Hosted by 91亚色鈥檚 President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri and Vice-President Research & Innovation Robert Hach茅, the gala pays tribute to the University鈥檚 2012-2013 research leaders. The recipient of the President鈥檚 Research Excellence Award will be announced at the gala.

Robert Hach茅

鈥�91亚色 is proud to celebrate and recognize the achievements of many of our leading faculty and student researchers,鈥� said Shoukri. 鈥淥ur researchers are helping us understand what is happening around the globe, while responding to the most pressing challenges facing Canada and the world.鈥�

鈥淓ach honouree has demonstrated their dedication to excellence in research and scholarship in their own unique way,鈥� said Hach茅. 鈥淭he gala provides an opportunity to recognize the breadth of accomplishments by 91亚色 researchers over the past year and particularly those who have received top honours and accolades from external agencies, nationally and internationally.鈥�

Mamdouh Shoukri

Festivities begin at 2pm and will continue until 5pm in 1005 Osgoode Hall Law School (Moot Court). The event features a keynote speech by Jim Stanford, an economist with the Canadian Auto Workers, Canada鈥檚 largest private sector trade union. Stanford is the author of Economics for Everyone (2008). He is a frequent contributor to CBC Television鈥檚 鈥淭he National鈥� appearing on the program鈥檚 The Bottom Line panel, and a columnist for The Globe and Mail newspaper.

The event will be a celebration of a wide spectrum of researchers across the University, including faculty and students. Among the many researchers to be honoured are, Professors Carl James and Norman Yan,聽were inducted into the Royal Society of Canada as Fellows; Trudeau Fellow Janine Marchessault; Faculty of Health Dean Harvey Skinner; and Early Researcher Award recipients Natasha Myers and Thilo Womelsdorf.

All 91亚色 students, staff and faculty are invited to attend. to RSVP for the event.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.

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The gala dinner will take place Thursday, April 26, from 6 to 9:30pm, at the MaRS Discovery District, 101 College Street, Toronto. Gala tickets cost $250.

Twenty-five scientists will host a table, including three from 91亚色. They are physics Professor Scott Menary, Professor Marshall McCall, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Professor Brenda Zimmerman, director of health industry management at the Schulich School of Business. In addition, 91亚色 honorary degree recipient Calvin Stiller will also host a table.

Guests have the opportunity to choose which table they wish to be seated at, as long as it鈥檚 not already sold out. Each scientist will provide a brief overview of their subject and/or current work and guests are then free to ask any questions or suggest topics they would like the host to discuss. Scientists are chosen from various disciplines from academic institutions and other sectors across southern Ontario.

Scott Menary

Menary鈥檚 present main research thrust is the ALPHA experiment at the antiproton decelerator at CERN, the European Centre for Particle Physics located in Geneva, Switzerland.聽ALPHA aims to produce, "trap", and spectrally analyze a sample of antihydrogen atoms. Comparison of the properties of antihydrogen to those of hydrogen, the most precisely understood system that exists, promises to be a stringent test of our present description of the interactions of the fundamental objects in our universe.

Before coming to 91亚色, Menary was a scientific associate of CERN, a research associate with the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a staff scientist with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) located near Chicago.聽He has performed research at CERN (specifically at LEP 鈥� the Large Electron Positron collider), Fermilab where he helped design a neutrino beam, as well as HERA, the large electron-proton collider at the DESY laboratory in Hamburg, and the CLEO experiment at the CESR electron-positron collider located on the Cornell University campus.

Brenda Zimmerman

Zimmerman will discuss hospital-acquired infections, such as Clostridium difficile, which are typically antibiotic-resistant organisms and often nicknamed 鈥渟uperbugs鈥�, and whether or not a different approach can provide the solution.聽Patients and staff in hospitals are at risk of becoming infected and of infecting others.聽Positive deviance is a change-management approach that has been used in six Canadian hospitals to address this challenge.聽The hallmark of positive deviance is locally created and implemented solutions in contrast to dictated guidelines or rules.聽How can the lessons learned from these hospitals be used to broadly spread the ideas without destroying the very essence of the PD approach?

Zimmerman鈥榮 primary research applies complexity science to organizations, especially health-care organizations.聽 She was a member of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences chronic disease expert panel, is a member of the Health Foundation鈥檚 Improvement Science Network (UK), advises the Canadian Public Health Agency and is the chair of Patient Safety and Quality Committee for Mount Sinai Hospital.

Marshall McCall

"How We Got Here: The Milky Way and Beyond" is the title of McCall鈥檚 discussion. He鈥檒l talk about our understanding of the Milky Way and how our place within it is inextricably tied to thinking about galaxies.聽Our own bodies bear the imprint of galactic evolution.聽 How did we get here mentally?聽 How did we get here physically?聽 How special are we?

McCall is an astronomer who has spent most of his research life studying the structure, evolution and formation of galaxies and galaxy aggregates.聽He has spent two years observing southern skies at Mt. Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories in Australia.聽His primary research adversary is interstellar dust, and he has spent a good deal of time uncovering what lies behind it, including two hitherto unknown galaxies in the backyard of the Milky Way.

Stiller will talk about the translation of university discoveries to world markets. As the role of universities is the pursuit of truth, their societal responsibility is to translate those findings where possible into goods and services that serve the community.聽Canada has lagged behind in this translation of discoveries to the community and many programs are seeking ways to improve this performance.

Calvin Stiller

Stiller, who started his career in organ transplantation and immunology research, and leading the major transplant program in Canada, has been involved with promoting translation of research both locally and nationally. He was a co-founder of MaRS and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and led the formation of venture capital to fill the gap that exists in Canada in early translation.

Following the dinner, there will be a general question-and-answer period, at which time any of the participants are free to direct a question to any of the scientists present.

The RCI for the Advancement of Science is a not-for-profit organization founded in Toronto in 1849 by a small group of civil engineers, architects and surveyors, and聽led by Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915) who established the concept of time zones.

For more information, visit the 聽website or contact 91亚色 biology Professor Ron Pearlman, a member of the RCI council and the gala organizing committee,聽at ronp@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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