’ve seen is that on certain kinds of even nonverbal tests, bilingual people are faster. Why? Well, when we look in their brains through neuroimaging, it appears like they’re using a different kind of a network that might include language centres to solve a completely nonverbal problem. Their whole brain appears to rewire because of bilingualism.

Q. Bilingualism used to be considered a negative thing – at least in the United States. Is it still?

A. Until about the 1960s, the conventional wisdom was that bilingualism was a disadvantage. Some of this was xenophobia. Thanks to science, we now know that the opposite is true.

Q. Many immigrants choose not to teach their children their native language. Is this a good thing?

A. I’m asked about this all the time. People e-mail me and say, “I’m getting married to someone from another culture, what should we do with the children?” I always say, “You’re sitting on a potential gift.”

There are two major reasons people should pass their heritage language onto children. First, it connects children to their ancestors. The second is my research: Bilingualism is good for you. It makes brains stronger. It is brain exercise.

Q. Are you bilingual?

A. Well, I have fully bilingual grandchildren because my daughter married a Frenchman. When my daughter announced her engagement to her French boyfriend, we were a little surprised. It’s always astonishing when your child announces she’s getting married. She said, “But Mom, it’ll be fine, our children will be bilingual!”

Bialystok also holds an appointment at in Toronto. Her interview was featured on the front page of The New 91��ɫ Times and was the site's most emailed story on May 31, 2011.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Graduate students to engage with lawyers, political economists and theorists at SSHRC-funded workshop

fmaquito — Wed, 25 May 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Some of the top Canadian and international lawyers, political economists, social and development theorists will meet with graduate students this week to analyze and debate the “new constitutionalism”, a central characteristic of the global political economy. It’s another way 91��ɫ students are being given opportunities to engage with the wider community, says 91��ɫ Distinguished Research Professor .

This intensive -funded international workshop will take place Thursday, May 26 to Saturday, May 28 in the Research Tower on the Keele campus.

The event is by invitation only and not open to the public. However, detailed information, including the full list of presentations and abstracts can be viewed by visiting the New Constitutionalism and World Order website. Following the events, the website will be used to provide publication and other information.

Right: Stephen Gill

The workshop will be one component of the International Political Economy and Ecology Graduate Summer School, hosted by 91��ɫ graduate programs in political science, geography and environmental studies, that has been taking place since May 16.

Some of the speakers at the workshop will include:

Richard Falk, the Albert G. Millbank Professor Emeritus of International Law & Politics at Princeton University and a Visiting Distinguished Research Professor in Global & International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara
91��ɫ political science Professor , a current Trudeau Fellow
sociology, social and cultural analysis Professor Neil Brenner of New 91��ɫ
Tim DiMuzio, a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre of Excellence in Global Governance Research at the University of Helsinki
current Trudeau Fellow Janine Brodie, Canada Research Chair in Political Economy & Social Governance at the University of Alberta.

Each presentation will be followed by a Q & A where the workshop participants can engage with the presenters.

New constitutionalism refers to the complex of politico-juridical and constitutional frameworks, regulations and rights that have emerged as key mechanisms of global governance to regulate political economy, society and ecology in the era of neo-liberal capitalism.

Some of the questions the participants and students will discuss include: What are the main transformations occurring in governance arrangements for the global political economy? What legitimacy concerns are raised by new constitutionalism in the context of the deepest crisis of global capitalism since the 1930s? Is there evidence of the emergence of, or conceptualization of, alternative forms of constitutionalism and world order?

Substantial evidence, says Gill, suggests that new constitutionalism is a key feature of the present world economic order, exemplified in organizations such as the , and in the emergence of independent central banks, each of which have been largely premised on neo-liberal development models. These developments have coincided with the global expansion of capitalism and the extension of private property rights and a proliferation in private governance mechanisms.

However, the recent deep crisis of accumulation has called into question the legitimacy and sustainability of these arrangements, prompting critical reflection on alternative forms of constitutionalism and global governance and questions concerning the potential shape of the emerging world order.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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