HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA | CANADA B3H 4R2 | +1 (902) 494-3540
Newly tenured professors
The members listed alphabetically below were granted tenure in the Faculty of Science effective July 1, 2011. Congratulations!
Katja Fennel, Canada Research Chair in Marine Prediction, Department of Oceanography. In my lab, the Marine Environmental Modelling Group, we develop numerical models of marine ecosystems, for example, continental shelf systems of the North American east coast and the open North Atlantic Ocean. By combining these models with observational data sets, we test and improve model predictions which ultimately lead to an improved Dr. Arunika Gunawardena, Department of Biology. Programmed cell death (PCD) plays a major role in plant development and defense. Research in the Gunawardena lab is focused on PCD in plant development. The lace plant (Aponogeton madagascariensis) forms perforations in a predictable pattern between longitudinal and transverse veins over its entire leaf surface via PCD. The accessibility and predictability of perforation formation in lace plant leaves, the ability to propagate lace plant in sterile conditions, the thin and aquatic nature of the leafallowing for live cell imaging, and the feasibility of pharmacological experiments, make lace plant an attractive system for the study of developmentally regulated PCD in plants. Therefore, we selected lace plant as a “model plant” to study developmental PCD in planta. I am passionate about my research on PCD and very much enjoy working with my undergraduate and graduate students. Visit our lab website:http://pcdlab.biology.dal.ca Dr. Heike K. Lotze, Canada Research Chair in Marine Renewable Resources, Department of Biology. Our research is shaped by a strong interest in past, present and potential future human impacts on marine species and ecosystems. Human activities such as fishing and hunting, habitat alteration, and nutrient loading have influenced marine ecosystems for millennia, but strongly accelerated over time and expanded from inshore to open ocean regions. In our work, we try to reconstruct the long-term history of human-induced changes in different populations and regions using a multi-disciplinary approach that integrates data from palaeontology, archaeology, history, fisheries science, and ecology. We also try to disentangle the cumulative effects of multiple human activities and analyze the consequences of observed changes on the structure and functioning of ocean ecosystems. For this, we use a combination of field and laboratory experiments and surveys, literature studies, analysis of large data sets and ecological modeling. Visit us at http://lotzelab.biology.dal.ca
understanding of these systems. Numerical models are increasingly
powerful tools for quantifying the cycling of climatically relevant
elements such as carbon and nitrogen and for understanding their role
in past and future climatic changes. Such models are also essential
for predicting the effects of natural and anthropogenically induced
perturbations on coastal ecosystems. Visit us at http://memg.ocean.dal.ca/
Shannon Johnson, Department of Psychology. Research in my Clinical and Cognitive Neuropsychology lab focuses on the Autism Spectrum. Through the application of cognitive, neuropsychological, and psychophysiological techniques, our goals are to uncover and characterize core differences in cognitive and social functioning in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. We are particularly interested in identifying mechanisms that may help to explain the heterogeneity and complexity of the spectrum. In addition to my autism research, I also examine typical development, Huntington’s Disease, and stroke. Visit our lab website: http://johnsonlab.psychology.dal.ca
Dr. Laurent Kreplak, Physics and Atmospheric Science.
Our goal is to unveil the design rules underlying the unique mechanical properties of protein assemblies, cells and tissues. We are interested in both bottom-up and top-down approaches. In the former, we study the relationship between structure and mechanical properties for peptides and proteins assemblies in vitro. In the latter, we are interested in human pathologies that modify the mechanical properties of cells and tissues through changes in cytoskeletal or extra-cellular matrix architecture. The techniques we use include atomic force microscopy, electron microscopy, X-ray scattering and Raman spectroscopy. Visit us at http://fizz.phys.dal.ca/~kreplak/
Tamara Romanuk, Biology Department. Research in the Food Web Ecology Lab focuses on the consequences of biodiversity loss to the functioning and stability of aquatic food webs. All of our work is done in a food web context, which means that its not just the numbers of species that we are interested in, but also the structure of the food webs in which those species are embedded. Most of our work is done in aquatic microcosms, small container ecosystems in which we can assemble food webs and then subject them to various types of disturbance regimes. We also use mathematical models to run "in silico" experiments, otherwise known as computer simulations, to study problems that are too complex or just not possible to conduct in natural systems. http://ecocomplexity.blogspot.com/
Tetjana Ross, Oceanography. I'm a physicist and an oceanographer. My areas of expertise are underwater acoustics, small-scale flows and biophysical interactions in the ocean. My students and I are working on improving our ability to automatically distinguish between types of zooplankton as well as between zooplankton and turbulence based on acoustic observations alone. We are also exploring how zooplankton interact with turbulence in their environment (both reacting to turbulence and creating turbulence). Most recently, we are trying to understand and model the acoustic properties of sediment-laden ice, which may pose a serious risk to the development of tidal power generation in Minas Passage.
http://www.phys.ocean.dal.ca/~tetjana/
The members listed alphabetically below were granted tenure in the Faculty of Science effective July 1, 2010. Congratulations!
Aaron Newman, Department of Psychology. My research uses non-invasive imaging (MRI, EEG, and MEG) to study how experience affects the organization of the human brain. We study this across a variety of domains, including language, vision, and hearing. Our work involves a number of populations, including deaf users of sign language, cochlear implant recipients, persons who have suffered stroke, patients with brain tumours, children and adults with epilepsy, and second language learners. Beyond improving our understanding of the brain's ability to adapt to experience and disease, many projects are focused on improving the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders. Our website is http://neuroimaging.psychology.dal.ca/
 |
| |