FaceForward November 2015: 2015 President’s Report - Memorial University of Newfoundland Over the past year, Memorial University has made some remarkable advances in knowledge, exploration and innovation. We did this by employing a multidisciplinary approach. And engaging with multifaceted individuals. Meet some of our people and learn their stories in our 2015 President’s Report.

November 2015 | 2015 President’s Report

A Year in Review
A Year in Review

2015 President’s Report - November 2015

2014
september Two Memorial University professors named to Royal Society of Canada College

Two Memorial University professors have been elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s newly established College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, Canada’s first national system of multidisciplinary recognition for the emerging generation of Canada’s intellectual leadership.

september Environmental protection on a nano-scale

Even a small amount of oil spilled in a marine environment can have a devastating impact. So small, in fact, that Memorial researchers are working at the nano-level to create sensors for use in harsh environments.

september Projects study Labrador Sea’s role in the Earth’s climate system

Memorial University is at the centre of two international, multimillion-dollar projects to get a better understanding of the role of the Labrador Sea in the Earth’s climate system.

september Pam Hall named as inaugural Public Engagement Post-doctoral Fellow

Dr. Pam Hall, an interdisciplinary artist, has been creatively engaging the province’s communities in her art for more than 30 years – making her an ideal candidate for Memorial’s first Public Engagement Post-doctoral Fellowship.

october Psychology alumna wins $150,000 Vanier Scholarship

Christine Fontaine, an alumna of the Department of Psychology, has received a Vanier scholarship worth $150,000 to continue her studies in behavioural neuroscience at the University of Victoria.

october Memorial University’s Medical Education Centre officially opened

Lieutenant-Governor the Hon. Frank Fagan, Premier Paul Davis, Dr. Susan Dyer Knight, Dr. Gary Kachanoski, Dr. James Rourke and Janine Flaherty-Woodland all had the honour of cutting the ribbon to mark the official opening of Memorial University’s new Medical Education Centre.

october Memorial names new 500-bed residence Macpherson College

Memorial University officially named the new 500-bed residence complex on its St. John’s campus Macpherson College with its two wings being named are Cluett Hall and Shiwak Hall.

november National honours for Memorial University researchers

Memorial University researchers received two of five national research awards presented, one of them regarded as the highest honour a researcher can receive in the social sciences and humanities.

november Studying on sacred ground

This year, forty-six Memorial University students studying at Memorial’s campus in Harlow, England, made the trip across the channel to attend Remembrance Day ceremonies at memorial park and see the battlefield at Beaumont-Hamel.

november College of the North Atlantic and Memorial University students to benefit from combined gifts totalling $7 million from The Joyce Foundation

College of the North Atlantic and Memorial University of Newfoundland accepted combined gifts totaling $7 million from The Joyce Foundation, marking the single largest donation ever received by each institution from a foundation.

november Memorial University announces $50-million partnership to strengthen health research in Newfoundland and Labrador

Memorial University will receive $50 million over the next five years to support an unprecedented health-care initiative that will provide enhanced, personalized patient care through collaborative, multidisciplinary research.

december New $6.8-million R&D centre open for business at Memorial University

Construction of the new Suncor Energy Offshore R&D Centre at Memorial University is complete, paving the way for increased collaborative research focused on solving technical challenges facing Newfoundland and Labrador industries.

december Memorial University engineering co-op student to play Santa’s little helper this winter

Fourth-year mechanical engineering student Mollie Jameson reaped the benefit of her passion for product design and her job search perseverance during a co-op work term at American toy company Fisher Price.

december Off to Oxford

A regular on the dean’s list, and nearing completion of a honours degree in applied math with a minor in computer science, Devin Grant was Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2015 Rhodes Scholar.

2015
january Grenfell student union president wins national advocacy award

Chelsea Noel, fourth-year visual arts student and president of the Grenfell Campus Student Union, was recognized with an Egale Canada Human Rights Trust award for participating in the 2014 #HearOurStory video campaign.

january New Jarislowsky chair introduced to Memorial

Dr. Tony Fang is the newly appointed Stephen Jarislowsky Chair in Cultural and Economic Transformation at Memorial. The mandate of the $2-million chair is to promote research in the areas of global and local cultures, immigration, diasporas, demographic change and strategies for immigration retention and integration.

january New simulator to expand offshore safety training

The Fisheries and Marine Institute (MI) of Memorial University’s Centre for Marine Simulation will receive $6.15 million in funding for the new Hibernia Offshore Operations Simulator Facility.

january Grenfell celebrates 40 years of printmaking in the province

St. Michael’s Printshop celebrated its 40th anniversary with a reception to mark its achievements and its important connection to Grenfell Campus and Memorial University as a whole.

february Bachelor of education for Nunatsiavut students complete first semester

Memorial University made community-based Aboriginal teacher education a top priority by creating a new program with the Faculty of Education, specifically designed for the Northern Labrador Inuit educational context.

february Half a million raised to replace ‘work horse’ pianos

A reception and special concert with world-renowned pianist Angela Cheng was held in the D.F. Cook Recital Hall in the School of Music to celebrate the end of the Keys to Success fundraising campaign which raised half a million dollars to replace or refurbished pianos in the School of Music.

february Grenfell Campus students and faculty collaborate on Canada House window project

Queen Elizabeth was among the dignitaries to open the refurbished Canada House in London, England, recently, and to view the window project collaboration between Grenfell Campus's visual arts faculty, staff and students and Canada House.

march Memorial University student wins prestigious Prime Minister’s Volunteer Award for Let’s Talk Science outreach

Cody O’Brien, a Memorial University of Newfoundland biochemistry major and avid Let’s Talk Science volunteer, has been named Community Leader (Atlantic) in the 2015 Prime Minister’s Volunteer Awards.

march Memorial University appoints new provost and vice-president (academic)

Dr. Noreen Golfman was appointed Memorial University’s new provost and vice-president (academic) by the Board of Regents on March 26, 2015.

march Triple threat

Fourth-year Sea-Hawk basketball forward Noel Moffatt is the 2014-15 recipient of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Ken Shields award for outstanding student-athlete.

april Memorial University student named finalist in national Storytellers challenge

Joshua Smee’s submission, titled Your Community’s Influence On Your Life, landed the Memorial graduate student a coveted finalist spot in the 2015 Storytellers national challenge by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

april Memorial University awarded two Canada Research Chair positions

Dr. Craig S. Moore has been named a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience and Brain Repair while Dr. Michelle Ploughman was named a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Rehabilitation, Neuroplasticity and Brain Recovery.

april Body smart

Memorial University hosted a public exhibition, titled Body Works, using some of the magnificent collection of anatomical specimens prepared by Dr. Shakti Chandra, a professor of anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine, which were created for teaching during her sabbatical year in 2010-11 in Germany with Dr. Gunther von Hagens.

may Memorial University opens $29.1-million Craig L. Dobbin Genetic Research Centre

Taking advantage of Newfoundland and Labrador’s original gene pool and relatively closed environment, Memorial University officially opened the Craig L. Dobbin Genetics Research Centre, a state-of-the-art genetics research centre, to study genetic patterns and certain diseases.

may $2.6-million investment supports fisheries science

World-class fisheries science at the Marine Institute's Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research (CFER) continued to be supported by the provincial government with t$2.6 million from Budget 2015.

may Vision 20/20 launched at Grenfell Campus

Grenfell Campus launched Vision 20/20, a strategic plan that will provide a strategic path for the campus for the next five years.

june Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance launches first trans-Atlantic mapping survey

A multinational team of Canadian, European and American ocean mapping experts launched the first trans-Atlantic mapping survey under the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance. The team will map the seafloor between St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Galway, Ireland.

june International MATE ROV competition a success

The 14th annual competition was hosted and supported by the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University (MI) and the National Research Council’s (NRC) Ocean, Coastal, and River Engineering (OCRE) facility. The competition challenged more than 700 students from 16 countries around the world to design, build and pilot an ROV.

july International study co-authored by Memorial archaeologists confirms timing of North America’s first migration wave

An international study reveals that the ancestors of all present-day Native Americans arrived in the Americas as part of a single migration wave, approximately 23,000 years ago.

july New Wood Group Chair in Arctic and Harsh Environment Engineering appointed

Memorial University has welcomed a new research chair. Dr. Hodjat Shiri joined the Department of Civil Engineering as the Wood Group Chair in Arctic and Harsh Environment Engineering and assistant professor on June 15.

july Earth Sciences prof named Fellow of the Geological Society of America

Dr. Stephen Piercey, a professor of Earth Sciences and the NSERC-Altius Industrial Research Chair in Mineral Deposits, was elected as a Fellow of the Geological Society of America (GSA).

august Future of nature

Some of the best minds working in environmental research in the province and a select group of international researchers and representatives from government, industry and the creative arts convened to stage an ecological intervention on the west coast of Newfoundland.

august Director of Internationalization Office appointed

Sonja Knutson has been appointed director of Memorial’s Internationalization Office. She will provide strategic and administrative leadership to the univesrity’s Internationalization Office.

august Scientific diving course puts marine life at students' fingertips

For two weeks in June a group of undergraduate and graduate students from four academic disciplines - biology, archaeology, psychology and geography – braved the 3 C waters of the Atlantic Ocean as part of a new course, OCSC-4000 Scientific Diving Methods, taught by Dr. Patrick Gagnon.

august Battery Facility Graduate Accommodations ready for first residents

Memorial is very pleased to welcome graduate students to the Battery Facility. The neighbourhood is beautiful and historic, and the graduate students who’ll live there will make a great addition to an already vibrant community.