Ontario Ministry of Environment Archives | Research & Innovation

NSERC awards 91��ɫ research centres $3.3 million

fmaquito — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Programs in vision research and atmospheric chemistry and physics will provide enhanced research and training for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows

If you’re working in 3D film or aerospace engineering, what impact do the latest developments in brain and vision research have on your industry’s practices? What if you’re drafting government policy on air quality control and need expertise in how the latest atmospheric chemistry and physics findings translate into plans and policy?

Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows at 91��ɫ have new options to pursue the research and applied dimensions of these and other questions, thanks to $3.3 million in funding from the (NSERC).

httpv://youtu.be/OtRWua59EPU

The funding, provided through NSERC’s $29.6 million investment over six years in the Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Grants program, will support two new training programs in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, each valued at $1.65 million over the period.

Professor Hugh Wilson

Students and fellows enrolled in each program will gain experience in basic and applied research, along with the practical and professional skills needed to successfully transition to research careers in the academic, industry or government sectors.

Professor Hugh Wilson in the Faculty of Science & Engineering’s Department of Biology will lead the Vision Science and Applications program. Based in the internationally-recognized (CVR), the program focuses on vision-based information technologies that require optimal information displays to ensure accurate human interpretation of data are playing an increasingly important role in many economic sectors.

Key applications include:

3D digital media (e.g., 3D film, geographical databases, autocad systems)
Aerospace (e.g., cockpit technologies, search-and-rescue)
Face and scene analysis technologies (e.g., facial biometrics)
Visual health and assessment technologies (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), perimetry)

The Vision Science and Applications team includes 25 researchers at seven international universities and 10 partner organizations, including , the and . At 91��ɫ, a total of 10 professors affiliated with CVR will lend their expertise to the project. The program will enrol four students in its first year and 16 students in each successive year.

Professor Jochen Rudolph

Professors and in the Faculty of Science & Engineering’s Department of Chemistry will lead the Training Program for Integrating Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics from Earth to Space (IACPES) program. Jointly based in 91��ɫ’s (CAC) and the Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science (CRESS), the program’s interdisciplinary focus will give students an integrated understanding of atmospheric chemistry and physics from earth into space.

Key applications include:

measuring and modelling atmospheric change
examining air quality and health issues
monitoring changes in the arctic atmosphere
detecting sources of greenhouse gases
measuring Earth’s changing atmosphere from space
exploring and understanding other planets’ atmospheres
developing the policy implications of atmospheric science

The IACPES team includes 11 applicants at six universities and 23 collaborators at 10 partner organizations, including , the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, the (NOAA) in Boulder, Colo., several industries and two premier research institutes in Germany. The program will create 21 places for undergraduate students, master’s students, PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in its first year, with over 200 places created over the successive five years.

httpv://youtu.be/6YlFv0Xd9no

Professor Robert McLaren

“By securing two of only 18 projects awarded to universities across Canada, 91��ɫ builds on its strong track record in leading large-scale, interdisciplinary collaborative research projects,” said Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation. “The programs will provide our innovative research centres – CVR, CRESS and CAC – with a competitive advantage in attracting excellent graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who wish to pursue careers in the applications of vision science or atmospheric chemistry and physics. NSERC’s CREATE program strengthens the role of universities in training the highly-qualified people needed in today’s scientific knowledge economy.”

“NSERC’s CREATE Program helps graduating students become highly sought-after professional researchers in the natural sciences and engineering, both in Canada and abroad,” said Suzanne Fortier, president of NSERC. “The program not only helps improve the skill set of Canada’s next-generation of research talent, but it also helps to support their retention in the workforce.”

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer

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Professor Peter Victor appointed to lead Ontario’s Greenbelt Council

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

91��ɫ Professor Peter A. Victor has been appointed chair of Ontario’s , which makes recommendations for the protection of more than 1.8 million acres of agricultural and environmentally sensitive land in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

“Dr. Victor brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and insight to the Greenbelt Council,” said Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rick Bartolucci, who announced Victor’s appointment Tuesday. “I look forward to working with Dr. Victor and Council as they provide advice on the ongoing implementation of the Greenbelt.”

A professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at 91��ɫ, Victor is an economist who has worked on environmental issues for 40 years as an academic, public servant and consultant. He was Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Studies from 1996 to 2001, following several years as an assistant deputy minister in Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment. Prior to that he worked in the private sector, where he undertook many policy-related economic studies in Canada and abroad.

“I look forward to working with the Council as we consider and make recommendations to the Minister,” said Victor. “We have come to understand economies as subsystems of the biosphere and realize that a healthy environment and a strong economy go hand in hand.”

Victor continues to provide public, private and non-governmental organizations with technical advice on air pollution and health, emissions trading, emerging issues and full cost accounting at national and corporate levels. He is author of .

By Janice Walls, media relations coordinator.

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The School of Public Policy & Administration celebrates its public service partners

fmaquito — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Over the past 25 years, students in the practicum and internship program of the School of Public Policy & Administration (PPA), in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, have worked in almost every ministry of the Ontario government, in municipal governments across southern Ontario and in a variety of broader public sector agencies, boards and commissions.

Recently, the school celebrated its public service partners and alumni at its second annual Meet and Greet Breakfast in the Grosvenor Room of at Toronto's Metro Central YMCA. The school took time to honour the Ontario Public Service (OPS) for its continued involvement with the practicum and internship programs.

Left: Shelly Jamieson, secretary to the Ontario Cabinet and head of the OPS

Three members of the OPS who had taken 91��ɫ students year after year were fêted at the celebration. They were Orna Salamon, director of the Drinking Water Programs Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environment; George Mandrapilias, team leader for Materials Industries in the Ministry of Economic Development & Trade; and Dave Cook, manager of strategic projects for the Ministry of the Environment.

More than 50 people attended the Sept. 14 celebration, including 91��ɫ student association representatives, faculty, alumni and OPS staff. Shelly Jamieson, secretary to the Ontario Cabinet and the head of the OPS, delivered the keynote speech and also presented awards.

“Our organizations have helped hundreds of students gain valuable experience and a competitive edge in the job market," said Jamieson about the importance of the partnership between the OPS and 91��ɫ. "Together, we’re also infusing the Ontario Public Service with a new generation of dedicated and skilled professionals.”

Each year – in conjunction with their fourth-year courses in program evaluation and public policy research – a number of students take a practicum course in which they volunteer to work in a government or other public agency for one day a week.

Most of the placements involve recurrent partnerships, says Peter Constantinou (BA '89), the school’s internship and practicum coordinator. This, he adds, is due to the high calibre of students coming in the program and their commitment to top-notch work.

Left: Peter Constantinou

“Since graduation last June, over half the students who did not go on to graduate studies have been hired by the public sector, and all attribute it to the experience that they received in this program," says Constantinou. "These practicums and internships have provided students with an invaluable opportunity to apply their formal education and training in real public service situations, and have helped them make decisions about a career in the public sector.”

“It is a testimony to the quality of the careful match we make between work and student, that each year many students end up being hired as interns by their placement organization,” says Professor Joanne Magee, director of the school.

For more information, visit the School of Public Policy & Administration website.

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

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