Neufeld Research Group

Sourdough "Montreal-style" pizza

Josh D. Neufeld — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Because I grew up eating "Montreal style" all-dressed pizza, I've been chasing the dragon ever since. At home, I've come close to recreating the spectacular pizza you can still find in some of the oldest pizza places in Quebec. Not the same, but good enough for home.

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Sourdough bread

Josh D. Neufeld — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Sourdough bread is made by a mixture of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria. In my case, we started a culture from cottage water and whole wheat flour in the Muskoka area of Ontario (April 2020). The yeast add gas/alcohol/flavour as they ferment and the lactic acid bacteria drop the pH with lactic acid while fermenting sugars to offer the sour flavour and bouquet.

Microbiology art gallery shines creative light on course content

Josh D. Neufeld — Tue, 12 May 2020 12:00:00 +0000

In 2011, Jane Holbrook and Mary Power from the Centre for Teaching Excellence organized a workshop for large class instructors: "Enjoying Your Large Class (Making the Most of Your Large Class)". An activity in this session was to "design a 'blended' activity (one that students participate in online and in class) to promote student engagement in a specific course topic". From this workshop and activity, the Microbiology Art Gallery was born.

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Pointers for picking green laser presenters

Josh D. Neufeld — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 12:00:00 +0000

A laser presenter lives in my backpack, follows me to class, and helps with seamless integration of my presentation slides and a classroom learning experience. Although it may seem at first like the options for a presenter are endless, there are surprisingly few good presenters to choose from once a few criteria are applied. Hopefully this blog post, based on my experience with different presenters, will help offer some "pointers" for those looking to pick up a new model.

Removing online course evaluations from the classroom

Josh D. Neufeld — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 12:00:00 +0000

"As a reminder, best practice guidelines encourage instructors to provide in-class time for students to complete their course evaluations; when possible, instructors should devote the initial or middle minutes of class for this activity (without taking these steps, student response rates are expected to be low using online rating tools)."

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End classroom advertising for the sake of student engagement

Josh D. Neufeld — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 12:00:00 +0000

"Would you be able to show the attached slide in your class and post the info on your course website?" For those of us who teach large classes, this is a common request. While teaching my intro micro course in fall 2018, I received 30 such emails; I counted. Several of the requests asked for 5 minutes of class time, others to show a video, others required that I attend orientation sessions prior to making my announcement."

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Mushmallows

Josh D. Neufeld — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Mushmallows are healthy vegetarian campfire alternatives to marshmallows and s’mores. They taste great, are very easy to make, use few ingredients, yet you can create a variety of combinations to suit your taste. Consider making this mycology-inspired culinary creation your go-to campfire staple.

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Here and elsewhere: an open resource for authors and peer reviewers of microbiology

Josh D. Neufeld — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 12:00:00 +0000

When reviewing manuscripts prior to publication, many scientists become frustrated by identifying the same minor issues repeatedly. In my case, correcting common errors and inconsistencies became so repetitive that I gradually compiled recurring concerns into a single document, allowing rapid copy/paste/editing of these comments into reviews whenever needed. This reviewer “cheat sheet” has been a timesaver to me and there is a good chance that such a document might benefit other scientists as well.

Albus Dumbledore and the importance of anonymous peer review

Josh D. Neufeld — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Peer review is the cornerstone of academic publishing. The process provides a relatively unbiased assessment of scientific research to verify that manuscript claims about experimental discoveries are supported by robust data and statistical analyses. Without peer review, scientific literature would become misleading, error prone, and untrustworthy. Peer review involves a journal editor selecting one or more peer reviewers who evaluate a manuscript critically, which results in a decision to reject or accept, or postpone a decision while authors make revisions.