Kudos across campus

Congratulations to Daniel Belliveau (student,Biology) who won first place (NSERC Representatives’Undergraduate Student Award) for his poster presentation entitled,“Divergence of the spatio-temporal regulation for duplicatedretinol-binding protein 7 (rbp7) genes in zabrafish (Deniorerio),” at the 40th APICS Undergraduate Biology Conferenceheld in March at University of New Brunswick. This prize isawarded to the student whose work and presentation (oral or poster)best encompasses NSERC’s mandate to invest in people,discovery and innovation for the benefit of all Canadians, anddemonstrate the student’s potential for graduate studies andresearch.

Congratulations to Joey Carter (student,Biology) who placed third (APICS Undergraduate ScienceCommunication Award) for his oral presentation, “Callusinduction and regeneration of the lace plant (Aponogetonmadagascariensis),” at the 40th APICS Undergraduate BiologyConference held in March at University of New Brunswick. This prizeis awarded to the student who is best able to communicate a sciencetopic to the general public.

Congratulations to Jesse Kelly (student,Aquaculture) who won the APICS Undergraduate Science CommunicationAward at the APICS Aquaculture and Fisheries Conference held inMarch at University of New Brunswick. This prize is awarded tothe student who is best able to communicate a science topic to thegeneral public. Mr. Kelly also won first place in the NSERCRepresentatives’ Undergraduate Student Awards. Thisprize is awarded to the student whose work and presentation (oralor poster) best encompass NSERC’s mandate to invest inpeople, discovery and innovation for the benefit of all Canadians,and demonstrate the student’s potential for graduate studiesand research.

Congratulations to Lia Bruschetta, Rob DuMerton, BenHeller, and Breann Kirincich (students,Law) for placing second overall in the 20th Annual Davies WardPhillips Vineberg Canadian Corporate Securities Moot. The teamcompeted in Toronto against teams from 10 other common law schoolsfrom across Canada. Having placed second overall in thepreliminary rounds of the competition, they had the honour ofarguing in the final round, against the team from Osgoode, beforeJustices Feldman and Blair of the Ontario Court of Appeal andVice-Chair Turner of the Ontario SecuritiesCommission. Additional honours went to BreannKirincich and Lia Bruschetta who were the2nd and 3rd placed oralists, respectively, out of the 44competitors.

Congratulations to Greg Gilhooly, Brian Kuchar, TipperMcEwan, and Frederic Perron-Welch(students, Law) upon winning third prize for best team (combiningfactum and pleading scores) at the 25th annual Laskin Mootcompetition held in Montreal. In addition, BrianKuchar won fourth prize for best oralist.

Congratulations to Shawna Hoyte (DalhousieLegal Aid) inaugural recipient of the Lorne Clarke, Q.C. Access toJustice Award. Named in honour of Lorne Clarke, Q.C., formerChief Justice of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, past member ofthe Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia’s Board ofDirectors, and a long time supporter of access to justice andpublic legal education, this Award was introduced by the LegalInformation Society of Nova Scotia to recognize exceptionalcontributions in promoting access to justice and legal informationin Nova Scotia.

Congratulations to Marc Matras and AlexKeenan (students, Law) upon representing DalhousieUniversity at the “non-competitive” 2010 KawaskimhonNational Aboriginal Rights Moot, which is shaped around a two-daynegotiation process. This year’s problem involved tryingto negotiate a settlement of a recent Court of Appeal decision fromAlberta, Peavine Metis Settlement v Alberta [2009] 3 CNLR 261 inwhich Metis individuals had been expelled by their Metis Settlementdue to having registered for status under the Indian Act so as toaccess health benefits. The facilitators and faculty coaches fromother schools noted that the Dalhousie team stood out for theirability to affectively convey their complex positions in a directand persuasive fashion, for demonstrating an acute level ofresponsiveness to the submissions and positions taken by otherparties, and for their depth of research and analysis on how tosubstantively reconcile the various systems of law at play,including Metis Indigenous law. They were particularly commendedfor several of their interventions which effectively re-shaped thedialogue when parties were re-trenching into their positions andtensions and frustration were running high.

Congratulations to Rory Locke, Justin Jim, Scott Shears,Alasdair Bishop, Ben MacIsaac, Eric Gilroy, Paul Baker, Ryan Penny,Robert Walker, Morgan Roberts, Mitch Whyte, andKyle Spence (students, Mining Engineering) uponplacing second in the overall competition at the 2010 CanadianMining Games held in February at Dalhousie. The team also placedfirst in the surveying event and mystery event #2. Ten Canadianuniversities participated in the games.

Congratulations to Dalhousie Engineering students who recentlycompeted in the Canadian Engineering Competition, an annual eventfor the best and brightest engineering students acrossCanada. Braden Murphy, Jean Francois Pelletier, AdamKrajewski, and Brett Dickie placed firstin the Innovative Design competition; HeatherArmstrong placed second in the Communications competition;and Jason Leadbetter, Aziz Martakoush, ShonethMacInnis, and Stephanie Hagmann placedsecond in the Consulting engineering competition. In addition,the Innovative Design team was recognized for their superiortechnical design skills, innovation and attention to detail bywinning the W.R. Petri Engineering Design Award from the SanfordFlemming Foundation. This year, Dalhousie won the greatestnumber of total prizes and awards at the competition.

Congratulations to Peter Duinker (Resource& Environmental Studies), upon receiving the Award of Merit2010 from the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). The CSA Awardof Merit recognizes individuals who, through their leadership, havefostered the development and advancement of standards, bothnationally and internationally.

Congratulations to Estelle Joubert (Music),upon being elected the 2010/2011 John M. Ward Fellow in Music andDance for the Theatre at the Houghton Library, Harvard Universityfor her current book project, German Opera and Politics: Images of Public Life from the Enlightenment to Napoleon.

Congratulations to Marlon Lewis (Oceanography)upon being named Fellow of The Oceanography Society for“seminal contributions advancing our knowledge of oceanoptics, physical-biological interactions, and ecology.” The Oceanography Society Fellows Program recognizes individuals whohave attained eminence in oceanography through their outstandingcontributions to the field of oceanography or its applicationsduring a substantial period of years.

Congratulations to Lawrence Nestman (ProfessorEmeritus, School of Health Administration), upon being presentedwith certificates of appreciation from the Serbian Chamber ofNurses and Medical Technicians and the Serbian Chamber ofBiochemists in recognition of outstanding accomplishment, valuablecontributions, and for successful and active cooperation on theBalkans Primary Health Care Policy Project for work forProfessional Chamber Development.

Congratulations to Matthew Numer (Health andHuman Performance) who won a CIHR Institute of Gender and Health(IGH) Award for his paper, “The Sexual Health of Gay Men inthe Post-AIDS Era.”  The review committee noted that thepaper was very well written, and had broad implications for healthpromotion among diverse groups of people. The award includes a cashprize of $1,000.

Congratulations to Zhe (Jerry) Ren (Ph.D.student, Economics) who won the 2009/10 Annual Student Competitionof the Atlantic Association of Applied Economists (AAAE). Mr.Ren’s presentation was based on his paper, “A Study onthe Price Dynamics for Statin Drugs Reimbursed by the Nova ScotiaPharmacare Programs.” The competition is open to finalyear undergraduate and graduate students at universities inAtlantic Canada; however, students must be nominated by theirDepartment to enter the competition.

Congratulations to Alex Speers (ProcessEngineering & Applied Science) upon being elected to the Fellowclass of membership of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling inrecognition of Service to the Institute. Dr. Speers is onlythe second Canadian to have been awarded this class ofmembership.

Donald Weaver. (Danny AbrielPhoto)

And last, but certainly not least,

Congratulations to Donald Weaver (Medicine,Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering Medicine) upon receiving aprestigious Killam Research Fellowship, worth $140,000 over twoyears. Dr. Weaver is working on developing a drug to stop theprogression of Alzheimer’s disease. The KillamFellowships are administered by the Canada Council for the Arts andare awarded to individuals to do full-time research. Theresearchers are chosen by a selection committee of 15 eminentscientists and scholars from a broad range of disciplines.

Kudos from the Vice-President Academic and Provostcelebrates external recognition for outstanding achievements ofDalhousie faculty, staff, and students. The Office of theVice-President Academic and Provost relies on you to provideinformation regarding awards and recognitions received. If you haverecently received special recognition, or know of a colleague whohas, please submit this news to alan.shaver@dal.ca forinclusion in an upcoming publication of Kudos.