Windsor 2012: Save the date!

The 2012 CSWA annual meeting will officially take place at the University of Windsor, June 2-5, 2012.

We’ll go behind the scenes of the science and technology in one of North America’s hubs for automotive technology.

 Preliminary Program

Day 1 – Saturday June 2

Registration and check in – Vanier Hall Lobby – 12 noon – 3:00pm

The Science and History of Booze and Gambling (3-5 p.m) -

Canadian Club Brand Centre, Riverside Drive

A tour of the facility with guest speakers including Marty Gervais, former Windsor Star columnist, resident writing professional in the University of Windsor’s Department of English Language, Literature and Creative writing, Windsor’s poet laureate and author of The Rumrunners: A Prohibition Scrapbook.

Awards Gala and Dinner –University of Windsor

Day 2 – Sunday June 3

8:00 am – 9 am – Continental Breakfast 

9:00 am – 9:15 am – Welcoming remarks:

CSWA President Peter McMahon and University of Windsor President Dr. Alan Wildeman

9:15-10 a.m. Keynote Speaker: Dr. Saad Jasim, Director, Great Lakes Regional Office, International Joint Commission

30 minute AM Nutrition Break

10:30 – 11:45 a.m. – concurrent breakout sessions

Session One – Professional Development

How to understand medical statistics/How to get through a medical paper

Session Two – Alternative Energy

Moderator: Rebecca Filbey, Clean Energy Coalition, Michigan

Panelists:

Dr. Rupp Carriveau, UWindsor engineering professor (energy storage)

Dr. Colin Novak, UWindsor engineering professor, Noise, Vibration and Harshness–Sound Quality Research Group, within the Department of Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering

Klaus Doring of Green Sun Rising, Windsor-based company which develops and supplies solar systems

Session Three – Alternative Energy and Transportation

Maximizing the efficiency of the hybrid engine, using biofuels

Moderator: TBD

Panelists:

Dr. Narayan Kar, Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Canada Research Chair in Hybrid Electric Drivetrain Systems

Dean Thiessen, Pyramid Farms local greenhouse tomato producer growing miscanthus to supply their energy needs.  Working to commercial miscanthus in North America and the UK

12 – 1:15 p.m. – Lunch

Keynote Speaker:

Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC Radio’s White Coat, Black Art

1:30-2:30 –  concurrent breakout sessions

Session one –Climate change and its effects on the Arctic

Moderator: TBD

Panelists:

Dr. Hugh MacIsaac, Professor in the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research and Director of the Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network

Dr. Aaron Fisk, Professor in the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research and lead scientist on the Arctic Portion of the Ocean Tracking Network

Dr. Gord McBean, University of Western Ontario and president of the International Council for Science (ICSU). (TBC)

Session two –Environmental remediation – restoring mined landscapes in the oil-sands of Alberta to their natural beauty and cleaning up the Great Lakes

Moderator: TBD

Panelists:

Dr. Jan Ciborowski, Biology Professor leads a research network to understand how wetland and their foodwebs develop in the oil sands environment, and the effectiveness of different reclamation strategies

Dr. Doug Haffner, Professor, former director of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research and a leading expert on Great Lakes water quality issues, also has international collaborations on water quality projects in China

Session three – Professional development

Moving from Academia to Science Communications

30 minute PM Nutrition Break

3-4 p.m. Poster session/Speed dating with scientists

5-6:30 AGM and election of officers

7 pm Evening Speaker or tour/ open to public

-Nature Walk, Essex Field Naturalists at the Ojibway Nature Centre

Day 3 – Monday June 4

8:00 am – 9:00 am Continental Breakfast

9:00 am-9:15 am – Welcoming Remarks

9:15 am – 10 am

Keynote speaker: Dr. Peter Frise, CEO and Scientific Director of AUTO21

30 minute AM Nutrition Break

10:30 – 11:45 – Concurrent breakout sessions

Session One – Professional Development

Separating spin from science. How to read between (or above!) the lines of the endless PR pitches, and get the real information

Session Two - Creating the lightweight, fuel efficient, environmentally friendly vehicles of the future

Moderator: TBD

Panelists:

Dr. Justin Gammage, Chief Scientist at GM Canada

Session Three – Sustainable manufacturing

Moderator: TBD

Panelists:

Dr. Hoda El Maraghy, Director of UWindsor’s Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Centre and Canada Research Chair in Manufacturing Systems

Dr. Gord Surgeonor, President, Ontario Agri-Food Technologies – Use of agricultural wastes for use in creating finished products.

12 – 1 p.m. lunch

1:15-2:45 – Two concurrent breakout sessions

Session One – Sustainable agriculture for the future

Moderator: TBD

Panelists:

 Dr. Bill Crosby, UWindsor Biology Professor and partner in three-university, Genome Canada funded project aimed at creating disease resistant beans that could also be used in biodegradable products.

Dr. Chin Tan Senior Research Scientist, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Harrow. His research team has developed a system that captures and stores excess water from tile drainage systems and returns it to crops during dry periods.  The technology has been implemented across North America and has significantly improved both crop productivity and water quality.

Dr. Ed Topp, Senior Research Scientist, environmental microbiology and environmental chemistry, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, London Dr. Topp’s research seeks to enhance the environmental performance of Canadian agricultural systems by minimizing the risk to humans and the environment from contaminants carried in organic fertilizers of human or animal origin. These include emerging organic contaminants including hormonal substances and pharmaceuticals, and pathogenic and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Session two – Keeping up with viruses

Moderator: Pauline Dakin, CBC national health/medical reporter (invited)

Panelists:

Dr. Frank Plummer, Scientific Director General of PHAC’s National Microbiology Laboratory, as well as Chief Science Advisor for PHAC . Dr. Plummer is a world-renowned HIV/infectious disease expert with an extremely wide scope of knowledge and he is always up on current issues related to infectious diseases. The NML is located in the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This modern state-of-the-art facility houses the NML’s Biological Safety Level (BSL 4) containment laboratory, currently Canada’s only operational BSL 4 laboratory and one of just 15 such laboratories in the world.

Dr. Donald Low, Microbiologist-in-Chief, Department of Microbiology (shared service with Mt. Sinai) at the University Health Network in Toronto

Dr. Andrew Potter, Director, VIDO-Intervac, University of Saskatchewan’s International Vaccine Centre. The $140 million vaccine research and development centre is developing vaccines to protect people and animals from the threat of emerging or persistent diseases such as avian influenza or tuberculosis. This new facility will be the first Containment Level 3 facility in Western Canada dealing with both human and large animal disease.

2:45 pm – 3:00 pm – PM Nutrition Break

3 pm – 4:30 pm – Concurrent breakout sessions

Session One – location TBD – Professional development

Top 10 Apps for Science Communication

Session Two –Water, habitat and aquatic species

Dr. Melania Cristescu is an associate professor in the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research. Her areas of expertise include aquatic invasive species and evolutionary genetics.

Industry/government representatives  and other speakers

Session Three – Food and water safety

 Dr. Steven Rehse is an associate professor in medical physics at the University of Windsor. His areas of expertise include using laser technology to develop devices that would detect the presence of potentially harmful bacteria on the surfaces of food products and in drinking water.

Dr. Matthew Gilmour, National Microbiology Laboratory, Winnipeg, Acting Director of the Bacteriology & Enteric Diseases Program, co-chair the water & food Safety & Enteric Issue Group of the Canadian Public Health Laboratory Network .

4:30 p.m. – Final remarks by CSWA president Peter McMahon

Day 4 – Tuesday June 5

Tour day

Go behind the scenes and see the science and technology that drives this region.  Discovery the diversity contained in Windsor and Essex County.  Tours may include University of Windsor labs, the new Centre for Engineering Innovation, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research.  We will also venture into the county to explore local conservation efforts, agriculture, greenhouse, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s federal research centre in Harrow.  And of course no visit to the region would be complete without a visit to a local winery,

To inquire about corporate and government support opportunities for the year’s largest meeting of science and technology journalists, communications specialists, and other writers, contact office@sciencewriters.ca