Gradzette
the university of manitoba’s graduate student magazine
September 2013
UMGSA Orientation 2013
Read about the five-day event on page 8
Gradzette THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA’S GRADUATE STUDENT MAGAZINE Gradzette c/o The Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation 105 University Centre University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2 General inquiries and advertising Phone: (204) 474.6535 Fax: (204) 474.7651 Email: editor@gradzette.com Editor: Ryan Harby Copy Editor: Bryce Hoye Designer: Marc Lagace Contributors: Beibei Lu, Ryan Harby, Jenna Diubaldo Cover: Beibei Lu The Gradzette is the official student magazine of the University of Manitoba’s graduate student community and is published on the first Monday of each month by the Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation. The Gradzette is a democratic student organization, open to participation from all students. It exists to serve its readers as students and citizens.
Freelance! The Gradzette is pleased to offer U of M graduate students the opportunity to get involved with their student paper. If you have a passion for writing, journalism, photography, or illustration the Gradzette is looking for individuals to get involved with the production process of the U of M’s grad student paper. The Gradzette currently offers 10 cents per word for freelance article assignments (articles can range from 400-900 words) and upwards of seven dollars per photo/graphic used within the paper. Freelancers will be added to a contact pool and emailed with potential article, photo, or graphic assignments when they become available. On average, freelance contributors will be expected to complete assignments within a seven day period, although certain assignments may be allotted a longer schedule. For applications to the freelance writer pool, please send a resume and at least two (2) writing samples to editor@gradzette. com.
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The magazine’s primary mandate is to report fairly and objectively on issues and events of importance and interest to the graduate students of the University of Manitoba, to provide an open forum for the free expression and exchange of opinions and ideas, and to stimulate meaningful debate on issues that affect or would otherwise be of interest to the student body and/or society in general. The Gradzette serves as a training ground for students interested in any aspect of journalism. Students and other interested parties are invited to contribute. Please contact the editor listed above for submission guidelines. The Gradzette reserves the right to edit all submissions and will not publish any material deemed by its editorial board to be discriminatory, racist, sexist, homophobic or libelous. Opinions expressed in letters and articles are solely those of the authors. The Gradzette is a member of the Canadian University Press, a national student press cooperative with members from St. John’s to Victoria. All contents are ©2013 and may not be reprinted without the express written permission of the Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation. Yearly subscriptions to the Gradzette are available, please contact publisher@gradzette.com for more information.
Welcome, students! On behalf of the Government of Manitoba, it is my pleasure to welcome new and returning graduate students at the University of Manitoba, which boasts a proud tradition of innovative research, teaching and learning. Since 1877, the University has attracted renowned researchers and graduate students who have contributed to breakthroughs in a wide variety of fields. Its faculty members, currently including 48 Canada Research Chairs, secure more than $146.7 million annually in external funding. Our government is pleased to support this success through programs such as the Manitoba Research & Innovation Fund and the Manitoba Graduate Scholarship, where we invest over $15 million annually. Our province is enriched by the wealth of experience, innovation, and creativity of the University of Manitoba’s graduate students. Your contributions help to make Manitoba a more vibrant and exciting place to live. I wish you every success in the upcoming 2013-2014 academic year and beyond. — Minister of Advanced Education and Literacy, Erin Selby
Upcoming Events Bison homecoming
On Saturday, Sept. 28, the U of M and Bison Sports will be hosting a pre-game party to kick-off the first official Bisons homecoming game at Investors Group Field. The pre-game festivities will be held at University Stadium (the former home of the Bison football team), located just behind Investors Group Field on Ken Ploen Way. All are welcome to attend the celebration, from alumni to family members. The party will take place from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and will include a BBQ, beer gardens, music, face painting, and more. The Bisons’ game against the Regina Rams is set to begin at 1:00 p.m.
One million Winnipeg
The next event in the Visionary Conversation speaker series will be held on Sept. 25, at 6:30 p.m. in the Robert B. Schultz Theatre, St. John’s College. Entitled, “Welcome to Winnipeg! Population One Million,” panelists Wanda Wuttunee (professor, Native Studies; director, Aboriginal Business Education Partners, Asper School of Business), Rick Linden (professor, Sociology), Jim Carr (president and CEO, Business Council of Manitoba) will discuss the future of Winnipeg’s economic and community development, and how such frontiers will be affected when Winnipeg’s population reaches one million.
Manitoba Chinese Moon Festival
On Sept. 14 the Manitoba Chinese Tribune will once again be hosting the Manitoba Chinese Moon Festival Social. Doors open for the 11th annual celebration at 6:30 p.m. at the Investors Group Athletic Centre on the U of M Fort Garry campus. Tickets for the event are available for $8 in advance, $5 for MCT members, or $10 at the door.
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GSA Awards Luncheon by Ryan harby
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n Tuesday, Aug. 27 UMGSA celebrated excellence within the graduate student community with the annual awards luncheon. With friends, family, colleagues, and faculty members in attendance at Marshall McLuhan Hall, five current GSA student members were formally named recipients of student awards. Vice-provost (Graduate Education) & dean of the faculty of graduate studies Jay Doering was present to welcome everyone in attendance and share his enthusiasm for the graduate program. “The graduate students are an integral part of this university’s research environment and mandate,” said Doering in a speech that kicked off the celebration. “Your graduate studies under the supervision of your advisors drive the research, discovery, and innovation of this university. Your graduate training as students is this university’s success, this province’s success, and Canada’s success.” Included amongst the recipients of the 2013/2014 UMGSA Awards were Full-time Master’s Award winners Beibei Lu and Stephanie LaBelle; Full-time PhD Award winner William Kurt Hildebrand; and Part-time Award winners Jane Kamabu and Pauline Tennent. Doctor Todd Duhamel, assistant professor in the faculty of kinesiology and graduate program chair, was named the winner of this year’s Teaching Award, which is nominated by graduate students of the U
of M. The Teaching Award is given jointly by GSA and the faculty of graduate studies. “A lot of times the relationship with graduate students is that advisors are pushing and pushing and trying to get more, and I take on that role quite a bit, but what I’m really glad to say is that I have a really good rapport with my students and I actually think there’s a really good mentorship relationship there, which is really important,” said Duhamel, addressing the crowd from the podium. Hildebrand, the afternoon’s PhD Award winner, enlightened those in attendance as to the specifics of his own research endeavours. “My research is focused on ultrasonic wave transport in strong scattering disordered systems. Because wave phenomena occur at many length and time scales, an increased understanding of wave transport in these strong scattering systems can provide insight into everything from nanoscale fields such as quantum mechanics, electron transport and optics, all the way to kilometre-scale fields such as seismology. Ultrasonic waves, it turns out, are a convenient tool to learn about wave transport and they occur on the easily accessible scales of millimetres and microseconds while they still yield very broadly accessible and applicable results.”
“Your graduate training as students is this university’s success, this province’s success, and Canada’s success”
— Jay Doering, dean of the faculty of graduate studies
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“My research aims to further our fundamental understanding of how waves travel when scattering is very strong,” said Hildebrand. Another award winner, Beibei Lu, spoke of using her research opportunity in kinesiology and recreation management to help promote multiculturalism on campus and within the Chinese immigrant communities. “I’m sure a lot of you here just spent a great summer with your families enjoying friendly Manitoba. But have you seen many immigrant families also enjoying their leisure time?” “My research is about the leisure experiences of Chinese immigrant families, as well as their activities related to their family experiences.” The UMGSA awards are designed in effort to recognize contributions from graduate students in areas of both scholarship and community involvement. They are funded in part through a levy applied to all graduate students approved through a GSA referendum, a donation from Dr. James Burns, as well as a contribution from the Manitoba Scholarship and Bursary Initiative.
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Keeping busy
Researcher Profile: Leila Mostaço-Guidolin by Jenna diubaldo
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s a student one could argue that working towards a PhD would lead to a busy enough schedule. Add to that training to become an Olympic athlete and then you will have more of a sense of what it’s like to be Leila Mostaço-Guidolin. Originally hailing from Brazil, Mostaço-Guidolin moved to Winnipeg after completing her undergrad and master’s degrees at the University of Sao Paulo. Relocating from sunny Brazil to frigid Manitoba to pursue a PhD in biomedical engineering through the University of Manitoba, she soon found that Winnipeg winters do have their plus side. “I was always crazy about sports, so when I moved here a friend of mine took me skiing one day and I just loved it,” said Mostaço-Guidolin with excitement in her voice. “I started thinking about training, and started racing.” Mostaço-Guidolin travelled to Ushuaia, Argentina last year to compete in the XI Brazilian National Cross-Country Ski Championship. After winning the 10 kilometre race she was asked to join the Brazilian Team and has now set her sights on the 2018 Olympic games. This overachieving super athlete was able to spare an hour from her astonishingly busy schedule to sit down with the Gradzette over coffee. Not surprisingly, she had just come from a competitive run at Birds Hill Park, one of many ways she trains during the off-season. When Mostaço-Guidolin isn’t training, skiing, or competing in biathlons, she can be found perfecting her thesis research at the National Research Council of Canada. She has been studying the characteristics of atherosclerotic plaque through the use of new imaging technology called non-linear optical microscopy. “Right now all the imaging methods that are available are not able to get this biochemical information,” said Mo-
staço-Guidolin. “MRI can get a very good image showing where the bump is inside of the artery, ultrasound can [show] probably how much of the artery is blocked, but none of them can tell you how much lipids are inside of the plug or how much collagen is in there. [Through] my studies basically we are characterizing the plug in terms of the biochemical components.” Atherosclerotic plaque builds up in arteries within the human body where there are lesions or weaknesses. These build ups can eventually plug the artery and lead to heart at-
When Mostaço-Guidolin isn’t training, skiing, or competing in biathlons, she can be found perfecting her thesis research at the National Research Council of Canada
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tack or stroke. As Mostaço-Guidolin puts it, research around atherosclerotic plaque build up can be most easily compared to a lake that has frozen during the winter.
While non-linear optical microscopes may in fact be the wave of the future, she does admit that it is an imaging technology that has not yet been perfected.
“Just by looking into it, we might be able to estimate if the ice there is thin or thick, or we might be able to see something below the ice, but for sure we wouldn’t be able to distinguish between fish or plants, or any other thing that might be in there,” explained Mostaço-Guidolin. “To actually check how thin is the ice, or if there [are] any fish in there, we would have to open a hole, and then measure the ice thickness. For example, to get more complete and accurate information about [the ice] or what is below the layer of ice.”
“The only problem with this technique right now is you are not able to [use it] in vivo,” said Mostaço-Guidolin. “It’s still quite a long way from getting to [use with] a catheter or something that people would be able to just put inside of a vessel and look at it, but it has been very promising [and has] generated some results towards that.”
Mostaço-Guidolin believes that in the future the use of this new imaging technology may be a way to identify lesions and predict plaque vulnerabilities, which could potentially help with early prevention of major diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes.
For now, this graduate student is already providing new information through her research about the benefits of this imaging technique, and will now prepare to write her thesis paper, while diligently working towards her dream of Olympic grandeur. “First I have to get qualified for the world championship in 2015 and 2017, so that’s my main goal right now,” states Mostaço-Guidolin. “Those are my requirements for the Olympics.”
Get your research featured in the
Gradzette
Are you a graduate student eager to promote your research and provide exposure for your work in the master’s or doctoral program? The Gradzette is looking for individuals interested in participating in our ongoing “Researcher Profile” column, which seeks to showcase important and exciting U of M research for a larger audience. Subjects of a “Researcher Profile” will be interviewed by a Gradzette staff member regarding their ongoing research project. Once the column has been put together, the information will be published online both on the Gradzette website and within the PDF version of the monthly Gradzette magazine. Both versions are free to share with coworkers, acquaintances, professors, etc. If you would like to be featured in an upcoming “Researcher Profile,” please contact editor@ gradzette.com with details regarding your field of study, a short blurb about your current research, and any pertinent contact information for interview purposes.
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Orientation 2013
UMGSA welcomes new and returning students with a week of festivities by Ryan harby
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rom Sept. 9 – 13 the GSA will be making sure U of M graduate students have all their orientation needs covered. This year’s festivities will be taking on the theme of “nerd,” with Sept. 10 being “life of the nerd,” Sept. 11 “rights of the nerd,” and Sept. 12 “jobs of the nerd.” Starting on Sept. 9 students are welcome to come in for a day-long open house at the UMGSA Fort Garry office, located at 221 University Centre. The following day, dubbed the “life of the nerd,” will begin with complimentary breakfast and opening ceremonies at 8:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., respectively. The day will also feature a general question period, in which students can ask about various aspects of life in Winnipeg and at the U of M, followed by a 12:00 p.m. lunch, a two-hour information booth session, and a scavenger hunt. Students who attend orientation presentations throughout the week can acquire “VIP access passports” which can be used to help avoid some of the longer lunch lines for that same day. Wednesday of orientation week, “rights of the nerd,” will once again feature breakfast and lunch for graduate students but will also include information sessions on such topics as: Health and Dental Services, the Academic Learning Centre, Human Rights and Advisory Services, as well advisor-student guidelines. The day comes to a close with a game of Jeopardy! hosted in the UMGSA Lounge based on graduate student life at the University of Manitoba. On the final nerd-themed day of orientation week, “jobs of the nerd,” students will have access to a skills and employability career development workshop, as well as a swing dance at 11:30 a.m, an alumni round table at 12:30 p.m., and
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a wine & cheese from 2:30 – 5:00 p.m. This day will also include breakfast and lunch for students. “The GSA executive is very excited that we are partnering with the Alumni Association to bring in alumni from different areas (Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Humanities, Health Sciences etc.) to meet and mingle with new graduate students,” said Jennifer Chen, UMGSA executive-at-large, elaborating on several of the association’s offerings throughout the week. “This new event will provide great networking opportunities to new students in their study fields so that students will have [a] clear aim and target at the beginning of their studies.” The closing day of orientation week — Friday, Sept. 13 — will once again feature a day-long GSA open house, an orientation social from 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m., and an afternoon tour of the city courtesy of the Winnipeg Trolley Company. Specially geared toward new students who are experiencing Winnipeg for the first time, the trolley tour will take place from 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Seating is limited on the trolley tour and as such any interested graduate students are encouraged to register for their place on board at https://gsawinnipegtour13.eventbrite.ca/. Along with all the activities, Chen also made sure to thank the Faculty of Graduate Studies for their sponsorship and involvement in the 2013 orientation week. Thanks in part to the FGS presence, there will be plenty of amenities, awards, give-aways, and information aplenty for grad students throughout the week. More information on the 2013 UMGSA Orientation Week can be found at http://www.umgsa.org/our-services/ orientation/.