Canada Excellence Research Chairholders (CERC) from the Waterloo, Quebec City, Ottawa, Kingston, Calgary, Montreal, Hamilton, Toronto, Vancouver, Charlottetown, Edmonton, Sherbrooke, Winnipeg and Saskatoon met this week at the University of Waterloo to discuss recent advances within their research groups and goals for future research directions. This event marked the 5th annual meeting of CERCs, chaired by Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen of the Ecohydrology Group (CERC in Ecohydrology) and Dr. David Cory (CERC in Quantum Information).
On Monday, three recently appointed Chairholders, Dr. Steven Bryant (CERC in Materials Engineering for Unconventional Oil Reserves, University of Calgary), Dr. Gillies Gerbier (CERC in Particle Astrophysics, Queen’s University) and Dr. Robin Rogers (CERC in Green Chemistry and Green Chemicals, McGill University) commenced the event with plenary lectures introducing their research plans. Additional Canada Excellence Research Chairs shared their research during parallel sessions in Environment, Health and Quantum the following morning. Morover, Michèle Boutin discussed the advancement in Canadian research funding and the establishment and expansion of the CERC funding program. Members of the Ecohydrology Group participated in the poster session on Monday evening, hosted by the Dean of Science, Terry McMahon.
CERC Plenary Lectures by Dr. Steven Bryant (left), Dr. Gillies Gerbier (middle) and Dr. Robin Rogers (right), (Photo credit: Martin Schwalbe)
The Ecohydrology Group invited students aged 10-14 to attend an Outreach Event on Tuesday afternoon, to spread awareness on important aspects within ecohydrological research. The event commenced with a lecture on the importance of wetlands by Canada Excellence Research Chair, Philippe Van Cappellen. Students then participated in an interactive demonstration on the web of life within wetlands, followed by activity stations supervised by the Ecohydrology Group, Ecology Lab (Faculty of Environment), Let’s Talk Science, EIT Museum and rare Charitable sites. During the activities, students learned about the impact of road salts on wetland health, the importance of invertebrates in wetland monitoring, water management and treatment, the Great Lakes, water use in product development and much more.
For more information on the CERC Meeting program, please visit the event page.
Philippe Van Cappellen and Post Doctoral Fellow, Christina Smeaton, demonstrate the importance and intricacy of the web of life in wetlands. (Photo credit Martin Schwalbe)