Pearlman, currently first-vice-president of the RCI, is the director of 91亚色鈥檚 Core Molecular Biology/DNA Sequencing Facility and former dean and associate dean of 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Graduate Studies. He will be formally inducted at the institute鈥檚 Annual General Meeting on Thursday, May 10.

Ron Pearlman

The is the oldest scientific society in Canada, founded in Toronto in 1849 by a small group of civil engineers and surveyors led by Sir Sandford Fleming. Its mission is to enhance public awareness about science, and听it is best known for its free public lecture series held on Sunday afternoons in the fall and winter on the University of Toronto campus, and similar free lectures on Thursdays at the Mississauga Public Library.

鈥淚鈥檓 grateful to have this opportunity to lead an organization with such an important mission,鈥� Pearlman says. 鈥淪cience impacts our lives on a daily basis, and in all areas. We need to have a science-literate population, and in a civil society we need a vibrant science culture.鈥�

As president, Pearlman will continue to build on public outreach initiatives, such as making public lectures available via webcasts produced by 91亚色. Recent lectures have included top scientists like the University of Toronto鈥檚 Shana O. Kelley discussing the latest nanotech tools for diagnosing disease, and 91亚色鈥檚 own Ellen Bialystok on reshaping the brain through bilingualism. For a full list of lectures available online, click here.

鈥淥n behalf of the 91亚色 research community, I would like to congratulate Dr. Ron Pearlman, University Professor Emeritus of 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Science & Engineering, on his appointment as president of the Royal Canadian Institute for the Advancement of Science,鈥� says Robert Hach茅, 91亚色鈥檚 vice-president research & innovation. 鈥淎s a leading expert in the field of genomics, with a long-standing successful career, Ron has worked to advance scientific research on an international scale and has been a phenomenal ambassador for 91亚色 research. This prestigious appointment is well deserved.鈥�

Pearlman was recently recognized with a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his outstanding contributions to the RCI, and his support of science culture and literacy in Canada. In addition to his role at 91亚色, he is also associate scientific director of the Gairdner Foundation and co-ordinates its student outreach program. His research interests include molecular biology and biochemistry, cell biology and genetics utilizing the new genomic and proteomic technologies.

The RCI and 91亚色 are also among the sponsors of the upcoming , an annual cross-country event that brings science and technology face to face with the Canadian public in a non-intimidating, festival atmosphere at many academic institutions as well as in public spaces.

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

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The project, Youth and Community Development in Canada and Jamaica: A Transnational Approach to Youth Violence, popularly known as 鈥淧roject Groundings鈥�, opened with two youth forums in Kingston and St. Mary, Jamaica on July 28 and 31. At both of these events, black youth from Jamaica and Canada confronted the systemic violence that marks their lives and initiated a conversation about how they might interrupt these complex patterns of violence.

Right: 91亚色 Professor Andrea Davis addressing a youth forum in Jamaica

Andrea Davis, deputy director of CERLAC and the project鈥檚 principal investigator, says, 鈥淢any youth lack the language and cultural awareness necessary to respond to their environment in a critical and transformative way, and often end up perpetuating forms of social violence themselves.鈥� By bringing Jamaican youth into a conversation with Canadian youth, Project Groundings 鈥渟eeks to facilitate critical national and transnational dialogue that can open up avenues of collaboration among youth across their shared cultural boundaries,鈥� says Davis. This transformative dialogue seeks not only to change the behaviour and action of youth, but also to increase public awareness, affect public policy and contribute to the ongoing body of research on youth violence.听

In the project鈥檚 opening National Youth Forum in Kingston, Jamaican youth grappled with the unique challenges they face, including sexual violence against women, victimization based on sexual orientation, access to education, unemployment, socio-economic disparities in the administration of justice and the absence of effective platforms from which to voice their concerns.

Above: New research听uses art forms, such as drama, to explore the effects of violence on black youth in Canada and Jamaica听

The second youth forum in Woodside, St. Mary, examined the specific concerns faced by rural youth.听Here, youth identified a lack of facilities and resources, including poor roads and inadequate transportation, as their greatest challenges. While they recognized the necessity of agricultural pursuits, they also pointed to the lack of crop diversification and financial compensation as major deterrents leading them off the land.

The question of violence was also central to the Woodside forum, which closed with an impromptu commemoration of the life of Shauna Kaye Shaw, a community youth leader murdered earlier this year. In defiance of the fear brought on by her death, Woodside youth committed to resume youth activities.

Right: Jamaica Youth Theatre performing The Pickney Dem a Dry

As Peter Cumming, coordinator of 91亚色鈥檚 Children鈥檚 Studies Program and president of the Association for Research in Cultures of Young People, says, 鈥淭he most exciting development in the research team鈥檚 first sessions in Jamaica was the moving demonstration of Jamaican youths鈥� eager and serious engagement with issues of violence through their sharing of their own experiences, their animated discussion about possible solutions for societal violence, and their strategic use of the arts, particularly theatre, to represent and confront the enormous pain caused by violence.鈥�

One example of the use of the arts was Jamaica Youth Theatre鈥檚 (YRT) performance of the skit The Pickney Dem a Dry. The skit explores the grief of a mother who learns of the death of her daughter on the streets. While it begins as a personal mourning, it quickly mounts into collective suffering, a disturbing yet inspiring memorial to young people who have died violently. This performance powerfully deployed a poem, a clothesline on which the names of murdered youth were hung and chants based on street graffiti to acknowledge a shared humanity among youth 鈥� 鈥淲e all bleed red鈥�. It also challenged everyone as individuals and nations to 鈥淟ive up! Live up!鈥�

Left: Toronto youth Ebthihal Nabag (left) and Nabi Shash from Nia Centre for the Arts participate in a youth exchange

鈥淚 was humbled by the honesty and courage of these young people,鈥� says Davis. 鈥淏eing able to see the transformative elements of the research and the way young people from both countries embraced and empowered each other was enormously fulfilling.鈥�

This innovative approach to youth violence is funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada and brings together researchers from 91亚色, McMaster University, the universities of Guelph, Ottawa and Waterloo, as well as the University of the West Indies (Mona campus). It also includes three community partners 鈥� JYT in Kingston, the Woodside Development Action Group in St. Mary and Nia Centre for the Arts in Toronto,

The project will host a second youth forum, workshop and photo exhibit in Toronto Oct. 28 and 29.

For more information, visit the CERLAC website or e-mail Andrea Davis at aadavis@yorku.ca.

By 91亚色 graduate student Jan Anderson

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

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