Space exploration has always been about firsts. It’s only fitting then that the University of Lethbridge’s first graduate from the Earth, Space and Physical Science PhD program worked on a groundbreaking instrument that promises the first images from the deepest parts of space.

Scientists Drs. Igor and Olga Kovalchuk came to Lethbridge knowing next-to-nothing about the city. Now, eight years later, they’ve happily set down roots and are pushing the U of L’s epigenetics research program into the limelight.

Dr. Noella Piquette-Tomei has filled out countless report cards over her years as an educator, but it’s safe to say she’s never handed out grades on a worldwide scale. That’s just the opportunity she and 500-plus colleagues had recently at the Return to Salamanca: Global Inclusion Conference.

Invited as one of only a handful of Canadians, Piquette-Tomei and her brethren were in Spain to review the Salamanca Accord, an understanding signed by all members of the United Nations that pledged to further inclusive education, providing all children the opportunity to learn.

At a time when most kids were glued to TV shows about talking purple dinosaurs, Kristy Kutanzi was exploring the inner workings of the world around her.

“I have always had a curious mind,” she explains. “As a child, I loved to experiment. My parents bought me a book with basic science experiments and explanations for general phenomena – a book that I read from front to back countless times.”

They also bought her a microscope to indulge her fascination with “things too small to be seen by the human eye,” says the Grassy Lake, Alta., native.