Mayor Lynn Peterson and MPPs Michael Gravelle and Bill Mauro were on hand to acknowledge and praise Lakehead’s contribution to the knowledge-based economy of the region and Lakehead’s initiative to motivate the entire city to be engaged in research and innovation. They also pledged their support in advancing Northwestern Ontario’s research agenda.

Re-Imagining Canada

The following Monday, in the Agora, Dr. Rui Wang, Vice-President (Research), presided over the official campus opening of Research & Innovation Week. In his remarks he reminded listeners that research growth at Lakehead University between 2002 and 2007 was more than double that at other universities across Canada!

Special guest Dr. Chad Gaffield, President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, congratulated Lakehead on its many successful partnerships. Later, during his luncheon keynote address,  Gaffield encouraged the Lakehead community to “re-imagine” its campuses and its campus-community connections in order to embrace the new, distinguishing characteristics of the 21st century: creativity, complexity, and diversity.

Throughout the week there were many different events held on campus including several public talks and film screenings - among them, the premiere of Dr. Judy Iseke-Barnes’ film A Living History of Métis Families as told by Dorothy Chartrand.

Displays from funding agencies, research partners, and vendors were set up in the Agora.

As well, there was a public lecture featuring Dr. Kevin Danaher, entitled “Building the Green Economy.” Danaher is co-founder of Global Exchange (1988), founder and Executive Co-Producer of the Green Festivals (2001), and Executive Director of the Global Citizen Centre (2004). This lecture was part of the Lakehead University Speaker Series, and was presented in partnership with The Chronicle-Journal, Travelodge Hotel Airlane, and The Food Security Network.

Recognizing Excellence

At a Reception held in the Faculty Lounge on Wednesday, February 26, Lakehead honored its eight Canada Research Chairs, and announced that the University had been awarded two additional Tier 1 Canada Research Chairs, one in an NSERC discipline and one in a SSHRC discipline.

Two Lakehead University Distinguished Researcher Awards for 2008 were also announced: one presented to Dr. Abdelhamid Tayebi (Electrical Engineering), an NSERC researcher, and one to Dr. Syed Serajul Islam (Political Science), a SSHRC researcher.

As well, the Inaugural Innovation Award was presented to Dr. Bryan Poulin (Business Administration), and the Inaugural Building Research Capacity Award was presented to the team responsible for submitting Lakehead’s NORD-21 proposal:  Dr. Aicheng Chen, Dr. Robert Dekker, Dr. Greg Pyle, Dr. Wensheng Qin, and Dr. Umed Panu.

Lakehead’s High Output and Publication Excellence (HOPE) awards, given annually to three graduate students, were announced during the Reception. Recipients were Joe Vrbanek, MSc Engineering, Supervisor:  Dr. Wilson Wang; Zhiyou Yuan, PhD Forest Sciences, Supervisor: Dr. Han Chen; and Rebecca Barnes, MSc Biology, Supervisors: Dr. Marina Ulanova and Heidi Schraft.

Celebrating Graduate Student Achievement

A Graduate Student Conference took place on Thursday, February 26, and Friday, February 27 to end Research & Innovation Week.  On Thursday, there were a total of 52 posters displayed in the Agora.  Judges selected three graduate students in each of CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC categories to present their work orally on Friday. Then on Friday at noon an awards luncheon was held to celebrate the achievements of the winning graduate researchers, who received certificates and cash prizes at the luncheon. They included: Desneiges Larose (Forestry) and Joseph LeBlanc (Forestry) who were tied for the best Aboriginal-themed poster; Brian Adams (Chemistry) in the NSERC category, Jean-Paul DeRoover (Sociology) in the SSHRC category, and Veronica Brown (Public Health) in the CIHR category.