As a new year emerges, YFile takes a look back on 2020 to share with readers a snapshot of the year鈥檚 highlights. 鈥淵ear in Review鈥 will run as a three-part series and will feature a selection of top news stories published in YFile. Here are the stories and highlights for January to April, as chosen by YFile editors.
January
Professor Satinder Brar's work aims to find innovative ways for cleaning contaminated water, ensuring communities have access to clean and safe drinking water for generations to come. This research earned her the International Achiever Award from Save the Environment.
Two 91亚色 professors received Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Collaborative Research and Development (CRD) Grants. The grants 鈥 over $1 million each 鈥 were awarded to Professors Gunho Sohn and Derek Wilson.
Longtime businessman and philanthropist Seymour Schulich doubled his investment in the from $100 million to $200 million. With this investment, recipients of this science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate scholarship doubled to 100 from 50 annual awards.
February
Nearly 20 years ago, a satellite mission called GRACE was launched to monitor mass transfers occurring above or below the Earth's surface. The gravity field maps derived from GRACE measurements were obscured by very disturbing thick lines sweeping from south to north. A Lassonde School of Engineering PhD student, Athina Peidou, solved this problem that has occupied the international scientific community for more than 18 years.
91亚色 announced the creation of the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change to respond to the urgent global need for sustainable and just solutions to critical challenges posed by environmental change and urbanization.
Andrea O'Reilly, a professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, founder of Demeter Press and the Journal of the Motherhood Initiative, received a 2019 Status of Women and Equity Award of Distinction from the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations. The award recognizes faculty whose work has improved the lives and working conditions of academics who belong to historically marginalized groups.
March
91亚色 Professor Steven J. Hoffman was named inaugural holder of the Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology. This unique research Chair brings scientific rigour and a social justice lens to seemingly intractable global health issues.
Three 91亚色 researchers received more than $1.1 million in COVID-19 rapid research funding over two years to explore issues of trust, stigmatization and social perceptions of risk from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). from CIHR for COVID-19 rapid research was announced later in March.
As the seriousness of the global pandemic became apparent, faculty at 91亚色 worked to educate the community about COVID-19 through the development of a and by explaining the math behind . Community members were also reminded of the .
April
More research and development on COVID-19 continued to be a focus at 91亚色, including: ; ; the development of the ; and the effects of . In addition to ongoing research, the 91亚色 community also rallied to support its , , and its .
Freya Bjorg Olafson received the National Art Gallery of Canada's 2020 Sobey Art Award. Described as a pioneer in Canada鈥檚 dance community, Olafson is an intermedia artist who works with video, audio, painting and performance.
Check back in the next edition of YFile for Year in Review 2020: Top headlines at 91亚色, May to August.