Academic Innovation Award Recipients

Congratulations to the 2022 recipients!

Biodiversity Working Group

• Lara Gibson (University Teaching Fellow) Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
• Dr. Susan Gass (University Teaching Fellow) Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science
• Dr. Amy Mui (Senior Instructor) Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science
• Dr. Heather Cray (Instructor) Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science
• Dr. Paul Manning (Assistant Professor) Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture
• Dr. Gabrielle Tompkins (Director, Integrated Science Office) Department of Biology, Faculty of Science

The Biodiversity Working Group are six passionate educators from the Dalhousie Faculties of Science, & Agriculture. Our goal is to use a biological survey completed every year in September, to connect our students with the Studley and Truro campuses, the broader natural history community, and help them discover the other organisms we share the spaces with.

Sue Gass is a University Teaching Fellow in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Dalhousie University. Her research works to decipher the complexities of human interactions within ecosystems with a focus on marine environments and in finding the most effective ways to communicate these with students. She teaches a range of Environmental Science courses where she takes a holistic teaching approach to helping students understand today’s environmental challenges. She has been teaching undergraduate science for more than a decade and teaches all levels of undergraduate students in both large and small classes including field courses. She employs a range of teaching methods and engages her students with the use of case studies. Before joining Dalhousie, she worked in the environmental NGO and local government sectors on biodiversity conservation planning, and as a post doctoral researcher and teaching fellow at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. She has a BSc in Biology and Environmental Science from McGill University (1998), an MES from Dalhousie University (2002) and PhD in Marine Environmental Science from the Open University/UHI Millennium Institute (2006)

Lara Gibson is a University Teaching Fellow in the Biology Department at Dalhousie University. She oversees the preparation and delivery of hands-on laboratory content for two large biodiversity-focussed classes; Animal Diversity and The Diversity of Plants and Microorganisms. She holds a B.Sc in Biology from the University of Victoria, and a M.Sc in Agriculture from Dalhousie University. She is an established natural historian, who likes to share her love of small things with those around her.

Amy Mui is currently a Senior Instructor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Her areas of interest in teaching and research include species at risk conservation through geospatial habitat and connectivity modelling in disturbed ecosystems. Current work is focused on determining lidar and optical remote sensing variables capable of identifying specialized breeding habitat of the endangered Bicknell’s Thrush (Catharus bicknelli) in high elevation forests of Cape Breton highlands. Ongoing work also includes modelling priority areas for conservation of Blanding’s turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) habitat in eastern Canada using object-oriented approaches to characterize wetlands at multiple spatial and temporal scales.

Heather Cray is an Instructor in the School for Resource and Environmental Studies in the Faculty of Management and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the Faculty of Science at Dalhousie University. Her research interests focus on the interconnections between living things and their feedbacks, both large and small. How decisions are made, who makes them, and what factors influence these decisions as they pertain to biotic systems is a primary area of interest. Heather’s research also examines the current knowns and unknowns in ecosystem planning and restoration, and how these elements influence our ability to conserve and manage natural systems. How we can effectively communicate, learn, teach, and create science and environmental sustainability is also a key area of Heather’s ongoing research.

Paul Manning is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Agriculture at Dalhousie University. He holds a BSc in Agriculture from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, and a DPhil in Zoology from the University of Oxford. His research aims to understand how insect communities support ecosystem functioning in agroecosystems. Paul is interested in elevating public understanding and appreciation of insects through speaking to community groups, working with youth, and conducting research through community science.

Gabrielle Tompkins is a Senior Instructor in the Faculty of Science. She holds a B.Sc in Biology from St. Francis Xavier University, and PhD in Physiology, Cell Biology, and Developmental Biology from the University of Alberta and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. She is the current director of the Dalhousie Integrated Science Program (DISP) which emphasizesundergraduate research opportunities and integration across the sciences for first year science students.