The Office of Research and Graduates Studies is happy to share that all three students’ applications that Bishop’s University brought forward to Fondation Arbour have been awarded a Master’s Arbour Scholarship for 2022-23.

Congratulations to:

– Julien Houle, M.Sc. in Physics under the supervision of Dr. Valerio Faraoni.

– Michael Matesic, M.Sc. in Physics under the supervision of Dr. Jason Rowe.

– Poonam Sathe, M.Sc. in Computer Science (course-based stream).

Michael Matesic, M.Sc. in Physics under the supervision of Dr. Jason Rowe

Bayesian Assessment of Kepler’s Exoplanet Candidates with Simulation-Based Inference
Michael Matesic is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Physics at Université de Montréal under the joint supervision of Dr. Laurence Perreault-Levasseur and Dr. Jason Rowe. The focus of Michael’s research combines simulation-based inference with machine learning and evidence-driven Bayesian statistics to assess the reliability of purported exoplanet transit signatures. Michael received his M.Sc. in Physics from Bishop’s University and B.Sc. in Honours Co-operative Physics and Astronomy from the University of Waterloo.

Julien Houle, M.Sc. in Physics under the supervision of Dr. Valerio Faraoni

Modified gravity and effective thermodynamics of gravity
Is Einstein’s general relativity the correct model for gravity? If not, alternative models are relevant to be explored. During his master’s degree, Julien will be exploring different models, including f(R) gravity and scalar-tensor gravity. He’ll be studying universes expanding at different rates in different directions, with the goal to understand their evolution better and try to view them through Valerio Faraoni’s effective thermodynamics of gravity emerging framework.

Poonam Sathe, M.Sc. in Computer Science | Course-based stream

Poonam Sathe obtained her master’s in computer science from Bishop’s University in 2022. The Fondation Arbour Scholarship allowed her to devote her full attention to search for position in the computer science industry and enhanced her knowledge of programming in the process. She currently works as a full Stack Developer at MDF Commerce.

The Fondation Arbour Scholarship competition is now underway! Apply for the internal phase by May 15th at noon. See full details about the scholarship on the website for the Office of Research and Graduates Studies

“How can ‘lighthouses’ enable a transformation towards sustainable food and farming systems?” This is the key question that drives Dr. Valencia

Dr. Vivian Valencia joined Bishop’s University as a Research Chair in Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Action at the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems (SAFS) program in October 2022. The SAFS program is a new program that just launched this past fall semester, offering majors, minors, certificates and tailor-made master’s degrees in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems (www.ubishops.ca/safs). Dr. Valencia explains that this program is quite unique and exciting because it places emphasis on improving the sustainability of all aspects of agriculture and food systems, focusing on the social, economic and environmental aspects of agriculture. As parts of SAFS, she created her first class on food systems, AGR11 ‘Lighthouse Farms for Sustainable Futures’, which started this Winter session 2023. In this brand-new course, students develop critical thinking skills to analyze food and farming systems from social and ecological perspectives. Students also discuss how ‘extraordinary’ cases in food and farming systems— ‘lighthouses’—inspire positive visions for what (more) sustainable futures may look like, and how ‘lighthouses may shine light on plausible pathways towards desirable and sustainable food and farming systems.

Dr. Valencia explains that the current food system is an important drivers of climate change—responsible for one third of global greenhouse gas emissions—and also of the biodiversity loss crisis. Food systems are neither working for the environment or people, both in terms of nutrition and social justice and equity outcomes. Reforming our food systems is key to tackle these crises. This calls for a systems-level change; that means not only reforming how food is produced but also the whole supply chain, all the way to our consumption habits. This won’t happen in small incremental changes (we simply don’t have the time given the climate and biodiversity crises!); we need rapid, structural and value changes. This is what Dr. Valencia calls a (radical) food system transformation.

Solutions to the limitations of our current food system will require new visions for the future, collaborations from stakeholders across the value chain and, above all, it will require disruption. Good disruption, says Dr. Valencia, the kind that makes us think differently about what is possible. Dr. Valencia seeks this ‘good disruption’ in ‘lighthouse’ farms and food systems initiatives. This way ‘lighthouse’ farms, and other ‘lighthouse’ initiatives in food and farming systems, may show the way forward, away from the undesirable aspects of our dominant food system and onto new, more sustainable pathways.

Dr. Valencia’s research on ‘lighthouses’ started when she was an Assistant Professor at Wageningen University (Netherlands), where her group pioneered the “Global Network of Lighthouse Farms” (https://www.lighthousefarmnetwork.com/), which brings together exemplary farms and foodscapes from around the world that have found radical solutions to address the sustainability challenges we currently face. This global network serves as a platform for collaboration with farmers, policy makers and other food system stakeholders. It is also an ‘outdoor classroom and laboratory’ for shared learning with real practitioners. Dr. Valencia continues her engagement with the Global Network of Lighthouse Farms as a Research Partner.

Dr. Valencia is continuing her exploration of lighthouses in the food system. She is now focusing on the Canadian context with the aim of identifying local farms and food system initiatives that are showing new, more sustainable ways of operating in the local context. Her students in AGR11 ‘Lighthouse Farms for Sustainable Futures’ have already pointed her to many interesting examples in the region.

Ultimately, through her teaching and research, Dr. Valencia wants to inspire other people to think differently about what kinds of positive futures are possible—also as a way of escaping dystopian views of our future and to assuage the ‘eco-anxiety’ that some students experience when learning about the issues that plague our food systems. She hopes that her teaching and research will enable students to become future changemakers to lead the change needed towards sustainable food systems.

“We need a radical change—there is no time for small, incremental changes”

Joannie St-Germain M.Sc.
RESEARCH OFFICE SUPPORT
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUDIES

“My first-class assignment I give to my students is to watch Snowden”

Dr. Yasir Malik is no stranger to Bishop’s University welcoming environment as he was once a post-doctoral research fellow at Bishop’s University in 2013. Before arriving at Bishops, he was an assistant professor for Concordia University in Edmonton and taught at New York Institute of technology as well. His classes and research at Bishops University are focusing on machine learning and cybersecurity.

Yasir explains that the major problem with cyberattacks usually stems from software vulnerability and accordingly, more trained experts to solve these growing problems are needed. Canada is lacking trained professionals, there is a need to invest and develop programs that can become future leaders in the domain.  Grants, collaborations and working closely with the government will be important in the next few years to implement protocols. Right now, no other program exists in any Quebec’s institutions to train the next generation of workers. Bishop’s University will be the first.

Dr. Malik wants to establish the first hands-on lab in the province of Quebec. He is looking forward to applying for the Discovery Grants, NSERC Alliance a collaboration with University de Sherbrooke and planning to apply to the CFI grant as his next step. These grants will provide the funding to start a new cyber-lab so that students can gain hands-on experience. The center will be an analytical lab aimed or intended to attract and train students and professionals as well as build or improve new models for software security.

Yasir will soon have his own lab website displaying upcoming projects and attracting future students to apply to graduate studies. With the start-up fund supported by Bishop’s University, he will have two graduate students under his supervision starting in September 2023.

Right now, he has 100% attendance to his class despite it not being mandatory. Students are keen to learn about the opportunities available in the cybersecurity domain.

Joannie St-Germain M.Sc. supporting the Research Office

“Receiving the NSERC showed me that I had potential in research and was a sign that I was supported by my institution”

Élodie Lescure started her M.Sc. in Physics in September 2022 in the lab of Dr. John Ruan. She chose Bishops because of its vast expertise in physics research and the amazing mentors who helped her develop her full potential and broaden her critical thinking.  Once she arrived, she fell in love with the beauty of the campus and the great resources available.   Élodie also represents Bishop’s on  the Graduate Student Committee of the Canadian Astronomical Society .

The vastness of the Universe has always fascinated Élodie, and it was clear from the very beginning that astrophysics was her chosen field. Because so much is still unknown, she can be part of the exciting adventure of making new discoveries.  Her study topic focuses on neutron stars mergers and if they are dominant site of production for heavy elements. We know that our world is built from these elements, but the biggest question is: Where do they come from? What is already known is that neutron star mergers do produce heavy elements, but there is mounting evidence that this is not the only source of heavy elements in the Universe. Élodie is making connections by directly comparing the heavy elements produced in GW170817 (which is two neutron stars colliding producing a kilo nova) to that of the Milky Way.

Élodie is planning to finish her degree  during the summer of 2024. She is also registered in the Graduate Certificate in Knowledge Mobilization part time. She is using the tools learned in this program to help organize a viewing event on Bishop’s campus for the total solar eclipse of April 2024. Élodie would like to continue her studies at the doctoral level in the area of multi-messenger astrophysics. In yet more exciting news, , Élodie has also been accepted to the Vatican Observatory Summer School where she will  learn to work with large scale data, tools for accessing and analyzing images and datasets with hands-on experience with data analysis for their own astronomical projects.

Joannie St-Germain M.Sc. representing the Research Office

Dear members of the Bishop’s community,

It is my pleasure to announce the University has hired Dr. Joachim Jean-Jules as Director of its Office of Research and Graduate Studies (ORGS), to support our campus researchers in their quest for academic excellence. 

Dr. Jean-Jules is keen to begin a dialogue with Bishop’s University researchers to hear about their priorities and their needs and how ORGS can best support them.

The University is very grateful to the Dean of Science, Dr. Kerry Hull, who assumed the duties of the ORGS Director on an interim basis. I also want to commend Dr. Samia Mihoub, who was until recently our Research Grants Officer, for her exemplary work over the last years.  We also extend our thanks to Jimmy Couturier, the Graduate Studies Coordinator, and Blazena Sokol, the Administrative Assistant, for their unwavering commitment and heightened efforts during the interim period.

Dr. Jean-Jules holds a Ph. D. in Business Administration from the Université de Sherbrooke, an MBA from Université du Québec à Montréal as well as a Master’s in Project Management from Université du Québec. He was until recently Research Director at the Canadian Institute for Entrepreneurship and Management (CIEM).

Please join me in extending our warmest Bishop’s welcome to Dr. Jean-Jules and wishing him a great deal of success in his crucial task.

Dr. Andrew Webster
Vice-Principal, Academic and Research 

Bishop’s University is pleased to announce that Dr. Jason Rowe, of the Physics and Astronomy Department, has been renewed as the Tier II Canada Research Chair in Exoplanet Astrophysics for an additional five years.

This support from the National Canada Research Chairs allows Dr. Rowe and Bishop’s students and researchers involved with Dr. Rowe’s Exoplanet Research Lab to continue to discover and characterize exoplanets. Understanding exoplanets’ origins and composition may help determine the existence of other habitable planets and life beyond Earth.

Due to his outstanding contributions to exoplanet astrophysics, Dr. Rowe is among a select group of researchers with access to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which can see farther across space and time than its predecessor, Hubble.

Over the next five years, Dr. Rowe will lead the Canadian POET (Photometric Observations of Extrasolar Transits mission) exoplanet mission and will be a Co-Investigator for NASA’s New Frontiers Pandora mission and for Canada’s CASTOR (The Cosmological Advanced Survey Telescope for Optical and UV Research) project.

Bishop’s University congratulates Dr. Rowe on this recognition of academic excellence. Learn more about Dr. Rowe’s research here.

MEDIA REQUESTS:
Sonia Patenaude
Communications Manager
sonia.patenaude@ubishops.ca | 819-342-2587

Dr. Simplice Ayangma Bonoho, Bishop’s first Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, authoured a new book entitled L’OMS en Afrique centrale : Histoire d’un colonialisme sanitaire international (1956-2000).

The book retraces the history of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) health policies in central Africa, starting from the genesis of the WHO to the independence of African colonies to the fight against persistent illnesses such as malaria and Human African trypanosomiasis. Situating the WHO within central Africa’s historical and political context, Dr. Ayangma Bonoho explores how the WHO’s interventions influenced African countries’ population health, public health policies, training of health professionals, and campaigns to eradicate contagious diseases.

This work is a useful resource for scholars interested in the history of public health, international development and humanitarian aid.

Dr. Ayangma Bonoho’s book is available through Éditions Karthala here (in French only).

Dr. Russell Butler, Assistant professor at Bishop’s University’s Department of Computer Science received a Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) award of $72,492 to purchase an Electroencephalography (EEG) system with physiological recording and eye tracking to establish a high throughput neurophysiology platform at Bishop’s University specifically devoted to studying the link between EEG signals, human personality, and brain white matter pathways.

Dr. Butler applied for this grant with Dr. Rafael Tedesqui, of Bishop’s University’s Department of Sports Studies and Dr. Maxime Descoteaux, of the Université de Sherbrooke.  The team’s objective is to study the structural basis of EEG brain rhythms and their role in shaping personality, academic and athletic performance across individuals.

Electroencephalography (EEG) is the most widely used tool for non-invasive quantification of human brain activity. EEG records the brain’s electrical activity en-masse via surface electrodes on the scalp. EEG is commonly used to infer neurophysiological parameters such as peak frequency and power. However, despite its widespread usage, our understanding of what drives individual differences in EEG peak frequency and power is incomplete. The purpose of this research is to set up an in-house EEG recording facility at Bishop’s University for high throughput acquisition of EEG signals from a diverse student body of healthy undergraduates (ages 18-24). EEG recordings will be performed in a large sample. The team will then select from the large sample a sub-sample to maximize the variability in the dataset and perform diffusion MRI at the neighboring hospital, to obtain white matter metrics. Finally, they will correlate the white matter metrics with the EEG parameters and personality measures, to better understand what drives individual differences across a healthy population.

Hosting the equipment directly at Bishop’s University facilitates the experiments and allows for increased participant throughout, yielding higher statistical power and a more diverse set of experiments, in addition to providing a unique experience to our students. An advantage of the current platform is that it is intrinsically multidisciplinary, sitting at the crossroads of neurophysiology, performance, and personality research. The equipment will amplify the already collaborative nature of the research team and increase the appeal of Bishop’s for attracting the most talented highly qualified personnel.

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, announced more than $64 million to support 251 research infrastructure projects at 40 universities across the country. This contribution will help universities more competitively recruit and retain outstanding researchers by helping acquire the state-of-the-art labs, equipment, and facilities they need to make discoveries that will have an impact on Canadians.

Dr. Jason Rowe, Canada Research Chair in Exoplanets Astrophysics at Bishop’s University has been ranked #14 among Canada’s Top Physics Scientists by Research.com.

This ranking is based on data collected from Microsoft Academic Graph on December 6^th, 2021.

Dr. Rowe’s position in the ranking is based on his scientist D-index (Discipline H-index) which includes papers and citation values. Research.com used a ranking method based on a meticulous examination of 51,056 scientists’ profiles in the discipline of Physics.

Dr. Rowe has a D- index of 124, with 54,286 citations and 314 publications. Planets, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Planetary system, and Exoplanets are his primary areas of study. Dr. Rowe’s CRC research program’s objectives are to discover and characterize a large sample of exoplanets to understand the origins of diversity in the basic properties of planets, including mass, radius, density, and atmosphere. Dr. Rowe searches for extrasolar planets to learn if there may be other planets similar to earth. He leads an outstanding research team composed of top students from Bishop’s University and post-docs and has multiple collaborations and partnerships with top Physics scientists across the country and oversees.

Bishop’s University is proud of having Dr. Rowe as a member of our community and grateful for his commitment to our students, leading them to new horizons of excellence and success.

https://research.com/scientists-rankings/physics/ca

Dr. Valerio Faraoni of the Department of Physics & Astronomy has authored a new monograph entitled Cosmic Analogies: How Natural Systems Emulate the Universe in August 2022.

It is known that we have a century of research in cosmology but far less in earth sciences, and hardly anyone has studied new analogies between natural systems and theoretically possible universes. With that in mind, Dr. Faraoni’s new book comes into being. It ties together disparate fields of science with a lively look at analogies between relativistic cosmology and various physical phenomena, including equilibrium beach profiles, glacial valleys, the shape of glaciers, heating/cooling models, freezing bodies of water, capillary fluids, Omori’s law of earthquake aftershocks, lava flows, and a few mathematical analogies to help better understand natural systems and solve problems.

Dr. Faraoni’s new book is available on this website.