Windsor 2012: Great Science in the Heart of the Great Lakes!

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. 

Keynote Speakers & Panelists

Program

Day 1 – Saturday June 2

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

Optional off-campus event from 10 am – 2 pm:

The Renewable Energy Technology Centrewill host its third annual Electric Vehicle Event to showcase some of the latest technology in the field of clean transportation. Located at Green Sun Rising, a local solar energy system designer and supplier, the centre collaborates with University of Windsor researchers on a variety of renewable energy projects. There will be a variety of vehicles on display as well as a number of researchers available to talk about the science of clean transportation.

Note: This centre is located several kilometres away from campus, but volunteers will be available to shuttle interested delegates back and forth to the centre. There is no fee for this event.

The Science and History of Booze and Rum-Running (3-5 p.m) – Canadian Club Brand Centre and Wiser’s Reception Centre,

Riverside Drive

A tour of the facility will provide you with a glimpse into Windsor’s rich history during the Prohibition years as well as an inside look at the fascinating science that goes in to distilling spirits. Guest speakers include:

Don Livermore, a Master   Blender for Hiram Walker & Sons distillery in Windsor, Ontario. In 2003, he authored a chapter in the Alcohol Textbook, 4th edition on the use of NIR as an analytical resource for the ethanol industry.

 

 

 

 

Marty Gervais, formerWindsor 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.

7:00 pm – Speakeasy Awards Gala and Dinner – Ambassador Room in CAW Centre

Day 2 – Sunday June 3

8:00 am – 9 am – Continental Breakfast 

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

CSWA President Stephen Strauss 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

Understanding medical journal articles and medical statistics

Moderator: Carolyn Brown, freelance science and medicine writer and editor

Panelists:

Hannah Hoag, freelance journalist in science, the environment and medicine

Brian Goldman, MD, host of CBC Radio’s White Coat, Black Art, and emergency physician at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto

Jerry Tan, MD, FRCPC (dermatology), adjunct professor at the University of Western Ontario and principal investigator with Windsor Clinical Research Inc.

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: Theresa Chong, Professional Engineer (Civil) and Science Journalism Student

Panelists:

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

Dr. Cedric Briens,  University of Western Ontario, Engineering and co-founder of the Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR)

Dean Tiessen, Pyramid Farms local greenhouse tomato producer growing miscanthus to supply their energy needs.  Working to commercialize 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 – halting the spread of invasive species and monitoring the migration of aquatic mammals as the ice recedes.

Moderator: Jim Handman, Executive Producer of the CBC radio science program Quirks and Quarks

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. Kimberly Strong, Professor Department of Physics, University of Toronto and PEARL scientist. Atmospheric physics, ozone depletion, climate change and the closure of the PEARL station.

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

Moderator:  Kathryn Warden, Director, University Research Communications, U of S Office of the Vice-President Research

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

Robin Angell,Stantec Engineering in Guelph, former grad student of Dr. Haffner’s who worked on the metabolism of contaminants during amphibian hibernation. Currently works on toxicity testing related to sites with historic petroleum spills, determining the toxicity to soil organisms of new products such as nanomaterials, and using plant seeds treated with native growth-promoting bacteria to remediate petroleum contaminated landscapes.

Session three: Professional Development

Shift work: career paths in science communication.

Moderator, Hannah Hoag

Panelists

Samia Madwar, New Media Editor at Canadian Geographic

Marlene Orton, director of media and communications for Genome Canada

Lesley Evans Ogden, Ph.D, Freelance Journalist and Science Communications Specialist

 

30 minute PM Nutrition Break – board buses for Automotive Research and Development Centre

3-4 p.m Automotive Research and Development Centre – Chrysler Canada/University of Windsor

4-5pm Speed Dating with the Scientists

Introduction by Stephen Fields

Remarks from Sarah O’Neill, Research Partnerships Promotion Officer at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council

Bill Altenhof, vehicle crash worthiness

Susan Sawyer-Beaulieau, end-of-life vehicle recycling

Lisa Porter, cancer researcher

Jill Urbanic, automotive light-weight castings

Sherah Van Laerhoven, forensic entomologist

Tricia Carmichael, flexible electronics

Dr. Siyaram Pandey, natural health products and cancer

5-6pm “Dinner by Headlight”

6-6:45pm AGM and election of officers

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. Moderator, Pauline Dakin CBC national health/medical reporter

Panelists:

Helen Branswell, medical reporter Canadian Press

Julia Belluz, associate editor of the Medical Post and Maclean’s Magazine

Marlene Orton, director of media and communications for Genome Canada

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

Moderator: David Lapp, FEC P.Eng, Engineers Canada

Panelists:

Dr. Justin Gammage, Chief Scientist at GM Canada

Daniel Green, Professor in Mechanical, Automotive and Materials Engineering at the University of Windsor and Canada Research Chair in Development and Optimization of Metal Forming Processes

Dave Miller, VP Technology of the Woodbridge Group, an automotive foam manufacturer and board member of the AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence

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

Dr. Amar Mohanty, Director, Bioproducts Discovery & Development Centre (BDDC), Premier’s Research Chair in Biomaterials & Transportation, University of Guelph.

12 – 1 p.m. Key note speaker Dr. Kym Boycott, Meet Dr. Kym Boycott: a DNA detective who is hunting for childhood diseases that are killing our kids.

1:15-2:45 Session – Keeping up with viruses

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

Panelists:

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.

Dr. Phillip Pellett, Professor in the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine. He served as Chief of the Herpesvirus Section at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1986 until 2003 research is aimed at understanding the biology of human herpesviruses and improving clinical outcomes of herpesvirus infections. He’ll be speaking on the subject of “old viruses doing new tricks.

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

3 pm – 4:30 pm – Concurrent breakout sessions

Session One – Sustainable agriculture for the future

Moderator: Gordon Leathers, B.Sc. award-winning freelance agricultural journalist

Panelists:

Dr. Bill Crosby, University of Windsor 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 –Water, habitat and aquatic species

Moderator: Lesley Evans Ogden, Ph.D, Freelance Journalist and Science Communications Specialist

Panelists:

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.

Dr. Tom Edge, is co-leading a national study to develop a Canadian water quality standard for waterborne pathogens in agricultural watersheds under the National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative (NAESI)

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 .

Dr. Saad Jasim, Director, Great Lakes Regional Office, International Joint Commission.  He will discuss the presence of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) and Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) in drinking water – one of the major challenges facing the drinking water industry – and the use of advanced technologies such as Ozone and Ozone based Advanced Oxidation processes to provide high removal of these compounds.

4:30 p.m. – Final remarks by CSWA  President Stephen Strauss

Day 4 – Tuesday June 5

Tour day

8:30-9:30 a.m.

Two 30-minute CEI lab tours; Group A tours Hoda EIMaraghy’s iDesign Studio and iFactory, Group B tours Narayan Kar’s CHARGE hybrid-electric vehicle lab, switch labs at 9:30

9:30 a.m.

30 minute tour of the rest of the CEI facilty

 

10:15 a.m.

Bus to the UWindsor Lasalle Fish Breeding and Conservation Centre

11:15 a.m.

Bus to Harrow at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre.  Lunch and tours of research facilities for greenhouse, soybean breeding and environmental research.

Guests will visit one of the largest greenhouse research facilities in North America, see research that supports the development of high-yielding soybeans and edible beans with special quality traits for food processing, and talk to scientists whose research on the quality and sustainable use of Ontario soils helps farmers reduce greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient losses from agricultural soils.

1:30 p.m.Bus to Point Pelee National Park, Become an ecologist for a day

Will planting a seed in Point Pelee’s savannah help restore native vegetation?  Can prescribed fires mimic the clearing actions of severe thunderstorms that once passed through the Point Pelee Peninsula maintaining the open, savannah habitat? Visit the Park’s jungle-like restoration sites to see sun-loving plants and animals that call the savannah home. While hiking the paths along restoration areas, stories of savannah’s past, present, and future will unfold before our eyes. Experiment with scientific tools that track changes in restoration sites and guide ongoing conservation efforts.

 Participants are encouraged to bring digital cameras, to wear boots, and long-sleeved clothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4:45 p.m.

Bus to Sprucewood Estates for wine tasting, light meal

7:00 p.m. 

Depart winery and head back to campus