McGILL SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENT ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER – January 31, 2012 / Vol. 5, Issue 1

ANNUAL PUBLIC LECTURE – SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER

Be prepared to be “wowed” by a multi-disciplinary scholar and TED sensation! “Looking Upward and Outward: Rainforest Canopy Research”, March 8, 2012, New Residence Ballroom (3625, avenue du Parc) at 6:00pm. Admission is free.

The MSE is proud to host Professor Nalini Nadkarni, of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Prof. Nadkarni is known for using nontraditional pathways to raise awareness of nature’s importance, working with artists, dancers, musicians, and even loggers. The US National Science Board has honored her with a “Public Service Award” for her substantial contributions in increasing public understanding of science.

There are also student roundtable discussions at each campus on different days. Contact Shannon Scott at 514-398-5331 if you wish to participate.

Read more about Prof. Nadkarni >

MEET THE PROFESSORS EVENING! MESS is organizing an evening where students can meet with MSE professors, listen to a short talk about their research interests, and join them for informal conversation, bagels, coffee and tea. Join us on March 5th, from 6:30-9:30pm in the Leacock Building, room 232.

INTRODUCTING TWO NEW SUMMER COURSES AT THE MSE The MSE will be offering two new summer courses in May: ENVR 480, “Unearthing Montreal’s Urban Context”, taught by Professors Elena Bennett and Sylvie de Blois, and, ENVR 490, “Montreal Urban Sustainability Analysis”, taught by Professors Pete Parker and Adam Millard-Ball. The courses are intensive, running 5 days a week (MTWRF), for 4 weeks (May 1 to June 1, 2012). ENVR 480 will be offered in the mornings, 10:00am to 12:00 noon. ENVR 490 will be offered in the afternoons, 1:00pm to 3:00pm. Each course is a co-requisite for the other, so you need to register for both. Restricted to U3 students, or by permission of the department (contact individual professors). Each course will be worth 3 credits. Descriptions of the courses will be available shortly.

Registration for summer courses begins May 6, on Minerva.

ENVR 480, sec. 01, CRN 885, term=201205 ENVR 490, sec. 03, CRN 886, term=201205

 

MONTREAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DEGROWTH IN THE AMERICAS

The Montreal International Conference on Degrowth in the Americas (May 13-19, 2012) is still looking for proposals for posters from students. That’s you!  Contact :  Julie Anne Ames Conference Coordinator International Conference on DeGrowth, Montréal 2012 McGill University, Department of Geography & School of Environment 

http://montreal.degrowth.org

UNDERGRADUATE AWARDS 2012

The Undergraduate Awards is an international awards programme that recognises innovation and independent thinking in the coursework of undergraduates from across the island of Ireland and a select consortium of top-tier universities across the USA, UK and Canada. Through this we strive to encourage and support the next generation of thought leaders, innovators and influencers by providing a launching pad for their ideas. In October this year, UA will bring brilliant, young minds from around the world for the UA 2012 Awards Ceremony, turning Dublin city into a playground for top undergraduate talent.

Read more about these awards >

MARGARET A. GILLIAM LECTURE IN FOOD SECURITY

Rewiring Science, Business and Public Goods for Global Food Security

Marco Ferroni, PhD, Executive Director Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture Basel, Switzerland

Wednesday, March 28, 2012, 12:00 - 1:30

Faculty Lounge MS2-022, Macdonald-Stewart Building, Macdonald Campus

A light lunch will be served. Seating is limited. Please RSVP by March 16, 514-398-7709, or development.macdonald@mcgill.ca

Read about Dr. Ferroni here >

BIELER FAMILY INTERNSHIP PROGRAM, FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES The Macdonald Campus Internship Office assists Macdonald students in finding internships to complement their degree and help them get hands-on experience and a future look into a career of their choice. Our role in the Internship Office is to be the link between the company and the student. We are here to help students find suitable positions that will further their studies and take what they have learned in the classroom and apply directly to the outside job world.

Read more about this program and upcoming events, starting March 1st, here >

Marc Bieler, DipAgr’58, BA’64 Also, check out our own environment classmates who did internships in 2011:

Zhen Yang Liu, U3 Envr. Food Production and Environment Domain Rebecca Rolph, U3, Envr, Water Environments and Ecosystems Domain Peter Tikasz, U1, Envr. Renewable Resources Management Domain

AWARDS, CONFERENCES, POSTER SESSIONS, SYMPOSIUMS The Arts Internship Office is pleased to announce the launch of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Awards (ARIA) for Summer 2012. Established by Dean Christopher P. Manfredi in 2010, the purpose of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award (ARIA) is to support undergraduate students who undertake research during the summer under the direct supervision of a faculty member. Students contribute to the professor’s research agenda while gaining useful academic research skills. For Summer 2012, the Faculty of Arts will provide 15 undergraduate Research Internship Awards, each with a value $2000. These awards are matched by individual faculty members or their departments to provide a total award of $4000 to the student.

Application deadline: March 26

Learn more at: http://www.mcgill.ca/arts-undergraduate-research/aria > Faculty of Arts Internship Awards

Each year the Faculty of Arts offers students the opportunity to apply for Arts Internship Awards. Open to students with confirmed internships in Canada, US and abroad. These awards help students off-set the costs of travel, accommodation and other expenses associated with their internships. In 2011, 83 Arts students pursuing internships in Canada, the US and abroad, were awarded a total of over $125,000 to support their internships.

Take a look at our MSE recipients for 2011.

Application deadline: March 19, by noon.

For more information and full eligibility criteria see: http://www.mcgill.ca/arts-internships/awards/apply >

Faculty of Science Undergraduate Research Awards (SURA) Information for Summer 2012 to be posted on SURA website soon. Science Undergraduate Research Awards - SURAs - are for both Canadian and international McGill students registered in a science undergraduate program. First offered in Summer 2007, SURAs are made possible by funding from the Dean of Science and participating research supervisors. For Summer 2011, SURAs will be valued at $5600 minimum. SURA recipients will engage in 16 weeks of full-time research and development activity under the supervision of a McGill Science professor holding grant funding - they will gain research experience in an exciting academic setting, while receiving financial support.

Application deadline: differs by department – see 2011 deadlines for approximations

For more information and full eligibility criteria see: http://www.mcgill.ca/science/research/ours/sura >

AWARD FOR TEACHING EXCELLENCE

The Macdonald Campus Award for Teaching Excellence is made to full-time academic staff including Faculty lecturers who are teaching students in the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and/or the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition. The award is presented at the Spring Convocation. To be eligible, the recipient must demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the subjects taught, have enthusiasm for the subject and the capacity to arouse interest in it among the students. He/she sets high standards and successfully motivates students to attain these standards, encourages students to participate in the teaching-learning process, and uses methods of evaluation of student performance which stress an understanding of the subject rather than mere ability to memorize.

Furthermore, the recipient demonstrates consistency in excellence both at the undergraduate and graduate teaching levels.

Nominations are now being accepted by students for the 2011-2012 Award for Teaching Excellence. Download nomination form here . You can nominate a professor from either the fall term 2011 or the winter term 2012, and have until Friday, March 9, to return the completed form to the Porter’s Desk, Macdonald-Stewart Building. Can you guess from the photo who received this award last year? That’s right! Our very own MSE Director, Professor Marilyn Scott.

COMING TO A CURLING RINK NEAR YOU! The 2nd annual MSE versus Geography Ecospiel will be held on Sunday, March 4, at the Baie d’Urfe Curling Club. So mark your calendar! Let’s sweep the geographers off their feet again this year! More details will follow in the next newsletter. If you wish to add your name to a team, please contact Kathy Roulet.

(Nigel Roulet gives our resident geologist, George McCourt, advice on how to throw a rock.)

REMINDERS

MSE Spring Fling – March 22nd at Thompson House, 7:00pm to 12:00am, 3650 McTavish

St. MESS invites you to our annual semi-formal. Tickets are $10 (includes hors d’oeuvres and one drink). You can buy your tickets Thursday, March 8, in McConnell Engineering, and Thursday, March 15, in Burnside Basement, and from MESS Council members. Got questions? mcgill.environment@gmail.com

Do you want to hear about the diverse and interesting research being carried out by Honours Environment students? Sure you do!

The Spring Honours Symposium will be held on the afternoon of Monday, April 16th (exact time and place to be confirmed). Students finishing their Honours by the end of the winter 2012 term will be presenting the results of their research to their supervisors and peers. You are welcome to join them – to cheer them on, to ask questions about their work, and maybe for some – to see if Honours is something that may interest you as well.

Question? Contact Kathy Roulet (you know who she is, right?)

Course Registration for Summer 2012 and Fall 2012::

Summer 2012:

U3 and U4 students – Tuesday, March 6, 2012

All other students – Thursday, March 8, 2012

Fall 2012:

Students entering U3 – Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Students entering U2 – Thursday, March 29, 2012

All other returning undergraduate students – Tuesday, April 3, 2012

DON’T WAIT until the last minute to figure out what you want to take. Make a point of visiting Kathy Roulet to discuss your pro

and course options before then.

Her drop-in hours are:

Downtown Campus – Monday and Tuesday mornings, 9:00-11:30

Macdonald Campus – Wednesday and Thursday mornings, 9:00-11:30

If you want to double-check whether Kathy has had to cancel or re-schedule her hours for some reason, see the website: http://www.mcgill.ca/mse/students/student-resources/ugadvising

KUDOS! The MSE is pleased to announce that Professor Colin Chapman has received a 2012 Killam Fellowship.  Colin is jointly appointed with the McGill School of Environment and the Department of Anthropology.  The MSE is pleased to announce that Professor Colin Chapman has received a 2012 Killam Fellowship.  Colin is jointly appointed with the McGill School of Environment and the Department of Anthropology.  

 

Killam Fellowships 2012 awarded to Canadian research leaders Ottawa, February 22, 2012 – The winners of the 2012 Killam Research Fellowships will tackle important research projects, four of which are in the areas of ecology and the environment. The Canada Council for the Arts, which administers the Fellowships, announced that a total of close to $1 million has been awarded for the seven selected projects.

The Fellowships, among Canada’s most distinguished research awards, provide $70,000 a year for two years to each of the researchers. They enable researchers to be released from teaching and administrative duties so that they can pursue independent research.

The recipients were chosen by the Killam Selection Committee, which included 15 eminent scientists and scholars representing a broad range of disciplines. Individuals were selected from 95 applications.

Colin Chapman, McGill University

Primate Conservation: future scenarios of population change given changing disease, climate, and park management strategies Colin Chapman plans to explore risk factors to the primate population as a result of ecological transformations, putting emphasis on disease transmission from primates to humans and vice-versa. Contact with primates has lead to the introduction of new diseases in the human population, such as HIV and Ebola. He will be working at Kibale National Park in Uganda, where he is coordinator and co-founder of a health and conservation project. He is an internationally recognized leader in studies of primate behaviour and ecology.

GIVE YOUR 2 CENTS WORTH!

Do you remember Mel Lefebvre, the MSE Reporter from last year? Well, she is doing her Masters in Journalism at Concordia and is a co-host on CKUT's environmental radio show, Ecolibrium. Do you have something to say? Every Tuesday, Montreal's only English environmental radio show airs at 11:00am, on CKUT 90.3 FM. If you are working on an interesting project, have an

opinion on the state of the environment, or want to share some anecdotes and solutions on one of the environmentally dubious periods in history, then please send a message to Ecolibrium co-host Mel Lefebvre to find out how you can spread the word to Montreal listeners.

MSE SOCIAL MEDIA

The MSE BLOG is run by the MSE journalist, Kaitlyn Shannon. Do take some time to peruse through its pages, as there is some wonderful reporting being showcased. You can also post your comments to the articles. Don’t be shy! Maybe your thoughts will spark an interest in someone else.

Join the MSE on FACEBOOK. To interact with McGill School of Environment you need to sign up for Facebook first. It’s free and anyone can join. Already a member? Log in.

AT THE LIBRARY

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. ~ Cicero

What do MSE students and staff read? Find Out Here >

STUDENT GROUPS

McGill Environment Students' Society Read More >

LINKS Environmental News Network (ENN).

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).

Check out the MSE’s web pages on careers: MSE Career Centre – useful new links:

www.workingoverseas.com/mcgill - The Big Guide to Living and Working Overseas No longer printing these directories; they are now on-line only:

Career Directory http://www.mediacorp.ca/tcd - Use The Career Directory online and search jobs currently posted at employers in this year's edition of The Career Directory. Click on the "Online Career Directory" button. Top 100 Employers http://www.eluta.ca/search_top_employers - Search Jobs from Canada's Top Employers

To unsubscribe or for quest ions or comments regarding the newsletter p lease emai l : Daniel le Lefebvre, daniel le . lefebvre@mcgil l .ca Tel . : (514) 398-7559 McGi l l School of Envi ronment, Communicat ions Design: McGil l Content and Col laborat ion Solut ions