A paper co-authored by UPEI’s Dr. Robert Gilmour will be featured in the March 19 issue of the journal Nature. Dr. Gilmour is UPEI’s vice-president academic and research. In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Dr. Gilmour has continued his research into the mechanisms for the development of cardiac rhythm disturbances.

The paper, entitled “Electromechanical vortex filaments during cardiac fibrillation,” explores a combination of techniques, which enables, for the first time, simultaneous visualization of the 3D waves of electrical and mechanical activity that are responsible for many cases of sudden cardiac death. An accompanying editorial on the paper says the ideas within “could considerably advance our understanding of ventricular fibrillation. The study has potential implications for a broad range of researchers, from physicists to cardiologists.” Dr. Gilmour's co-authors include former colleagues and trainees from his tenure at Cornell University.

Congratulations, Dr. Gilmour!

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

Bruce Donaldson, coach of UPEI Women’s Hockey, is pleased to announce Delaney Boehm of East St. Paul, Manitoba has committed to the Panthers for 2018.

“I watched Delaney at a tourney in Stoney Creek in early September and felt strongly she would be a great addition to our team,” said Donaldson. “We are looking to add size and offensive talent to our roster and Delaney offers both.”

Boehm plays for Balmoral Hall School in Winnipeg. She presently leads her team in scoring with 19 goals and five assists in 26 games.

“I chose PEI because it had the big town campus feeling provided in the small-town atmosphere, it felt like home,” said Boehm. “The hockey program and academic programs both are fantastic. Having come from a small high school, the class sizes are nice and not too overwhelming. Overall, it is a great fit to further both my athletic and academic career.”

Balmoral Hall competes in the Junior Women’s Hockey League, which includes teams such as the Boston Shamrocks and Chicago Young Americans.

“It's a very strong league which enables players that are having success to transition to the U-Sport level,” said Donaldson. “Delaney visited a number of interested schools, and UPEI was the last stop on her visits. We were very pleased when she confirmed that UPEI was her first choice and look forward to seeing her in our line come September.”

Boehm plans to pursue a Bachelor of Science majoring in biology.

Go Panthers Go!

The University of Prince Edward Island reminds students and members of the UPEI community to be wary of calls or emails from persons demanding money and claiming to be representatives of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) or Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB).

UPEI was made aware of a nationwide scam targeting newcomers after a UPEI student reached out to the UPEI Recruitment and Admissions office last week when he received a phone call from someone identifying himself as a member of the RCMP. The student was told that he was under investigation and owed money, and if he didn’t pay, would be deported.

It is important to note that the RCMP or IRB will never ask for money.

As reported by several media outlets in 2017, the IRB is working with law enforcement agencies to identify the perpetrators and bring an end to this scam. In the meantime, UPEI is warning members of the campus community to limit the impacts of this fraud.

If anyone receives a call or email of this nature, do not comply with any of the demands and instead contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre advises people that they have the right to check a caller or message sender by requesting written information, a call-back number, references, and time to think. It also warns people never to trust caller ID displays or provide confidential personal information, especially banking or credit card details, over the phone or by email.

If you believe that you have fallen victim to fraud, you can contact UPEI Security Services at (902) 566-0384 or your local police agency.  Students can also contact UPEI Student Affairs at studentserv@upei.ca or (902) 566-0488 for further support.

The UPEI Wind Symphony will perform its final recital of the academic year on Saturday, March 24, at 7:30 pm at Park Royal United Church in Charlottetown. This has been a particularly busy and musically rewarding year for the Wind Symphony with highly successful performances throughout the fall and winter.

This recital will feature contemporary works for the modern wind band, with several emerging masterworks of the genre. The program will open with Pansori's Rhapsody, a virtuosic work by Korean composer Chang Su Koh. This work is imbued with Korean culture and, through Su Koh's masterful orchestration, creates innovative colours and effects. effervescent widgets, this recital's title work, is among the most rhythmically complex scores that the Wind Symphony has ever performed. Here, American Richard Drehoff Jr., creates, in musical terms, a narrative of a widget's journey through the modern manufacturing mechanism. To accomplish this, Drehoff Jr. uses repetitive ostinato passages which layer upon themselves to the point of collapse.

Percy Grainger, an Austrailian by birth but an American by choice, wrote his Children's March: Over The Hills and Far Away around 1919. Based on an original Grainger melody, it is a light, carefree work the utilizes the full symphonic resources and colour of the modern wind band. Grainger was among the first to use piano and mallet percussion as part of his works for wind band. Another featured work by an American composer is Julie Giroux's One Life Beautiful. It is an introspective work with some of the most lyrical lines. Additional works by Dimitri Shostakovich and Warren Benson will be performed.

This recital will be the final Wind Symphony performance for eleven of its graduating students – among the largest in the history of this ensemble. All have made significant contributions to UPEI, and the Wind Symphony in particular, throughout their undergraduate careers.

Tickets ($15 Adults; $10 Students) for this performance may be acquired in advance at the UPEI Music Department or at the door prior to the recital. 

The UPEI Wind Symphony received the 2014 Music PEI award for Achievement in Classical Music. Under the direction of Dr. Karem J Simon, the Wind Symphony has had a progressive approach to its programming, and in reaching a wider audience. With performances throughout PEI and beyond each year, partnerships with PEI school music programs, and utilizing unique performance spaces, the Wind Symphony is among PEI's most respected large ensembles. Commissioning new compositions, featuring outstanding student and professional soloists, and showcasing masterworks of the wind band genre are all hallmarks of this ensemble. In recent years performances at Zion Presbyterian Church, St. Dunstan’s Basilica, and Park Royal United Church have attracted capacity audiences.

The AVC Wildlife Service and the AVC Student Wildlife Club are celebrating National Wildlife Week with a public lecture at the Atlantic Veterinary College, Lecture Theatre A, on Wednesday, April 4, 2018, at 7 p.m.

National Wildlife Week, which takes place from April 8–14 this year, is a program of the Canadian Wildlife Federation to celebrate Canada’s natural heritage and the importance of its conservation.

Fiep de Bie, technician with the AVC Wildlife Service, will give a lecture called “Island wild birds: Monitoring their health and well-being.” She will reflect on the outbreak of trichomonosis in finches in the summer of 2017 and address the question of whether people should feed wild birds. Other issues related to wild birds on Prince Edward Island will also be discussed.

There will be a fundraiser for the AVC Wildlife Service, including a silent auction of art, a raffle, and the sale of cupcakes. Proceeds will go towards the care of wildlife submitted to the service. Everyone is welcome. Admission is free.

John William Smith
August 10, 1927–March 16, 2018

Our beloved John died peacefully on Friday evening.

First Poet Laureate of Prince Edward Island
Professor Emeritus at UPEI

Poet, father, grandfather, teacher, friend.
Woods walker, bird watcher, squirrel feeder.
Rare and ineffably kind.
Knowledge that spanned the universe.
Generosity of spirit.
Beloved.

The University of Prince Edward Island community extends sincere condolences to the family, friends, and former students and colleagues of Professor Emeritus and former Dean of Arts John W. Smith, who passed away on March 16. The flags will be flown at half-mast in his memory.

Professor Emeritus Smith taught at UPEI for 25 years as Professor of English prior to his retirement in 1992. In 2003, he was appointed by the Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly to a two-year term as PEI’s first Poet Laureate. Seven collections of his poetry have been published, including Maps of Invariance in 2005, and Fireflies in the Magnolia Grove in 2004, which was also shortlisted for the Atlantic Poetry Prize in 2005. In 2006, the University of Prince Edward Island produced a pair of CD/DVD sets under the series title “Island Voices”. One set of disks featured readings by the then-Poet Laureate Frank Ledwell (1930-2008); the other featured Professor Emeritus Smith.

Visitation will be held Saturday, March 24, 2018 from 2–4 pm at the Hillsboro Funeral Home, 2 Hollis Avenue, Stratford. No flowers by request of family.

The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships (QES) program recently announced the successful recipients of its phase-three funding. Among them is an exciting project led by the University of Prince Edward Island. The project, “Integrating Innovative Research & Training for Improved Sustainable Livelihoods in a Smallholder Dairy Farming Region—phase 2”, aims to develop Canadian and Kenyan students into global citizens through enriching courses, community engagement, research, and development projects in Canada and Kenya, and to provide training and resources to enhance sustainability and food security of the poor rural Buuri region of Kenya.

The project is co-led by Dr. John VanLeeuwen, a professor of epidemiology and ruminant health management at UPEI’s Atlantic Veterinary College, and Dr. Colleen Walton, an assistant professor in UPEI’s department of Applied Human Sciences. Other UPEI faculty involved in writing the proposal were Dr. Jennifer Taylor and Charlene VanLeeuwen of Applied Human Sciences, and Dr. Shawn McKenna and Dr. Luke Heider of AVC’s Farm Service group.

“We are in the final year of our first four-year QES project, which has achieved all of its milestones to date, and it is a pleasure (and a relief) to secure four more years of QES funding through this new project,” said Dr. VanLeeuwen. “The new QES project builds on what the partners have accomplished together in the first phase, which appears to have been well-received by the funders. It has been a great team effort.”

“I am so excited that we have this opportunity through the QE Scholars program to continue and expand international community-based research and learning opportunities for our foods and nutrition students,” said Dr. Walton. “Students return from these experiences as changed people with global awareness and capacities they only dreamed of, and we have seen significant improvements in the capacity of our partners in rural Kenya.”

The project team includes a Canadian partner, Farmers Helping Farmers (FHF—a PEI-based NGO with 35 years of experience in Kenya), and three Kenyan partners, the Buuri Dairy Farmers Cooperative Society (made up of more than 1600 dairy farmer members), the University of Nairobi, and Kenyatta University.

The project will see three graduate students from Kenya and 13 undergraduate students from UPEI working together in Canada and Kenya to train Buuri dairy farmers to:

• conduct research projects;
• train Buuri smallholder dairy farmers on best management practices in dairy health management broadly, and infectious disease control, particularly bovine viral diarrhea virus  infections and S. aureus udder infections;
• train Buuri primary school students, staff, and parents (along with the women’s groups to which mothers belong) on how to use FHF-supported enhanced gardens and school cookhouses to grow and prepare nutrient dense foods to improve nutritional quality of school and family meals; and
• participate in community engagement and networking activities and cross-cultural, academic, and professional experiences related to nutrition and veterinary  medicine with schools and service groups in Kenya and Canada (and QES networks) to enhance their cultural awareness and improve their research, communication and leadership skills as global citizens.

The project has a number of desired positive outcomes, including the development of Canadian and Kenyan students into new global citizens and leaders with increased veterinary and nutrition knowledge and leadership skills and expanded cross-cultural networks. The team will make substantial contributions to Canadian and Kenyan rural communities in terms of training, resources, and experiences, and will help improve health management and productivity on Buuri dairy farms, and enhance school/community nutrition and food security in Buuri.

The project will be funded with $300,000 from the QES, with another $472,200 in contributions from UPEI and its partners.

The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships aim to activate a dynamic community of young global leaders across Canada and the world to create lasting impacts both at home and abroad through cross-cultural exchanges encompassing international education, discovery and inquiry, and professional experiences.

Established in 1986, the Atlantic Veterinary College is committed to improving the health and welfare of animals and humans through education, research, and service. The College is accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, and is recognized by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in the United Kingdom. AVC is recognized globally for its innovative research and expertise in animal health and welfare, veterinary epidemiology, comparative biomedical sciences, clinical medicine, infectious disease, and public health.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

Five students from UPEI’s Faculty of Science presented at the recent Science Atlantic Aquaculture & Fisheries and Biology Conference in St. John’s, NL. Science Atlantic hosts annual academic student conferences in a number of disciplines. Approximately 1,000 undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty members attend these events each year.

Two UPEI students were recognized and took home prizes for their honours’ research and presentations. Fourth-year honours biology student Emma McDermott won the Canadian Botanical Society Award for her research on “Effects of PEI Berries blueberry purée on renal oxidative stress”. The Botany Award is presented annually for the top undergraduate presentation (oral or poster) at the Annual Science Atlantic Undergraduate Biology Conference.

Fourth-year honours biology student Morgan King was awarded the Science Communication Award for his poster presentation “Defining the role of SOX4/SOX11 during nephrogenesis in vivo”. This prize is awarded to the student who is best able to communicate a science topic to his or her peers. 

“The recognition for their work and communication skills is a reflection of their commitment to research and is a wonderful achievement,” said Dr. Kathy Gottschall-Pass, interim dean of UPEI’s Faculty of Science. “We are proud of them and we look forward to welcoming faculty and students to our campus for the conference in 2020.”

UPEI will host the annual Science Atlantic conference on aquaculture, fisheries, and biology in 2020. The conference will also welcome research and presentations in the area of environmental studies.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

The National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) recently announced the recipients of its latest round of Discovery Grants and Discovery Accelerator Supplements. Among the awardees is Dr. Aitazaz Farooque, an assistant professor at UPEI’s School of Sustainable Design Engineering.

Dr. Farooque’s research aims to develop technologies and systems for the application of inputs used in potato farming, including pesticide, nutrients, and irrigation. Under current crop-management practices, these inputs are applied uniformly across a field, without taking into consideration variations in soil, crop, potential yield, climate, and topographical features. This not only increases the cost of production, but also poses a serious threat to the environment in the form of nutrient run-off to water bodies, sub-surface groundwater contamination, and greenhouse gas emissions.

“Development of innovative smart technologies, capable of applying agrochemicals based on soil and crop needs, is a future of modern agriculture to ensure economic and environmental sustainability,” said Dr. Farooque.

Dr. Farooque’s research program will develop and integrate technologies and systems to identify variations within a field. It will use sensing and control systems to create intelligent machines to ensure better management practices.

Over the five years of the project, Dr. Farooque’s research program will train three master’s degree students, two PhD students, five undergraduates, and a research technician.

Dr. Farooque is an award-winning teacher and researcher. He has been developing precision agriculture technologies for agriculture industry in Eastern Canada for several years. He has expertise and skills in engineering design, development and management, bio-systems modeling, instrumentation testing, evaluation of sensors and controllers, hardware and software for automation of machines, sensing and control systems, and mechanical modification.

“Congratulations to Dr. Farooque for being one of the very few investigators in Canada to have received both an NSERC Discovery grant and a Discovery Accelerator Supplement,” said Dr. Robert Gilmour, vice-president academic and research at UPEI. “UPEI is delighted that his scientifically groundbreaking work will likely have immediate and significant impact on one of PEI's most important economies.”

Dr. Farooque’s NSERC Discovery Grant is one of nine successful applicants from UPEI in this round of funding. The other researchers include Dr. Ali Ahmadi (Engineering), Dr. Matthew Hall (Engineering), Dr. Shafiqul Islam (Mathematical and Computational Sciences), Dr. Collins Kamunde (Biomedical Sciences), Trung Dung Ngo (Engineering), Dr. Peter Ross (Biology), Dr. Michael van den Heuvel (Biology), and Dr. Qiang Ye (Mathematical and Computational Sciences.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.

The University of Prince Edward Island applauds the Government of Prince Edward Island’s vision and support for post-secondary education, says UPEI President and Vice-Chancellor Alaa Abd-El-Aziz.

Prince Edward Island’s Minister of Finance, the Honourable Heath MacDonald, tabled the provincial operating budget for the 2018–19 fiscal year this morning in the Legislative Assembly.

“Today’s budget shows the Government’s strong commitment to UPEI and its students,” adds President Abd-El-Aziz, who had the opportunity to attend the budget briefing. “We are delighted to receive a two per cent increase in UPEI’s operating grant. This will provide much needed support to the University’s increased costs that include inflationary pressures.”

The PEI budget document confirms that the core operating grant for 2018–19 will include $32,047,600 for UPEI and $8,956,100 for the Atlantic Veterinary College.

The Government has aligned several of its priorities with UPEI’s initiatives, announcing additional support in several areas over-and-above the operating grant. These include:

• supporting a new doctorate of psychology program at UPEI, which will support educating and retaining psychologists in the province;
• committing $210,000 over three years to UPEI to support a Concussion Awareness Program, which will feature classroom education for school-aged children, concussion recognition training for Island coaches and officials, and important research on return-to-play protocols;
• providing $25 of funding per UPEI student for mental health supports;
• providing an additional $3,600 for a four-year program towards the cost of tuition; and, 
• providing up to $3,500 in debt reduction grants per year of study if UPEI graduates reside in PEI within three years post-graduation.

UPEI has been working closely with the provincial government over the past several months to develop a sustainable budget for the University. With today’s confirmation of UPEI’s core operating grant from the Government of Prince Edward Island, the University will now move forward with its own budget process.

“We thank the Government of PEI for the increase in our core operating grant, and especially for confirming that a multi-year funding agreement will be signed to allow the University to better plan for future operations,” says President Abd-El-Aziz. “It is a tremendous day for UPEI to see such extensive investment and commitment in areas such as health and mental health, access to post-secondary education, and retention of graduates.”

About the University of Prince Edward Island
The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.