Already recognized as a national leader in remote sensing technology and its applications, the University of Lethbridge has added to its research capacity with the addition of a new Chair in Terrestrial Ecosystem Remote Sensing, Dr. Chris Hopkinson.

Hopkinson is the second of four new research Chairs being added to the University this year as part of the Government of Alberta’s Campus Alberta Innovation Program (CAIP) Chairs plan. The government is contributing $1-million per year over the course of seven years, for a total investment of $7 million.

It’s not quite speed dating, but the idea is similar.

On Friday, Mar. 22, the Office of Research & Innovation Services (ORIS) team will host its first Community/University Research Exchange (CURE) event where they are looking to do some relationship building between community groups and University of Lethbridge researchers.

Researchers often experience barriers when trying to involve external partners in their research programs.

The CURE event aims to reduce those barriers by bringing community partners and U of L researchers together to talk with, and learn from, each other at a one-day open house.

Budget Message 3

More information has been provided regarding the 2013-14 Alberta Provincial budget and I am pleased to share that there is a bright point within this news for our University. In the Capital Plan Details Supplement to the Provincial Budget, it is identified that the University of Lethbridge will receive $10 million over two years to continue the planning process for the Destination Project. I have included the specific reference in the link below:

http://www.infrastructure.alberta.ca/documents/Capital_Plan_Details_2013-16.pdf

Two University of Lethbridge researchers are teaming up to better understand unintended side effects associated with radiation treatment of cancer cells and the difference between female and male patients.

Dr. Bryan Kolb, a neuroscience researcher at the U of L’s Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN) and Dr. Olga Kovalchuk, a biological sciences researcher who specializes in researching the affects of radiation on cancer cells and nearby cells, are collectively putting their lab teams on the project, which is being funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Over the next five years, the research team will receive more than $930,000.

The University of Lethbridge's Dr. HJ Wieden is one of four experts who will present a Cafe Scientifique talk at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery on Thursday, Mar. 21.

Wieden will be joined by Dr. Eric Brown of McMaster University, Dr. Frank Schweizer of the University of Manitoba and Dr. Tim McAllister as they discuss Antibiotic use in Agricultural Practices: Implications on the Health of Canadians.

In areas such as southern Alberta, the issue of antibiotic resistance can have a huge impact not only on human health but on industries such as agriculture.

The University community wishes to express its most sincere condolences to the family, many friends and colleagues of the late Dr. Richard (Rick) Mrazek, our associate dean, Faculty of Education and a veteran educator, who passed away on Sunday, Mar. 17.

He is survived by his mother, Mary-Rose, and daughter, Kristen. Rick had a personalized license plate on his car that read DAD1DR2, so it was quite evident where his priorities were.

His boundless energy and enthusiasm for life, his family and education will be sorely missed on campus and among the many groups Rick touched.

The University of Lethbridge’s first graduate in the Earth, Space and Physical Science PhD program is coming back to the U of L through the Canada Research Chairs program.

Astrophysicist Dr. Locke Spencer, who has been working at Cardiff University in Wales, is receiving $500,000 in funding over the next five years as a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Experimental Astrophysics.

A new internal grant program is designed to spark creative juices in the Faculty of Fine Arts while also creating valuable mentor relationships.

The Mentors in Creative Research (MCR) project grants for Fine Arts are a one-time opportunity (with up to three grants valued at $3,000 each) for full-time faculty, university-employed curators or full-time academic assistants to create a student-driven project that celebrates research at the University of Lethbridge.

Study looks at how human evolutionary history may dictate decision-making in activities of chance

Humans, for survival reasons, are designed to react and make decisions within the context of their surroundings.

In the real world this serves people well. In artificial, random environments, like those associated with gambling, a person’s inherent desire to react to past experiences is a fruitless exercise.