Student Research Awards

CREATE 2021 was successfully held entirely online. One hundred and fifty students from seven faculties shared their scholarly, research and creative projects. CREATE co-hosted the first Anti-Racism Arts Festival where more than 20 students shared powerful words, images and film. Below are some student project highlights and reflections of the event.

“I have always been interested in the ways that food and drink, especially in a ritualistic context, facilitate human connection. In the Viking age, beer is an excellent example of embodied material culture that was valued as an everyday drink, but also worked as a tool of commensality and ritual. It was important to me to think creatively and to use a tactile approach to understand this vessel, so I attempted to craft a replica with birch bark that I personally harvested from recently fallen birch trees in Cowichan Valley. This experiment led me to consider how traditional knowledge involving the creation of similar vessels would be passed on generationally.”

Lisa Kremer, VIU Anthropology student

Kashmir Lesnick-Petrovicz | Max Capacity

Most seats were empty on this return ferry from a popular tourist destination in Ontario. It depicts a COVID summer – vacant seats, people staying home.

Shelby McLean | Finding Light In A Pandemic

Without romanticizing it, it’s been a year of mastering the art of “wasting” time; a year of holding loved ones closer to the heart instead of the arms; a year of personalizing how a classroom looks outside the classroom; a year of discovering the little things aren’t so little in a pandemic.

Samuelle Simard-Provençal | Yellow-rumped Warbler

I collected fly parasites from live and beautiful birds, just like this stunning male. All birds were caught with the proper animal handling permits and highly trained staff.

Clark, Gledhill, Tippett, Bell and Girdler | Invisible Walls

Images of racially restrictive covenants are pieced together in this photograph to address the historical aspects of racism in community planning and governance, as well as the legacy they have left behind.

VIU’s REACH Awards financially support undergraduate and graduate students to conduct their own original research under the mentorship of a faculty member. This year 15 awards of $3,000 were given out. Ten were awarded to undergraduates and five to graduate students.

McIntyre (Mac) Barrera | Genetic characterization of helminth parasites in the Vancouver Island marmot with faculty mentor Dr. Jamie Gorrell.

Taelor Zarkovic | Passive diffusion reagent addition for no-dilution electrospray ionization enhancement with faculty mentor Dr. Chris Gill.

Kevin Gourlay | Endoparasites of the Vancouver Island marmot (marmota vancouverensis): diversity, prevalence, intensity, and seasonal variation with faculty mentor Dr. Jamie Gorrell.

Kelvin Hua | Effects of temperature, density and feeding rate on growth rates of white sturgeon with faculty mentor Dr. Dan Baker.

Natasha Ladouceur | Business barriers when employing people with disabilities with faculty mentor Dr. Elizabeth McLin.

Caitlin Leachman | Self-sabotaging behaviours in romantic relationships: The relationship with self-esteem and anxiety with faculty mentor Dr. Melanie O’Neill.

Christopher Shanks | Transcriptomic assessment of the effects of sub-lethal doses of naphthenic acids on drosophila melanogaster development by MinION Mk1C RNA-Seq with faculty mentor Dr. Joslynn Affleck.

Deja Symington | How COVID-19 and the transition to a hybrid learning model is impacting members of the LGBT2S+ community at Vancouver Island University with faculty mentor Dr. Laura Suski.

Genevieve van der Voort | Examining diurnal and nocturnal pollinators of platanthera dilatata and P. stricta using video monitoring with faculty mentor Dr. Jasmine Janes;

Marissa Wright-LaGreca | The use of selective breeding to understand the genetic underpinnings of resiliency to ocean acidification in the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) with faculty mentor Dr. Tim Green.

Melissa Lyon | A path to inclusion – disability awareness course for educators with faculty mentor Dr. Bob Esliger.

Cuong Nguyen | Settlement experiences for immigrant children: Vietnamese parents perspectives on inclusive education with faculty mentor Dr. Amanda Wager;

SonTung Nguyen | Sex segregation and the participation of transgender adults in recreational sport with faculty mentor Dr. Suzanne de la Barre.

Joanna Pyke | Could an assessment framework be created to judge the value of digital platforms for the continuing professional development of physicians in Canada? with faculty mentor Julia Hengstler.

Monir Shahzeidi | Leisure and quality of life of refugee people: A comparative study with faculty mentor Dr. Garrett Stone. Cuong Nguyen

Deja Symington

Genevieve van der Voort

In 2020-21 six VIU students received British Columbia Graduate Scholarships (BCGS) and three students received Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s Program Awards (CGS-M). The BCGS awards are made possible by funding provided the Government of British Columbia and are valued at $15,000 each. The CGS-M awards are made possible by joint funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; and Canadian Institutes of Health Research and are valued at $17,500 each.

Master of Arts in Sustainable Leisure Management

Master of Community Planning

Master of Business Administration

Master of Arts in Sustainable Leisure Management

Master of Education in Special Education

Lillian Morton | Faculty of EducationMaster of Education in Leadership

Master of Community Planning

Master of Geographic Information System Applications

Each award financially supports undergraduate students to work on a faculty-based research project for the summer. The Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) are made possible by funding provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Marissa Wright-LaGreca

William Lattanzio-Battle | Direct mass spectrometry measurements by condensed phase membrane introduction mass spectrometry-liquid electron ionization utilizing in situ liquid reagent chemical ionization, mentored by Dr. Chris Gill.

Joseph McAllister | A new high-throughput genotyping assay for norovirus in oysters, mentored by Dr. Tim Green.

Marissa Wright-LaGreca | Genetic adaption of Pacific oysters to ocean acidification and disease, mentored by Dr. Tim Green.

Mac Barrera | Genetic diversity of Jalisco crocodiles, mentored by Dr. Jamie Gorrell.

Joshua Jai | Direct mass spectrometry for process monitoring of trace contaminants from oil spills, mentored by Dr. Erik Krogh.

Moritz Plendl | Direct mass spectrometry for harm reduction drug checking, mentored by Dr. Chris Gill.

Taelor Zarkovic | Direct mass spectrometry ionization enhancement strategies, mentored by Dr. Chris Gill.

Misha Zvekic | Direct mass spectrometry for analysis of trace contaminants in biological samples, mentored by Dr. Erik Krogh.

Vancouver Island University faculty and students could not participate as actively as we do in research and scholarly activity without the support of our research grant funding agencies. We would like to publicly thank and acknowledge their continued support. Below are some of the key groups that have funded projects in this fiscal year.

Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District ArtStarts in Schools BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development BC Parks BC SUPPORT Unit, Vancouver Island Centre Canadian Commission for UNESCO City of Nanaimo City of Port Alberni Cowichan Housing Association District of Lantzville ECO Canada Grieg Seafood BC Ltd. The Hamber Foundation Indigenous Services Canada Island Health Kenneth M. Molson Foundation MOWI Canada West Nanaimo Hospitality Association Nanaimo Mountain Bike Club Nanoose Economic Development Corporation Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE)- Canadian Mountain Network NutritionLink Services Society Regional District of Nanaimo Saint John's Legacy Foundation Sitka Foundation The Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC Thermo Fisher Scientific Tri-Agency Institutional Programs Secretariat Tseshaht First Nation Tula Foundation Vancouver Foundation World Wildlife Fund Canada

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