Awards
The Canadian Council of University Biology Chairs (CCUBC) offers several awards each year.
Canadian Council of University Biology Chairs
Graduate Student Research Prize
The CCUBC Prize is available to [a] full-time students registered in M.Sc. and Ph.D. Biology Programs at Canadian Universities, or [b] recently completed graduate students (within 2 years of application) . It is awarded annually to the graduate student who has the best and most innovative refereed journal article based on their graduate research, published or in press, in any national or international scientific journal. The article can be in any sub-discipline of Biology, in French or in English, but the student must be the senior author. Applications should include four copies of: (1) a letter of application, (2) a reprint of the refereed journal article, and (3) a letter of support from the students graduate research supervisor/advisor. The scholarship is valued at $2,000 and is awarded once a year to a qualified candidate, as determined by a Selection Committee consisting of up to four current members of the CCUBC. The winner of the prize will be announced at the CCUBC Annual Meeting, where reprints and the letters of support for each applicant will be displayed. The winners of the CCUBC Prize must agree to have a notification of their award published in a national publication, such as University Affairs and/or the CAUT Bulletin. The deadline for applications was September 15, 2011 and has been extended to Friday, September 30th, 2011. Please send the applications to Dr. Mark Brigham, CCUBC President: mark.brigham@uregina.ca.
2011
CCUBC Graduate Student Research Prize
Mr. Alexander R. Gerson, University of Western Ontario, London, ON
Nomination
Package (PDF)
Mr. Alexander Gerson has been awarded the Canadian Council of University Biology Chairs Graduate Student Research Prize, based on his recent publication “Flight at Low Ambient Humidity Increases Protein Catabolism in Migratory Birds” which appeared in Science in early September (Gerson, A.R. and Guglielmo, C.G., (2011) Science 333:1434). Alex is a PhD student working with Chris Guglielmo in Biology at the University of Western Ontario. The study described in Alex’s paper tests the water for protein hypothesis about the origin of water in long-distant migrating birds. Using a combination of quantitative magnetic resonance body composition analysis and long duration (up to five hour) flights in a humidity-controlled flight chamber, Alex was able monitor body composition changes of a group of Swainson’s thrushes (Catharus ustulatus). The main findings of the study were that “atmospheric humidity influences fuel composition in flight and suggest that protein deposition and catabolism during migration are, in part, a metabolic strategy to maintain osmotic homeostasis during flight”. Basically, under conditions conducive to dehydration, these small birds broke down protein in order to generate water in vivo. Importantly, the research was designed and carried out by Alex, based on his own hypothesis about how these birds coped with otherwise dehydrating conditions during migration (i.e., while flying over semi-arid terrain). This work is a major accomplishment, and a testament to Alex’s curiosity, perseverance and ingenuity.
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From right to left: Mark Brigham, CCUBC
Persident Presenting Mark Bernard with the 2011 Student Award on behalf
of Alexander Gerson |
Canadian Council of University Biology Chairs
Science Promotion Prize
The CCUBC Prize is available to advocates for science in any branch of the media. It is awarded annually to honour individuals who make an outstanding contribution to the promotion of biology in Canada, through activities encouraging popular interest in science or developing science abilities. The individual may advocate and popularize biology, in French or in English. Applications should include four copies of: (1) a letter of nomination from a member of the CCUBC. The award consists of a plaque, as determined by a Selection Committee consisting of up to four current members of the CCUBC. The winner of the prize will be announced at the CCUBC Annual Meeting, where the letter of nomination for each applicant will be displayed. The winners of the CCUBC Science Promotion Prize must agree to have a notification of their award published in a national publication, such as University Affairs and/or the CAUT Bulletin. The deadline for applications was September 15, 2011 and has been extended to Friday, September 30th, 2011. Please send the applications to Dr. Mark Brigham, CCUBC President: mark.brigham@uregina.ca.
2011 CCUBC Science Promotion Prize
Ms. Aileen Alanna Mitchell
Alanna Mitchell is a Canadian author and journalist specializing in global science issues. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Latin literature and English literature from Trinity College at the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto.
Mitchell started her career as a journalist at The Financial Post and worked at Canada’s National Newspaper, The Globe and Mail, writing about social trends and statistics. Eventually, she became the national Calgary correspondent for The Globe and Mail and then a feature writer on earth sciences. She won four major national and international awards during her time at the newspaper. She left daily journalism in 2005 to focus on writing books and making radio documentaries.
Mitchell’s first book, Dancing at the Dead Sea: Tracking the World’s Environmental Hotspots, came out in 2004 in Canada and in 2005 in the rest of the English-speaking world to international praise. Her second book, Sea Sick: The Hidden Crisis in the Global Ocean, is an international best-seller that won the prestigious United States-based Grantham Prize for excellence in environmental journalism.
Mitchell was named the best environmental journalist in the world in 2000 by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Reuters Foundation following an international competition. The prize was a fellowship at Oxford University, which Mitchell took up in the Hilary term of 2002, studying with the eminent ecologist Norman Myers. She won the 2008 Atkinson Fellowship in Journalism, a $100,000 prize, to conduct a new course of study on the intersection of neuroscience and education.
Mitchell is recognized as one of North America’s most respected environmental and science journalists who has done field research with scientists on every continent. She has been praised for her ability to translate complex science into elegant literary non-fiction, making that information widely accessible. She is also a gifted speaker who has given hundreds of talks on four continents, including the Hay Festivals in the U.K. and the Brisbane Writers’ Festival.
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Mark Brigham presenting Alanna Mitchell with the 2011 Science Promotion Prize |
Canadian Council of University Biology Chairs
Career Achievement Award
This award recognizes an individual whose achievements have made a significant impact in any field of biology. Applications should include four copies of: (1) a letter of nomination from a member of the CCUBC. The award consists of a plaque, and travel expenses to the meeting, as determined by a Selection Committee consisting of up to four current members of the CCUBC. The winner of the prize will be announced at the CCUBC Annual Meeting, where the letter of nomination for each applicant will be displayed. The winners of the CCUBC Career Achievement Award must agree to have a notification of their award published in a national publication, such as University Affairs and/or the CAUT Bulletin. The deadline for applications was September 15, 2011 and has been extended to Friday, September 30th, 2011. Please send the applications to Dr. Mark Brigham, CCUBC President: mark.brigham@uregina.ca.
2011 CCUBC Career Achievement Award
Dr. Daniel P. Toews, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS
Nomination
Letter (PDF)
Daniel Toews had a long and productive career in the field of Animal Physiology
and spent nearly his entire, post graduate career at Acadia University in
Wolfville, NS. Dan was born in Grand Prairie AB and went on to complete an
undergraduate and Master’s degree at the University of Alberta, and a PhD
from University of British Columbia. Dan arrived at Acadia in 1971 where he
remains today, as Professor Emeritus. During his years at Acadia Dan taught
courses in Animal Physiology and maintained an active research lab that trained
dozens of undergraduate and graduate students and maintained continuous support
from NSERC for 38 years! Dan also served as Head of the Biology department
for 11 years (1988-1995, 2005-2007) and attended many CCUBC meetings while
in that capacity. In sum, Dan has shown tremendous leadership and made very
significant contributions to each of his community, university and research
field and it is with great Honour that the Canadian Council of University
Biology Chairs bestows this award on him.
Additional Activities and Honours (in no particular order)
- Supervised 93 Honour’s Students and 15 Master’s Students from 1971 to 2007
These ended up as 51 MD, DD, DVM, 24 PhD’s and assorted teachers, technicians etc.
- Led the Acadia Arctic Biological Expedition in conjunction with the Canadian
Navy to Baffin, Ellesmere and Devon Island in the summers of 1972 and 1973.
8-10 Graduate Students in each party on board the HMCS Protecteur.
- 1980 and 1984. Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Max Planck Institute
for Experimental Physiology in Gottingen, Germany.
- 1980-1986. NSERC Animal Biology Selection Committee.
- 2007. Associated Alumni Distinguished Teacher Award.
- 2 time winner of the Student Union Teaching Award
- 1988 Hooker Research Fellow at McMaster University, Hamilton, ON.
- 2003 Elected Life Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, England
- Charles F. Myers Chair in Biology 2011-2013.
- Continuous NRC/NSERC research support 1969-2007.
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From left to right: Soren Bondrup-Nielsen and Dan Toews |
Updated: December 2nd, 2011