The University of West Indies has honoured Juliet Daniel, Biology, for her groundbreaking breast cancer research. Daniel's research led to the discovery and naming of a new gene that contributes to the proliferation and survival of triple negative breast cancers.
Daniel, a molecular biologist, received a Vice-Chancellor's Award during the university's benefit gala in Toronto. "I hope my receipt of this award encourages more Caribbean youth to dream big, keep their eye on the prize (Nobel or otherwise) and pursue biomedical research careers so they can address various chronic diseases that plague the Caribbean and African Diaspora and find cures in our lifetime," she told gala attendees.
Along with honoring Juliet (centre), the University of West Indies recognized (from left) Joy Spence, Damian Gong Marley, Mohamed Fakih, Gordon "Butch" Steward, Deborah Cox and Gregory Regis. The University of West Indies is the only Caribbean institution to be among the world's top universities by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
Three Faculty of Science students have been recognized for making their mark during their co-op work terms and taking on leadership roles at McMaster. Sarah Cash and Laiba Jamshed from the Biology & Pharmacology program and Sarah Aubert from the Medical Physics program received 2018 Science Co-Op Student of the Year Awards from the Science Career and Cooperative Education (SCCE) office.
The annual award from SCCE honours students who go above and beyond for their employers and champion cooperative education at McMaster. Employers nominated 25 Science students from eight programs, with award recipients chosen by a committee of co-op student alumni, a faculty member and an SCCE staff member.
Jamshed, who is the only Canadian student intern at Merck Pharmaceutical in Pennsylvania, was nominated by Dr. Juliya Kalinina. Dr. Alison Armstrong with McMaster Nuclear Operations and Facilities nominated Sarah Aubert while Sarah Cash was nominated by Dr. Lili Aslotovar with Dr. Mick Bhatia’s lab in the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute. All three students also provided leadership on the Co-op Student Advisory Committee and served as volunteer mentors. Along with being recognized by the Faculty of Science, Aubert is McMaster’s candidate for a provincial co-op award while Jamshed is the University’s nominee for a national award.
Receiving honourable mention certificates were Adrien Lusterio with Chemical Biology, Sarah Muir with Molecular Biology & Genetics and Renee King with Life Science.
Also nominated by employers were Vince Wu, Alicia Hanman, Haley Yun, Jacob Curtis, Lisa Cheng, Christopher McChesney, Victoria Brown, Arthi Kunasingam, Saibrinthan Srikhandan, Tiffany Chien, Lukasz Laskowski, Anna Axakova, Christine Pham and Gireesh Seesankar,
Among the employers nominating students were AbCelex Technologies Inc., ArcelorMittal Dofasco, Hamilton Allergy, Hamilton Health Sciences, Lawson Health Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, Inception Sciences, MG Chemicals Ltd., Ontairo Power Generation, Repare Therapeutics, Sanofi Pasteur, Saskatoon Research & Development Centre, St. Michael’s Hospital, TD Bank, Therapure Biopharma, TRIUMF Life Sciences and the University of Toronto.
The SCCE manages 13 co-op education programs for the Faculty of Science, helping students secure approximately 500 work terms annually.
Paul McNicholas, Mathematics & Statistics, has been awarded the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada’s prestigious E.W.R Steacie Memorial Fellowship. He was one of six researchers to receive a fellowship, awarded annually to enhance the career development of highly promising scientists and engineers with a strong international reputation for original research.
Director of McMaster’s MacDATA Institute, McNicholas holds the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Computational Statistics and is a member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada. He is a leading expert in developing new statistical and machine learning methods and tools to analyze large or complex datasets, and works with researchers from diverse disciplines to apply these approaches to difficult data analysis problems. His research has contributed to projects across many disciplines, such as, identifying developmental trajectories of children on the autism spectrum, identifying the factors that best predict mental health challenges in local immigrant and refugee children, and determining which crops will grow best in developing countries.
Steacie Fellowships are held for a two-year period at a Canadian university or affiliated research institution. Each fellow receives a grant of $250,000 over two years and is relieved of teaching and administrative duties, enabling them to devote their time and energy to research. Learn more.
With great sadness, we announce the passing of Jules Carbotte, Professor Emeritus, Physics & Astronomy. Over his 55-year career, Carbotte worked broadly in the field of condensed matter physics, with his most recent work in high-temperature superconductivity, graphene and topological materials. Over his distinguished career, he received many honours: the CAP Herzberg Medal for Achievement (1974), the Steacie Prize (1975), named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1974) and named a Distinguished University Professor in 1976. He also was awarded four honorary degrees from the University of Waterloo, University of Manitoba, Sherbrook University and McMaster University. He will be remembered as a wonderfully gregarious and generous man, who was infinitely curious and with a deep passion for the mysteries of our world as revealed through science. More details about his many accomplishments can be found on our Physics & Astronomy website.
