MALIHE MEHDIZADEH ALLAF
"The Earth is what we all have in |
Mali is a PhD candidate in environmental science and biology at Western University. She graduated with a master of engineering science from Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department at Western. In her Master, she started to work with different types of microalgae for different applications and became interested in phycology. She joined Dr. Trick’s lab in 2014 to improve her skills and knowledge in the field of phycology and environmental science. She is currently conducting research on the bloom formation and toxicity measurement of marine species under environmental stressors which is one of the major environmental problems in different parts of the world including Canada. Marine harmful algal blooms, equally important as lake harmful algal blooms, result in millions of dollars’ loss per bloom.
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CAMILLE CHEMALI
“Imagination rules the world.” |
Camille is currently pursuing his master’s degree in biology in Dr. Irena Creed’s lab at the University of Western Ontario in London. He completed his B.Sc. in Environmental Science at the University of Western Ontario where his interest in photosynthesis and environmental effects of algal bloom after having taken plant physiology and environmental science courses. He is interested in investigating the effects and physiological differences of red and green ecotypes of the cyanobacterium Pseudanabaena in Dickson Lake.
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Michael dallosch
“We are like a judge confronted by |
Michael is an MSc candidate in Biology with a primary interest in the remote sensing applications. He has completed a bachelor degree in Honours Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo and a Masters of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Western Ontario. Through experience in various interdisciplinary fields, Michael has developed an interest in the interconnectivity of global systems and local conditions. This has extended into his current thesis, involving the driving trend of climate warming and increased algal blooms, which have serious ecological, economic, and human health impacts.
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Matthew Duda
"Difficulties are just things to overcome, |
Matthew is a MSc student at Queen's University under the supervision of Dr. John Smol. He finished his BSc at the University of Waterloo with an Honours Biology specialization in Environmental Biology. Currently, Matthew's work involves using paleolimnological approaches to determine the population trends of the ecologically vulnerable Leach's Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa). To establish the population's dynamics and it's drivers, Matthew will use a variety of proxies including diatoms, pollen, chlorophyll-a and stable isotopes (i.e. δ15N). This study will directly influence the conservation of the Leach's Storm-petrel by determining population trajectories and unravelling the mechanisms driving population change. Matthew plans on expanding this research and techniques to include other threatened colonial species.
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kevin erratt
“It is not the strongest of the species |
Kevin's interest in algae stemmed from his honours thesis project which investigated the impacts of nitrogen on cyanobacterial growth and toxicity. He has continued working on water quality issues and is now is undertaking his M.Sc. under the supervision of Dr. Irena Creed and Dr. Charles Trick. He plans on investigating the role of urea, a growing nitrogen fertilizer form of concern, on cyanobacterial growth and toxicity. His future goal is to take on a leadership role focused on the prevention and mitigation of HABs, and using the knowledge he has acquired to assist communities at risk.
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Elizabeth favot
"When one tugs at a single thing |
Liz completed a B.Sc. Honours in Biology, followed by a B.Ed. in Outdoor and Experiential Education at Queen’s University. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Biology at the Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory (PEARL) at Queen’s University. Her research is focused on using sedimentary diatom and chironomid assemblages and spectrally-inferred chlorophyll a (proxy for aquatic primary production) to examine long-term trends in water quality in Ontario lakes affected by cyanobacterial blooms.
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Erika freeman
“For me, I am driven by two main |
Erika completed her undergraduate degree with an Honours Specialization in Environmental Science and a Major in Geographic Information Science. With the support of two Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Undergraduate Research Awards (USRA) she was able to explore diverse disciples and discover her fascination with freshwater quality issues- particularly those caused by algae blooms. Now, beginning her M.Sc in Geography, she plans to examine the role of iron in promoting the dominance of particular harmful algal-bloom forming genera of phytoplankton.
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Rick dong
“Action should be taken before a |
Rick is pursuing a Master’s degree in the field of physical geography at University of Western Ontario in London. He pursued a Master's degree in Environment and Sustainability a year before entering his current program. He studied Environmental Engineering and Economics at Carleton University and proceeded to work in a fast upscale environment in Ottawa from 2012 to 2014. He has covered many courses/projects related to the knowledge of statistical analysis in R, risk management and assessment related to best management plans (BMPs) in forestry, and environmental engineering system modeling. Rick is focusing his thesis research on two topics: assessing the biogeochemical resilience of inland aquatic ecosystems from long-term empirical observations via multivariate autoregressive (MAR) models; identifying leading indicators of shifts to alternative states via wavelet analysis.
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kathleen meszaros
“No water, no life. No blue, no green.” |
Kathleen is in the final year her BSc Honors Specialization Environmental Science and Minor in Biology at Western University. Under the supervision of Dr. Charles Trick she is completing an honors research project examining the effects of projected climate change on the physiology of a fish-killing phytoflagellate, Heterosigma akashiwo. She looks forward to building upon this experience and continuing her career in aquatic ecology by pursuing a MSc next year.
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Hebah mejbel
"Research is formalized curiosity. It is |
Hebah is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in biology at the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Dr. Frances Pick. She completed her BSc. in Biomedical Science also at uOttawa and a MSc. in Biology at Carleton University. During her master’s, she identified the factors impacting dormancy behaviour of duckweed in harsh environmental conditions. Hebah is now interested in examining the factors regulating the abundance and diversity of toxin-producing cyanobacteria in aquatic ecosystems through the development of novel molecular and analytical chemistry approaches. Many lakes continue to experience toxic algal blooms and her research will involve analyzing these blooms through a combination of empirical studies, bioinformatics, laboratory experiments and analytical fieldwork.
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Clare nelligan
“Look deep into nature, and then |
Clare is a PhD candidate in the Biology Department at Queen’s University working under the supervision of Dr. John Smol. She completed her undergraduate studies also at Queen’s University with an Honours Specialization in Environmental Biology. Clare’s research involves understanding long-term environmental trends in Ontario lakes that support a Lake Trout population. This work involves using lake sediments to reconstruct past nutrients and deep-water oxygen conditions in targeted lakes across the province, some of which are experiencing algal blooms.
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ALEKSEY PALTSEV
“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, |
Born in Russia, Aleksey did his BSc in physical geography at Tambov State University. As a Research Assistant in the Nature Biosphere Reserve Brajnsky Forest, he gained considerable experience in the field of forest ecology. Aleksey completed his Masters in biology at Western University in 2015. He is now doing PhD under the supervision of Dr. Irena Creed at Western. In his current project he is developing historical surveys of more than 10,000 lakes in temperate forests of Ontario over the last 30 years. He uses remote sensing and advanced statistical techniques to: (1) predict chlorophyll a as a proxy of phytoplankton in lakes, and (3) investigate factors controlling spatial and temporal drivers of variation in chlorophyll a. Application of the model will be maps of lakes with different stable states and lakes approaching regime shifts from oligotrophic to eutrophic lakes. Understanding processes contributing to regime shifts in lakes will provide an insight on the susceptibility of the lakes to eutrophication and algal blooms.
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marianne racine
“ You never fail until you stop trying” |
Marianne Racine graduated from the Biopharmaceutical sciences (medicinal chemistry) program at uOttawa in 2014. During her undergraduate studies, she worked in analytical chemistry for the pharmaceutical industry before joining Dr. Frances Pick’s team in 2013. Her work in molecular biology on sediments and lake samples gave her the opportunity to re-discover her love for biology. Now a MSc. student in Chemical and Environmental Toxicology at uOttawa, she uses chemistry and biology to study toxin production in cyanobacterial cells. Using a new advanced mass spectrometry approach, UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS, she is able to demonstrate the importance of the metabolome variation in environmental samples and cultures of Microcystis aeruginosa.
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Janae rapone
"Our lives begin to end the day we |
Janae is currently a M.Sc. candidate in Biology at Queen's University, under the supervision of John Smol (PEARL). Her research is focused on using paleolimnological techniques to assess whether established cottages and campgrounds have had long-term and cumulative effects on lakes in Algonquin Park, particularly in terms of increased nutrients. She will focus on using diatoms (siliceous algae) and sedimentary chlorophyll a (proxy of primary production) to provide a regional survey of environmental change by comparing a suite of cottage lakes and remote, reference lakes to assess the impact of shoreline development since the pre-industrial era. Janae will also assess the sensitivity of each study lake to shoreline development and the impact of cottages to overall phosphorus budgets using the Lakeshore Capacity Model (LCM) developed by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Canada.
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oscar senar
"Il moto è causa d'ogni vita" |
It was during his last year as an undergrad in Environmental Sciences at Universitat de Valencia (Spain) when he discovered that limnology was his interest. In 2011 Oscar left his home country to work on his Master's thesis at the Alterra Research Center in Wageningen (the Netherlands), where he studied hydromorphological restoration projects in lowland streams. And from his studies on the shape of Dutch rivers, he is now studying the colour of Ontario lakes: does brownification play a role in the blooms of blue-green algae?
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Brigitte Simmatis
“Science knows no country, because |
Brigitte is an MSc candidate in the Biology Department at Queen’s University working under the supervision of Dr. John Smol (PEARL). She completed her BScH at Queen’s University with a Specialization in Psychology. Brigitte’s research primarily focuses on understanding long-term environmental trends in deep Boreal lakes affected by cyanobacterial blooms. She is also studying shallow mining-impacted lakes with annual cyanobacterial blooms to determine how multiple stressors influence sedimentary macroinvertebrate assemblages. This work involves using lake sediments to reconstruct past deep-water oxygen conditions (via sedimentary chironomid assemblages) and whole-lake primary production (via VRS-inferred chlorophyll a).
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puru SHAH
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is |
Puru has just finished his undergrad from University of Waterloo in Biochemistry. Through the co-op program, he has worked at Environment and Climate Change Canada researching harmful algal blooms and will be starting his MSc work at Wilfred Laurier University soon. His thesis work will be looking at algal and cyanobacterial cultures and how they interact with and take up iron to hopefully better understand the role of iron in harmful algal bloom formation.
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VEERTA SINGH
“When you’re curious, you find lots |
Veerta is pursuing a master’s degree in biology in Dr. Charlie Trick’s lab at Western University in London. She completed her Honours B.Sc. in Biology at Western University, where she developed her interest in phytoplankton after taking a course in marine environments. Her research is focused on studying the geographic variation in growth and toxicity between different isolates of a fish-killing phytoflagellate, Heterosigma akashiwo.
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BRanaavan sivarajah
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Branaavan completed his MSc thesis (funded by CREATE ABATE) under the supervision of Dr. John P. Smol at Queen’s University. He used paleolimnological techniques to assess the long-term ecological consequences of multiple stressors (nutrient enrichment, acidification and climate change) on the aquatic ecosystems in and around Georgian Bay, Ontario. Specifically, he used sedimentary diatom assemblages to track changes in nutrient levels and spectrally inferred chlorophyll-a to track changes in whole lake primary production in the embayments of Georgian Bay. Presently, Branaavan is examining the long-term biological consequences of arsenic contamination in subarctic lakes from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, as part of his doctoral research.
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robin valleau
“The most exciting phrase to hear in |
Robin is a MSc student in Biology at Queen’s University. She is using paleolimological techniques to assess the effects of road salt application within the Muskoka River Watershed, Ontario. She completed a MScEv at the University of Toronto with a focus on consevation and biodiversity. After her MScEv she internd at the Dorset Environmental Science Centre (DESC) with the MOECC. It is there that she became specifically intersted in Paleolimnology. Robin also completed a HBSc in Northern Studies at Lakehead University.
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Mark verschoor
"If I have seen further, it is by standing |
He earned his honours B.Sc. at McMaster University and has been at York University since 2008, first earning his Masters in biology, and currently working on his PhD. He has studied freshwater biology and explored with the microscope since he was a boy, and the natural world continues to be a source of inspiration and enjoyment for him. One aspect of limnology that particularly fascinates him is the composition of natural communities in response to their surroundings. In environments impacted by human activities, the community structure and biodiversity is often restricted to a relatively narrow group of resilient organisms, among which are cyanobacteria and other algae. Algae become dominant and at times detrimental in seasonal and historical cycles, often in response to physical and chemical changes. His goal is to understand the physical and geochemical changes which occur within bodies of water, particularly with regard to sediments, that lead to the dominance of cyanobacteria in freshwater communities.
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post doctoral
eric enanga
"An individual has not started living |
Eric is currently a post-doctoral fellow in the department of biology at Western University. He completed his PhD (Biology and Environment and Sustainability) from Western University and joined Dr. Irena Creed’s lab group to learn new laboratory skills that are useful in assessing algal physiological responses to different conditions. He is currently interested in understanding toxin producing algae responses to different environmental stimuli under the guidance and mentorship of both Dr. Trick and Dr. Creed.
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