News
2023
March
Memorial developing retirement plan for Ocean Sciences Centre seals
Memorial University is developing a retirement plan for the Ocean Sciences Centre seals, with the best interest of the animals in mind.
Seals have been a fixture of the Ocean Sciences Centre (OSC) since 1989, when Babette (1988–2021), a one-year-old female harp seal, was captured with her pup in the Magdalen Islands. She was joined by Tyler, a male harp seal, captured as a white coat in 1990.
Babette’s offspring, all raised at the OSC, include Jamie (1994–2013), Millennium “Lenny” (2000–14) and Deane (2002).
Ocean Sciences, Bahamas partner on climate change impact in tropics
Memorial University is partnering with a Bahamian school to create a tropical marine ecophysiology laboratory to study the environmental impacts of climate change on local marine species.
The collaboration is being led by Dr. Kurt Gamperl, University Research Professor, Department of Ocean Sciences in the Faculty of Science, and Dr. Nick Higgs, director of research and innovation at the Cape Eluethera Institute (CEI), which is part of the Island School in the Bahamas.
January
Video project spotlights Memorial-led, oil-spill response related research
A new video series highlights research teams studying techniques and technologies to aid in oil spill response in this country.
The Centre for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) produced five videos in partnership with research teams.
The Memorial-led projects received funding under Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Multi-Partner Research Initiative (MPRI).
2022
December
President's Awards a chance to celebrate community
President Vianne Timmons honoured the exceptional and exemplary at the 2022 President’s Awards on Wednesday, Nov. 30.
Winners from the Faculty of Science include Dr. Joshua Rash, Psychology, President's Award for Outstanding Research; Dr. Kurt Gamperl, Ocean Sciences and Dr. Duncan McIlroy, Earth Sciences/Bonne Bay Aquarium and Research Station, University Research Professor; Dr. David Churchill, Computer Science, President's Award for Outstanding Teaching (Faculty) and Dr. Rick Goulding, Physics and Physical Oceanography and Yellow Martin, Psychology, President's Award for Exemplary Employees - Champion of Service.
October
Science field courses return to Newfoundland's West Coast
Ashley Nickson completed four courses at the Bonne Bay Aquarium and Research Station this summer — the first time they were offered since 2019.
Ms. Nickson says the two-week long field courses in Norris Point, N.L., on Newfoundland’s West Coast, gave her the opportunity to be in the field almost every day.
Students, staff and faculty honoured at Faculty of Science awards
The Faculty of Science held its annual Dean’s Awards Ceremony recently, recognizing the top 10 per cent of its students.
In addition, the awards honour the service, scholarship and teaching of faculty and staff.
September
Memorial-led program empowers next generation of ocean leaders
Twenty research teams are getting a crash course on all things ocean this fall.
The groups, from seven universities across the country, are among the latest cohort participating in Lab2Market Oceans.
The seven-week program, hosted by Memorial and part of the Ocean Startup Project, provides post-doctoral fellows, graduate students and faculty the opportunity to explore their ocean research ideas in a new way.
Royal Society of Canada honours Memorial ocean sciences researcher with prestigious award
The Canada Research Chair in Biological Oceanographic Processes and a professor of ocean sciences at Memorial is the 2022 recipient of the prestigious A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in the Marine Sciences.
The award is being presented to Dr. Uta Passow by the Royal Society of Canada and recognizes her significant contributions to our understanding of the ocean and its ability to respond to anthropogenic changes such as climate change and oil pollution.
July
Memorial University earns top grades in global academic ranking
Memorial is the only Canadian university included as one of the world’s best for the study for marine/ocean engineering in an annual publication of world university rankings — and it’s the fifth year in a row to do so.
Memorial places 38 among the top 50 universities as part of the ShanghaiRanking Consultancy’s 2022 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS) in the category.
Thinking critically about past, present and future technological innovations
The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences’ (HSS) new certificate in the history and philosophy of science and technology is of broad interest to students of science, engineering, medicine, humanities and social sciences.
The program will challenge students to think critically and analytically about the consequences of past, present and future technological innovations on human existence, and the world we inhabit.
June
Nearly $8 million invested to accelerate diverse research discoveries
Memorial researchers, including those in the Faculty of Science, have secured nearly $8 million in competitive funding for research projects ranging from childhood amnesia to ocean biodiversity to renewable energy systems.
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) announced the results of its 2022 Discovery Research Programs competition on June 23.
In total, NSERC is investing $7,900,226 at Memorial.
Ocean Sciences receives donation for new graduate award
A final gift from the Oceans Learning Partnership (OLP) will enable the Department of Ocean Sciences to continue offering ocean education programs to Newfoundland and Labrador high school students.
The newly established J. Roger Pearson Graduate Award in Ocean Education and Outreach was created to honour and recognize the founding director of the OLP, which recently completed its mandate.
May
Award-winning Ocean Sciences professor inspired to be a better teacher
Dr. Pat Gagnon has teaching in his blood.
The 2021 recipient of a Distinguished Teaching Award from the Faculty of Science is the son of teachers and spent many meals discussing the occupation with them and how they dealt with issues that arose in and out of the classroom.
April
A day of family fun and education under the blue whale skeleton
On Saturday, May 14, everyone is invited to an open house event that will take place under and around the blue whale skeleton that hangs in Memorial's new Core Science Facility.
Come learn the story of the whale skeleton and take part in interactive learning opportunities, and have lots of fun along the way.
Faculty of Science holds interdisciplinary research conference
The Faculty of Science held its first interdisciplinary research conference April 8-9.
Scientific Endeavours in Academia (SEA) brought together undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and faculty from across the faculty’s nine departments and five interdisciplinary graduate programs.
2021
February
Ocean deep, provincewide: Teaching Tuesdays with Danielle Nichols
When the global pandemic began, the Faculty of Science’s Department of Ocean Sciences saw an opportunity.
The department based in the Ocean Sciences Centre (OSC) in Logy Bay investigated something it wanted to do for a long time: Rework its successful and popular hands-on marine biology program for high school students to a remote delivery option.
2018
October
New Ocean Sciences Undergraduate Society- OCEANUS
Are you currently an undergraduate student at MUN with a passion for the Ocean? Are you looking to major in ocean sciences or marine biology? Want to get more involved on campus?
Well OceanUS is for you!
Ocean Sciences has Re-branded it Social Media Handles
Department of Ocean Sciences has rebranded with a new social media handle @munocean.
March
New Special Topics Course
Introducting our New Special Topics Course- Starting Spring 2018
OCSC 7500 – Immunology and Diseases of Aquatic Organisms.
Want to know more about this great course- contact Dr. Javier Santander jsantander@mun.ca
2016
April
New Course Coming Fall 2016 OCSC 3000 Aquaculture Principles and Practices
This course will emphasize the techniques and methods used to culture finfish and shellfish, with a primary focus on Canadian aquaculture species.
February
Dive safe National gathering in underwater science taking place
For the first time, Memorial University will host the annual general meeting of the Canadian Association for Underwater Science (CAUS).
Memorial has been a member of CAUS for 33 years.
On Feb. 24 more than 100 divers will gather in St. John’s for a full day of presentations from speakers representing diving institutions Canada-wide. The conference is significant for divers and, unlike this year’s event, is rarely open to the public.
#TBT Seal Facility
#TBT May 9th, 1996, Dr. Cynthia McKenzie poses with a harbour seal at the OSC seal facility to promote the public education program. Faculty of Science - Memorial University of Newfoundland Memorial University Future Students (Undergraduate)Photo courtesy MUN Gazette :https://gazette.mun.ca/campus-and-community/legacy-project/
2015
October
OCSC 4000 Scientific Diving Methods
Are you a certified scuba diver with a passion for marine life? Do you wonder how it feels to dive with the eyes and spirit of a scientist? Would you like to acquire a unique set of skills that will make you highly attractive to employers in government, academia, and marine industry?
August
Coming This Fall 2015 OCSC 3000 Aquaculture Principles and Practices
OCSC 3000 Aquaculture Principles and Practices emphasizes the techniques and methods used to culture finfish and shellfish, with a primary focus on Canadian aquaculture species. Basic aspects of aquaculture will be covered, including the design and maintenance of production systems, culture techniques, and the nutrition, health, physiology and reproduction of finfish and shellfish. The laboratory portion of this course will provide students with practical experience in the maintenance of land-based aquaculture production systems and in the husbandry/culture of aquatic organisms.
More Information contact Dr. Kurt Gamperl kgamperl@mun.ca or Danielle Nichols dnichols@mun.ca
February
Ocean Sciences Centre aquarist an ambassador of the Atlantic
Tyler is stalling. His training session is over, but he’s hanging on. His shiny, mottled head pokes above water, and his dark eyes size up the teaching assistant who has been trying to lure him from the tank. Then he turns and dives, curling away with a flick of his tail. As a harp seal who has lived at Memorial’s Ocean Sciences Centre (OSC) in Logy Bay since he was a white coat, Tyler knows that every training exercise includes tasty morsels of herring. “If he thinks there’s a chance that the training will continue, and a chance for more fish, he won’t leave the tank,” explained Daryl Jones, the OSC’s aquarist and supervisor of the seal facility.
Check out the full story in this issue of the MUN Gazette http://www.mun.ca/gazette/issues/Gazette_Feb_25_2014_WEB_v2.pdf
More Ocean Ambassador stories can be found at http://www.mun.ca/osc/oscedu/OceanAmbassadors.php
Dreaming of being a scientific diver someday? You can be! Check out this new course being offered by Ocean Sciences, Memorial University
Be part of a new and exciting diving experience at MUN!
Are you a certified scuba diver with a passion for marine life? Do you wonder how it feels to dive with the eyes and spirit of a scientist? Would you like to acquire a unique set of skills that will make you highly attractive to employers in government, academia, and marine industry?
We’ve got you covered with a fun, new course at MUN!
OCSC-4000 Scientific Diving Methods 8 to 20 June 2015, St. John’s (NL)
2014
November
Ocean Ambassadors: David Belanger
Ocean Ambassadors: David Belanger
David Belanger has seen the wonder and amazement on people’s faces when they get their first up-close look at the North Atlantic marine environment.
“You see them hold something like a sea star, which is a very common organism. They say, ‘Wow! We have these here?’ Then they’re full of questions. In fifteen minutes you can change their entire perspective on the ocean.”
October
Ocean Ambassadors: Tyler Engert
Ocean Ambassadors: Tyler Engert
Ocean sciences might seem an unusual career choice for a man who grew up thousands of miles from salt water.
Tyler Engert is from Cornwall, in Eastern Ontario. There are no seafaring stories in his family. No sailors, fishers, or marine researchers.
But as an undergraduate student at Memorial, it’s the ocean that has captured his imagination.
“I was considering different fields in biology, and marine biology was always in the back of my mind,” he says. “When I was a boy we went to both coasts on family vacations. It made me curious about the ocean.”
That curiosity opened a career path when he came to MUN in September of 2013.
September
Ocean Ambassadors: MUN Grad Students Greet Thousands at the Ocean Sciences Centre
Ocean Ambassadors: MUN Grad Students Greet Thousands at the Ocean Sciences Centre
The Ocean Sciences Centre teems with life on a misty summer morning. Tourists take in the view of Logy Bay. A family climbs the steps leading to the tanks that house three harp seals. Kids crowd around the saltwater touch tanks located outside the OSC’s main building, peer through the glass to see the flounder hiding in the mud, and reach in to stroke a starfish or hermit crab.
Ocean Sciences Seminar Series
DEPARTMENT OF OCEAN SCIENCES SEMINAR SERIES
The Ocean Tracking Network: Telemetry and data infrastructure in support of global aquatic animal trackers.
Dr. Fred Whoriskey, Executive Director, Ocean Tracking Network, Dalhousie University
Location: Challenger Room, Ocean Sciences Centre
Date: Thursday, September 18th, 2014
Time: 3:30-4:30pm
July
Engaging Youth in Ocean Sciences
On June 19th, Ocean Sciences’ Dr. Patrick Gagnon and two of his graduate students, David Bélanger and Anne Provencher St-Pierre, had the pleasure of communicating, in French, their passion for oceans and marine life to 30 first-grade students from École des Grands-Vents (a K-12 French school located in St. John’s).
2013
May
Celebrate Biodiversity Day at MUN Botancial Garden
Join the Ocean Sciences Traveling Touch Tank at MUN Botancial Garden to Celebrate Biodiversity Day
Come and Explore the Ocean Creatures
Date: May 22, 11 – 3 p.m.
Registration is not required. Everyone is welcome.
Location: MUN Botanical Garden field centre, 306 Mount Scio Road