Announcements
December 2019
As the year comes to a close, we want to acknowledge the successful defences of a number of ABATE students. Michael Dallosch, Camille Chemali, and Haibin (Rick) Dong defended their MSc degrees, and Aleksey Paltsev defended his PhD. Congratulations to all! March 12, 2019 We are in the process of planning the final CREATE ABATE field schools. The first field school will be held in Uganda, Africa and will focus on planetary health and algae. It will take place in the month of May. More information. The second (and last!) field school will take place at Queens University and the University of Ottawa and will focus on algal ID, paleolimnology, and the water column. More information. February 24, 2019 CREATE ABATE students will be participating in the 3rd annual IFHAB Meeting again this year in Toronto. The meeting will be held from April 24-26. For more information about when you can see presentations by CREATE students visit ifhabworkshop.com. February 2019 CREATE ABATE student Clare Nelligan successfully defended her PhD thesis titled "Assessing long-term environmental trends in Ontario Lakes that support lake trout". November 2018 This month we are celebrating the successful PhD defence of CREATE ABATE student Oscar Senar. His thesis was titled "Causes and consequences of soil carbon mobilization and lake brownification in northern forested landscapes". We are also celebrating the successful thesis defence of Malihe Allaf and Veerta Singh. Malihe's thesis was titled "The effect of multiple environmental stressors on the growth and toxicity of the red tide alga Heterosigma akashiwo". Veerta's thesis was titled "Growth and toxicity of geographically-distinct isolates of the fish-killing phytoflagellate, Heterosigma akashiwo". August 31, 2018 ABATE students participated in their fourth field school hosted at Nipissing University by Drs. Dan Walters and Lew Molot. This edition of the ABATE Field School examines how science and local knowledge inform policies and shape how we manage cyanobacteria blooms in Ontario. Below is photo of the students on the shores of Callander Bay. More about the course can be found here. August 22, 2018 Congratulations to CREATE ABATE MSc student Erika Freeman who successfully defended her thesis titled Atmospheric change promotes increasing cyanobacteria dominance in Swedish lakes. We wish Erika all the best as she pursues her PhD at Cambridge University. August 21, 2018 Recent publication by ABATE MSc and PhD student Matthew Duda on breeding eider ducks and their influence on subarctic coastal pond chemistry. July 14, 2018 ABATE PhD student Oscar Senar has published the first chapter of this thesis in the Journal of Geophysical Research. This chapter looks at catchment-scale shifts in the magnitude and partitioning of carbon export in response to changing hydrologic connectivity in a northern hardwood forest. May 15, 2018 Current ABATE MSc Candidate Erika Freeman was awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue her PhD in Plant Sciences at Cambridge University in the Fall. "The Gates Scholarship aims to identify and select applicants who are academically outstanding and are likely to be transformative leaders across all fields of endeavour. Over 5000 international applicants applied; 220 were ranked by academic departments; 102 were interviewed in Cambridge; and 57 outstanding scholars were selected." Congratulations, Erika! May 10, 2018 Congratulations to ABATE PI Dr. John Smol for being elected to the Royal Society. Way to go, Dr. Smol! April 27, 2018 CREATE ABATE students presented their research at the 2nd Interdisciplinary Freshwater Harmful Algal Bloom Meeting in Toronto from April 16-18, 2018. The meeting was a great networking experience, bringing together students, and scientists working on harmful algal blooms globally. All students presented on their thesis research and gained ideas for improvement of their research from cutting edge scientists. 
CREATE PhD student Clare Nelligan presenting her research
CREATE PhD student Kevin Erratt presenting his research
April 18, 2018
A new CREATE publication by Creed et al. titled "Global change-driven effects on dissolved organic matter composition: Implications for food webs of northern lakes" has recently been published in Global Change Biology. March 24, 2018
A new publication by CREATE MSc student (now PhD student) Kevin Erratt has been published in Freshwater Biology. The paper explores the effects of ammonium, nitrate, and urea on the growth of cyanobacteria. |
Banner Credit: NASA Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8
ABOUT USThe ProgramThe key response to Canada's emerging freshwater Harmful Algal Bloom (fHAB) crisis is the creation of a knowledge-rich and skill-ready workforce that will take leadership roles in defining strategies to solve this ecosystem health problem. The NSERC CREATE ABATE program strives to develop this team. The program consists of:
PEOPLE – A highly-skilled, passionate, interdisciplinary training team dedicated to solving the fHAB crisis TRAINING – A unique training foundation and program offering two distinct streams of programs: course-based Professional Masters and thesis-based Masters and PhDs RESEARCH – Students will work with the training team on meeting the fHABs research objectives to solve the emerging crisis |