SMU Professor examines virus spread in Nova Scotia

Article by SMU Professor Dr. Yigit Aydede, published in Scientific Reports, examines virus spread in Nova Scotia

Dr. Yigit Aydede

Understanding how influenza and other viruses such as COVID-19 migrate from one community to the next is key to predicting where disease will spread and determining how to curtail its progress. A new article by Saint Mary’s University’s Dr. Yigit Aydede, and Jan Ditzen, Free University of Bolzano, Italy, published in Scientific Reports unveils a new methodology, one that may assist health officials to both predict where viruses will spread and target interventions to halt them.

“The COVID-19 pandemic put mapping at the forefront of both the general public’s and public health experts’ tracking of the outbreak. Dr. Aydede’s research demonstrates the essential role of spatial and temporal analysis when tracking and predicting outbreaks between and within communities.”

— Dr. Mathew Novak, Director, Wicked Problems Lab, Saint Mary’s University and Associate Professor, Department of Geography & Environmental Studies

The study, Identifying the regional drivers of influenza-like illness in Nova Scotia, Canada, with dominance analysis - Scientific Reports, is hailed by the journal’s editors as the first epidemiological study of its kind because it combines data concerning geographical or spatial spread with temporal spread (incidents over time), as opposed to more common epidemiological studies which examine temporal spread alone. 

The research was only possible due to a unique set of circumstances: unparalleled access to unique provincial healthcare data, new methodology, and the use of machine learning.

“Research Nova Scotia was proud to support Dr. Aydede’s work through the Nova Scotia COVID-19 Health Research Coalition,” says Stefan Leslie, CEO of Research Nova Scotia. “Better understanding relationships between viral transmission rates, air quality, and social mobility will help inform public health decision making, optimize allocation of healthcare resources, and ultimately benefit Nova Scotians.”

The ideal circumstances for data collection arose in Nova Scotia during the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic. From March to July 2020, health officials asked Nova Scotians to report their symptoms to the province’s 811 telehealth system, where nurses painstakingly recorded and referred citizens reporting a minimum of four influenza-like symptoms. When the data was made available to researchers at Saint Mary’s University, they realized it was exceptional. Far more detailed than COVID-19 PCR tests which only confirm the presence or absence of disease, the symptom data from the 811 records reveals how viruses, in real-time, spread across Nova Scotia’s neighbourhoods and communities.

“This type of data that records symptoms as they arose, early in the pandemic, simply does not exist anywhere else in the world and is due to decisions taken by provincial health authorities that turned the Province of Nova Scotia, in effect, into a living laboratory,” says Dr. Aydede, Sobey Professorship in Economics and the study’s principal investigator. 

Dr. Mat Novak, Dr. Yigit Aydede and student, Kyle Morton BComm’23

The inability of scientists and health officials to predict where COVID-19 would strike was a key feature of the disease, one that remained a constant source of frustration throughout the pandemic. “We could watch the overall trajectory of the disease as the number of incidents rose and fell, and we understood the R factor (degree of virulence) but there was no ability to predict the spread of the disease on the ground,” says Dr. Aydede. “Thanks to the Nova Scotia COVID-19 Research Coalition and a grant from Research Nova Scotia we had an unbelievable data set that allowed us to look back at what occurred and identify the communities or locations that were driving the spread in Nova Scotia and further identify key socio-economic factors as well.” 

Dr. Aydede adapted algorithms recently developed for the finance industry to analyse economic ‘shock waves.’ “It is not always clear which features or factors are essential and which ones can be dropped without compromising predictive or statistical power,” says Dr. Aydede.  “Machine learning, particularly Tree-based methods such as the Random Forests algorithm used here, helps identify relevant predictors in large complex data sets with complex variables and factors.” 

The study analysed 112 Nova Scotian communities identified by postal codes and found that 18 communities were drivers of viral spread and then analysed 1,400 socio and economic factors, such home mortgage ownership, employment status and use of public transit that all coincided with the spread. 

“This important health-related study led by Dr. Aydede is a terrific example of many elements that allow our Saint Mary’s professors to establish research leadership in areas that may seem unexpected for our university,” says Dr. Adam Sarty, Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. “By applying methods used in economics to health-related problems and drawing on the expertise of both his international colleagues and the technical data-visualization talents of our multi-disciplinary research lab at Saint Mary’s, Dr. Aydede was able to partner with Research Nova Scotia and the provincial health authority to illustrate the power of such interdisciplinary networking.” 

Want to learn more about Machine Learning? 

Professor Aydede has just published his book for students of business and social science. Machine Learning Toolbox for Social Scientists | Applied Predictive An (taylorfrancis.com) 

About Scientific Reports 

Scientific Reports are open-access journals publishing original research from all areas of the natural sciences, psychology, medicine and engineering. It is the fifth most cited journal in the world and its editorial team, in partnership with an extensive network of peer reviewers, provides expert and constructive peer review. Scientific Reports is part of the Nature Portfolio.  

Archaeology field school illuminates everyday life in ancient Roman villa

Students at Saint Mary’s University are helping to peel back layers of the past at a Roman villa dating back more than 2,000 years in central Italy. A vivid story from ancient history is emerging at the Villa of Titus excavation site in the Apennine mountains, about 70 kilometres northeast of Rome.

“Based on the artifacts recovered this year, it seems mostly likely that the building was residential,” says Dr. Myles McCallum, Associate Dean of Arts and co-director of the archaeological research project that is also home to a field school. “We found toiletry items such as bronze tweezers and spoons for applying makeup, bits of furniture one might find in a Roman house and lots of pottery used for cooking, all of which indicate a domestic use of the building.”

Eleven Saint Mary’s students and two alumni participated in the field school this May and June, along with six students and several researchers from McMaster University. Offered by the Ancient Studies program in our Department of Languages and Cultures, the study abroad opportunity launched in 2018 and also took place in 2019 and 2022. By working on an active research site, students learn the basics of environmental archaeology, excavation and artifacts analysis, and some even contribute to published research reports and articles.   

“These skills all build on each other. You dig things up physically, clean things off and take pictures and drawings of them to try and understand and identify them. You measure them, you fill out paperwork, you log information into a database,” says McCallum.

“You put it all together and it adds to that understanding of what life was like 2,000 years ago in a different part of the world. It engages every part of your brain, the frontal lobe big-picture stuff. So that’s a big deal for students because no matter what you do in life, you’re going to have to be able to pose questions and figure out how to answer them.”

The research follows a theory that the monumental two-storey structure was built in the first century BCE for the emperor Titus, who reined 79-81 CE during the Second Dynasty of the Roman Empire. As more of the intact brick walls emerge from the hillside, “we understand much more about the building’s overall plan, as a villa with a central courtyard on a large terrace,” says McCallum.

Researchers found evidence this year that the complex was occupied for about 120 years. They also discovered signs of a previous building at the site, which had an adjacent well and large garden area.

“So people were there for a few hundred years in the smaller building, then built something much bigger on top of it. We also know that the villa went out of use in the second century CE, but we’re not entirely sure why,” McCallum says.

The main goal of the project is to reconstruct the daily lives of the enslaved workers, the subaltern people who grew crops, made bricks and wine, pressed olives for oil and engaged in cleaning, building, mining, woodworking and metalworking. Much of their economic activity may have taken place in the building’s basement (cryptoporticus), which had a large storage room, a door where carts could load and unload, and possibly also living quarters.

“Next year, we’re going to expand our exploration of this basement area,” says McCallum. The first step will require heavy equipment to remove hundreds of tonnes of stone and earth that had collapsed into the lower level, and then students will have a chance to excavate.

“It’s interesting because we think we know a lot about slaves during the Roman Empire, but nobody wrote about them, at least not from a social-historical perspective. So archaeological evidence is really the only direct evidence we have of what their lives were like. As a focus of research, it’s pretty recent,” says McCallum.  

The villa sits high above the Velino Valley’s Lago di Paterno, a freshwater lake considered to be Italy’s geographical center and a once-sacred site connected to the goddess Vacuna. The University of London is conducting archaeobotanical research there with pollen coring, studying changes to the landscape and its flora and fauna over a 15,000-year period. “So that will be interesting, to tie in the human relationship with the landscape and environmental history too,” says McCallum.

Other notable finds have been oil lamps, bronze coins, glass perfume bottles, mosaic flooring and tiles, and transport amphorae (containers) that carried goods from as far as Spain and North Africa. Also intriguing is evidence of a ritual to seal off a well—including a silver mirror and a baby suckling pig, both sacrificed in hopes of a divine blessing for the house being built over the well.

The Villa of Titus project team also includes co-director Dr. Martin Beckmann of McMaster University and researchers from universities in Italy, the U.K. and the U.S. With support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Saint Mary’s is building on its existing strengths in archaeology research and education, deepening its cultural exchanges and academic connections with Italy’s museums, archaeologists and academic community.

“Experiential learning and study abroad opportunities are an important element of what we do in our program and in the Faculty of Arts,” says McCallum. “We’re working on developing more of these opportunities, and our students are embracing the chance to do this.”

Three other field schools took place in Italy this summer, including Sacred Space: Rome, from Ancient to Modern, offered by the Department for the Study of Religion, plus two in the Pisticci region, under a new dual stream Colonialism and Migration: Ancient and Modern field school:

• the SJCS Migrant Justice Field School, offered by the Department of Social Justice & Community Studies; and

• the Metaponto Archaeological Field School, led by Dr. Sveva Savelli and the Ancient Studies program for the second year in a row

---

Further reading

• Learn more about the Villa of Titus Archaeological Field School

• Ancient Studies at SMU

• Unearthing the story of Italy's Indigenous communities
  

Crunching the numbers: student-led project uses open data to improve the lives of Nova Scotians

Sobey School of Business Professor Dr. Matthew Boland and Master of Business Analytics students Tasneem Quazi and Rahul Kashyap.

Earlier this year, professor Matthew Boland and a team of graduate research assistants at Saint Mary’s University embarked on a new data analytics project. 

Armed with open data from the Nova Scotia government, the team had a simple but shared goal—to use that data to better the lives of Nova Scotians.

“It's really important to try to make some local impact” - Matthew Boland.

Boland is an accounting professor at the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary's University. He created the project for his students in the Master of Business Analytics program to show the local importance of data analytics. 

“It's really important to try to make some local impact,” says Boland. “That's what this project was about for me and our students.” 

The inspiration for the project struck last year when Boland stumbled across the Nova Scotia Open Data Portal. This website was launched in 2016 to make government data more accessible to the public. It includes information on everything from crime statistics to Crown land in the province.

The website presented an opportunity for Boland, who specializes in advanced data analytics. Although the Open Data Portal is available for free to everyone, he knew most people wouldn’t have the time or resources needed to make sense of the data. 

He decided to bring the website to his students.

“I asked them to start looking through the data…and think about a research question that this data could answer that would be of interest to Nova Scotians,” says Boland, who is from Berwick in the Annapolis Valley. 

Boland invited the students to use that data to study topics of their choosing, so long as they related to the province. He also asked students to combine their data with other available data sets to find new insights into these topics. 

The resulting studies covered a range of issues. One used data on fishing and aquaculture to predict the migratory patterns of invasive fish species in the province. Another looked at the relationship between air pollution and rates of asthma in Nova Scotia counties. 

Boland says he hopes these studies will help lawmakers and regulators find new ways to safeguard health and well-being in the province—from protecting native fish to keeping the air clean.

The students plan to make their findings and methodologies available for free to the public. Those interested will be able to use the code the students created to analyze the data, allowing them to replicate the study. 

Boland’s project is happening amidst a larger push toward better data analytics solutions in the province. In March, the Nova Scotia government announced it would spend $25 million to expand healthcare data analytics and management programs at Saint Mary's.

Moving forward, Boland’s project will be formalized as a class offered to graduate students. He hopes it will inspire others to pursue their own research, using data analytics to better the world around them.

“If some of this someday could help inform regulation or just be one small piece to a larger puzzle that helps…I think that would be pretty awesome,” says Boland. 

Building confidence in chemistry: Dr. Mary Sheppard’s research supports how students learn in her lab

Dr. Mary Sheppard wins the Father William A. Stewart Medal for Excellence in Teaching. Her PhD research focused on how students learn chemistry.

L-R: Alumni Association member Fiona King BComm’93, SMU President Dr. Robert Summerby-Murray, and Dr. Mary Sheppard at Spring Convocation.

First-year chemistry classes introduce students to an exciting field of science—with new terminology and research methods, and the opportunity to study in a university laboratory setting for the first time.

Arriving at Saint Mary’s from Halifax or homes around the world, students’ first university classes can be an exciting, eye-opening experience—and a big adjustment.

Luckily, these new students at Saint Mary’s have an award-winning professor who understands the challenges they face. As a first-generation university graduate from Taylor’s Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Dr. Mary Sheppard still remembers leaving her small community for Memorial University.

“Leaving my family behind and going to the ‘big city’ of St. John’s was huge for me, and I understand what our rural students, and those from close-knit communities, are missing,” said Dr. Sheppard.

Finding the right path in her academic career meant being flexible and open to new paths.

“At first I wanted to be a pharmacist,” explained Dr. Sheppard. “When I was growing up in rural Newfoundland there was no access to career counseling. If you got good grades you were told you should be a pharmacist, nurse or doctor…I didn’t want to be a nurse or doctor—too much blood.”

It was her first-year chemistry professor who suggested that pharmacy might not be the best fit for her, and offered a chance to do a summer project that led to more than two decades studying and teaching chemistry.

“Growing up, I didn’t even know that a career in chemistry was a possibility,” said Dr. Sheppard. “I tell my students to keep an open mind. You don’t have to stick with what you first thought you wanted to be—I wouldn’t have been happy as a pharmacist.” 

Along with teaching first-year classes as a senior lecturer, for the past five years, Dr. Sheppard was also a student, pursuing a PhD at the University of New Hampshire.

Dr. Mary Sheppard

Dr. Sheppard’s PhD research has made her uniquely qualified for her role teaching at the university level. Her interest in how students learn led her to pursue the topic of chemistry education research for her doctoral degree. She explains that during the first few weeks of classes, she intentionally slows the pace to let students adjust to the environment.

“For some students, the lab can be very daunting because they didn't have a lab in high school—coming from a big city high school is not the same as any rural area in the world,” she says. “As part of our student success program, their first experience in that room isn’t an experiment—they go into the space as part of a scavenger hunt around campus…it helps them get oriented first.”

Once the term is underway, students will look forward to performing guided inquiry experiments along with a more traditional curriculum of procedural experiments. Guided inquiry prepares students for real-world work by challenging them to design an experiment to tackle a problem, tweaking it in the lab and submitting their group’s finalized experiment.

“Learning how to approach a problem teaches creative thinking— if the procedures don’t all work out perfectly, they learn more from that,” she says.

In her PhD research, Dr. Sheppard looked at how students learn about pH buffers, a chemistry topic that many find difficult to grasp. “I was trying to figure out why is this so tough for students—what are the roadblocks,” she explained. First, she interviewed students at the University of New Hampshire using a “think out loud” approach, recording them as they worked through problems. A qualitative analysis followed, allowing her to design teaching strategies that matched students’ successes and challenges.

“It was interesting to see that while the American students might have different backgrounds, they have the same or similar challenges that our students have.”

Her last goal for her PhD was to design a teaching strategy that addresses those challenges, setting students up for success. After many years of teaching, the instinct to help students is strong.

“You have to separate yourself from the student, you can’t help them because you want to see what they’re thinking and what the issues are,” she explained. “I think I ground the enamel off my teeth because I kept wanting to jump in and help.”

This research is beneficial to students in the classroom and lab and may lead to changes in how the topic is introduced in textbooks.

“Textbooks come from an expert point of view, but if you’re not an expert yet, that approach can be frustrating,” she explained. “One of the tenets of teaching pedagogy is that it’s not about knowing the topic, it’s about knowing how to teach it.”

Dr. Sheppard explained that like most PhD topics, hers was very narrow in focus. But she says it also exposed her to literature and people at conferences who are talking about different ways to teach.

“Understanding better how students learn at a higher level, it’s easier to transfer that knowledge to other areas of chemistry,” explained Dr. Sheppard.

Dr. Sheppard’s history of successful teaching and her drive to continuously build on that success have been recognized. This spring she won the Father William A. Stewart. S.J. Medal for Excellence in Teaching, the top teaching award at Saint Mary’s. The award is determined by nominations from alumni, students and colleagues and is awarded to a professor who has made significant contributions to the education of Saint Mary's students through excellence in teaching and service.

Father Stewart was known for his strong beliefs in promoting accessible education to marginalized communities and was also very much involved in promoting teaching innovation and excellence on campus. The award honours this legacy.

After receiving the award at the May convocation ceremony, Dr. Sheppard travelled to the U.S. where she received her PhD at the University of New Hampshire.

Congratulations Dr. Sheppard!

Documentary by Dr. Kate Ervine reveals the unseen ways we contribute to greenhouse gas emissions

Dr. Kate Ervine, The Carbon Cage

When you think of your carbon footprint, you may think of your daily commute or home energy consumption. One Saint Mary’s professor is shedding light on the other unseen ways we contribute to greenhouse gas emissions every day.

Kate Ervine is an associate professor of Global Development Studies. Last November, her short documentary, “The Carbon Cage,” was published by Scientific American. 

“Perhaps we can start reimagining a world where we reprioritize things that contribute to people’s well-being” - Dr. Kate Ervine

Ervine co-created the documentary with journalist and documentary filmmaker Duy Linh Tu through a grant from the Global Reporting Centre. It highlights how wealthy countries like the United States and Canada have become trapped in a cycle of fossil fuel reliance, and how attempts to combat climate change sometimes don’t address the root of the problem.

“I set out to explore the global political economy of climate change and the centrality of carbon to our economies, our society and our lives, and why that makes climate change hard to address,” says Ervine. 

“It's not that we're not doing some effective things, but there’s a lot of delay and distraction.”

Ervine traces the roots of contemporary climate change to the rise of our current economic system during the Industrial Revolution. Since then, demands for unchecked growth in production, consumption and energy use have contributed to record-high CO2 emissions.

Ervine’s documentary shows that the last time Earth experienced similar levels of atmospheric CO2 was more than four million years ago.

“Fossil fuels have become central to powering economic growth,” says Ervine. “They still provide roughly 80 per cent of global energy.” 

Changing this system is no easy task. Ervine worked her way through university and graduate school with jobs at an automotive assembly plant and steel mill in her home province of Ontario. These jobs were in carbon-intensive industries, but they provided her—and other families—with a secure livelihood. 

“It's a challenge when we're talking about the kinds of deep transformations that need to happen because so many people's lives are going to be impacted in profound ways,” Ervine says. “It can provoke a lot of fear because you're asking, ‘What does this mean for my job? What does it mean for my family?’”

Ervine’s research looks at how just transitions and sustainable development for all might be possible within the context of carbon dependency. 

For Ervine, cutting emissions is key to combatting climate change. But as the effects of climate change have worsened, she says these reductions are not happening fast enough.

Ervine points to investments in things like carbon offsets as a way businesses and governments are delaying real, lasting change. In recent years, voluntary carbon offsetting has ballooned to a more than $2-billion industry. But research shows significant problems with carbon offsetting, which doesn’t actually lower emissions. 

“Part of my research has been about saying, when we know what needs to be done and how significant the problem is, why do we design policies that are not particularly effective?” says Ervine. 

As we look forward to a changing future, Ervine says more investments need to be made in phasing out fossil fuels and laying the groundwork for transformative and equitable change.  Democratic green energy, accessible mass public transit and sustainable food systems are just some of our many options. 

“Perhaps we can start reimagining a world where we reprioritize things that contribute to people’s well-being,” says Ervine. “It does require change, but we might actually get some pleasure and joy out of it.”

The Carbon Cage by Kate Ervine and Duy Linh Tu

Meet your Valedictorian: Emperor Ben Robertson MTEI'23

Emperor Ben Roberston MTEI’23

When Emperor Ben Robertson was selecting a school to obtain his Master of Technology Entrepreneurship & Innovation degree, he knew Saint Mary’s University was the right choice.

The university's commitment to providing high-quality education, unique experiential learning opportunities, a vibrant location and extensive student support services contributed to his decision.

His education has provided him with a strong foundation in the principles and practices of technology entrepreneurship and equipped him with the knowledge to help businesses thrive in the digital age.

Q&A with Emperor Ben Robertson

Where is your hometown?: Accra, Ghana.

What was your favourite class?: Out of all the classes I took in my MTEI program, my favourite courses were Technology Entrepreneurship and Tech Strategy and Productivity.

What was the best piece of advice you received?: The most profound piece of advice that has had a significant impact on my life did not come from anybody I know personally. It was a quote that I stumbled upon while walking down Barrington Street that read, "Think and act like failure is impossible for you." This simple yet powerful quote has transformed my perspective on how I approach my goals.

Which instructor had the biggest impact on you?: Throughout my academic journey, I was fortunate to have had many exceptional professors who delivered transformative lectures. However, one professor in particular, Dr. Ramesh Venkat, had an enormous impact on me. Thanks to Dr. Venkat's exceptional teaching, I gained a deeper understanding of marketing and developed valuable skills that have been essential to my career. His influence on me has been invaluable, and I am grateful for the impact he has had on my personal and professional growth.

What was your thesis research?: I collected data on the challenges that businesses faced and explored ways to create opportunities for them to succeed in their respective locations. One of the most intriguing aspects of this research was its timing, as it was conducted during the post-COVID period when businesses were transitioning to new ways of operating. By talking to business owners, I gained valuable insights into their challenges and how they were adapting to the changing business environment.

Overall, this experience gave me a unique opportunity to explore the challenges and opportunities facing small businesses in the Halifax-Dartmouth area. It also allowed me to develop key skills that are essential in any business environment, including communication, research and problem-solving skills.

What advice would you give to your younger self?: If I could go back and speak to my younger self, I would tell them to try new things and challenge themselves as much as possible. I would encourage them to embrace failure as a natural part of the learning process and to adopt a mindset of "failing fast and failing often."

The reason is simple: by trying new things and taking risks, we are more likely to stumble and fail along the way. However, each failure provides an opportunity to learn and grow; the more we fail the faster we can learn and adapt. This can lead to faster progress and success in the long run.

Do you volunteer in the community?: As a passionate individual interested in promoting economic growth and prosperity, I volunteer as a member of the African Nova Scotian Road to Economic Prosperity Youth Council (REPYC). This council is an initiative aimed at promoting economic growth and prosperity among African Nova Scotian communities in Nova Scotia.

What are your future goals?: I am excited about the future and the opportunities that lie ahead. I am confident that with my skills, knowledge and experience, I will be able to make a meaningful contribution to a multinational company while also pursuing my passion for entrepreneurship and innovation.

Spring Convocation takes place May 17-19, 2023. Watch the ceremonies live at smu.ca/graduation or on our Facebook page.

Saint Mary’s University historian unveils discoveries on Catholic migration in Atlantic Canada

Dr. Karly Kehoe and team researching at Pollett’s Cove in Cape Breton, NS

For historian Karly Kehoe, it took leaving Nova Scotia to see its importance in her research. 

Kehoe is from Margaree Forks, Cape Breton, and studied history and anthropology as an undergraduate at Saint Mary’s University. In 2000, she left Canada to pursue her PhD at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. 

“For me, being a historian is very much understanding the legacy of the past and how we can talk about and deal with where we are right now.” - Dr. Karly Kehoe

Besides research fellowships at institutions like Trinity College Dublin, Yale University and Durham University, Kehoe worked in Scotland as a university professor until 2016. There, she began exploring the migration of Scottish and Irish Catholics to British territories in the Atlantic during the 18th and 19th centuries. 

“When I worked at the University of the Highlands and Island, it was clear there were a lot of people in the area whose ancestors had gone to Cape Breton in the 19th century. I found it easy to connect with them and learned a lot about Cape Breton and how its communities had evolved in the process,” she says.

Now, Kehoe is back at Saint Mary’s University and sharing her findings with her students and local communities beyond the university. 

As the Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada Communities, she is also building on the work she has been doing for more than a decade on religious minority migration to the Caribbean and what would become Atlantic Canada.

“I never thought I would end up here doing this work, but research is about following the evidence. The source material, the landscape and the conversations were showing me important things,” says Kehoe. 

“The research chair I hold is allowing me to look at settlement patterns here in the Maritimes and investigate why Catholics—a persecuted religious minority in the United Kingdom—migrated in such large numbers to places like Cape Breton, mainland Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and various islands in the Caribbean.”

Last year, Kehoe published her second book, Empire and Emancipation: Scottish and Irish Catholics at the Atlantic Fringe, with the University of Toronto Press. 

Through her research, Kehoe has shed light on how the arrival of Catholic migrants—displaced because of their religion—led to new communities in Nova Scotia and nearby provinces.

It has also revealed a darker history of how these newcomers knowingly displaced the Indigenous Mi’kmaq and extended Britain’s imperial reach. 

“When you start putting the pieces together about how communities here formed and how they were informed by an imperial program that was very powerful and very thorough, you start to uncover more of what the legacy is,” says Kehoe. “For me, being a historian is very much understanding the legacy of the past and how we can talk about and deal with where we are right now.”

This approach to history and her work on migration has also led Kehoe to the world of science diplomacy and advocacy. She has founded programs in Canada and Scotland to help researchers and artists displaced by war, conflict and threats of violence continue their work in their host countries. 

“It's about recognizing that it doesn't matter where you come from—as an academic researcher, you should have the freedom to continue with your work,” Kehoe says, noting the rise in displaced researchers in places like Ukraine, Syria and Turkey. 

“These researchers may come up with an invention that changes the world. But we need to make space for their integration and collaboration. I would rather be the person who opens doors than the one who guards them.”

Both through her research and advocacy work, Kehoe says it’s vital to take steps to preserve historical perspectives at risk of being overlooked or forgotten.

“The humanities matter,” she says. “They are so important in helping us to understand where we come from and where we need to go.” 

Fulfilment through research: Bernice Perry’s journey at Saint Mary's University

Bernice Perry

In 2021, Bernice Perry applied for a summer research assistantship to learn more about a topic of keen interest to her—the history of Northern Canada. Working alongside SMU History professor Dr. Heather Green, Bernice researched the High Arctic relocations of the 1950s, a Government of Canada effort to establish sovereignty in the Far North through the relocation of Inuit families from northern Quebec to the region.

The outcome of her research is a story map detailing the 1953 relocation as part of a teaching module created by the Northern Borders Project. Bernice’s project focuses on the experience of Markoosie Patsauq, who survived the relocation at the age of twelve and went on to become a pilot, novelist and activist lobbying for government reparations.

For Bernice, this research opportunity reaffirmed her decision to pursue post-secondary education as a mature student at the age of 56.

Growing up in a rural community on the East Coast, pursuing academic research was not presented to Bernice as a realistic or sustainable option. Instead, she spent much of her adult life caring for her family, volunteering in her community and working at flexible, low-wage jobs around her husband’s unpredictable schedule as a truck driver. Through those years, she always knew she had more to offer, but lack of education and financial means limited her opportunities.

It wasn’t until she was an empty nester and had faced and beaten cancer—twice!—that she was able to explore what was next for her. Those experiences, she says, led her to question her purpose in life.

Bernice’s daughter, a Saint Mary’s graduate, inspired her to attend university. With trepidation about being a mature student, Bernice applied to Saint Mary’s, was accepted, and proudly entered the classroom in January 2020.

Spurred on by her love of learning, her passion for history and the thrill of research, Bernice works hard to balance the demands of a full course load. She proudly holds a 4.22 GPA, which she says is the result of “long days and late nights of studying.”

But it hasn’t been easy. Along with the rigorous demands of her studies in the Bachelor of Arts program, Bernice has keenly felt the financial challenges of being a full-time student.

“Scholarships and awards have played a crucial role in my academic achievements, reducing my financial stress and anxiety while navigating through my education,” she says.

This support has also given her greater freedom to focus on her research, and in turn, contribute to the awareness and understanding of the Indigenous experience in Northern Canada.

“The injustices and lack of knowledge of the High Arctic relocations have led me to broaden my research to unveil other Northern narratives lacking attention,” she says. “I have been educated beyond my imagination, conversing and sharing information with those who are willing to listen.”

Three-Minute Thesis winner to represent Saint Mary’s at Eastern Regional competition

Stephen Paterson, Gabrielle Armstrong and Shannon MacFarland placed in the top of the 3MT competition

Saint Mary’s 3MT competitors

Miranda Frison, MA Geography

Julie Dayrit, MSc Applied Science

Stephaniie Erhunmwunsee, PhD Applied Science

Stephen Paterson, PhD Applied Science

Tamana Hamid, MA Global Development Studies with Dr. Evie Tastsoglou

Shannon MacFarland, a first-year Master of Science student in Astronomy, won first place in the recent Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition at Saint Mary’s University. Her topic ‘How does a galaxy die? Determining the star formation history from a galaxy's colour’, also earned the People’s Choice award at the competition. MacFarland will compete in the Eastern Regionals in June.

In second place was Gabrielle Armstrong, Master of Science in Applied Science. Stephen Paterson, PhD in Applied Science, received an honourable mention.

Condensing a thesis—the result of months or even years of work—into three minutes is an impressive feat. Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competitors are challenged to condense and communicate their work while still making it accessible to a non-expert audience—with the clock ticking. Hosted by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, the annual 3MT event saw seven Saint Mary’s Masters students and PhD candidates explain their research with one static Powerpoint slide, no other props or aids. The participants spoke about a wide range of topics, showing the breadth of research and study at Saint Mary’s University.

Originally from White Rock, British Columbia, MacFarland completed her BSc at the University of British Columbia. She chose Saint Mary’s for her graduate studies because her supervisor, Dr. Marcin Sawicki, is part of CANUCS (The Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey). CANUCS has guaranteed observation time with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

“It's very competitive right now to get time with such a new instrument, so I could not turn down an opportunity to work with JWST data within the first year of its operating time,” says MacFarland. “I'm very fascinated by the distant past and galaxy evolution. JWST is the perfect tool for looking far back into the universe, and Dr. Sawicki's group is full of experts and students that share that passion, so SMU seemed like a good fit.”

Shannon MacFarland presents at 3MT

More about Shannon MacFarland’s research: The colour of a galaxy contains a large amount of information about what stage of life a galaxy is in. Broadly, we put galaxies into two categories: Blue galaxies are considered "alive" because the gas within them is being compressed to form new stars. Red galaxies are considered "dead" because there is little to no star formation within them. We also know that in the past, there were more blue galaxies than there are today. This indicates some process by which a galaxy's colour transitions from blue to red, and its star formation is suppressed or shut down. What I'm interested in is how quickly/slowly a galaxy transitions from blue to red, also known as a galaxy's star formation history. To do this I am using the most powerful telescope ever created, the James Webb Space Telescope. This research is important because we know from the diversity of galaxies that we see that all galaxies evolve differently. My work will aim to answer how all galaxies, like our own Milky Way, will eventually die.

Saint Mary’s 3MT competitors:

• Gabrielle Armstrong (second place), MSc Applied Science (Biology)

  Occurrence and preference of anthropogenic materials in European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) nests

• Julie Dayrit, MSc Applied Science (Chemistry)

  Ancient solution to a modern problem: Combating antimicrobial resistance using Philippine medicinal plants

• Stephaniie Erhunmwunsee, PhD Applied Science (Geology)

  Organic geochemical analysis of Early Jurassic oil shows in the Scotian Basin

• Miranda Frison, MA Geography

  Understanding habitats and distributions of threatened lichens within Atlantic Canada through the creation of species distribution models and their model-derived products.

• Tamana Hamid, MA Global Development Studies

  Afghan immigrant women and their integration into Canadian society

• Stephen Paterson, PhD Applied Science (Environmental Science)

  The silent migration beneath our feet: understanding the spread of non-native earthworms in northern Canada

Research Expo 2023

Each year in March, talented Saint Mary’s researchers in the faculties of Science, Arts and the Sobey School of Business gather to share their academic achievements and projects. The Research Expo showcases work from students, faculty members and researchers.  

The event is hosted by the Office of Innovation and Community Engagement (OICE), which facilitates research relationships between faculty members, government departments and the SMU Community. The OICE supports joint research initiatives, assists faculty in research contract development, intellectual property protection and private sector sponsorship The Office works to establish collaborations between researchers and external partners and license technologies to industry. 

Events like Research Expo are key to building partnerships across university departments and with external organizations. presenters at the 2023 Research Expo included: 

Dr. Steven Smith, Psychology 
Dr. Diane Crocker, Criminology 
Dr. Joniada Milla, Economics 
Dr. Yasushi Akiyama, Mathematics and Computer Science 
Dr. Karly Kehoe, History 
Dr. Danielle Tokarz, Chemistry 
Dr. Erin Adlakha, Geology 

To learn more about the research at Saint Mary’s University, click here.  

Saint Mary’s joins TRIUMF, Canada's national particle accelerator centre

Meson Hall is TRIUMF’s first and largest research facility. Four storeys high with another four storeys below ground, the building houses the laboratory’s 520 MeV cyclotron – certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest accelerator of its type in the world.

On March 6, 2023, Saint Mary’s University became a full member of TRIUMF, Canada's particle accelerator centre, joining a group of 21 universities across the country.

TRIUMF is a hub for discovery and innovation along with its partner institutions—solving problems, from the hunt for the smallest particles in our universe to advancing research that discovers the next generation of batteries or develops isotopes to diagnose and treat disease.

As a full member, Saint Mary’s will be empowered to participate in and lead the TRIUMF science program, including the laboratory’s vision-setting and its multifaceted and intersectional portfolio of collaborations and network opportunities.

“Saint Mary’s University is honoured to be enhancing our partnership with this renowned facility," says Dr. Adam Sarty, Associate Vice-President, Research. “By committing to now change our status to have full membership with TRIUMF, our professors and students will be ensured to maintain their access to sophisticated, isotope science and technology to innovate, inspire and educate. Working more fully within the TRIUMF family of member universities, we will achieve greater collaboration across communities and disciplines, from nuclear and particle physics to the life and material sciences.”

TRIUMF is one of the few subatomic research facilities in the world that specializes in using particle accelerators to produce extremely intense beams of isotopes. Particle accelerators use a combination of electric and magnetic fields to accelerate and guide streams of charged particles to relativistic velocities. 

In fact, TRIUMF is home to the world’s largest cyclotron, a special type of particle accelerator that accelerates particles up to 75% of the speed of light as they follow a spiral path through it. 

Particle accelerators are useful tools for science, medicine and business. For example, they can produce some of the most extreme conditions in the universe, allowing researchers to study how exotic, unstable isotopes form and break apart, as well as particles and molecules in their work. Some of these isotopes also have tremendous value for use in diagnostics scans for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, or even direct therapies for diseases like cancer. At TRIUMF, scientists from around the world use particle accelerators for particle and nuclear physics, life sciences and medical research, materials science, and more.

Saint Mary’s has long had a collaborative relationship with TRIUMF, and two years ago Saint Mary’s led a national project for rare isotope research at the facility. A team of scientists including SMU Principal Investigator Dr. Rituparna Kanungo achieved a major milestone, accelerating for the first time a radioactive isotope beam through the CANREB (CANadian Rare isotope facility with Electron Beam ion source) facility and delivered to the IRIS experiment in the ISAC-II experimental hall. The IRIS facility is also a SMU-led CFI project that unveils the secrets of the rare isotopes with nuclear reactions.

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About TRIUMF

TRIUMF was founded in 1968 by Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria; it has expanded to include members across Canada. The science program has expanded from nuclear physics to a multidisciplinary effort that includes particle physics, molecular and materials science, and nuclear medicine. TRIUMF provides research infrastructure and tools that are too large and complex for a single university to build, operate, or maintain.

Located on the UBC campus, the houses almost 600 scientists, engineers, and staff performing research. A hub for discovery and innovation, the laboratory attracts almost 900 national and international users every year and provides advanced research facilities and opportunities to 150 students and postdoctoral fellows. In addition to the onsite program, TRIUMF serves as a key broker for Canada in global research in particle, nuclear, and accelerator physics.

Winemaking and place-making? Nova Scotia’s craft wine industry is revitalizing rural areas

SMU researchers meet with NS winemaker

PhD student Fariba Seyedjafarrangraz (left) with Dr. Claudia De Fuentes (center) and John Mclarty standing in Planters Ridge vineyard (Photos: Lisa Neily)

Sign outside of Planters Ridge winery in Port Williams, NS

Dr. De Fuentes stands inside the winery

De Fuentes and Seyedjafarrangraz stand inside the winery

De Fuentes and Seyedjafarrangraz seated at the winery bar with Mclarty standing behind

De Fuentes, Seyedjafarrangraz and Mclarty stand with Planters Ridge vineyard behind them

De Fuentes standing with a selection of NS wines

Dr. Claudia De Fuentes

Nova Scotia’s thriving craft wine industry is playing a key role in transforming rural areas of the province into vibrant communities. In interviews with winery owners, winemakers and experts from a variety of supporting organizations, Dr. Claudia De Fuentes, a professor in the Sobey School of Business, is exploring how industry specialists from different parts of the world are collaborating with Nova Scotia’s wineries to create and accumulate skills for continuously innovating their processes and products. The result of this collaboration is a one-of-a-kind craft wine industry in Nova Scotia.

The first two wineries in Nova Scotia—Jost Vineyards and Domaine de Grand Pre—began with their trailblazing founders’ vision. They saw the region’s potential, back when it was only a blank canvas. Their vision, and that of those who followed, unleashed Nova Scotia’s potential for wine production.

Today, the region has a truly inclusive innovation ecosystem which has led to the development of new products and services and constitutes a crucial socio-economic engine for rural Nova Scotia. Results of this innovation include the ‘Tidal Bay’ appellation, which is one of the few Canadian products to have a denomination of origin. Wineries continuously experiment with ways to improve their wines and contribute to place-making through the growth of the industry in rural Nova Scotia while connecting with local communities and providing visitors with a relaxing environment.   

“Thanks to the evolution of the local industry, we are enjoying the ‘transfer and creation of knowledge’, where practices developed in other wine-producing countries are embraced and transformed to fit the very specific characteristics of the province’s terroir,” says De Fuentes. “The momentum of these efforts has contributed to place-making via the attraction and retention of talent, by contributing to the diversity of industry in rural Nova Scotia, and to the relevance of the wine industry in particular.”

Dr. De Fuentes and Sobey School of Business PhD student Fariba Seyedjafarrangraz, along with colleagues from HEC Montréal and the University of Waterloo, will soon release an SSHRC-funded research publication outlining the impact of Nova Scotia’s thriving craft wine industry on rural revitalization.