Research LIFE Building Better Bridges

SUMMER 2009 | VOLUME 2
ResearchLIFE
BOOKS New Titles From Leading Researchers
UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA
Building Better
Bridges
ISIS Canada
INSIDE:
PREMIER GARY DOER
BABY LANGUAGE:
BEYOND THE BABBLE
RECIPE FOR CHANGE:
MOVING NURSING
RESEARCH FORWARD
36 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
BOOKS New Titles From Leading Researchers
Message
FROM THE VICE-PRESIDENT
(RESEARCH)
Research is part of everyday life. The search
for answers begins when we are young and
evolves as we mature. The quest for answers
continues to move us forward to meet the
challenges facing us today of climate change,
pandemic diseases and economic stability.
As an institution that houses some of the most
cutting-edge research conducted worldwide, the
University of Manitoba has much to be proud of.
Our researchers and students are working sideby-side to find solutions to problems affecting us
locally, nationally and internationally.
In this issue, you will find an array of stories
representing the multifaceted approaches used
to answer these questions. From the design of a
better bridge to facilitating the translation of research into practice to the study of international
law, our researchers and students are striving to
move knowledge forward to a better place for all.
I hope you find the breadth and depth of the
work highlighted in this publication to be as impressive and inspiring as I do, and that you will
join me in celebrating the dedication and ingenuity of our outstanding researchers and students.
—Digvir S. Jayas, PhD, PEng, PAg
1 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
SUMMER 2009 VOLUME 2
BUILDING BETTER BRIDGES
Inside
11
ISIS Canada – the Intelligent Sensing for Innovative
Structures Canada Research Network – has been
headquartered at the University of Manitoba since
1995. The ISIS logo appears on 2,500 technical papers
(journal and conference), patents and international
agreements. What really impresses outsiders, though,
is the collaboration it leads—150 researchers from 15
universities. BY SEAN MOORE
18
27
29
9 ONE MIND MANY INSIGHTS
Premier Gary Doer – Excerpts from a conversation with Gary
Doer, Manitoba’s 20th Premier.
18 BABY LANGUAGE: BEYOND THE BABBLE
Have you ever tried to learn a new language? Not an easy task at
any age, but it does seem that as we age it becomes harder for
us to do. Why is this so tough for adults and yet children and
even infants can acquire languages much more readily than adults?
BY JENNIFER ROBINSON
25 RECIPE FOR CHANGE
The Nursing KnowledgeTranslation Project began in 2006 at
Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre. This new model for moving
knowledge from the bench to the bedside is being developed,
using the existing nursing social networks and the lessons learned
from research: all for the ultimate benefit of patient care.
BY JANINE HARASYMCHUK
Happenings.................... 3
Viewpoint ..................... 22
Kudos ............................ 5
Spotlight on Students ... 23
Centres & Institutes ....... 8
Creative Works ............ 29
Hot off the Presses ....... 15
On the Horizon ............. 33
Ideas to Innovation........ 17
Just the Facts .............. 34
ResearchLIFE
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CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO:
UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA
Research Communications
& Marketing
540 Machray Hall
Winnipeg, MB Canada R3T 2N2
Tel 204-474-7300 • Fax 204-261-0325
[email protected]
VICE-PRESIDENT (RESEARCH)
Digvir S. Jayas
EDITOR AND MANAGER OF
RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
& MARKETING
Janine Harasymchuk
DESIGN
Relish Design Studio Ltd.
CONTRIBUTORS
Lindsay Fagundes
Janine Harasymchuk
Sean Moore
Justin Kozak
Andrea Signorelli
PHOTOGRAPHY
Cover: Bill Peters
Tamara Nathaniell
Member of the University Research
Magazine Association: www.urma.org
umanitoba.ca/research
ISSN# 1918-1442
HAPPENINGS
SCIENCE MEETS IMAGINATION
HUNDREDS OF STUDENTS AND DELEGATES from across Canada descended
on campus for a week of stiff competition in this year’s Canada-Wide Science
Fair (CWSF), held May 9 to 17—the first time since 1988 that Manitoba has
played host. The event was a resounding success.
Projects ranged from how to prevent birds from flying into windows to how
taking music lessons (or band classes) improves your math or science grades to
which whitening strips work best to whiten your teeth.
As part of the day of science activities planned for students and delegates,
researchers opened their labs and their minds to questioning from an array of
students. The students toured dozens of labs and had the opportunity to get
hands on with some of the experiments. The series of lectures by our leadingedge researchers on topics like biofuels, HIV/AIDS, and healthy lifestyles were
a hit with students, delegates and the researchers, too.
IMPROVING WORLD HEALTH
THE CENTRE FOR GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH (CGPH)
HOSTED A SERIES OF EVENTS IN SUPPORT OF GLOBAL
PUBLIC HEALTH WEEK. The week kicked off with an open
house to promote interaction between faculty and global
public health partners from around the world. A two-day
symposium titled “Translating Knowledge into Action in
Global Public Health” brought together experts on topics
such as HIV prevention and treatment programs in Africa,
India and China.
The CGPH was established in the Department of
Community Health Sciences in June, 2008 and enhances
the contribution of the University of Manitoba to the
improvement of public health systems, programs and
activities in diverse global settings. A cornerstone of CGPH
is the design and implementation of international health
and development projects in several countries including
India, China, Kenya and Pakistan, primarily in the areas
of HIV and STI prevention.
3 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
Science Day activities at
the University of Manitoba
Centre for Global Public
Health photography exhibit
TRIUMFANT
TRIUMF, CANADA’S NATIONAL LABORATORY for Particle and
Nuclear Physics stationed in British Columbia, recently welcomed
the University of Manitoba as a full member. TRIUMF is one of
three subatomic research facilities in the world that specialize in
producing extremely intense beams of particles. It began in 1968
when three universities launched a local facility for intermediateenergy nuclear physics.
The University of Manitoba joins the seven existing member
universities and, as part of this national team, will help to set the
priorities of the research program. Members have instant access
to a network of international scientific leaders and decisionmakers, cutting-edge research results and technology, and highly
skilled technical and engineering support.
RESEARCH WITHOUT
BORDERS
A CELEBRATION WAS HELD TO
CELEBRATE the recent award to
the international partnership
of Fikret Berkes (University of
Manitoba) and Alpina Begossi
(State University of Campinas
Brazil). The pair were chosen
by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
and Canada Research Chairs
Program for the IDRC Chair in
Community-Based Resource
Management.
The goal of their research
is to increase food security
and improve the livelihoods
of fisher communities in
Paraty in the Rio de Janeiro
State of Brazil. The research
team will develop approaches
collaboratively with these
fisher communities to better
manage local resources and
(l-r) Fikret Berkes
and Alpina Begossi
to help them diversify their
sources of income. This will
give them a stable source of
income to ensure they can
feed their families in the long
term, without stressing the
finite natural resources they
currently depend upon.
The funding ($1 million)
allocated to this chair by the
International Development
Research Centre and the
Canada Research Chairs program will enhance the training
of graduate students at the
University of Manitoba and at
State University of Campinas
Brazil by providing them with
unique training and fieldwork
opportunities, under the tutelage of these highly qualified
chairholders.
THEIR FUTURES TAKE ROOT HERE
FOUR UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA
GRADUATE STUDENTS were among
the inaugural recipients of the
Vanier Canada Graduate
Scholarship—Brent Else,
Kyle Elliott, Jennifer Juno,
Meika Richmond. Their research
covers a wide array of subject matter: gene identification in
HIV, immune responses to HIV infection, how wild birds work
so hard and live long, and air-sea exchange of carbon dioxide
and its impact on sea ice. Each student receives $50,000
annually for up to three years, to continue their studies.
The scholarship program, launched in 2008, with an initial
$25-million investment, is administered by Canada’s three
federal research granting agencies—the Canadian Institutes
of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
When fully operational, the program will support 500
graduate students per year.
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 4
KUDOS
7
Unique
Group
of Seven
The 2008 Rh Award was recently given to seven rising stars at the
University of Manitoba. The Rh Awards were established in 1973 by
the Winnipeg Rh Institute, now the Winnipeg Rh Institute Foundation and each consists of a $10,000 award to conduct further research.
The awards are given to academic staff members who are in the early
stages of their careers and who display exceptional innovation, leadership and promise in the fields of applied sciences, creative works,
health sciences, humanities, interdisciplinary studies, natural sciences
and the social sciences.
APPLIED SCIENCES
James Blatz, civil
engineering, researches
how clay particles
behave under varying
moisture, temperature
and stress conditions.
Blatz also develops ways to assess the
safety of rockfill dams for Manitoba Hydro, and how rockfill columns can stabilize
Winnipeg’s riverbanks. His work on building a better sandbag dike has been used
extensively in Manitoba flood fighting.
HEALTH SCIENCES
Michelle Lobchuk,
Faculty of Nursing,
studies lung cancer
patients and their
caregivers. Her research
—which spans nursing,
social psychology and medicine—is filling
in gaps that exist in theory based interventions to enhance empathic communication, treatment decision-making, and
symptom management for advanced stage
cancer patients, particularly those diagnosed with lung cancer and their families.
5 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
INTERDISCIPLINARY
Jessica Senehi, Faculty
of Graduate Studies
and the Arthur V.
Mauro Centre for
Peace and Justice, researches interpersonal
and intercommunity conflict. Her work
extends the understanding of conflicts
and how they can be resolved. Her use of
storytelling as a respectful mechanism for
introducing and inspiring human solidarity at all levels of interaction led to her
establishing the Winnipeg International
Storytelling Festival: Storytelling on the
Path to Peace.
NATURAL SCIENCES
John Hanesiak,
environment and
geography, studies
atmospheric science.
His expertise is in
surface-atmosphere
interactions, storms, and extreme weather,
and examines how the atmosphere
interacts with the Earth’s surfaces, such as
prairie landscapes, sea ice and ocean. The
data garnered help us to better understand
weather and climate processes in order to
improve weather prediction.
SOCIAL SCIENCES
CREATIVE WORKS
Struan Sinclair,
English, film and
theatre, is the author of
a collection of novels
and short stories, and
explores new media
and digital culture. His novels include
Automatic World, a story about a man
who, unable to recall his identity of past, is
determined to access his history and so assemble the narrative of his life. In If/ Then,
a multimedia piece in the form of an architectural walkthrough, the project is used to
provide a navigable 3-D virtual space.
first to look at the relationship between
history, technology and the evolution of
prose within Québec film and literature.
HUMANITIES
Étienne Beaulieu,
French, Spanish and
Italian, investigates
two interrelated areas
of interest in French
studies: Romanticism
and Québec cinema. Through analysis of
the works of Joseph Joubert he is providing a new theory on the comprehension of
French literature. He also explores Francophone cinema, principally Québécois.
These innovative studies have been the
Kiera Ladner, political
studies, conducts community-based research
into constitutional
reconciliation and
decolonization. Her
work focuses on Indigenous politics and
governance in Canada. Ladner’s research
brings communities together—engaging
grassroots, traditional leadership, and Indian Act leaders in discussions about their
visions of the future.
BRRRR….BUT IT’S GETTING WARMER
Janine Harasymchuk
THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA
joins a select group of universities across
Canada invited to nominate a world leader
for the new Canada Excellence Research
Chair (CERC) in Arctic Geomicrobiology
and Climate Change.
Scientists are predicting that we can
expect a seasonally ice free Arctic by
2015. The rate of this change is challenging our ability to understand the complex
relationships between climate, sea ice, ecosystem function, and sustainable development of rich Arctic resources. The CERC
in Arctic Geomicrobiology and Climate
Change will develop models capable of
predicting these changes.
The opportunity to nominate a new
CERC is the result of the development,
over the past twenty years, of a strong network of researchers and science disciplines
that is unique in the world. The Arctic
research group at the University of Manitoba is made up of seventeen scientists
housed in the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty
of the Environment, Earth and Resources
and will be involved in the CERC in Arctic
Geomicrobiology and Climate Change.
This CERC will provide the opportunity
to further integrate and propel this already
world-class, multi- and inter-disciplinary
research team to an unprecedented level to
conduct Arctic climate change research.
(l-r): Women of Distinction Award winners
Wanda Wuttunee and Elissavet Kardami
GETTING TO THE HEART OF THINGS
PROFESSORS ELISSAVET
KARDAMI AND WANDA
WUTTUNEE were this year’s winners
of YMCA-YWCA Women of Distinction
Awards in the Research and Innovation,
and Education and Training categories,
respectively. The awards are two of nine
presented every year to bolster awareness
of the outstanding contributions certain
local women make to Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada and the world.
Kardami’s work has brought her to the
forefront of cardiac cell and molecular
biology on issues of repair, regeneration,
control of proliferation and cardio-protection. She lends her time liberally to
the scientific community as well as to
other social, cultural and volunteer health
organizations. Her tenacity, strength
and determination have allowed her to
establish herself as a highly successful and
productive scientist and academic.
She is a member of the Faculty of
Medicine and is principal investigator at
the Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences—
a joint institute of the University of Manitoba and St. Boniface General
Hospital.
Wuttunee is an internationally recognized leader in the field of Aboriginal
economic development. Her work focuses
on community development perspectives
and, in particular, women’s contributions.
She examines the strengths of the community and the gifts that Aboriginal people
bring to the business table. Her extensive
community involvement includes board
positions and committee work focusing
on issues of education, business and culture. She is Cree and a member of the
Red Pheasant Cree Nation, Saskatchewan.
She is currently head of the Department
of Native Studies in the Faculty of Arts
and director of the Aboriginal Business
Education Program.
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 6
KUDOS
FEEDING THE WORLD
THE SECRETS OF GRAIN
STORAGE ISSUES have been unlocked
by a prize-winning team at the University
of Manitoba. The fourth-annual Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary
Research in Science and Engineering was
awarded to biosystems engineer Digvir
S. Jayas, and Noel White, an entomologist
with the Cereal Research Centre,
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
Jayas and Dr. White have spent more
than two decades studying the causes of
grain spoilage, from excess heat and
moisture in storage bins, to damage
caused by insects, fungi and bacteria.
The Brockhouse Prize has been
conferred only four times, and two of
those awards have been to University of
Manitoba research teams. Established
by the Natural Sciences and Engineering
Research Council of Canada (NSERC),
and named after Nobel laureate Bertram Brockhouse, the prize honours teams
of researchers that combine expertise in
different disciplines to produce achievements of international scientific or
engineering significance, and it includes
$250,000 in funding for future research
activities.
In Canada, grain spoilage losses
account for an estimated one per cent
of the total annual crop, but in some
developing countries losses are as high
as 50 per cent. By applying engineering,
biology and mathematics, Jayas and White
(l-r) Brockhouse
Canada Prize winners
Noel White and Digvir
Jayas
7 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
have developed internationally recognized
prevention techniques proven to reduce
spoilage for a variety of cereals, oilseeds
and legumes under a wide range of environmental conditions.
The team was the first to show that
stored grain can be dried more effectively
when air is forced through it horizontally
rather than vertically. This information is
being used to design a near-ambient air
dryer that will be up to 40 per cent more
energy efficient than current systems.
They have developed new strategies for the
early detection of insects in grain bulk and
alternative methods for controlling insect
infestations.
Their solutions are helping to provide
food for millions of people. ■
CENTRES & INSTITUTES
THE TRANSPORT INSTITUTE
MOVING FORWARD
THE MOVEMENT OF FREIGHT AND PASSENGERS IS
CRITICAL TO THE ECONOMIC SUCCESS of every nation
and the social well-being of all people. Moving people and goods
also has tremendous implications for the environment, in terms
of congestion, emissions and fuel efficiency. Since 1966, the
University of Manitoba Transport Institute (UMTI) has played
a leading role in transportation and logistics research. The
institute, directed by Paul D. Larson, is a unit within the
Department of Supply Chain Management (SCM) in the I.H.
Asper School of Business.
The institute’s mission is to facilitate economic prosperity,
environmental sustainability, and social advancement, through
logistics and SCM research and education that links businesses,
governments, not-for-profit organizations, educators, students,
and the community. Its mandate is to conduct rigorous and
relevant research in transport and logistics, train transportation
researchers, policy makers and practitioners; and to disseminate
research results and policy implications at conferences,
roundtables and workshops.
Examples of research taking place at the institute include a
study on vulnerabilities in the Manitoba food supply chain if a
pandemic were to occur, an analysis of supply chains and food
prices in isolated, northern communities in Manitoba, and an
analysis of opportunities for Winnipeg’s inland port. UMTI also
produces and publishes the annual Manitoba Transportation
Report, a frequently cited report on transportation and logistics
activities in Manitoba.
In 2008, the institute conducted a study on vulnerabilities in
the Manitoba food supply chain in the event of a flu pandemic.
Virtually all members of the Manitoba food supply chain, post
farm gate were contacted in-person or by mail survey. Using this
information, the food supply chain was mapped and various risk
scenarios were modelled to estimate the impact of pandemic
conditions on net nutritional balances in Manitoba.
More recently, Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation,
the Manitoba Trucking Association, the Centre for Sustainable
Transportation at the University of Winnipeg and UMTI began
working together on a new GrEEEn (Economically and Environmentally Efficient) trucking incentive program. The GrEEEn
program offers cash incentives to companies that install various
technologies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused
by movement of freight.
UMTI is also preparing a white paper on inland ports,
with special reference to the CentrePort initiative. This research
includes a look at present and possible future commodities
flowing from, to, and through Winnipeg. The shippers of
these commodities are potential customers of the inland port.
Commodities represent opportunities for CentrePort to add
value to the supply chain; by moving goods better, faster and
cheaper than ever before. The white paper will be released in
October at UMTI’s Manitoba Outlook on Transportation event.
To learn more about the University of Manitoba Transport
Institute, visit www.umti.ca ■
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 8
ONE
Mind
MANY insights
A DECADE HAS PASSED SINCE GARY DOER TOOK THE OATH OF OFFICE AS MANITOBA’S 20TH
PREMIER, MAKING HIM THE LONGEST-SERVING OF THE CURRENT GROUP OF CANADIAN
PREMIERS. Doer grew up in the River Heights neighbourhood of Winnipeg. Before being elected
to the Manitoba Legislature in 1986 as a member of the New Democratic Party for the riding of
Concordia, he worked at the Vaughn Street Detention Centre and served as President of the Manitoba
Government Employees Union for seven years.
9 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
Upon his election, he was appointed Minister of Urban Aaffairs. After the 1990 provincial election,
he became leader of the opposition and spent many years working alongside a majority Progressive
Conservative government led by Gary Filmon. In 1999, Doer defeated Filmon and was sworn in as
premier on October 5.
What follows is an excerpt from
“Research allows me to have a greater
understanding of an issue and all the
depths and complexities of that issue when
making decisions. Research also means,
for me, the knowledge economy and the
creation of new knowledge. It provides
potential solutions to the challenges we
face in any number of ways.
In terms of the economic impact of
research, I would like to see it go from
papers to patents to products.
I rely on research every day: in question
period and to inform my speaking points
and to develop policy options for future
government action.
In terms of the broader community,
beyond the political means, I find research
crucial to improvements in our healthcare
system. I find it crucial to the development
of new food products and crucial in terms
of developing clean energy. Right now,
when we are trying to improve water quality, research is very important particularly
on projects such as Devil’s Lake (that
we are opposed to). As we speak, we are
dealing with research that is going on at
a furious pace to take the H1N1 outbreak
and move it to a vaccine and a cure.
The Manitoba Innovation Council is a
prime example of how a group of experts
outside the bureaucracy and government,
can inform on where spending and investments should go and how that should be
a conversation with Gary Doer:
prioritized. Secondly, it informs how tax
structures can work more effectively to
make sure research can move to products.
And, thirdly, it will allow a more independent view of where Manitoba is competitive in the sense of retaining qualified
people and where it needs to become more
competitive.
People on the street can relate to
research that touches them in some way.
Diseases like polio, where research provided a direct benefit in the development
of a vaccine. This affected quality of life
and life itself for millions of people around
the world. I think people can see the direct
application of research in things like the
invention by Baldur Stefansson of canola,
formerly known as rapeseed, and the
impact this has had for the diets of people
around the world, to say nothing of the
impact on the livelihoods of farmers.
Our next generation of scientists, the
young people of today, astound me both
in terms of the quality of the work they are
producing and in terms of the sophistication of these young people.
Manitoba was recognized recently, in
the area of bioscience, to have the highest
growth in bioscience and biotechnology,
on a per capita basis, in the last five years,
than any other province in Canada. I
am very proud of that. Having partners
that are part of our knowledge economy
is very important. I think it provides a
tremendous ability to have a cluster of
research knowledge and scientists that will
continue to allow growth in the private
sector research and product development.
Manitoba is very well positioned and is a
bit of a hidden secret in terms of what it
means to other provinces and the U.S.
An aspect of research that I find
fascinating is in the area of what I call the
“battle of researchers” or rather, the debate
between people that inform policies. To
observe the debate among the research
experts on whether we should reduce or
eliminate nitrogen from waste water was
fascinating. Everybody agreed with the
research on phosphorous being removed,
but there was a debate about nitrogen
in lakes. Other parts of the country are
working to remove it from rivers and lakes
and the question was whether we should
follow suit. It was personally fascinating to
me to watch and observe the debate both
publicly and privately about what was best
for us to do. As a result, we took a second
look at our own research to make sure that
research in place five or six years ago for
licensing decisions was still current.” ■
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 10
FEATURE
By Sean Moore
BY SEAN MOORE
building better
Tamara Nathaniel
BRIDGES
It was 1952 when Aftab Mufti, a 12-year-old boy
living in Karachi, Pakistan, began building bridges.
His mother planted a vegetable garden that summer
and to help her water it Aftab and his older brother
Mehtab cut a trench connecting their backyard pond to
the plot. But the gully often ran dry so the boys took shifts
sloshing water down it with their only bucket.
11 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
(l-r) Aftab Mutfi, ISIS
president; Evangeline
Murison, ISIS resource
centre manager; Chad
Glowak, ISIS research
engineer
The idle boy, bored, gathered nearby stones, sticks and mud and built a bridge that his brother
then tried to ruin with floods. Back and forth they went, days on end, building and destroying
bridges. Aftab studied his design faults and continually improved them. Years later he acted
on his father’s encouragement and pursued a career in civil engineering. He is now the president of ISIS Canada, a group of 150 researchers from 15 Canadian universities responsible for
paradigm shifts in civil engineering research.
Meanwhile in Switzerland, when Mufti
was playing in his backyard, Urs Meier was
spending his summers with his grandma
who went to elementary school with the
famous structural engineer Othmar Ammann, and instead of reading bedtime
stories to Meier she would tell him tales
of Ammann, showing him pictures of the
Ammann’s bridges. Fascinated by this
world, he decided to study at the same
university Ammann did—Polytechnikum
in Zurich. Years later, after studying in
American laboratories, he returned home
in 1988 with an idea that got Mufti’s attention: using new materials called fiber
reinforced polymers (FRPs), he wanted to
build a bridge across the Strait of Gibraltar
using only a single span 8.4 kilometers
in length. (Conventional methods limit a
bridge span to 4 kilometers.)
“That really put so much interest in
our thinking that we went to talk with
him. He was on the right track,” Mufti
said. “You see, he was saying these new
materials would last for a long time, inside
and outside of concrete. So we were very
interested. First of all it was fascinating,
but we wanted to know how he was using
this material and how Canada could move
into this new way of doing things. And
that was the start of ISIS.”
ISIS—the Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures Canada Research
Network—has always been headquartered
at the University of Manitoba, and since
2000 Mufti has sat at its helm. Upon
returning from Zurich, Mufti asked the
Canadian Society for Civil Engineering to
form a technical committee on advanced
composite materials for use in bridges and
structures. They agreed and appointed him
as its chair. The committee matured and
in 1995 it became ISIS Canada Research
Network, joining the ranks of the federally
funded Networks of Centres of Excellence.
Such centres are funded a maximum of 14
years, and this year ISIS reached its expiration date. So, what has it accomplished,
and how will it take to the future?
Twenty years ago no Canadian studied
the use of FRPs for civil structures. Today,
more than 200 researchers work in this
field. What is now ISIS has been involved
with at least 150 projects using these materials, the first being Beddington Bridge
in Calgary in 1993, and it still performs
beautifully.
“I guess ten years ago any project in
Canada that used FRP would have the ISIS
logo attached to it,” said Doug Thomson,
an electrical and computer engineer at the
University of Manitoba and a future cochair of the ISIS Canada resource centre.
“And now, I suppose as a measure of its
impact, that’s not true. The vast majority
of things go on without any ISIS involve-
ment, which means that the technology
has moved from being a research kind of
proof-of-principle thing to going out there
and being part of the normal toolbox for
people to use in structures.”
Indeed, over the years ISIS has developed eight design manuals and actively
worked on national code committees. One
of the national codes (S6-06) deals with
the work of Dagmar Svecova, an associate
professor of civil engineering at the University of Manitoba and the other future
co-chair of ISIS. She studies ways to rehabilitate timber bridges, which Manitoba
has hundreds of, and now people from
across Canada call her to learn more.
“What we are promoting right now is
you take a router and you make a groove
in the tensile side of the timbers—the
stringers—and you put epoxy in it then
FRP bars and voila. It can even be done
while there is still traffic on the bridge.”
Some of these bridges are part of the
60 demonstration projects ISIS currently
uses to convince the construction industry,
which is conservative by its nature, to
adopt these new technologies. Cultures
though are slow to change, but they do
change; in a 2005 impact survey, 90 per
cent of the 160 respondents said they
would continue using ISIS technologies.
To further this proliferation, ISIS produced nine education modules now used
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 12
FEATURE
“Ideas never stop. You come up with an idea,
implement it, and people improve. So ISIS
started them but others have picked them up
and taken them further.”
in the classrooms of 52 countries, and it
has trained 650 students.
The ISIS logo appears on 2,500 technical papers (journal and conference), five
patents and five international agreements.
What really impresses outsiders, though, is
the collaboration it leads—150 researchers
from 15 universities. At a conference in
Zurich last summer Meier listened to four
American colleagues marvel at ISIS’s ability to collaborate. “They were surprised,”
Meier said. “But for me they confirmed
what I observed 20 years ago.”
••••••••
The ancient Egyptian goddess Isis was
married to Osiris and they were held in
special esteem. They brought civilization
to mankind; they invented new crafts and
they devised ways of practicing something
useful and previously unknown.
Whereas Meier studied cables, ISIS
examined rebars. You see, the steel rods
common inside concrete decks (the bridge
part your tires touch) have incompatible
flexibility compared to the concrete and
this unharmonious marriage ultimately results in cracks, then corrosion, then costly
repairs. A solution is to take the steel out
of the deck and instead use it under the
deck to connect the girders. This idea won
Mufti the P.L. Pratley Award in 1993 for
publishing the best paper on bridge design
as judged by the Canadian Society for
Civil Engineering.
He took the idea further and in 2007
again won the Pratley Award for suggesting a deck consisting of nothing but glass
fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP), which
is light and 10 times stronger than steel.
Since nothing in this bridge corrodes,
mathematics suggests it could last for
100 years, far beyond the current 10 to
40 years.
When ISIS first proposed using GFRP
rods as rebar, Meier was skeptical of the
chemistry—alkali environments like
concrete erode glass’ integrity. But after
smothering GFRP in concrete and
13 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
exposing it to the environment for nine
years, they took a core sample and found
the glass in excellent shape.
“There is no doubt ISIS is world-leading in this field now,” Meier said. “I would
say they have been leaders for eight or
ten years. And you know, it’s frustrating
for me to say that because we were once
number one.”
As the new experts on these materials
it’s suiting that they received federal funding in August 2008 to act as a technical
resource centre, helping others design and
repair structures using FRPs and GFRPs.
But ISIS wants to act as more than
just a resource centre. You see, if these
new bridges consist of non-corroding
materials, how do you spot a frail bridge?
Sensors. ISIS coined the term “civionics”
to refer to the sensors they developed to
monitor a structure’s health.
The sensors come in two general forms:
wired and wireless. The wired variety
provides continuous information about
the structure’s health and any ailment gets
immediately noticed. It’s been likened
to a traffic light. Without sensors, bridge
inspections give either a green light (everything is fine), or a red light (the bridge
failed, close it). The wired sensors provide
that helpful amber—a warning of faults
needing attention. And the wireless sensor,
which Thomson studies, can, after cheap
and easy installation, provide baseline data
snapshots. Thomson likens them to a guitar. By strumming strings you can gauge
the instrument’s condition. The same idea
applies to these sensors, which detect
displacement; when a bridge part moves, it
alters the shape of the sensor, which affects
its tone when it gets a pulse—an electromagnetic strum if you will. If a part of the
bridge is out of whack, the “song” will tell.
Canada has limited records on the matter, but in the US about 20,000 bridges are
considered structurally deficient, meaning they cannot carry loads they were
designed to. Of those 20,000, Thomson
said only 40 are on the list because of
testing. The rest are there because of visual
inspection and calculations. But if you can
test a bridge and confidently say its operating life is five years longer than assumed,
that saves millions of dollars per bridge in
unnecessary repairs.
“In the U.S. alone, if you use very
conservative numbers, the value of putting
sensors on bridges for service life extension is worth at least ten billion dollars, at
least ten billion you’ll save in unnecessary
repairs. That number is easy to support,”
Thomson said.
Nevertheless, sensors have not been
widely adopted yet. Mufti, though, reckons
this will change as ISIS graduates percolate
through the field.
“I think the greatest legacy ISIS will
leave behind will be the 650 highly qualified personnel because these people are
ISIS children and they will start applying
these ideas all throughout the engineering
areas. And you couldn’t ask for a better
outcome than that,” he said.
Within Canada, ISIS is a leader in
monitoring. It already monitors structures
around Manitoba and it has the expertise
to provide this service nationally. Indeed,
ISIS hopes its new role will be as a national
centre for structural health monitoring.
Just as British Columbia has TRIUMF,
the national laboratory for nuclear and
particle physics, and Alberta has the
National Institute for Nanotechnology, one
day, perhaps, Manitoba will have its own
national centre based out of ISIS, one that
monitors Canada’s infrastructure. And by
watching a structure perform, not only
do you save on repairs, but engineers can
access data that allows them to improve
designs and materials.
“Ideas never stop. You come up with an
idea, implement it, and people improve.
So ISIS started them but others have
picked them up and taken them further,”
Mufti said.
“No single person comes out with an
idea that has never been done before. Lots
of people think about it, but some do it in
a way that makes them succeed.” ■
Tamara Nathaniel
BOOKS
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 14
HOT OFF THE PRESSES
WIDOWS OF HAMILTON HOUSE
(Great Plains Publications)
Christina Penner • computer science
AFTER RUTH
MOVES INTO a
suite in Winnipeg’s
Hamilton House
she discovers that
world-famous
seances were hosted in the building
in the 1920s, led by
Dr. Hamilton and
his wife Lillian.
Ruth, against the wishes of her
conservative Mennonite family, delves
into the house’s uncanny history and
develops a fascination with the Hamilton
family and the house they have both lived
in. Ruth also falls in love with a medical student, Lon. When a tragedy befalls
Lon, his mother Naomi moves into the
Hamilton House to be closer to Ruth.
Their search to understand loss and love
transgresses social rules and brings the
women together in unexpected ways.
WHAT’S LAW GOT TO DO WITH IT?
(Cormorant Books)
Edited by Jane Ursel • sociology
Leslie M. Tutty (Univ. of Calgary)
and Janice leMaistre
IN THE PAST TWO DECADES, public
awareness of domestic violence has
increased dramatically, and established
institutions have been called upon to
alter their practices and improve their
response to domestic violence. What’s
Law Got To Do With It? examines
changes in the Canadian justice system
15 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
Recent books by University of Manitoba faculty members
from the introduction of protection order
legislation, to family law, to changes in
criminal court procedures.
From the Yukon to downtown
Toronto, specialized domestic violence
courts are exploring new strategies to aid
victims and hold perpetrators accountable. In What’s Law Got To Do With
It? we learn from the perspective of
prosecutors, victims, and researchers of
the efficacy of these changes. The authors
present recent,
original research
on the impact of
specialized courts,
the utilization of
protection orders,
and questions
about custody in
family violence
cases.
MEDIA, MEMORY, AND THE
FIRST WORLD WAR
(McGill-Queen’s University Press)
David Williams • English
WHY DOES THE GREAT WAR seem
part of modern memory when its rituals
of mourning and remembrance were
traditional, romantic, even classical? In
this highly original history of memory,
David Williams shows how classic
Great War literature, including work by
Remarque, Owen, Sassoon, and Harrison, was symptomatic of a cultural crisis
brought on by the advent of cinema. He
argues that images from Geoffrey Malins’
hugely popular war film The Battle of the
Somme (1916) collapsed social, temporal,
and spatial boundaries, giving film a new
cultural legitimacy, while the appearance
of writings based on cinematic forms of
remembering
marked a crucial
transition from
a verbal to a
visual culture.
By contrast,
today’s digital
media are laying
the ground for
a return to Homeric memory,
whether in History Television, the digital
Memory Project, or the interactive war
museum.
Of interest to historians, classicists,
media and digital theorists, literary
scholars, museologists, and archivists,
Media, Memory, and the First World War
is a comparative study that shows how
the dominant mode of communication in
a popular culture—from oral traditions
to digital media—shapes the structure of
memory within that culture.
WOMAN CANCER SEX
(Hygeia Media)
Anne Katz • nursing
SEXUALITY AFTER A DIAGNOSIS
OF CANCER is a real issue for women
and their partners. In her new book,
Woman Cancer Sex, Dr. Anne Katz
explains the changes that many women
with cancer experience and offers practical and compassionate advice on how to
handle these changes.
Each chapter describes the experience of a woman with a particular kind of
cancer and a variety of related problems,
including loss of libido, physical pain,
body image issues, depression, and
struggles communicating with a partner.
Dr. Katz tackles this sensitive and
often unspoken topic in several ways
—detailing the physical aspect of sexuality—“how things work,” highlighting the
different feelings a woman might have
during her experience, and, finally, presenting strategies women can really use in
their daily life, including drugs and other
therapies, tips on communicating, exercises, and more. There is also information
specifically for the partner, so you’ll want
to share this book.
Women survive their cancer and
move on with their lives. While the
memory of the cancer experience fades
over time, most women are left with
unresolved sexual
issues. Sexuality is
an important part
of life, and this
book gives you the
information and
advice you need to
reclaim a healthy
sex life after the
challenges of cancer.
ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE AND THE
NORTHERN IRELAND CONFLICT:
BUILDING THE PEACE DIVIDEND
(Fairleigh Dickinson University Press)
Sean Byrne • graduate studies
THIS STUDY EXPLORES IMAGES OF
ECONOMIC assistance to explain the
importance of tailoring such assistance to
the distinctive social needs of the targeted
communities, and how third parties must
consider and include local perspectives
in their attempts to build a lasting peace.
The book makes
an important
contribution to
our understanding
of how economic
assistance impacts
a divided society
with a history of
protracted violence.
MATHEMATICAL MODELLING
IN ANIMAL NUTRITION
(CAB International)
Edited by
James France (Univ. of Guelph) and
Ermias Kebreab • animal science
MATHEMATICAL
MODELING IS
INCREASINGLY
APPLICABLE to
the practical sciences. Here, mathematical approaches
are applied to the
study of mechanisms of digestion
and metabolism in primary animal species. Farmed animals—ruminants, pigs,
poultry and fish are comprehensively
covered, as well as sections on companion animals. Common themes between
species, such as energy and amino acid
metabolism, are explored with a worldwide approach. Leading researchers from
around the world have contributed to
France and Kebreab’s volume to provide
an integrated approach to mathematical
modelling in animal nutrition.
DIVINE ACTION AND NATURAL
SELECTION: SCIENCE, FAITH
AND EVOLUTION
Edited by
Joseph Seckbach
(Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem) and
Richard Gordon • radiology
THE DEBATE BETWEEN DIVINE
ACTION, or faith, and natural
selection, or science, is garnering
tremendous interest. This book ventures well beyond the usual, contrasting
American Protestant and atheistic points
of view, and also includes the perspectives of Jews, Muslims, and Roman
Catholics. It contains arguments from
the various proponents of intelligent
design, creationism, and Darwinism, and
also covers the sensitive issue of how to
incorporate evolution into the secondary
school biology curriculum. Comprising
contributions from
prominent, awardwinning authors,
the book also
contains dialogs
following each chapter to provide extra
stimulus to the readers and a full picture
of this “hot” topic,
which delves into
the fundamentals of science and religion.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH:
CHALLENGING THE ORTHODOXIES IN
STANDARD ACADEMIC DISCOURSE(S)
(Routledge Education)
Sandra Kouritzin,
Nathalie Piquemal • education
and Renee Norman
(Univ. of the Fraser Valley)
EVOCATIVE AND
PROVOCATIVE,
THIS BOOK PRES
ENTS the points of
view of (often junior)
scholars in the social
sciences who used
non-standard methods
or writing practices to
challenge the “research-as-usual” paradigm in the academy, while at the same
time meeting the demands of quality and
rigor set by their university examining
committees and ethical review boards.
The intent is to encourage new researchers who are also considering such a path.
The authors discuss their lived personal
experiences within and against traditional
academic research and writing traditions,
as well as their struggles and eventual
successes. Chapters are written in dramatic form, in dialogue, in story, and include poetry, vignettes, testimonials and
autobiographical accounts. Collectively,
they form a unique, distinctive situated
polyphonic case study of research in the
social sciences from several perspectives,
challenging the orthodoxies. ■
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 16
IDEAS TO INNOVATION
(l-r) George Zhanel, Frank
Schweizer, Odd Bres, Garold Breit
A league of
their own
BY SEAN MOORE
“We’re a very active technology transfer office. In fact, we’ve
been known to “work the halls, knocking on doors, because
we don’t want to miss a promising technology. We feel a duty, a
responsibility, to look at every emerging discovery. We can’t live
with the notion that someone will, ‘Gee, I should have patented
that,’ ” Garold Breit, executive director of the University’s
Technology Transfer Office, said.
TTO is the University of Manitoba’s equivalent of a talent
scout. They find a budding technology, wrap it in competetent
patent protection, set up research collaborations to advance the
idea, and then woo industry partners in hopes of bringing about
commercialization. Since 2006, TTO has hosted representatives
from 64 European and North American companies and managed 200 new invention disclosures, making it one of Canada’s
most successful intellectual asset programs—ahead of schools
like Queen’s University and the University of Toronto.
“One of the big things we do is we identify potential early on,”
Odd Bres, a TTO technology manager, said. “We pick up new
technologies from a very early stage because we know how many
steps it takes, and we try to understand the larger implications of
the work, what sort of things it can apply to.”
Since 2005, TTO has invested $1.2 million worth of
Intellectual Property Mobilization (IPM) grants to nurture
ideas brimming with potential. Recently they gave $30,000
in IPM money to chemistry’s Frank Schweizer and medical
microbiology’s George Zhanel; they are developing a new class
of antimicrobial drugs.
With this money, Schweizer retrofitted aminoglycosides
(a sugar-based antibiotic that’s been around since 1944) with
peptides using a tricky process called click chemistry. Zhanel
then tested these drugs in in vitro tests against the most virulent
superbugs he received from North American hospitals. The results were hopeful and they applied for, and received, the highly
17 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
Tamara Nathaniel
SPOTTING TALENT HAS BECOME A POPULAR PASTIME
WITH TELEVISION shows like American Idol, Dancing with
the Stars, and Britain’s Got Talent. Sporting scouts have
long competed to find the next quarterback or goalie
sensation and race tracks swell with people trying to
predict winners. And science, too, has talent scouts.
competitive Proof-of-Principle grant awarded by the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research.
“Odd was the link we needed,” Zhanel said. “He wrote an
entire section of the grant that asked about how we planned on
commercializing our idea. It was not something a researcher
could write.”
With this $150,000 grant they will run in vivo tests using
the most active and least toxic molecules. If the results show
promise, drug companies will surely notice.
“The idea is so early no one will buy into it,” Breit said. “But
we give it some money and some expertise and some legal
protection, and it starts looking like a race car. And then we
move it on down and all of a sudden we have a Ferrari driving
down the road in terms of technology.”
Schweizer said, “as a young professor all I cared about was
publishing articles, but now, after dealing with the TTO, I am
much more cautious about my research’s implications and
now I’ll take things to Odd and see if he thinks I should file a
provisional patent. I can do the science part, but once it comes
to claims, the TTO makes sure everything is perfect and that no
idea went overlooked in terms of protecting it, because you
never know what small thing could turn out to be a big thing
down the road.” ■
Have you ever tried to learn a new language? Not an
easy task at any age, but it does seem that as we age
it becomes harder for us to do. Why is this so tough for
adults and yet children and even infants can acquire
languages much more readily than adults?
FEATURE
BABY LANGUAGE
BEYOND
THE BABBLE
BY JENNIFER ROBINSON
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 18
FEATURE
“Children all over the world seem
to learn it easily even without formal
instruction, yet it is difficult for an adult to
learn a new language.”
Tamara Nathaniel
The answers lie in the Baby Language
Lab headed up by psychology professor
Melanie Soderstrom. It is not a coincidence that the well-spoken Soderstrom
studies how infants learn to speak their
first language and what infants know
about the grammar of their language.
Soderstrom says she “got hooked” on
the study of infant language development
during her undergraduate years at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) where she worked in the laboratories of Dr. Ken Wexler and the famous
linguist Dr. Steven Pinker (author of The
Blank Slate and The Language Instinct).
19 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
“There is so much left to learn about
the early days of grammatical development—for instance, how does the system
get started?”
WHAT IS “THE SYSTEM?”
A grammatical system consists of all the
rules that govern the use of words in a
language. While we are often unable to
articulate these rules explicitly (in fact
professional linguists are still working on
this), we have an intuitive sense of what
is grammatically correct and what is not.
For example, we know that it is incorrect
to say “Sam dined the pizza,” but correct
to say “Sam dined,” even though we are
probably unaware of the rule: “intransitive verbs cannot take a direct object.”
Soderstrom’s research tries to uncover
how babies aged 6 to 24 months come
to learn which phrases are correct and
which are not without having any explicit
knowledge of the underlying rules in a
language.
“Language development is one of the
toughest mysteries for psychologists,” says
Uliana Nevzorova, a third-year psychology student and research assistant in
Soderstrom’s lab. “Children all over the
world seem to learn it easily even without
formal instruction, yet it is difficult for an
adult to learn a new language.”
Soderstrom’s research suggests that
infants bring a variety of perceptual abilities to the task of learning grammar. One
such aptitude involves infants’ ability to
pick up on the acoustical properties—or
prosody—of the language to which they
are exposed. Although we may not be
aware of it in our everyday conversation,
the prosodic characteristics of grammatical word sequences (such as their fluency,
pitch, melody and intonation) are different from the prosodic characteristics of
ungrammatical word sequences. In other
words, a grammatical phrase just “sounds
different” from an ungrammatical one.
That is how babies begin to figure out
which words go together to build phrases
in their language.
“Young infants may be even more
sensitive to the prosodic characteristics of
language, since they are less likely to be
distracted by the meanings of the words
they are hearing,” Soderstrom speculates.
Study participants Reneé
Gamache-Fisher with
baby Genevieve
Tamara Nathaniel
Research assistant
Uliana Nevzorova
THE GRAMMAR OF BABY TALK
Soderstrom points out that while
“we know a lot about how grammar
develops later on, we actually know very
little about the nature of infants’ early
grammatical representations.”
One of the reasons for this lack of
knowledge has to do with technological and methodological limitations that
have been overcome in the last decade
or so. Previously, scientists had to wait
until children could actually speak before
they could examine what these kids knew
about grammar. This meant that the
children studied were usually over two
years old.
With recently developed techniques
and technologies, researchers are now
able to examine grammatical knowledge
in infants before they are even able
to speak.
One such technique is called the
Headturn Preference Procedure, which
is simply a way to measure the amount
of time that an infant pays attention to a
particular stimulus. If infants show an attentional bias to a certain type of stimulus
(e.g. a grammatical phrase) but not to
another (e.g. an ungrammatical phrase),
this indicates that they are able to make
a distinction between these two types of
stimuli, and therefore tells us something
about how they may acquire their
knowledge of grammar.
Furthermore, if they prefer wellformed phrases to ill-formed ones, this
may mean that infants are able to pay
attention to stimuli which will help them
learn their language, and to ignore stimuli
which would be detrimental to language
learning.
Currently, methodology such as
Soderstrom’s cannot be used to detect
abnormalities in language development.
“Unfortunately, this research is still in
its infancy—if I can use that term,” she
laughs. Given that early detection is so
crucial for the treatment of developmental delays, methodologies that don’t rely
on speech production, and could therefore assess younger infants, could prove
to be extremely beneficial for those at risk
of developing language impairments.
“We are definitely headed in that direction,” she smiles optimistically. While the
practical applications of this research are
still being developed, the lab’s positive
reputation among mothers, infants, and
research assistants makes this goal seem
imminently plausible.
Uliana summarizes this sentiment:
“Working at the lab has been a rewarding
experience for me,” she says. “Working
with infants and their parents is fun, and
no one leaves without a toy or a book,
and a smile.”
Renee Gamache-Fisher and her daughter Genevieve (nine months old at the
time) participated in a study designed to
examine infant grammatical knowledge.
“We were in the office for a total of about
fifteen minutes! I can’t imagine enough
substantial data was collected in that
time,” Renee mused.
Actually, this is a typical time allotment for data collection, as infants easily
get bored or cranky. Genevieve sat on
Renee’s lap and heard audio recordings
of various phrases while measurements
were taken with respect to how long she
paid attention to each stimulus. Renee
listened to music through a headset to
avoid unconsciously influencing the
responses of her daughter. “I really liked
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 20
Tamara Nathaniel
Researcher Melanie
Soderstrom
participating and helping with the study,
and I would definitely take part in future
experiments,” Renee said.
Using these new methodologies and
techniques, Soderstrom has been able to
show that infants as young as 6 months
old are sensitive to prosodic characteristics of different types of phrases. These
infants were able to tell when a sequence
of words like “design telephones” belonged together versus when they just
happened to coincide. For example, in
the phrase “inventive people design telephones at home” the verb phrase word
sequence “design telephones” belongs
together. In the phrase “the director of
design telephones her boss,” the word
sequence “design telephones” does not
21 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
belong together, but merely coincides—
the technical term for this is a syntactic
non-unit.
Infants not only distinguish these two
types of utterances, but show a preference for the verb phrase, indicating that
they may use their sensitivities to attend
to stimuli which are the most beneficial
for language learning (as the verb phrase
is more well-formed than the syntactic
non-unit).
NATURE VS NURTURE
Some theorists argue that infants are
only able to learn language because they
have an innate predisposition to do so.
In other words, children are born with
cognitive mechanisms that enhance their
ability to learn a language. Famously, the
linguist Noam Chomsky argued in favour
of this position, pointing out that adults
often speak to infants in ungrammatical and poorly formed language. Thus,
infants would be unable to learn language
if this was all they had to go on.
In a recent paper in Developmental Science, Soderstrom questions this
“nativist” reliance on nature over nurture.
While noting that both genetics and the
environment contribute to language development, she points to evidence showing that adults tend to behave in ways
that improve the language that babies
hear. For instance, adults often speak to
infants in short, deliberate, and simplified utterances with exaggerated gestures,
facial expressions and intonation.
“I think most people agree at this point
that the environment and innate characteristics are both important and are very
intertwined,” Soderstrom says diplomatically. “It’s in how this process plays out
that all the work has yet to be done. My
research helps to show that infants have
learned some pretty sophisticated things
about their language at a very early age,
which might tend to argue toward a more
nativist position. At the same time, there
is no question that powerful sensitivities
to regularities in the input they receive
play a very important role in getting them
there.”
Scientists are still a long way from
understanding the mechanisms involved
in infant language development and the
ways in which both nature and nurture
contribute to this process. However, new
technologies, keen laboratory assistants
and willing experimental participants
have helped to illuminate parts of the
process and will be indispensible along
the road ahead. The presence of these
essentials in Soderstrom’s laboratory
coupled with her own discerning intellect
and motivation bodes well for the future
of research in infant language development at the University of Manitoba. ■
Viewpoint
The boundaries
that divide us
BY ANDREA SIGNORELLI
LEGAL RESEARCH IS CERTAINLY CHALLENGING,
especially nowadays, where the world changes so rapidly and
requires always innovative answers to new situations. At the
Faculty of Law here at the University of Manitoba, I found myself
in a very exciting environment, where everyone has been really
helpful, considering the difficulties that any international student
may encounter.
My experience as a graduate student is absolutely positive; I
have the chance to deepen the theoretical aspects of the problems,
something that is not often possible in legal practice. I believe
that through the application of international law rules it shall be
possible to find more effective ways to really extend a concept
of environmental protection and help build a new path to solve
transboundary controversies involving water resources.
My research analyzes the legal rules applied to the management of transboundary watercourses. Particular attention is
given to the development of international law, with a review of
customary international rules, relevant international agreements
and different legal doctrines applying in the field. In addition,
I am carrying out an analysis of treaties concluded between
Canada and the United States in the management of shared
watercourses, with particular reference to the Boundary Waters
Treaty and the work of the International Joint Commission (the
commission created to regulate transboundary water concerns).
An important part of my study illustrates the situation of the
Red River Basin and in particular a recent threat coming from the
south. In the 1990’s a closed basin in North Dakota, Devils Lake,
started to increase its size due to significant precipitation, causing
frequent and devastating flooding. North Dakota decided to build
an outlet to divert the excess water. With the outlet operating, this
water flows north to Canada creating concern in Manitoba because of poor water quality in Devils Lake and the risk of foreign
biota transferring to the province’s lakes and rivers. Manitoba is
prevented from claiming directly under the Boundary Waters
Treaty and the remedies of the U.S. legal system were of little
assistance. In addition, the lack of direct enforcement of international law rules prevented the International Joint Commission
from playing an active role in the dispute.
Through all areas of my research, particular attention has
been paid to environmental issues. International law has, in
fact, developed some important principles involving the use of
watercourses and the environmental effects resulting from that
use. One of my purposes is to give a detailed picture of the evolution of the relevant principles in this field, showing how more
effective regulations of environmental issues and a review of
international treaties and conventions may be necessary to govern
disputes concerning North America international waterways. ■
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 22
SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENTS
Tamara Nathaniel
JENNILEE BERNIER
agricultural and food sciences
GRADUATE STUDENT JENNILEE BERNIER
is researching ways to reduce methane
(a greenhouse gas emitted by cattle) by
changing the diet of beef cattle to more
23 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
optimally meet protein needs. She is
also investigating if beef cattle produce less methane during cold winter
months than in the summer and fall.
The agriculture industry is seeking ways
to reduce production costs and at the
same time find new ways to improve
environmental sustainability. Therefore,
if these emissions can be reduced it will
improve the sustainability of beef cattle
production. Also, Jennilee’s research is
evaluating if the diet changes will help
decrease nutrient excretion (pollution)
into the ground and water.
The feed modifications that Jennilee
is making include the use of Dried
Distillers Grain with Solubles (DDGS).
DDGS is a co-product of the dry-grind
ethanol industry; leftovers from making
ethanol. As a result, this is a relatively
new feed ingredient available to the
beef cattle industry and there is little
known about its use with cattle on highforage diets (grazing). This research
may potentially support the new technology of the ethanol industry and the
goal to utilize ethanol to attain a more
sustainable environment by reducing
greenhouse gas emissions.
Tamara Nathaniel
SHOWCASING
STUDENT
RESEARCH
DARYL FEDIUK
pharmacy
DARYL IS A PHD CANDIDATE in the
Faculty of Pharmacy. Working as part of
Xiaochen Gu’s laboratory team, his research focuses on the toxicological profiles of the insect repellent DEET and
the sunscreen oxybenzone. Gu’s team
has discovered a synergistic topical
absorption of both compounds, which
raises concerns about the benefit/risk
balance of these widely used consumer
products.
Daryl’s research is specifically focused on evaluating potential adverse
effects from concurrent DEET and
oxybenzone use in a validated animal
model. As a graduate student, Daryl
has received numerous awards for his
academic and research successes. In
the summer of 2008, he was selected
by the Association of Faculties of
Pharmacy of Canada (AFPC) to present
his research in Chicago, where he won
the Best Research Poster Award despite
heavy competition amongst his peers.
His future plans involve pioneering a
career in the pharmaceutical industry as
a clinical scientist.
he third annual Science, Engineering and Technology
(SET) Day took place on Friday, February 20, 2009, at the
University of Manitoba. This year more than 250 grade 11 and
12 high school students and their teachers participated. The
day gives students an opportunity to see what the future may
hold for them in the many fields of research conducted at the
University of Manitoba. As part of the day’s events, students were
challenged to enter the SET Day Essay Competition, to tell us
about their perceptions of the day. Please enjoy reading the
winning essay titled “Inspiring the Future of the Scientific
Quest,” penned by Mr. Justin Kozak, a grade 12 student at
St. John’s-Ravenscourt School.
INSPIRING THE FUTURE
OF THE SCIENTIFIC QUEST
BY JUSTIN KOZAK
SINCE SCIENCE IS THE NEVERENDING QUEST for
knowledge and truth about our universe, its future holds a wealth
of undiscovered possibilities and their applications to the world.
Experiencing the University of Manitoba’s Science, Engineering
and Technology Day 2009 stimulated my interest in these exciting fields of study with compelling insight into their potentially
life-changing implications. As one of the many high school students and teachers from across the province and beyond taking
part in this event, I witnessed engaging presentations by leading
experts in their cutting-edge fields in science and engineering.
Just as their research is shaping the face of science today, my own
generation will follow in their footsteps tomorrow.
While SET Day identified the significance of current areas of
research and the possibilities of the future, it also demonstrated
the processes that make these innovations possible. My experience left me with a higher appreciation for the diversity of
scientific and technological research and forced me to consider
how I could contribute to the fields that interest me. The five lectures, ranging in focus from climate change and environmental
degradation to the future of intelligent robots, were all relevant to
current scientific hotbeds in research and predictive of their impending benefits to society. Presentations like Dr. Nazim Cicek’s
Biofuels of Today and Tomorrow also described the extensive
world-class research conducted by faculty and students at the
University of Manitoba.
Barry Panas
T
The presenters took topics generally thought of as boring to
most high school students and presented them in interesting
new lights that signified their importance to modern research.
Although I usually thought of math as tedious practice, the
Mathemagics lecture helped me understand its profound importance in studying any specialty. As a prospective life sciences
student at university, I was able to understand how mathematics
plays a key role in biological research while predicting trends in a
population. The general impact of information presented at SET
Day emphasized the limitless ways that I could make a difference
in the realm of life sciences, whether it involves the search for
more effective cancer treatments or the protection of an endangered species.
During his lecture Origins of Remembering and Forgetting,
Dr. Jason Leboe summed up the theme of SET Day when he stated, “I was told that I should think about what my field is going to
look like in 25 years. I have no idea. That’s a long time.” The uncertainty of what current research may lead to in the future made
me realize the range of possibilities in any given career choice; a
profession is only ‘dead-end’ if you fail to push its boundaries.
My experience at SET Day not only left me wondering, ‘Where
will science and engineering be in 25 years?’ but more importantly, ‘What might I be doing in the fields of science and engineering
in 25 years?’ This spark of curiosity is always the first ingredient
to any step in the quest to better understanding our world.
SET Day is hosted by the Office of the Vice-President
(Research), and sponsored by the Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC); the Province of Manitoba’s Department of Science, Technology, Energy
and Mines; Manitoba Hydro; the Association of Professional
Engineers and Geologists of Manitoba (APEGM); and NSERC
Prairies Office. ■
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 24
“THE MOST IMPORTANT
PRACTICAL LESSON
THAT CAN BE GIVEN TO
NURSES IS TO TEACH
THEM WHAT
TO OBSERVE.”
~FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
RECIPE FOR
CHANGE
BY JANINE HARASYMCHUK
25 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
The practice of nursing has changed significantly in the century that
has passed since the death of Florence Nightingale.
Nightingale is remembered for reducing death rates in the Crimea battlefield
hospitals of 1855 by an astonishing 40
per cent. How? By observing, analyzing,
and hypothesizing about what changes
might reduce the death rates. Then, she
put her conclusions into practice. In other
words—Nightingale was the first, or at
least the most famous, nurse researcher
to use evidence in her nursing practice to
improve patient outcomes.
“Knowledge translation…is the exchange, synthesis and ethically-sound application of knowledge within a complex
system of relationships among researchers and users.” – Canadian Institutes of
Health Research (CIHR)
As a Distinguished Professor in nursing,
Lesley Degner is focusing her attention on
knowledge translation in a similar effort
to improve patient outcomes. Degner
has worn many hats in her career. Her
journey was set on its way with a Bachelor
of Nursing degree from the University
of Manitoba in 1969. She went on to her
first position as a general duty nurse at the
Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre (HSC).
And, she has never looked back.
She describes her nursing research
career in phases or parts: the first part
being in the area of cancer nursing and
psychosocial oncology. Her focus in this
area was on how to facilitate communication between cancer patients and oncologists, health professionals and nurses, and
symptom management in palliative care.
The second phase was research which
looked at ways to improve care for lung
cancer patients, a population of patients
who have the most severe cancer-related
symptoms.
Never one to be satisfied with the status
quo Degner made up her mind to go back
to her roots in clinical practice and the
HSC. “I needed a sand box to play in,”
jokes Degner.
From her early days as a bedside nurse,
Degner was very much interested in
how to move knowledge into practice.
Serendipity intervened. A study conducted
in the United Kingdom had found that
improving a nurses’ work life decreased
the number of sick days nurses took. This
piqued Degner’s curiosity and that of John
Horne, then Chief Operating Officer at the
HSC. Degner conducted a pilot study, one
day a week, following nurses on one medical and one surgical unit.
“You’re sort of like an anthropologist
in the field: you are reading, thinking,
observing, analyzing, making notes. In the
process of data gathering, I realized that
there was no cognitive space for nurses to
keep up to date with changes in practice
standards and yet the whole onus is on the
nurse to do this,” said Degner.
Organizational change—or intervention—was needed.
“I presented after six months and said
if you really want to make a difference,
we have to think about it in the context of
who is responsible for knowledge translation and practice? The individual or the
organization? My sense is that it’s a joint
obligation,” says Degner. “The question is
what should the organization be doing? I
think you should be providing nurses with
a special place where they have cognitive
space and have them spend time there—
paid time—to actually bring knowledge,
as part of their job, to their practice, to
improve patient outcomes.”
NURSING KNOWLEDGE TRANSLATION
HSC launched the Nursing Knowledge
Translation (KT) Research Project in 2006.
Phase I involved the use of online surveys
of nurses’ perception of their nursing work
life and how they used research in their
daily practice. The survey was limited
to the HSC clinical nursing programs’
in-patient units (adult medicine, mental
health, surgery) and is managed by Shellie
Anderson, B.N., at the HSC.
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 26
Tamara Nathaniel
Researcher Lesley Degner
“This was my first experience working
with research,” says Anderson . “As a nurse
in the B.N. program I was trained in research methods and how to critically apply
research itself and recognize its importance, but seeing how it can move practice
forward is a challenge for nurses. Nursing
is very task oriented. Changing the culture
so that taking time to stop and learn new
knowledge needs to be a priority. This
project is moving things in that direction.”
Nurses have been filling out a series of
surveys, and the questions relate to how
often and in what ways they use research
knowledge to assess and plan patient care.
How do you get a busy nurse to fill
out a detailed survey like this one? Using
a social network theory is the approach
taken by Degner (see diagram). It involves
taking the current social network and
deliberately rewiring it. Anderson says, “At
first, it was challenging. But, there exists a
very strong social network among nurses.
Because I belong to this network, it was
easier for me to solicit involvement from
the nurses and adapt the approach we were
using to fit their time constraints for filling
out the surveys.”
How to move evidence-based
knowledge into clinical practice is being
explored in a number of settings around
the world. A study published in the British
Medical Journal in 2004 by John Gabbay, found that “clinicians rarely accessed
and used explicit evidence from research
or other sources directly, but relied on
‘mindlines’—collectively reinforced, internalized, tacit guidelines.” These mindlines
came about “through a range of informal
interactions in fluid ‘communities of
practice,’ resulting in socially constructed
‘knowledge in practice.’ ”
WHAT IS A MINDLINE AND HOW DO
YOU CHANGE IT?
Mindlines, in the context of nursing
practice, are the steps a nurse goes through
27 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
(l) Diagram of social network theory;
(below) Helga Bryant and Shellie Anderson
Tamara Nathaniell
The first network is full ordered, with each element being connected to
its four nearest neighbours. The second network comes about through a
little re-wiring, with a handful of new links in between pairs of elements
chosen entirely at random.
Source: Buchanan, M. (2002), Nexus: Small Worlds and The Groundbreaking
Theory of Networks. New York: Norton.
in completing a task related to patient care.
When research shows that certain changes
in practice can result in better outcomes
for patients, practice guidelines are then
changed to reflect this new evidence. Experience has taught us that simply issuing
new practice guidelines does not change
practice. This is where the mindlines enter
into the equation.
Degner has found an interesting analogy to explain what a mindline is “I have
a recipe for Osso Bucco. I began making it
some ten years ago. I have made it many,
many times. I have refined the recipe, and
the steps that I go through in preparing it,
so that I don’t need to refer to the recipe
anymore or think about the next step in
the recipe. I can do it well, fast, everybody
tells me how wonderful it is, so I get all the
warm and fuzzy feelings of reward. From a
psychomotor standpoint I can do it almost
blindfolded. The way I make my Osso
Bucco is my mindline.”
Degner had a friend who invited her to
a book signing a couple of years ago for
an Italian chef ’s new cookbook. She went
to the book signing and the chef had a
recipe in the book for Osso Bucco: a recipe
that she claimed was the “best” recipe for
Osso Bucco. Degner bought a copy of the
cookbook. Did she try the recipe?
“Absolutely not!” she laughs. “I have no
reason to believe that her recipe is better
than mine. The way I do my recipe is a
mindline, not just intellectual, but psychomotor and emotional. The new recipe is
a guideline. The challenge is, how are you
going to get me to try this new recipe? I
presented this concept at a workshop recently and no one could figure out how to
get me to try the recipe and I haven’t. This
challenge is the same for getting nurses
to adopt new evidence-based practice
guidelines. In this case, however, the answer is this project and the planned Phase
II of the project, the Nursing Knowledge
Translation Centre.”
NURSING KNOWLEDGE
TRANSLATION CENTRE
The next phase of the nursing KT project
is the Nursing Knowledge Translation
Centre which will promote interaction
among nurses who would not normally interact and extend their current networks.
The Nursing KT Centre would be a physical space within the HSC to assist nurses
in identifing their pre-existing mindlines
before examining research evidence.
This is important to do for many reasons. In a large study of over 10,000 nurses
in Pennsylvania in 2008, Linda Aiken
found that better practice environments
for nurses reduced patient deaths, regardless of nurse staffing and education.
With the full support of the HSC
administration, and an advocate in the
form of chief nursing officer Helga Bryant,
Degner is preparing a grant proposal to
the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
this summer to make the centre a reality.
“I look at how far we’ve come in the
last hundred years and think how much
farther can we go? We should be able
to accelerate this into the future for the
health of Canadians, with a little help from
CIHR and others. It’s a recipe for success,”
says Degner. ■
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 28
CREATIVE WORKS
Miss Lyndsay Ladobruk performing
The Plastic Housewife
Mandy Hyatt
plastic
women
29 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
International Women’s Day was celebrated with a statement about the role of the housewife.
Fourth year fine arts student Lyndsay Ladobruk performed her 36-hour endurance ritual piece
at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, as part of the “She Works Hard…” exhibition. The exhibition brings
together images of women in the act of working and examples of women’s art, revealing various
connections between the art, artists, identities, and cultures presented by considering alternate
narratives and re-examining the role of intent in terms of the work of women.
(l-r) Örjan Sandred with Allen Harrington
practicing the Yamaha WX5 Wind Controller
for the world premiere.
LABYRINTHS IN THE WIND
MUSIC IS A FORM OF COMMUNI
CATION with a multitude of methods,
styles and permeations. How the listener
interprets the music is a very individual
and personal experience. Creating music
is an artistic pursuit that requires skill and
inspiration.
Inspiration is something that composer/professor Örjan Sandred finds in all
sorts of places. Sandred is director of the
new StudioFLAT research studio in the
Marcel A. Desaultels Faculty of Music.
“The objective of my research is to create
my own music,” says Sandred. And, that,
he has done.
In the fall of 2008, the opening concert
of the new StudioFLAT research studio
was marked by the world premiere of The
Golden Spike. This piece was composed
specially for this concert by Sandred and
was inspired by the strong relationship
Winnipeg has with trains.
Computer Assisted Composition
(CAC) is the means by which Sandred
composes music. CAC goes beyond
the basic use of computers that allow
composers to develop aural models of
performed music recordings. It takes on
the role of composer’s assistant by solving basic tasks based on the composer’s
instructions.
“Now, I am focusing my work on
computer science related issues,” says
Sandred. “I am developing a “search
engine” that is specially designed for the
type of data structures music needs.
This will allow me to use a computer
to assemble music scores according
to rules that I formalize. I have been
Heidi Friesen
“Lyndsay Ladobruk is a smart, dynamic and fearless woman,” says Mary Reid,
WAG Curator of Contemporary Art and
Photography. “In her work, she tackles
issues head on, exploiting her own
physical endurance as a means to
reinforce the power of her message.”
In the artist’s description of her piece,
she states that housewives have been, in
one form or another, powerful societal
icons, and yet, more radical feminists
often portray women in those roles as
weak; the victims of a patriarchal system.
She also states “that women who identify
themselves as housewives are beginning to demean their roles as wives and
mothers, as well, with the result that a
younger generation of women are striving
to be superwomen, to raise families and
maintain powerful careers.”
Ladobruk questions whether the idea
of a superwoman is possible or have
women become slaves to this idea in the
same way that women of the ‘50s strove
to be perfect wives and mothers—The
Plastic Housewife? What sacrifices do
women make in order to do it all?
“I had many conversations during
tours, where women of upper-class
groups did not understand the oppression of the housewife in today’s home-life
setting,” said Ladobruk. “They said to me,
‘This fight has already been won and it’s
not like that in my house.’ Yet, women
who were working class or low income
could completely identify with this
struggle of the housewife.”
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 30
CREATIVE WORKS
Excerpted from the poem Icarus by
Swedish poet Erik Lindegren
(Source: Google Books, translated from
the Swedish by John Matthias and
Göran Printz-Påhlson)
working on this (and used it in my
music) for years already, but I think I am
making significant progress right now.”
This summer a new studio room is
being added to Studio FLAT. This along
with the purchase of new equipment will
provide new possibilities in the area of
CAC research.
A prolific and well-known composer,
Sandred was commissioned by the
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO)
and The Manitoba Arts Council to
compose a piece of orchestral music for
the WSO 2009 New Music Festival.
Labyrinths in the Wind, for wind
controller and symphony orchestra, was
premiered on February 6, 2009 at the
Manitoba Centennial Concert Hall.
31 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
Innovation, the Manitoba Research and
Innovation Fund, the UofM Research
Investment Fund (comprised of investments made during the Building on
Strengths Campaign by Power Corporation of Canada, Investors Group, and The
Great-West Life Assurance Company).
To learn more about Örjan Sandred’s
music and research, visit www.sandred.com
Paul Hess
Aaron Siverson
And how all cleavings which have
cried out always
for their bridges in his breast
slowly shut like eyelids,
and how the birds swept past like
shuttles, like arrows
and finally the last lark brushing
his hand
falling like song.”
Saxophonist/professor Allen Harrington was featured on the wind controller, a woodwind instrument that lets the
performer control any sound that can
come out of a loudspeaker. “It is up to the
performer or composer to invent a sound
for the instrument to use,” says Sandred.
“My goal for this piece was to have the
wind controller act as a physical wind
instrument, but with a timbre and force
that is different from the sounds that
acoustic instruments produce.”
To do this, Sandred analyzed the timbres of different pitches and nuances of
an alto saxophone and then transformed
them. The wind controller detects the
performer’s airflow and fingering and
sends that information to a computer
that generates the sound that Sandred
designed.
Research in the field of computer
assisted compositions as well as experiments in interactive computer music are
natural complements to traditional
concepts in instrumental and vocal music
composition. Studio FLAT provides the
facilities where these experiments and
research are possible.
Studio FLAT is made possible with
funding from the Canada Foundation for
Paul Hess
“Icarus
His memories of the labyrinth
go numb with sleep.
The single memory: how the calls
and confusion rose
until at last they swung him up
from the earth.
SCHOOL OF ART OPEN HOUSE
THE SCHOOL OF ART opens its
doors annually to family, friends and the
general public to view art produced by
students in all classes and levels.
School of Art open house photos: (top) Thesis Studio
of Carlos Chavez, (below) First year ceramics studio,
(opposite) Yong Shao, Basic Design
Marla Clarke
Donna Jones
April. The exhibition occupied two buildings and included works by undergraduate and graduate students in architecture,
landscape architecture, interior design,
city planning and environmental design.
Students started off the festivities with
an evening of two fashion shows. How to
build an extension for the human body
using materials such as chicken wire,
paper-maché and other materials was
the theme for the designs modelled. The
evening provided an opportunity for
the public, parents and media to see the
models, designs and prototypes developed by students over the course of their
year of study. ■
Ashley Jull
All areas, including drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking,
photography, video, graphic design and
Gallery One One One, showed work
created by students during the past
academic year.
Architecture open house photos: (top) landscape
architecture installation, (below right) studio work,
(below corner) pussy willows in courtyard installation,
(below left) studio exhibit in landscape architecture
BUDDING ARCHITECTS
OPEN THEIR DOORS
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 32
Marla Clarke
Ashley Jull
FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE
students held their annual extravaganza
showcasing their work for all to see in
ON THE HORIZON
2009/10
Bringing Research to Life
SPEAKER SERIES
The Office of the Vice-President
(Research) sponsors and presents
a free public speaker series titled
Bringing Research to Life. This series
is designed to introduce the general
public to the talented people who
make up the research community at
the University of Manitoba.
MODELLING OF DISEASE SPREAD
This year the speaker series takes
place in Room 290, Education
Building at 71 Currie Place (right
behind Max Bell Centre) with free
parking available in P Lot.
ABORIGINAL GOVERNANCE
Abba Gumel
October 21, 2009 – 7:00 PM
Kiera Ladner
November 18, 2009 – 7:00 PM
MANAGING TALENT
IN TOUGH TIMES
Krista Uggerslev
January 20, 2010 – 7:00 PM
For additional information on the
speaker topics and more dates, go to
umanitoba.ca/research/brtl.html.
The first three speaker series topics
and dates are:
2009 DELTA MARSH
FIELD STATION
PHOTO CONTEST
umanitoba.ca/research
33 ResearchLIFE | SUMMER 2009
Every year, students, staff, volunteers and visitors to the Delta Marsh
Field Station enter their photos of Delta Marsh Field Station in the
annual photo contest.
Photos should be digital, with a limit of 2 photographs in each
of 6 categories: flora (plants), fauna (animals), nature close-up,
landscape, artistic, and users’ choice. Digital enhancement (e.g.
cropping, color alteration) is permitted only in the ‘artistic’ category.
The winner in the first five categories receives a $50 gift certificate. In
the final category, the winner receives the “Posteriority Award.” The
overall winner’s photograph is featured on the Field Station’s 2009
Christmas card. Entry deadline is August 17, 2009 at 9:00 PM
and submissions must be made on a public computer located in the
Kipichiwin Building at the Field Station.
The Delta Marsh Field Station was established in 1966 as a research and teaching facility of the Faculty of Science at the University
of Manitoba. It is located on the south shore of Lake Manitoba and
borders Delta Marsh. It is one of the largest lacustrine marshes in
North America. The property is part of a designated game-bird refuge
and wildlife protection area, most of which was designated in 1987
as an ecologically significant area. The Field Station was built in 1932
on the estate of noted athlete and businessman Donald H. Bain.
For more information on Delta Marsh Field Station visit:
umanitoba.ca/science/delta_marsh
CENTRES AND INSTITUTES
JUST THE FACTS
Research centres, institutes and shared facilities promote the exchange of ideas and provide collaborative research environments
that stimulate multidisciplinary research and development.
They also afford novel training opportunities for students and
are valuable resources for the community at large.
The university’s current research centres, institutes and
facilities include:
• Aerospace Materials Engineering Facility
• Applied Electromagnetics Facility
• Canadian Centre for Agri-food Research in Health and
Medicine (with St. Boniface General Hospital and Agriculture
and Agri-food Canada)
• Canadian Wheat Board Centre for Grain Storage Research
• Centre for Aboriginal Health Research (with Health
Sciences Centre)
• Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology
(C.A.S.T.)
• Centre for Defence and Security Studies
• Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS)
• Centre for Globalization and Cultural Studies
• Centre for Hellenic Civilization
• Centre for Higher Education Research and Development
(CHERD)
• Centre for Human Models of Disease
• Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics
• Centre for the Research and Treatment of Atherosclerosis
• Centre on Aging
RICHARDSON CENTRE FOR
FUNCTIONAL FOODS AND
NUTRACEUTICALS
The Richardson Centre for Functional
Foods and Nutraceuticals, located in
Smartpark Research and Technology
Park, focuses on discussion, discovery,
and development of functional foods
and nutraceuticals, from crops of the
Canadian Prairies.
• Crystallography and Mineralogy Research Facility
• Digital Image Analysis Facility
• Great-West Life Manitoba Breast Cancer Research and
Diagnosis Centre (with CancerCare Manitoba)
• Health, Leisure and Human Performance Research Institute
• Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences (with St. Boniface
General Hospital)
• Institute for the Humanities
• Institute of Industrial Mathematical Sciences
• Internet Innovation Centre
• Legal Research Institute
• Manitoba Centre for Health Policy
• Manitoba Centre for Proteomics and Systems Biology
(with Health Sciences Centre)
• Manitoba Institute of Cell Biology (with CancerCare
Manitoba)
• Manitoba Centre for Nursing and Health Research (MCNHR)
• Manitoba Regional Materials and Surface Characterization
Facility
• Manitoba Research Data Centre
• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Facility
• RESOLVE (Prairie Research Network on Family Violence)
• Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals
(RCFFN)
• Spinal Cord Research Centre
• Transport Institute
• Winnipeg Institute for Theoretical Physics (with University
of Winnipeg)
• W.R. McQuade Structural Engineering Laboratory
HEALTH, LEISURE AND HUMAN
PERFORMANCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
The Health, Leisure and Human
Performance Research Institute facilitates
interdisciplinary research in the broad
areas of human movement and leisure
studies, which contribute to an enhanced
understanding of health and human
performance.
CENTRE FOR GLOBALIZATION AND
CULTURAL STUDIES
The Centre for Globalization and
Cultural Studies provides a venue for
pulling together disciplinary and
interdisciplinary research in the fields
of globalization and cultural studies.
SUMMER 2009 | ResearchLIFE 34
(above) Northern Saw Whet Owl by Heidi den Haan.
Submission in 2008 Delta Marsh Field Station
photo contest (see page 33). In the photo, this owl is
being banded as part of a study of migratory habits.
(left) Activities at the station by Stacy Hnatiuk.