Transcript FOS Newsletter - Ryerson University

Message from the Dean
Dear Colleagues,
I am delighted to welcome you back to the campus, or to welcome you for the first time to
our FoS community. I hope that each and every one of you had a productive and restful
summer. I was fortunate to be able to visit briefly with family in the UK, give an invited talk
at an international conference on purines in Bonn, Germany and check out Ripley’s
Aquarium with my son, among other varied summer activities. I am looking forward to the
new semester and the inevitable new challenges.
Over the summer, Ontario universities have ratified their Strategic Mandate Agreements
with the government. Very significantly, Ryerson has also submitted its proposal for capital
infrastructure expansion which presents as its highest priority a Science and Innovation
Building. In Ryerson’s June letter to the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and
Universities, the building is proposed on the basis of its ability to provide “unique, state-ofthe-art undergraduate Science teaching laboratories and space for entrepreneurial
innovation zones to advance the University’s priority of innovation and job creation.”
This September we welcome over 750 new undergraduate students, approximately 90
new graduate students, and one new faculty member. We are launching the Privacy and
Big Data Institute—a new research institute headed by Dr. Ann Cavoukian, an
internationally renowned expert and leader in the area of privacy in the digital age.
The Faculty of Science is increasingly known within the university as being innovative,
dynamic and vibrant, and we are working hard to become better known in the broader
community. I would like to thank all members of the FoS community for your hard work in
support of the goals and aspirations of the Faculty as a whole, and to offer my very best
wishes for a fulfilling and productive academic year.
Imogen Coe
Dean, Faculty of Science
@RySciDean
Through your financial support you
create opportunities, drive innovation
and strengthen our success.
1
Summer overview and faculty highlights
Medical Physics Undergraduate Thesis
Symposium
Twenty-six 4th-year students in the Medical Physics
program presented their research projects at the Ryerson
Physics Undergraduate Symposium on April 25, 2014. In
addition to faculty members from the Physics
department, medical physicists from Princess Margaret
Hospital and the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook
attended and took part in the judging committee.
Congratulations to the top three students who received
prizes for their poster and presentation:
 1st place: Robert Earl for the project entitled
“Numerical Optimization of Subharmonic Echoes
from Ultrasound Contrast Agents” supervised by
Dr. Raffi Karshafian.
 2nd place: Gabriella Tesfay for the project
entitled “In-vivo quantification of strontium using
handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometer”
supervised by Dr. Ana Pejović Milić.
 3rd place: Patryk Wohlert for the project entitled
“A Comparison of Heart Dose Sparing
Techniques in Left-Sided Breast Cancer Patients
using Active Breathing Control (ABC) and
Reverse Lateral Decubitus” supervised by Dr.
Claire McCann, Odette Cancer Centre,
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.
Science Rendezvous
The 7th annual
Science
Rendezvous at
Ryerson event
took place at
Yonge-Dundas
Square on May
10, 2014.
Science
Rendezvous is
Canada’s
2
national celebration of science, with free public events
and activities all across the country. FoS hosted an allday event that included amazing research, hands-on
activities, displays and stage shows that delighted the
crowds and demonstrated how science plays a part in
our everyday lives. The next Science Rendezvous event
will take place on May 9, 2015.
RUW summer initiatives
(Ryerson Water Day, Wetskills, Canadian Water Summit,
Phosphorus Workshop)
The Ryerson Urban Water (RUW) Centre hosted a
number of exciting events in June, including an
experiential learning program with an elaborate case
competition. Wetskills Canada 2014 brought students
from the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada together for
two weeks to work on real practical problems faced by
the water industry and by governments from the
Netherlands and Canada. The students presented their
final solutions as part of Ryerson Urban Water Day
on June 17, and the winning team was announced at the
Canadian Water Summit on June 18 (for which Ryerson
was the Gold Sponsor). The relationships developed
during Wetskills Canada 2014 inspired the research
collaborations and student exchanges in development
between Ryerson, industry, and researchers in the
Netherlands.
RUW also hosted an invitation-only Phosphorus
Recovery and Reuse Workshop on June 19, featuring
international panel discussions that were well received by
government, the water industry, and researchers from
Canada, the USA, and the Netherlands. RUW is now
planning follow-up research activities and future
workshops to be centred on education.
iBEST research symposium
Ryerson University and St. Michael’s Hospital hosted the
3rd annual Institute for Biomedical Engineering and
Science Technology (iBEST) research and innovation
symposium on June 25 at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge
Institute.
Close to 200 engineers, scientists and clinicians came
together to share insights and develop a vision for the
new iBEST facility to be housed in the Keenan Research
Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital (SMH). Part of a new 20year partnership between Ryerson and SMH, iBEST will
boast 20,000 square feet for Ryerson students and
researchers to work side-by-side with SMH clinicians and
scientists to advance biomedical research and improve
patient care. Collaborations at iBEST will cover a range
of research areas including big data, imaging,
microfluidics, nanoparticles, regenerative medicine and
biomaterials.
Highlights of the June 25 symposium included lively
discussions on potential research priorities for iBEST, a
keynote speech on global trends in health system
innovation by Dr. Anne Snowdon from the International
Centre for Health Innovation at the Ivey School of
Business, and a technology demo and poster
competition.
First Science without Borders student in FoS
supervised by Dr. Santos
Dr. Marcus dos Santos (Computer Science) is the
academic advisor of the first Brazilian undergraduate
student who starts in FoS this September through the
Science without Borders (SwB) program. SwB
scholarships are intended for Brazilian students and
researchers and entail one year of undergraduate study,
PhD internships, full-time PhDs, postdoctoral and
professional education awards, senior fellowships or
visiting researchers/scholars abroad.
Department of Chemistry and Biology Research
Symposium
Over 100 students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty
attended the annual Department of Chemistry and
Biology Research Symposium held on August 20, 2014
at Ryerson University. We were pleased to welcome Dr.
Molly Shoichet from the University of Toronto who
presented the keynote lecture. A record 76 abstracts
from students (graduate and undergraduate) and postdoctoral fellows were presented, either as posters or
seminars. Faculty members from the Department of
Chemistry and Biology were joined by faculty from other
Ryerson departments (including Physics and Chemical
Engineering) and the University of Toronto, as well as by
researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital, to attend the
event and serve as poster judges.
Congratulations to our student speakers and recipients of
poster presentation awards:
Student seminar speakers:
Farhana Shamsad, Eden Ross, Maliha Zafar, Roshanak
Pashang, Matthew Woods and Muhammad Yousaf.
Student poster award winners (by category):
Chemistry - undergraduate: Burhan Hussein (winner);
Andrew Harris, Kiron Gonidis, Charles Wilson and Dean
Simonsky (runners-up).
Chemistry - graduate: Nande Wright (winner); Devin
Machin and Vassilios Kanellis (runners-up).
Environmental Biology - undergraduate: Anna Maria
Lulek (winner).
Environmental Biology - graduate: Wendy Stone
(winner); Nick Dimas (runner-up).
Cell and Molecular biology - undergraduate: Emma BrunHayne (winner); Tanveer Singh (runner-up).
Cell and Molecular biology - graduate: Leslie Bone
(winner); Amra Saric and Tracy Lackraj (runners-up).
In addition, we were pleased to award the 2014 Bill Cott
Award for excellence in graduate student teaching in
Chemistry and Biology, this year presented to Leslie
Bone (Biology) and Maryam Abdinejad (Chemistry).
3
FOS orientation
The Orientation for the over 750 1st-year Science
students took place on August 28, as part of the Ryerson
Orientation Week. The students met faculty and staff
members who shared valuable information: Dr. Heather
Lane Vetere (Vice Provost, Students), Dr. Imogen Coe
(Dean, Faculty of Science), Dr. Marcus dos Santos
(Interim Associate Dean of Undergraduate Science
Programs and Student Affairs), Dr. Dana Millstein
(Counselor, Centre for Student Development and
Counseling), Anne Cisterna (Co-Operative Education),
Joana Londono (Tri-Mentoring Program), Dr. Andrew
McWilliams (Academic Coordinator, First Year and
Common Science Office) and Dr. Sophie Quigley
(Program Director, Computer Science).
FoS is home to one of the 50 most powerful
business people in Canada
Dr. Ann Cavoukian, Executive Director of the Privacy
and Big Data Institute, has been recognized as one of
the 50 most powerful business people in Canada by
Canadian Business in the magazine’s September 2014
edition. The former Ontario Information and Privacy
Commissioner is cited as “Canada's most powerful
broker in convincing corporations and government
agencies to treat people's private data with care.”
Dr. Cavoukian joined the Faculty of Science on July 1
and is using her extensive expertise to create a worldclass research and innovation institute dedicated to
promoting Big Privacy, using positive-sum, doublyenabling solutions to privacy and big data challenges.
They also participated in a variety of activities including
Robotics and LED demonstrations, a Scavenger Hunt, a
Dodgeball Tournament, Lab Coat Decoration and eating
“liquid nitrogen ice cream.” The day ended with an
illusionist show in the Upper Gym and a Music Festival
on Gould Street.
Student success
In the news
Research partnership between Tweed Inc. and
Ryerson University
Dr. Lesley Campbell (Chemistry and Biology) is
conducting a research project with Tweed Inc. On July 3
Tweed Inc. announced it had signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with Ryerson and the University of
Ottawa. This agreement has allowed two independent
research projects to take place.
The Ryerson research project, due to wrap up at the end
of September, will provide the local medical marijuana
company with a report on its results. Most of the work is
proprietary, but Dr. Campbell was able to say that the
testing being done in Smiths Falls will look at different
light illumination options, including LED and broader
wave length sources and how they influence the growth
of plants in isolation tents. More info.
4
Aman Khan is our first PhD graduate in the Molecular
Sciences program! Khan defended his PhD dissertation
on June 26, 2014. His work focuses on the preparation of
new metal-based materials that function as polymeric
wires in thin film electronics. Khan’s main contribution
was to improve the light and moisture stability of these
normally very sensitive materials via chemical design,
providing an architecture that included the attachment of
bulky photo-absorbing groups directly to Sn centres.
According to his supervisor, Dr. Daniel Foucher, “Aman’s
efforts have resulted in the most innovative development
in the area of conducting polystannanes undertaken in
the last several years.”
Awards
Undergraduate Physics students Hazra Sokoli and
Rawan Ibrahem placed second in the Mako Ryerson
Student Invention Award Competition with their project
“Hap-Taps,” a footwear accessory providing haptic
feedback to improve the mobility of the visually impaired.
Molecular Science MSc student Eden Ross won the best
poster award at the 2014 Experimental Biology
conference in San Diego for her poster entitled "The
regulation of cell surface proteome by AMP-activated
protein kinase E."
Molecular Science MSc student Omar Abdi won the
award for best presentation in Material Science division
at the 2014 Chemical Society of Canada conference in
Vancouver. His presentation was titled "Synthesis and
characterization of novel biochromic and bipedal dyes for
dye-sensitized solar cells."
Molecular Science MSc student Monica Dayam was
recently awarded the International Conference &
Research Support Fund (ICRSF) award to attend
Federation of American Societies for Experimental
Biology (FASEB) where she presented her work on "The
role of PIKfyve in macrophages: effect on phagosome
maturation and endosomal system."
Molecular Science MSc student Zach Teitel was
awarded a Learning & Teaching Office (LTO) TA/GA
Award.
Molecular Science MSc student Maryam Abdinejad was
one of the IUPAC ICCE poster award winners for her
presentation entitled "Enhanced Student Learning Using
3D Visualization."
Faculty success
ERA awardees
Two science professors, Dr. Catherine Beauchemin
and Dr. Roberto Botelho, have received the highly
competitive Ontario’s Early Researcher Award, which
grants funds to recently appointed Ontario researchers to
build laboratory teams and pursue their cutting-edge
research.
Dr. Beauchemin, professor of
Physics and co-op program
faculty advisor, aims to
modernize antivirals for the
constantly changing viruses
that cause influenza. Her work
focuses on researching
antiviral drugs—and their
combination as drug
cocktails—so as to reduce the
risks of drug resistance
emergence. Her team will also
seek to find the ideal stockpile
composition. Beauchemin notes that Ontario needs
greater diversity in its flu antiviral stockpiles, because of
resistance from certain flu strains to amantadine or
oseltamivir drugs.
Dr. Botelho, professor of
Chemistry and Biology, will
focus on the inner-workings of
the cell and how disease
develops when organelles (a
cell’s “organs”) fail. Botelho’s
research team will investigate
the role of lysosome
organelles, and what happens
to the cell when these
become tubular. Botelho
hopes this research will lead
to a better understanding of
infectious, inflammatory, and autoimmune diseases.
Dr. Lynda McCarthy (Chemistry and Biology) and Dr.
Dzung Minh Ha (Mathematics) have been nominated by
the students in the Ryerson residence as “profs who
made a mark.”
Alumni success
Founder and CEO of two nationally
recognized companies, Sathish
Bala embodies the entrepreneurial
spirit. His digital marketing firm
BlueBand Brand + Digital is one of
the top ten agencies in Canada, and
his not-for profit organization
desiFEST holds one of the largest
South Asian music showcases in
North America. Within each he
demonstrates how passion can lead to success.
5
Bala entered the Computer Science program at Ryerson
with no prior experience. He believes it was the hands-on
learning and engaging professors—like Dr. Raj
Nagendra—that helped him to settle in: “I was able to
find my own groove at Ryerson,” he adds. Throughout
his university experience, Bala was deeply involved in
improving the culture of the Computer Science program.
He graduated in 1999.
Grants awarded (May – August 2014)
NSERC Discovery Grants
Dr. Debora Foster (Chemistry and Biology) received
$165,000 for the next five years for her proposal:
“Environmental modulation of the virulence program of
enterhemorrhagic E. coli.”
Dr. John Marshall (Chemistry and Biology) received
$165,000 for the next five years for his proposal:
“Biophysical and biochemical techniques for the analysis
and targeting of the Fc receptor supramolecular
complex.”
Dr. Michael Arts (Chemistry and Biology) received
$135,000 for the next five years for his proposal:
“Biochemical changes in aquatic organisms in a warming
world.”
Dr. Marcos Escobar Anel (Mathematics) received
$90,000 for the next five years for his proposal:
“Stochastic covariance and first passage time for
multidimensional stochastic processes.”
Dr. Pablo Olivares (Mathematics) received $50,000 for
the next five years for his proposal: “Pricing and hedging
under processes with conditional independent
increments.”
Dr. Dietmar Cordes (Physics) received $17,000 for one
year for his proposal: “Spatially constrained analysis of
functional MRI data with CCA.”
Dr. Jahan Tavakkoli (Physics) received $85,000 for the
next five years for his proposal: “Ultrasound guidance
and monitoring of high-power ultrasound therapies.”
Dr. Abdolreza Abhari (Computer Science) received
$19,000 for one year for his proposal: “Data Mining for
Information Retrieval and Processing in Web 2.0 Social
Networking.”
Dr. Alexander Alvarez (Mathematics) received $10,000
for one year for his proposal: “Multivariate modelling of
financial markets.”
6
NSERC Research Tools and Instruments
Dr. Robert Botelho (Chemistry and Biology) received
$125,697 for his proposal: “A facility for environmentallycontrolled live-cell imaging.” The equipment will be used
to acquire high resolution images of live-cells.
NSERC Engage
Dr. Pawel Pralat (Mathematics) received $25,000 for his
project: “A self-organizing dynamic network model
increasing the efficiency of outdoor digital billboards.”
Dr. Martina Hausner (Chemistry and Biology) received
$25,000 for her project: “Detection of biofilm growth
associated with absorbent materials employed in meat
packaging.”
Dr. Vladislav Toronov (Physics) received $25,000 for
his project: “Development of the hyperspectral near
infrared spectroscopy device for the assessment of sportrelated concussion.”
Dr. Ali Miri (Computer Science) received $25,000 for his
project: “Quality of service for software defined data
centre models.”
Dr. Alexandre Douplik (Physics) received $25,000 for
his project: “Experimental evaluation of multi-wavelength
illumination system for tissue differentiation and surgical
guidance.”
Dr. Konstantinos Derpanis (Computer Science)
received $25,000 for his project: “Visual analysis for
document clustering.”
Early Researcher Awards
Dr. Catherine Beauchemin (Physics) for her proposal:
“Using mathematical models to optimize Ontario's
emergency antiviral stockpile in time for the next flu
pandemic.”
Dr. Roberto Botelho (Chemistry and Biology) for his
proposal: “Functional and molecular characterization of
lysosomes and tubular lysosomes in immune function.”
CIHR/NSERC Collaborative Health Research
Projects
Dr. Michael Kolios (Physics) and co-applicant Dr.
Alexandre (Sasha) Douplik (Physics) were awarded a
total of $485,192 for their research proposal:
“Characterization of blood storage lesions using
photoacoustic technologies,” partnering with Dr. Jason
Acker, scientist at Canadian Blood Services.
Terry Fox New Frontiers Program Project Grants
Dr. Michael Kolios (Physics) received $441,033 for his
research proposal: "Development of Quantitative
Photoacoustic Techniques for Treatment Monitoring,"
which is one of the sub-projects of the Terry Fox New
Frontiers program project grant entitled "Ultrasound and
MRI for Cancer Therapy" led by Dr. Gregory Czarnota at
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the Sunnybrook
Research Institute.
five grants are available in each category. The DRFBooster is aimed at researchers who submitted a highly
rated, yet unsuccessful, research grant application to a
recent external competition.
The DRF-Connector is awarded to select researchers to
help them develop new external industry partnerships
that will lead to the recipient successfully applying for a
large team grant through external agencies, such as tricouncil, OCE, and MITACS.
OCE VIP
2014 Dean’s Research Fund – Booster
Dr. Derick Rousseau (Chemistry and Biology) received
$20,000 for his project: “Development of NutriCubes with
FKP Nutrio Foods Inc.”
Dr. Dave Mason: Programming for Non-Programmers Accessing a World of Data
Dr. Alexandre Douplik: Fluorescent imaging of breast
cancer using microendoscopy
Dr. Jeffrey Fillingham: Functional Analysis of a
Protozoan Mediator
Dr. Mikhail Soutchanski: A Principled Approach to
Reasoning about Discrete Dynamic Systems
Dr. Warren Wakarchuk: Improving
Polysialyltransferases for use in Therapeutic Protein
Lifetime Extension and Neural Regeneration
Canada Research Chair
Dr. Roberto Botelho (Chemistry and Biology) was
awarded a Canada Research Chair Tier 2 in “Biomedical
Science and Technologies.”
Mitacs Accelerate
Dr. Jeffrey Fillingham (Chemistry and Biology) received
$15,000 (Industrial Contribution and Federal and
Provincial Matching Funds) for his research proposal:
“Violacein effects in mice Rho 264.7 cells.“
Dr. Daniel Foucher (Chemistry and Biology) received
$30,000 (Industrial Contribution and Federal and
Provincial Matching Funds) for his research proposal:
“Water-safe UV curable antimicrobials nanoscale
coatings for plastics.”
2014 Dean’s Research Fund – Connector
Dr. Abdolreza Abhari: Soft Computing for Automatic
Building Design; partner AutoDesk Canada Inc.
Dr. Yuan Xu: A novel anti-scatter detector with
application for limited angle MV-cone beam CT; partner
Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Hospital
Hail and Farewell
2014 University Internal Equipment Program
New people
Dr. Michael Arts received $20,000 for the acquisition of
a high-throughput gas chromatograph.
Dr. Charlotte de Araujo joined the Chemistry and
Biology department this September as a limited term
faculty member (for one year).
Dr. Jeffrey Fillingham received $20,000 for the
acquisition of a multi-functional biolistic apparatus.
Dr. Ann Cavoukian joined Ryerson in July as the
Executive Director of the new Privacy and Big Data
Institute based in the Faculty of Science.
Dr. Lesley Campbell received $14,000 for equipment
that will support a growth chamber for controlled plant
experiments.
Dr. Derick Rousseau received $20,000 for the
acquisition of an optical tensiometer to measure surface
tension.
2014 Dean’s Research Fund – Booster/Connector
The Science Research and Innovation Office (SRiO) in
the Faculty of Science offers competitive research grants
through two types of awards: the DRF-Booster (up to
$10,000) and the DRF-Connector (up to $5,000). Up to
Dianna Chu joined the Science Research and Innovation
Office this September as Research Chairs Administrative
Assistant (for one year, until Stacey Cho returns).
Adriana Gaertner joined the Biomedical Physics
graduate program as the new Graduate Program
administrator in June. She will remain with the program
until the previous program administrator returns in
February 2015.
Dr. Sharonna Greenberg joined the Chemistry and
Biology department this September as a limited term
faculty member (for one year).
7
Michael Keoshkerian joined the Privacy and Big Data
Institute in July as Projects Manager.
New tenure-track faculty member
Dr. Stephanie Melles joined the Chemistry and Biology
department this September as a new faculty member. Dr.
Melles aims to establish a research program in big data
ecology. Over the last ten years, she has developed a
profile as an innovative, multidisciplinary researcher
working on ecological problems of pattern and scale in
space and time. Her research focuses on species
distribution patterns and ecosystem diversity to address
some of the most salient problems in global change
ecology, such as how species will likely respond to
climate change, invasive species spread, urbanization,
and habitat loss and fragmentation. Melles takes a multifaceted approach to her research, which incorporates
theoretical analysis, state-of-the-art computational
techniques, multi-scale datasets (from field-based to
regional, continental, and global), and ecological models
to find creative solutions to some of the major challenges
facing (human-dominated) ecosystems.
(http://www.spatialeco.com/)
New assignments
Dr. Dietmar Cordes, former Associate Professor in the
Physics Department, will continue his research at
Ryerson as an Adjunct Professor, as he is taking a new
role as the Director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo
Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas.
Dr. Dejan Delic is the new Chair of the Department of
Mathematics starting July 2014, after being the Interim
Chair for one year.
Dr. Darrick Heyd left his position as Associate Dean,
Undergraduate Science Programs and Student Affairs to
take up his appointment as Senior Advisor on Academic
Space Planning in the Provost’s office.
We would like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Heyd
who—serving as Associate Dean from 2011 to 2014—
has demonstrated unwavering commitment to students
and the new Faculty of Science.
Sarah Kovacs returned from leave to her role of
Administrative Assistant in the First Year and Common
Science Office, while Dulce Banegas, who held the
position for the past year, has returned to her home
position as Departmental Assistant in the Chemistry and
Biology Department.
Dr. Andrew McWilliams, faculty member in the
Chemistry and Biology department, is the new Academic
Coordinator, First Year and Common Science Office.
Dr. Marcus dos Santos, faculty member in the
Computer Science department, has been appointed
8
Interim Associate Dean, Undergraduate Science
Programs and Student Affairs for the period of August 1st,
2014 to July 31st, 2015.
Joan Yolleck left her position as Administrative Assistant
in the office of the Dean as she moved to the Chang
School of Continuing Education.
Post-Doctoral Fellows at FoS who began
their terms in 2014
Dr. Eric Strohm (Biomedical Physics, supervisor Dr.
Michael Kolios): Characterization of single cells using
high frequency ultrasound and photoacoustic methods.
Dr. Stefanie Hixson (Chemistry and Biology, supervisor
Dr. Michael Arts): Production, distribution, and transfer of
essential fatty acids in aquatic and terrestrial
ecosystems, and how these processes are affected by
climate change and other anthropogenic influences.
Dr. Renuka Gupta (Chemistry and Biology. Supervisor
Dr. Dérick Rousseau): Study of naturally-occurring
emulsions for applications in personal care products.
Dr. Xi Huo (Mathematics, supervisor Dr. Kunquan Lan):
Modeling and analysis of problems originating in
mathematical biology; current focus on topics in antibiotic
use and nosocomial infection control, and infectious
diseases and public health interventions.
Dr. Lorenzo Livi (Computer Science, supervisor Dr.
Alireza Sadeghian): Computational intelligence methods
for the analysis of complex dynamical systems, with
applications in biochemistry, biophysics, and smart grid
data analysis.
Dr. Matthew Gray (Chemistry and Biology, supervisor
Dr. Roberto Botelho): Study of control of lysosome
biogenesis by TFEB during phagocytosis of antibody
coated pathogens by immune cells; cellular events that
lead to TFEB activation after binding of antibodies by
their receptors.
Dr. Alexey Rubtsov (Mathematics, supervisors Dr.
Marcos Escobar and Dr. Sebastien Ferrando):
Applications of stochastic robust control theory to optimal
portfolio problems in the presence of stochastic
covariance and unobservability; main focus on investors
who want to maximize their expected utility from terminal
wealth under the assumption of misspecified
price/covariance processes or/and unobservable drift.
Dr. Robert Strehl (Mathematics, supervisors Dr. Katrin
Rohlf and Dr. Silvana Ilie): Numerical solution of
stochastic discrete models of heterogeneous biochemical
reaction networks. These networks have important
practical applications, such as understanding key cellular
processes and studying genetic regulatory networks.
Dr. Muhammad Farhat Kaleem (Physics, supervisor Dr.
Dietmar Cordes): Investigation of new methodological
approaches based on signal processing techniques as
well as the development of algorithms and software for
fMRI.
would like to be dean for a day and what plans they
would make for the Faculty of Science by November 14,
2014. The winner will be Dean for a day during the winter
semester.
RUW Roundtable
Notices
FoS Dean’s Travel Fund: open September 3–16,
2014
Ryerson Urban Water (RUW) Centre is planning a
roundtable with external partners on education about
urban water issues to take place in mid-November.
The FoS Dean's Travel Fund, available to tenure and
tenure-track faculty every year to supplement their travel
to attend and present their work at conferences in
Canada or abroad, was open for applications between
September 3 and 16, 2014 and will be open again for
application in January and April 2015.
Ontario Universities Fair, September 19-21, 2014
The Ontario Universities Fair took place at the Metro
Toronto Convention Centre between September 19 and
21, 2014.
Call for newsletter submissions
The next edition of our Connected Science newsletter will
be published in the winter. Please send success stories,
grant, award and competition notices or any other news,
hail or farewell announcements to [email protected].
SRiO Brown Bag Series, October 14, 2014
The Science Research and Innovation Office (SRiO)
brown bag series continues this year with a session on
Publications, impact factors and predatory journals
tentatively scheduled on October 14.
Fall Convocation, October 15, 2014
On October 15, FoS undergraduate and graduate
students will cross the stage during the afternoon
convocation ceremony. Faculty members are highly
encouraged to participate as this is an important
milestone in the lives of our students.
Dean’s Lecture Series
The second lecture in the Dean’s Lecture Series will be
given by Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Director of McGill
University’s Office for Science and Society. Dr. Schwarcz
is well known for his informative and entertaining public
lectures on topics ranging from the chemistry of love to
the science of aging. Save the date of Wednesday,
October 8, 2014, 5–8 pm.
Dean for a Day contest
The Dean for a Day contest 2014 will be open this fall to
all undergraduate students enrolled in a Faculty of
Science program and with clear academic standing. To
enter the contest, students are required to submit the
application form and a 500-word essay on why they
9
10