Students, Grads, Prof Earn Accolades
August 24, 2009 - Campus Bulletin
Student Heads to UN
U of G student David Lawless will be attending the United Nations World Climate Conference in Geneva Aug. 31 to Sept. 4. The gathering will include climate scientists, business leaders and government officials.
Lawless, a second-year ecology student, will take part in panel discussions with the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, the leading body for the assessment of climate change, which was established by the UN Environment Program and the World Meteorological Organization.
Earlier this year, Lawless was selected to represent Canada at the Road to Davos Conference, an international gathering of young leaders and activists in England.
Biology Student Wins 'Rising Stars of Research' Award
Sarah Gutowsky, a fourth-year integrative biology student, captured a blue ribbon at the “Rising Stars of Research” competition at the University of British Columbia last week.
She won first place for most outstanding poster in the life sciences category. Her submission highlighted her research on the marbled murrelet, a threatened seabird that divides its time between the ocean and nesting in old-growth forest on the Pacific Coast.
Gutowsky’s research looks at declines in nestling diet quality and reproductive success in the species during the past 150 years.
Billed as a gathering for Canada's "brightest young scientists," the annual Rising Stars of Research event brings together more than 100 top undergraduate researchers in science and engineering from across Canada to showcase their research accomplishments and innovations.
Grad Helps Children in Uganda
There's a new nursery school and safe haven for children in northern Uganda, thanks to the efforts of recent U of G graduate Andrea Charbonneau.
Charbonneau, who completed a master’s degree in political science in June, has spent more than four years raising money and awareness for Project Shelter Wakadogo's Edmonton Mayfield Rotary School. It’s the first and only school in Acoyo, a village of 5,000 people.
Currently, 80 children between the ages of three and six are enrolled, learning to read and write, do arts and crafts, play sports and improve personal hygiene.
Another 80 children are on a waiting list, but because of limited resources and money, the school can afford to open only two of its four classrooms. Charbonneau is hoping to raise more money to open two more classrooms and train and hire more teachers.
She started the non-profit Project Shelter Wakadogo while an undergraduate at McGill University. The name means “for the little ones” in Swahili.
The nursery school is named for the Alberta Rotary Club that provided funding to help create the school and provide clean drinking water.
Information about the initiative and how to contribute is available online.
Prof Nabs National Honour
Prof. Cecelia Paine, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development, has won the 2009 Schwabenbauer Award. Presented by the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA), the annual award recognizes longtime service at the national level.
Paine was honoured for her many contributions during the past three decades, including serving as CSLA president, as president of the Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation, as founding editor of the journal Landscapes/Paysages and on numerous other national committees.
