Kelvin Science on Parliament Hill
Grace Ma was invited to represent Kelvin's NorthSTAR research (formerly ISAMR) at the first annual Prime Minister's Science Fair on September 26th. She was chosen as one of 22 students from across Canada to present award-winning projects to Prime Minister Trudeau and the newly appointed science advisor, Mona Nemer. The focus of Grace's project was our work near Churchill on climate change, the changing permafrost layer, and polar bear research. Other students presented projects on topics ranging from robotics to cancer research and brain surgery.
We are grateful for the continued support and guidance of Dr. Jane Waterman, Dr. Jim Roth, and Dr. Ryan Brooks and the research support of the University of Manitoba through an NSERC PromoScience grant
Here is a link to a 30-second video from the event:
https://www.facebook.com/JustinPJTrudeau/videos/10156016494245649/
ArcticNet Annual Scientific Conference
Kelvin students have been working with Dr. Jane Waterman to study the impacts of climate change on polar bears. They attended the ArcticNet conference in Halifax and gave a presentation on Biometrics of polar bears in a changing world: assessing body condition non-invasively near Churchill. The students joined over a thousand researchers at the conference. They presented well, made connections, and answered many questions. The students from Kelvin, Elmwood High School, and Nelson McIntyre all traveled up to Churchill in the fall to work with Dr. Waterman.
The main focus of this scientific conference is climate change and sustainability in the North. The mandate is to “address the numerous environmental, social, economical and political challenges and opportunities that are emerging from climate change and modernization in the North.” The attendees included researchers, graduate students, Inuit, Northerners, policymakers, stakeholders, and our high school students!
The students chose from hundreds of sessions and learned about: sustainable Harvesting in Nunavut, impacts of Recent Climate Change in the Coastal Area of Northern Yukon, food security in the coastal communities of the Canadian Arctic, the Tuktoyaktuk Community Climate Resilience Project, the trajectory of permafrost environments, assessing the impacts of vessel traffic on Beluga whales in the Eastern Beaufort Sea, and using seabirds to estimate the deposition of microplastics.
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Wildlife Society Conference
The Kelvin students in NorthSTAR (Northern Student-led Arctic Research) presented two posters at the Wildlife Society Conference together with Szandra Temesvari and Donna Labun. The students have all traveled up to Churchill and have been doing research with Dr. Jane Waterman from the University of Manitoba. Over the last six years, Kelvin students have been monitoring polar bears and permafrost and trying to link them to the sea ice and what is happening to our climate. The two posters that they presented this year are:
Examining the relationship between non-invasive estimates of body condition of polar bears and the break-up of sea ice in Churchill, MB. and Photogrammetry: Sizing up a Polar Bear.
The students made a big splash at the conference, impressing the researchers and judges, and ended up winning one of the two poster prizes for the best student poster! They were competing against undergraduate and graduate students. Congratulations to Laia Shpeller, Sarah Rauf, Paulina Hernandez-Sainz, Daniel Strong, Aidan Pinsk, Marissa Hamlin, Margarita Busheva, and Bridgette Nzomwita. We are thankful for continuing support from the University of Manitoba Science Department and NSERC PromoScience. Also, a big thank you to Dr. Waterman for her mentoring and support of the students.
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Wildlife Society conference 2014:
Waspusk National Park Research Symposium
In December 2016, the NorthSTAR students were invited to present at the Wapusk National Park Research Symposium. This symposium highlighted the research that is being done in Wapusk National Park and allowed for some valuable collaboration with other scientists.
Kelvin Celebrates Science Odyssey Week - Science Rendezvous
Students from the Kelvin ISAMR program ran a booth at the National Science Rendezvous event on May 11th at the University of Manitoba. This public event attracted 5,000 children from across the province to experience the wonder of science. The Kelvin students introduced youngsters to the WhiskerPrint and Body Condition polar bear research that we have been conducting since 2012. As the only high school group at this event, the students joined with the university students to put on an exciting day of science.
Earlier in the week, these same ISAMR (International Arctic Monitoring and Research) students led activities for high school students in another Science Odyssey event at the Assiniboine Park Zoo with Dr. Jim Roth from the UM Department of Biological Sciences. The events included various photogrammetry techniques which allow for non-invasive polar bear research.
