FACULTY OF SCIENCE 2019-2020
UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
UFV Science (2019)
By the Numbers:
104 Bachelor of Science degrees awarded 937 Students in Bachelor of Science Programs 56 Full time Faculty Members 70 Geography Majors 27 Math Majors 31 Chemistry Majors 277 Biology Majors 2
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Dr. Linus Chiang
Dr. Sandra Gillespie
Dr. Lenore Newman
... and the quest for
UFV’s Queen Bee
Curating Canada’s Food
synthetic enzymes
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Dr. Olav Lian
Dr. Vanessa Radzimski
Dr. Lin Long
Luminescent Life
Educating the Educators
Coming full Circle
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A special feature from Physics (Faculty of Applied and Technical Studies
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Dr. Debbie Wheeler
Dr. Golfam Ghafourifar
Faculty Publications
And the early morning bird brigade
Perfecting procedural proteomics
2019/2020
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UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
The 2019 UFV Faculty of Science Awesome Achievement (AAA) Awards: Teaching:
Dr. Nathan Bialas Research:
Dr. Cherie Enns Outreach:
Dr. Greg Schlitt Service:
Aileen Ablog Achievement:
Claire Hay
(missing from photo)
Service:
Dr. Stan Manu
Pictured from Left: Greg Schlitt, Nathan Bialas, Aileen Ablog, Cherie Enns, Lucy Lee
(missing from photo)
From the Editor: Having joined the UFV community in May 2019, this project was a wonderful way for me to get to know many you. I look forward to creating memorable, impactful work at UFV and this magazine represents one of my first efforts to this end. It’s a look at some of the amazing science that takes place here, and the people who are doing it. I am grateful for the chance to represent the work of scientists at UFV, and I hope you enjoy the articles and information in UFV’s first Faculty of Science Magazine. ~ Carin Bondar 6
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Message from Dean Lucy Lee It is such a pleasure for me to see the Faculty of Science (FoS) magazine to reality. My gratitude goes to Dr. Bondar and all our faculty and staff that collaborated to make it happen. I had the idea for a FoS Magazine early in my tenure as Dean of Science at UFV. I envisioned a publication that summarized our work in a way that is meaningful to our wider Fraser Valley community. Unfortunatey, that vision had to wait. I came to UFV in 2012, just four years after it had been granted its full university status. The ability to shape and influence a brand new University is one of the reasons that attracted me to this fledgling institution. It is never easy to leave a comfortable job as a tenured Professor (Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario) to start anew in another Province and another institution, but the possibilities seemed too good to pass up. My arrival at UFV also came at a time when budget cuts were happening and my job as Dean became one of a manager rather than of an advocate and a leader. Just to maintain what wonderful work was being done by FoS faculty and staff, without job losses or compromising the quality of education, I had to hold off on implementing many ideas - including a FoS Magazine.
However, we managed through the economic crisis despite the significant barriers we faced. Now in my second term as dean, the FoS is enjoying increased budgets, student-registrations and graduation rates. Additionally, we have been able to hire many new personnel for various initiatives in education, research and community outreach. Among these new hires is THE amazing Dr. Carin Bondar, as our Science Communicator. Bondar has been spreading the word about the work of our wonderful students and faculty to the wider community. When we initiated the production of this magazine, the world was “normal�. Currently, with the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more crucial that we stay connected. This, our first Faculty of Science Magazine is a welcome connection to our community and abroad. So, here it is, our first FoS magazine just ripe to be consumed. I hope you enjoy this and feel free to provide us with your feedback to Science@UFV.ca. 7
UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
DR. LINUS CHIANG
…and the quest for synthetic enzymes
As I arrive to the doorway of Dr. Linus Chiang’s chemistry laboratory, his back is turned to me. He is animatedly explaining the crystallization process to an undergraduate student, she is listening attentively and asking questions as the explanation proceeds. Chiang’s enthusiasm for and love of chemistry is evident as I listen to his explanation – his efforts are completely concentrated on the level of understanding of the student. He tailors his explanations to her specific queries, facilitating her comprehension of the concept at hand. It strikes me that Linus Chiang isn’t just a hot shot chemistry researcher (although that part is certainly true), he is an educator. He takes his mentoring role very seriously, generally having between 5 and 10 research students in his lab at a time. His own mentors, particularly Tim Storr at Simon Fraser University, played a large role in shaping his career path thus far, and he’s enthusiastic to pass on some of his own hard-earned wisdom. After graduating with his PhD, Chiang took on a post-doctoral position at Stanford University; although he found himself jumping at the chance to get back to British Columbia. He loves that his position at UFV incorporates both teaching and research – and he greatly appreciates being at a smaller institution where his work has the opportunity to shape the growth and academic direction of the chemistry department. Their work aims to construct effective mimics for the metal centers (active sites) on biological enzymes. It’s the active site where the magic happens, where chemical reactions occur, which is what makes their structure so important to study. However, active sites are just a tiny part of an enzyme, so they exist in very low concentrations. The Chiang laboratory studies metal-containing compounds that 8
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are structurally similar to metallic active sites of enzymes, but can be synthesized on larger scales. This will allow catalyzed reactions to occur on a much greater scale. Chiang’s work in this area is ultimately applicable to our growing need for hydrogen-based fuel. The idea is that the synthetic active site mimics will work to create hydrogen (H2) from biological media, and this H2 can be collected and used by humans as power. It’s a clean solution to the ever present need for alternatives to fossil fuels in our changing world. His collaborators in the USA will shortly receive a batch of newly synthesized mimics for their next set of experiments - significantly ahead of schedule. In fact, two of the compounds that Chiang was hoping to synthesize by the end of their current research schedule were completed in the first month.. However, Chiang takes this ‘success’ in stride, it’s been a good run, he admits; but “I’ve been in chemistry far too long to think that the entire season is going to run this smoothly.” He is careful to caution his students of the hard truths of chemistry lab work so that they don’t fall victim to disappointment after these early successes. Importantly, he encourages them to remain in the lab beyond one semester so that they can get an idea for how it looks when things work out, and also when they don’t. Chiang’s approach to science and life is inspiring. It’s clear that he’s aware of his achievements, but he takes a humble and ‘typically Canadian’ approach. In my experience, the most successful academics are quite similar. You are in awe of their greatness – but you are not intimidated by them. You are drawn to their passion for their work and their assured communication style. Linus Chiang fits the bill perfectly. 9
A few of Chiang’s summer research students: Alyssa Molina, Warren VandeVen and Hiroki Ueno
UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
QUEEN BEE
DR. SANDRA GILLESPIE UFV’s
It’s clear that Sandra Gillespie is obsessed with bees. She arrives to our coffee-shop meeting carrying a specimen box filled with many local honeybees, bumblebees, solitaries, masons and many others. I was shocked to learn from Gillespie that there are over 400 species of bees inhabiting the Fraser Valley. That’s a whole lot of diversity, although there are substantial gaps in what is known about them. Gillespie’s prolific research program is aimed at filling some of the gaps in local species ecology, in addition to creating long-term data sets reflecting local land-use and bee populations, and investigating the pathogenic infections plaguing local bees.
Sandra Gillespie’s undergraduate research student Kristina Brunner taking samples from the field.
In years past, the white-tailed bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis) was the most important player in the blueberry and cranberry pollination game in the Fraser Valley. However, this species has now all but disappeared – and been replaced by other opportunistic locals. Where did it go, and why? That’s a pretty big research question, and Gillespie is addressing it in a number of ways. Her summer students are undertaking population sampling and specimen dissection (for pathogen analysis), so that a baseline level of infection rate and virulence can be established for the species currently living in the Fraser Valley. Sandra is thankful that her two students are both repeat-hires from last year, which means they have near total autonomy – allowing her to spend time on other aspects of her work. 10
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Bees are an irreplaceable part of the pollination system, and the agricultural industry (also reliant on pollination) in the Fraser Valley is an incredibly important part of British Columbia’s GDP. To this end, Gillespie is invilved in another collaboration with local farmers that sees her investigating a native (local) bumble bee species for commercial pollination work. When bees are happy, farmers are happy – and that’s a relationship that Gillespie is happy to cultivate. Sandra Gillespie’s vast network of academic, student and industrial partnerships means that her obsession with bees is a welcome and necessary part of life in the Fraser Valley.
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UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
Curating Canada’s Food:
Dr. Lenore Newman As Canada Research Chair in food security and associate professor in the School of Land Use and Environmental Change , Dr. Lenore Newman has a busy schedule. Newman’s work in food systems is providing valuable insight into the layers of complexity in Canada’s consumption. Her calendar is jam-packed with a diverse suite of interesting and challenging projects – from creating maps of agricultural land use as a tool for future policymaking, to attending the annual cellular agriculture conference at MIT (Boston), to overseeing and collaborating on research involving the synthesis of laboratory-based-foods. Newman’s expertise is making a difference to communities across the country. Among the most significant challenges that producers face is the issue of sustainability and climate. She is quick to point out that climate change is a major wild-card that has “significant impacts on every element of food production”. The typical Western diet, high in beef and dairy – is simply not a food model that is sustainable. Newman simply states “there’s no way we can supply dairy and beef to the whole world without destroying the planet”. To this end, Lenure is a collaborator in research on the synthesis of plant-based milks using genetically modified yeast. The yeast is manipulated to create important milk proteins like lactose and casein, which are combined with water and fat (coconut-based), and the end product is pretty much identical to cow’s milk.
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This kind of research is quickly moving towards healthy, nutritious solutions that are also sustainable to produce. There is significant potential to create enough food in food-insecure regions (including Canada’s far north) with lab-based technology. It is impossible to raise cattle in below-zero temperatures; but it IS feasible put up a science lab and create a sustainable milk supply for the entire population. Upon hearing about these emerging technologies, I became immediately curious about how such information would be received by the public. What are general attitudes towards lab-based food products, and how can this kind of information help to inform how they are marketed and distributed? Newman sees this as an important aspect of food production work, and she currently has a PhD student that is tackling this exact topic. Overall, she is encouraged by the fact that the Millenial population doesn’t have many of the same hangups with technology as older generations. She notes that the phenomenal success of ‘meatless-meat’ products is a testament to the fact that people are ready to make choices that work for their own nutrition AND for the planet. Many of the food products that are curated in the laboratory have the double advantage of being 1) more sustainable and 2) a better product for nutrition and health. In addition to her active research and policy projects, Newman is an author of popular nonfiction. Her first book, Speaking in Cod Tongues: A Canadian Culinary Journey, was well received, so she decided to go with a mainstream publisher (ECW) for her next book, Lost Feast – Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food (released October 2019). Newman describes the book as an exploration of the history and future of our favourite foods – including some of the usual suspects like coffee and chocolate, but also some unexpected players in the historical epicurean world (Passenger Pigeon anyone?). With her multi-faceted research projects, graduate and undergraduate students, travel, interviews and an upcoming book release, Lenore Newman is a major player in the international scene of food production and policy. The future of culinary adventures in Canada (and beyond) is a universally important line of work - after all, everyone needs to eat. Scientists like Lenore Newman are guiding the future of global food consumption, creating and shaping the ways in which our landscapes and policies can support a sustainable future.
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UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
DR. OLAV LIAN LUMINESCENT LIFE
Although he may not have realized it at the time, a pioneering set of physics experiments at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in the mid 1980s changed the course of Olav Lian’s career. The investigator was Dr. David Huntley, Lian’s undergraduate summer physics supervisor, and the experiments were the first to significantly modify, and improve, earlier luminescence dating techniques developed for dating geological sediments and ancient fired pottery. Fast forward a few decades, and the method is now used in research laboratories around the world. After getting his PhD, Lian directed laboratories similar to the one at SFU in New Zealand and in England, and, in early 2005, he arrived at UFV to establish a laboratory there. Lian’s research has always focused on adapting and applying luminescence dating to finding out when ancient sedimentary landforms were forming, and when they became stable, events that are proxies for environmental change. UFV houses western Canada’s only luminescence dating laboratory, and it includes some of Huntley’s original equipment that was donated to Lian upon Huntley’s retirement from SFU. The method involves measuring free electrons held at impurity sites in structural defects in the crystal lattices of grains of mineral sand, typically quartz and feldspar. These sites are referred to as electron traps. So-called thermally-stable ‘deep’ electron traps can hold their electrons for hundreds of thousands, or even for millions of years. However, when sand grains are stimulated by light of a specific wavelength, electrons are evicted from their traps. These evicted electrons recombine at a different kind of site in the crystal lattice and light (luminescence) of a shorter wavelength than that of the stimulating beam is emitted. The more intense this luminescence, the more electron traps are full, and the older the sample. Electron traps can also be emptied in nature by exposure to a few seconds of direct sunlight, which resets the luminescence ‘clock’. Simply put, a measure of a sample’s luminescence intensity, together with its environmental radiation dose rate, allows its burial age to be calculated.
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Lian has trained and supervised the research of numerous graduate and undergraduate students from various universities in his laboratory; it’s a point of satisfaction that he is able to mentor a new generation of geoscientists. Lian also takes on a special role of making UFV a hub for geoscience research and discovery in general. In fact, it was a promise he made when he was interviewed for his UFV faculty position in 2004. This year Lian has research collaborations with colleagues at various universities and government agencies around the world. He recently was a co-author on a paper (with collaborators at the universities of Manchester, Northern BC, Tulane, and Purdue) in the journal Geophysical Research Letters that gained national media attention for supporting the notion of a coastal migratory route about 18,000 years ago for the first peoples to populate North and South America. With a very active research program, teaching and mentoring of new scientists, and direction of UFV’s Luminescence Dating Laboratory, Olav Lian is living his best life.
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Images: Students Libby Griffin and Jordan Bryce with Olav Lian. Photos by Travis Gingerich.
UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
DR. VANESSA RADZIMSKI Educating the Educators Vanessa Radzimski isn’t your everyday mathematician. As someone with a BSc and and MSc in pure mathematics, and a PhD in Math Education, her expertise spans two typically distant niches in the post-secondary ecosystem: math research and math education. Radzimski, the newest member of the math department, describes her job at UFV as the “dream position for me”, because it is rare for a posting to request an individual with post-graduate degrees in both of these disciplines. Indeed, Radzimski finds that her current position is full of potential opportunities to bridge gaps between them. Math teacher-candidates are currently required to have either a degree in math or 30 credits of upper-level math courses. This significant level of prerequisite math means that individuals have advanced content knowledge about certain mathematical topics; however, upper-level courses do not currently integrate their content with a ‘greater mathematical picture’, leaving teacher-candidates with a lack of understanding of integration of high level math concepts into their more basic roots.
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In other words, many teacher candidates lack an integrative understanding of mathematical topics that should accompany the breakdown and teaching of them. This leaves the teacher educators like Radzimski having to re-teach the math curricula to the teachers rather than teaching ways to integrate the knowledge that they already have. Radzimski sees this as a framework issue. She feels that there is need for upper-level math courses to be presented as an extension of the secondary math curriculum so that teacher-candidates can gain a better framework for both understanding, and (eventually) re-teaching the concepts. She cannot help but question the high-level math requirements for teacher candidates when true comprehension and breakdown of such concepts isn’t done in a framework that makes sense to them. What’s the function of having all of this advanced content knowledge if it’s not applicable to the secondary school curriculum in any way? Math teacher-candidates currently take the same undergraduate courses as non-teacher candidates, and so it’s possible that a new course will be required in order to address the specific needs of teachersin-training. As part of her professional plan at UFV, Radzimski is developing such a course that focuses on the direct links between advanced mathematics and the high school curriculum. She will collaborate with the teacher-education faculty in order to develop content that will better serve educators and their students, and also the educators of the educators. It’s a tricky situation, but a specific one for which Radzimski is well prepared. She admits that the UFV posting was too close to her own CV to pass-up. She is clearly the best candidate for the job.
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UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
DR. LIN LONG *COMING FULL CIRCLE When Lin Long was approached for help by a local beekeeper, the engineering-physicist was delighted. Why? Her mom was also a beekeeper, and so Long was pleasantly reminded of her childhood days spent watching her mom and interacting with bees, hives and honey. But how might an engineering physicist come to the aid of the beekeeping industry? It turns out that there are a few productivity-based glitches – which are costly for both beekeepers and fruit farmers alike. In British Columbia, blueberries are the first berry crop to flower in the spring, followed by the cranberries, blackberries and raspberries. Beekeepers bring hives to berry fields for efficient pollination of each crop in turn; however, the honey that the bees produce isn’t automatically available. It has to be extracted from the honeycombs that are on frames within the hives – and the extraction process is hot, sticky, heavy and labor intensive. This massive job generally takes around 6-8 weeks per crop (on a mid-sized honey operation, which is around 1000 hives). Honey extraction is a notorious problem in the beekeeping world, because a substantial amount of additional labor is required for only a few short weeks. Bee keepers *A SPECIAL FEATURE FROM PHYSICS! (FACULTY OF APPLIED simply cannot find enough labor to keep the hives producing through each fruit season, and one result is that blueberry AND TECHNICAL STUDIES) crops in British Columbia go under-pollinated each year.
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Long and her collaborator (UFV physicist Dr. Tim Cooper) have designed not one, but three patentable technologies to increase the efficiency and profitability of the honey-producing industry, and in particular, the extraction process. The first invention, called an encapper, is designed to harvest honey by removing the caps on each individual cell of the honeycomb. Frames are removed from the hive, placed in the encapper and extracted in less than 50% of the traditional extraction timeframe. In addition, the encapper keeps the entire honeycomb intact, meaning that once the frames are put back in the hive, bees can immediately start producing more honey. Traditional methods that destroy the honeycomb force bees to spend a lot of time and energy in building a new honeycomb before they can begin filling it with more honey. Now that the first-generation encapper is proving to be successful, Long, Cooper, and their collaborators are interested in ramping up its use, and collecting data at larger scales. In addition, they are developing the technologies in their second and third patents (which remain industry secrets for now). What I love about these projects is twofold. First, this kind of major collaboration between university and industry is key for the economics of fruit and honey agriculture in British Columbia and elsewhere across Canada. Second, the cross-disciplinary nature of this work spans the sciences of biology, physics, and engineering. This is a multi-faceted problem, so it’s being approached with multi-faceted science. Long sees this work as potentially revolutionizing the way that both fruit farmers and bee-keepers operate. It’s an exciting idea that has its roots way back to her childhood memories.
DR. TIM COOPER
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UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
DR. DEBBIE WHEELER and the early morning bird brigade... I’ll be honest. I’m not much of a morning person. When Dr. Debbie Wheeler informed me that she does the bulk of her summer field studies starting at 4:30am, I gained a great admiration for her dedication to birding. Four-thirty am? The early birder gets the birds – or so the saying goes. The avian world wakes up far earlier than the human one, and when one is an ornithologist (bird biologist), waking up with the birds is something that goes with the territory. I was downright shocked at the number of enthusiastic volunteers that met Debbie and I at one of her field sites in Coquitlam. For them, it’s a labor of love – and Wheeler has trained them on the procedures of mistnetting, bird banding and species identification.
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The group works like a well-oiled machine - heading across various sites at specific time intervals. It’s part of a massive, ongoing study on the populations of birds in the Colony Farm wetlands , and just one of two projects that Wheeler is collecting data for on this site visit. The second study involves collection of hummingbird urine – a collaborative project on the effects of pesticides on hummingbird populations. By examining their urine, scientists can gain a greater understanding of the identity and concentration of pesticides that the hummingbirds ingests.
But how, I wondered, does one go about collecting hummingbird urine? Wheeler makes it look easy. Once a hummingbird is caught in a trap, the individual is placed in a hummingbird-sized strait jacket that prevents it from flying away. This allows Wheeler to take body size and mass measurements, and to collect their tiny droplets of urine (on a wax paper work surface) that often come squirting out during the process. It’s not high tech – and it gets the job done with little effect on the individual hummingbirds, which are immediately released back to the wetlands. All this before 7:30am on a Saturday! My hat is off to Dr. Wheeler and her dedicated team of passionate ornithologists.
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UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
DR. GOLFAM GHAFOURIFAR Perfecting procedural proteomics In today’s world of advanced medical diagnosis and treatment, we expect health professionals to understand the nature of a disease, and how best to combat it. However, such a process is far from simple – specifically for diseases that have their basis in protein structure, like Alzheimers, Parkinson’s, Huntingtons and cystic fibrosis. It is in this specific space that Dr. Golfam Ghafourifar ‘s work exists. Her lab is a hub of research in the areas of enzyme immobilization and proteomics. In order to gain a greater understanding how protein-based diseases operate, it’s imperative to break down proteins in affected patients and examine the molecular-level differences in structure. Proteins are enormous macromolecules comprised of long chains of amino acids, and breaking them down into small pieces is therefore a critical step for the identification and diagnostic processes.
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How do you break down a protein? I was pleased to have remembered from my undergraduate days that enzymes are the catalysts in molecular reactions and key to breaking down larger macromolecules. Using enzymes as the ‘scissors’, medical researchers can cut apart proteins; however, enzymes will also cut themselves up in the process, creating samples that have both the proteins of interest and a lot of enzyme pieces. Essentially, these samples are ‘tainted’ from the extra enzyme pieces that are created when the enzyme cuts itself. The team uses a process called ‘enzyme immobilization’ to keep the enzymes from splitting themselves while they are splitting up a larger protein molecule (essentially keeping the scissors from cutting themselves up). Although this technique is widely used in proteomics, Ghafourifar’s lab is creating an improved version called ‘capillary electrophoresis’, where immobilized enzymes are strategically placed inside of a glass capillary tube. Subject proteins are then passed through the immobilized-enzyme capillary tube, and the resultant fragments are nearly completely free of contamination. In this way, Golfam’s team is optimizing the immobilized-enzymatic function of proteomics, and developing a critically important tool for use in diagnosing and identifying protein-based diseases. Ghafourifar’s undergraduate student Kaeden Teindl, whose work is part of the Immobilized Enzyme Reactor (IMER) project, won both the 2019 UFV undergraduate research award, and first place at the Canadian Chemical Society’s 2019 meeting for his poster presentation. Says Golfam, “Kaeden is working with me on the academic publication of this work, he will be graduating at the end of this fall“. As Teindl moves on to graduate studies, Golfam looks forward to cultivating an interest in proteomic research in a new cohort of chemistry undergraduates. As a leader in this technical field, her prospective students have much to gain from the opportunities that she has to offer.
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Department of Biology Dr. Allan Arndt
Dr. James Bedard
Dr. Nathan Bialas
Christine Dalton
My love of nature has led to my research in diversity and conservation. I have worked on PCR primers for the analysis of ancient moose DNA from a Cree burial site, genetic assessment of post-glacial population expansion of sea cucumbers, and the genetic structure of shore crab populations in B.C.
My students are currently performing gene annotation in different species of Drosophila. The scientific problem being investigated is how to distinguish between heterochromatic and euchromatic domains based on DNA sequence organization and comparative genomics.
My work focuses on the cellular and genetic mechanisms by which popular and emerging “super foods� increase healthspan, stress resistance and lifespan.
I am a lab instructor for a variety of undergraduate biology courses.
Dr. Sharon Gillies
Dr. Sandra Gillespie
Pat Harrison
Dr. Alida Janmaat
My research on popoulation biology of pollinators is featured on page 10.
I am a lab instructor for many undergraduate biology courses.
My research focuses on the aspects of the biology of Japanese knotweed. This invasive shrub is considered to be among the top ten worst invasive plants in BC.
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I am interested in determining what abiotic and biotic factors are influencing insect herbivory and how this ultimately impacts the host plant populations.
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Dr. Alan Reid
Dr. Gregory Schmaltz
I am an ethnobotanist with a passion for sharing knowledge about the native flora in British Columbia. You can often find me providing campus flora tours for anyone who would like to have one!
Dr. Terry Star
Dr. Tony Stea
I am a behavioral biologist interested in the evolutionary underpinnings of sexual selection.
I focus on delivering meaningful and understandable lectures in microbiology and genetics.
I mentor students doing studies on pyrethroid insecticides (along with other projects) to further determine the toxic effects of these commonly used chemicals and to give our undergraduate students an opportunity to participate in hands-on research.
Dr. Stephen Thomas
Dr. Debbie Wheeler
As a microbiologist, I am interested in the use of microorganisms in the area of bioremediation. The major focus of my research and teaching is in the isolation and characterization of bacteria capable of remediating toxic oil spills.
My work focuses on bird biology and conservation, and is featured on page 20. I’m also a lab instructor for many biology courses.
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UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
Department of Chemistry Dr. Linus Chiang
Dr. David Fenske
Grant Frizke
My current research interests are in molecular recognition and bioanalytical chemistry.
My current research in synthetic chemistry is featured on page 8.
My current research involves the generation of lipid nanoparticles, and maximizing the uptake and retention of chemotherapeutic agents.
I teach Chem 110, 113 and 114 labs at UFV and have extensive experience in Quality Control in the Petrochemical industry.
Dr. Golfam Ghafourifar
Dr. Pedro Montoya-Pelaez
Dr. Jason Thomas
My current research interests are in molecular recognition and bioanalytical chemistry. Featured on page 22.
My interests are in the areas of mechanistic Organic, Property Directed Chemistry and Synthetic Chemistry.
I use molecular evolution experiments (in vitro selection) to discover new catalysts for synthetically or bio-medically relevant chemical reactions.
Dr. Cory Beshara
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Jane Webb
I am a lab instructor for undergraduate chemistry courses.
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Dr. Noham Weinberg I created the UFV Molecular Modeling Lab in 2001, and it has since housed 32 undergraduate students from various departments, including chemistry, biology, physics, math, and computing.
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UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
Department of Mathematics Dr. Ian Affleck
Dr. David Chu
I teach courses in first year calculus for all BSc programs. I’m the primary coordinator of the UFV Putnam Club, the BC Secondary Schools Math Contest at UFV, and the Fraser Valley Regional Competition of Math Challengers BC.
Dr. Robin Endelman
My recent focus has been on teaching in the Data Analysis Certificate program. The capstone course on Data Mining is my favourite. I will be on sabbatical leave next year, working on a project in Sports Analytics.
My teaching interests are in the areas of abstract algebra, number theory, geometry and topology.
My research interests are in the areas of random effects modelling, extreme values and longitudinal data analysis, Bayesian mixed models and Bayesian analysis of dynamic data.
Dr. Kseniya Garaschuk
Dr. Longlong Huang
Dr. Ruwan Karunanayaka
Dr. Cynthia Loten
I enjoy teaching math courses with applications to life sciences as it highlights connections between mathematics and other fields.
My research interests are in the specific fields of survival analysis, frailty models and censored data analysis. I am also interested in the role of statistical applications in public health research.
Topics of interest to me are experimental design and industrial statistics.
My focus at UFV is teaching discrete mathematics -- math for computers! I am also involved in outreach activities by bringing the Math Mania Program to elementary schools in the Fraser Valley.
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Dr. Ali Reza Fotouhi
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s and Statistics Dr. Stan Manu
Dr. Gillian Mimmack
Dr. Vanessa Radzimski
Dr. Greg Schlitt
My research involves a study of bilingual teachers’ language use in classroom teaching and mathematical discussions.
Visual representation and a relaxed environment are helpful for learning. One essential for me is turn-in (written) homework, because it’s essential to communicate results in a coherent way.
My research in mathematics education is featured on page 16.
I am interested in using applications of topological and logical methods in commutative algebra.
Dr. Shaun Sun
Dr. Erik Talvila
Dr. Joseph Yu
I have been a statistical consultant for different industrial companies, hospitals and government agencies, and has many years of experience in analyzing real-world messy data.
My work is on distributional integrals. These are a generalisation of the integral one sees in calculus and I am looking at applications to differential equations and Fourier analysis.
Dr. Ben Vanderlei
My research interests are discrete mathematics and its application. I enjoy teaching calculus and discrete mathematics related courses.
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My research interests are in the area of differential equations involving interfaces, reactiondiffusion equations, numerical analysis, mathematical modeling, and simulation.
UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
School of Land Use and Envi Dr. Cherie Enns
Claire Hay
Dr. Jonathan Hughes
I teach a variety of first and second year geography courses in weather, climate, geology and geomorphology. I also take students on field school expeditions to Mt. St. Helens and the Alberta Rockies.
As a registered urban planner and experienced educator, I work and lead international projects related to child rights, food systems, sustainable development goals, urban planning policy, and youth engagement. I also lead the Queen Elizabeth Scholars Internship at UFV.
My interests are primarily in geography and the interactions between people and the landscape in times of environmental change. I am also passionate about geographic education including active and project-based learning strategies, ePortfolios and other high impact practices.
My interests in plant ecology, paleoecology, and natural hazards inspire my teaching portfolio in biogeography and research in Cascadia earthquake history and landscape ecology.
Dr.Olav Lian
Steve Marsh
Dr. Lenore Newman
Kathy Peet
My research in luminescence dating is featured on page 14.
My research delves into the geochemistry of local watercourses.
My research in food systems and security is featured on page 12.
Carolyn Atkins
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I am a lab instructor for undergraduate geography courses.
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ironmental Change Dr. Stefania Pizzirani
Dr. Afia Raja
Dr. Michelle Rhodes
Dr. Scott Shupe
I work with and for Indigenous communities and partners, often within the contexts of forestry, housing, and economic development. Together we progress ideas and projects that lead to onthe-ground change and selfdetermination.
My field of research is transitoriented development, new urbanism and smart growth. Further, I am passionate about quantitative analysis of the same through use of GIS and SPSS.
I adopt an interdisciplinary approach to my teaching and research in natural resources and economic geography. The development of forest-based, post-secondary research and learning opportunities is a priority.
My background and training is in earth science and geographic information science. I have been involved in mapping research and analysis in diverse areas around the world.
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UFV FACULTY OF SCIENCE
Faculty of Science Selected Publications - 2019/2020 UFV students (present, former undergraduates and graduates) and UFV post-docs have been underlined. Chu, D. and Wang, C. 2019. Empirical Study on Relationship between Sports Analytics and Success in Regular Season and Postseason in Major League Baseball. Journal of Sports Analytics, 5:3, 205-222. DOI: 10.3233/JSA-190269 Contreras, A., Lockhart, R., Stephens, M. and Sun, Z. 2019. The use of Bayesian priors in goodness-of-fit tests. Canadian Journal of Statistics. 47: 560-579. Cooke, S., Nguyen, V., Anastakis, D., Scott, S.D., Turetsky, M., Amirfazli, A., Hearn, A., Milton, C., Loewen, L., Smith, E., et al. Newman, L. 2020. Diverse perspectives on interdisciplinarity from Members of the College of the Royal Society of Canada. FACETS, 5(1), 138-165. Dhillon, P., Newman, L., Ghupta, A. 2020. The Future of BC’s Food System: Findings and Recommendations from the BC Food Security Task Force. https://engage.gov.bc.ca/app/uploads/sites/121/2020/01/FSTF-Report-2020-The-Future-of-Food.pdf Fotouhi, A.R. 2019. Bayesian analysis of dynamic binary data: A simulation study and application to economic index SP. arXiv. org (http://arxiv.org/abs/1910.02501) Garaschuk, K., Liu, A. and Chiang-Fung, A. 2020. Grade Five Competition from the Leningrad Mathematical Olympiad 1979–1992, Problem Books in Mathematics, Springer International Publishing, e-ISBN 978-3-030-52946-8, ISBN 978-3-030-52945-1 Garaschuk, K. and Jungic, V. 2020. Assessments in the time of COVID-19 and beyond. CMS Notes, June 2020: 52(3). Garaschuk, K. 2019. My problems are your problems: a problem-based approach to calculus. CMS Notes, January 2019: 51(1). Grant, C. and Talvila, E. 2019. Elementary numerical methods for double integrals. Minnesota Journal of Undergraduate Mathematics. 4 (2018-2019): 1-19. Hagedorn, G.W., Paulen, R.C., Smith, I.R., Ross, M., Neudorf, C.M., and Lian, O.B. 2019. Surficial geology constraints on Laurentide Ice Sheet reconstruction in the southern Northwest Territories; in GEM-2 Southern Mackenzie Surficial Activity 2018 report: Surficial Geology and Heavy Mineral Studies in Southern Northwest Territories, (eds.) R.C. Paulen, I.R. Smith and S.J.A. Day; Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8477, p. 17-26. http://doi.org/10.4095/313422 Kuczynska, A. 2019. Intermediate Algebra and Trigonometry. Victoria, B.C.: BCcampus. https://open.bccampus.ca/browse-ourcollection/find-open-textbooks/ Leung, F.S., Radzimski, V., and Doolittle, E. 2020. Reimagining authentic mathematical tasks for non-STEM majors. Journal of Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education. https://doi.org/10.1007 McIntosh, P.D., Neudorf, C., Lian, O.B., Slee, A.J., Walker, B., Eberhard, R., Doyle, R., and Dixon, G. 2020. Late Pleistocene and early Holocene aeolian deposits of Tasmania and their climatic implications. Quaternary Research, in review. Neudorf, C.M., Lian, O.B., McIntosh, P.D., and Augustinus, P.C. 2019. Time constraints on the oldest record of aeolian deposition in lowland and mid-latitude Tasmania. Quaternary Geochronology, 53: 101005. Newman, L. 2019. Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food. Toronto: ECW Press. [Finalist for the 2019 Foreword INDIES] 32
ISSUE #1 : 2019-2020
Newman, L. 2020. The Promise and Peril of “Cultured Meat”. In: Katz-Rosene RM and Martin SJ (eds). Green Meat?: Sustaining Eaters Animals and the Planet. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press. p. 169-184. Pham, P.H., Sokeechand, B.S.H., Hamilton, M.E., Misk, E., Jones, G., Lee, L.E.J., Lumsden, J.S. and Bols, N.C. 2019. VER-155008 induced Hsp70 proteins expression in fish cell cultures while impeding replication of two RNA viruses. Antiviral Res. 162:151‐162. doi:10.1016/j.antiviral.2019.01.001 Poland, B., Buse, C., Antze, P., Haluza-DeLay, R., Ling, C., Newman, L., Parent, A., Teelucksing, C., Cohen, R., Hasdell, R., et al. 2019. The emergence of the transition movement in Canada: success and impact through the eyes of initiative leaders, Local Environment, 24:3, 180-200. DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2018.1555579 Pumputis, P.C., Dayeh, V.R., Lee, L.E.J., Hamilton, M.E., Liu, Z., Viththiyapaskaran, S. and Bol, N.C. 2020. Beneficial and detrimental effects of the phytochemical naringenin on rainbow trout intestinal epithelial cells. J Functional Foods. 64: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2019.103653. Reid, A. 2019. Plants. In The Jewel atop Vancouver: 50 Years at the Bloedel Conservatory, 20-31. Rice, J.M., Ross, M., Paulen, R.C, Kelley, S.E., Briner, J.P., Neudorf, C.M., and Lian, O.B. 2019. Refining the flow chronology and subglacial dynamics of the migrating ancestral Labrador Divide of the Laurentide Ice Sheet with age constraints on deglaciation. Journal of Quaternary Science, 34: 519–535. Shewchuk, C., Ferbey, T., and Lian, O.B. 2020. Detecting porphyry Cu-Mo mineralization using major oxides and pathfinder elements in subglacial till, Highland Valley mine area, south-central British Columbia. In: Geological Fieldwork 2019, British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, British Columbia Geological Survey Paper 2020-01, pp. 169-187. Sun, Z. and Lockhart, R. 2019. Bayesian Optimality for Beran’s class of tests for uniformity around a circle. Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference. 198: 79-90. Sun Z. and Duncan, D. 2019. cvmdisc: Cramer von Mises Tests for Discrete or Grouped Distributions. R package version 0.1.0 https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/cvmdisc/index.html Talvila, E. 2019. The continuous primitive integral in the plane. Real Analysis Exchange (accepted May 2019). Talvila, E. 2019. Fourier transform inversion using an elementary differential equation and a contour integral. American Mathematical Monthly 126: 717-727. Van Steenberge, M.W., Vanhove, M.P.M., Manda, A.C., Larmuseau, M.H.D., Swart, B.L., Khang’Mate, F., Arndt, A., Hellemans, B., Van Houdt, J., Micha, J.C., Koblmüller, S., Roodt-Wilding, R. and Volckaert, F.A.M. 2020. Unravelling the evolution of Africa’s drainage basins through a widespread freshwater fish, the African sharptooth catfish Clarias gariepinus. J Biogeogr. 2020; 00: 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13858
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33844 King Road Abbotsford, British Columbia Canada V2S 7M8 604-504-7441 | www.ufv.ca
The University of the Fraser Valley is situated on the unceded traditional territory of the Stó:lō peoples. The Stó:lō have an intrinsic relationship with what they refer to as S’olh Temexw (Our Sacred Land); therefore, we express our gratitude and respect for the honour of living and working in this territory