News Update December 2016

Markus Hecker renewed as Canada Research Chair; Yanping Li wins UCAR Outstanding Accomplishment Award; Doug Clark a co-author of WWF Arctic report

News

Announcements

Markus Hecker to lead research team to develop tool for assessing environmental risk of chemicals
A U of S research team led by toxicologist Markus Hecker of GIWS will work with scientists from McGill University and Environment and Climate Change Canada on a $9.6-million project to develop and commercialize a new genomics tool for assessing the risk of chemicals in the environment.
Working with industry partners, the project’s aim is to develop a commercial testing tool known as EcoToxChip that will help regulatory agencies and industry assess the safety of thousands of chemicals in the environment. Read more on this project here.

Yanping Li wins UCAR Outstanding Accomplishment Award
Yanping Li of GIWS along with Rit Carbone has won an award for Outstanding Publication for "Excitation of Rainfall over the Tropical Western Pacific", published in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. The announcement was made on December 9 at the UCAR 2016 Outstanding Accomplishment Awards and Holiday Celebration. Click here for more information on this award. Click here for a link to the full article.

GIWS’ Doug Clark a co-author of WWF Arctic report
Doug Clark, a GIWS member, is among the co-authors of a report published by the World Wildlife Fund on the the increasing conflicts between polar bears and people in Northern Canada. The report, titled Hudson Bay Front-Line Operators Workshop (FLOW) on Polar Bear-Human Conflict Reduction Measures, examines the experiences and information of those who participated in a workshop convened at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, Manitoba, from March 21-24 2016.

Markus Hecker renewed as Canada Research Chair
Markus Hecker is among the group of 203 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs that were unveiled on Dec. 2. The federal program, which hands out lucrative awards to more than 1,600 researchers in a wide variety of fields across the country, has awarded a provincial total of $3.8 million to Saskatchewan via the U of S. Hecker will continue on as Canada Research Chair in Predictive Aquatic Ecotoxicology. For more information, visit the government of Canada website here and here, or see this Globe and Mail article.
 
$550,000 invested in water resilience & vulnerability study
Alberta Innovates (AI) has announced $6.9 million in funding for 18 new projects to support their Water Innovation Program. This program helps AIs partners achieve their goals and the Government of Alberta deliver on the goals of its Water for Life Strategy.
Among that funding is $550,000 for Rocky Mountain Water Supply Resilience and Vulnerability Evaluation, a study lead by GIWS' own John Pomeroy — director of the Centre for Hydrology and associate program director with Global Water Futures. Read more here.

Toddi Steelman of SENS/GIWS comments on wildfire to CBC’s The National
Wildfire is one of the consequences of a changing climate, says Toddi Steelman, executive director of the U of S School of Environment and Sustainability and an expert on wildfires. And that threat to cities such as Prince Albert is only going to grow.
“We are going to see more wildfire, we are going to see more intense activity,” Steelman told CBC’s The National in an interview published on Dec. 9, 2016. 

Centennial Enhancement Chair
Helen Baulch of GIWS has been awarded a five-year Centennial Enhancement Chair in Aquatic Ecosystem Biogeochemistry.

GIWS’ Doug Clark featured in Biological Conservation
Doug Clark, a GIWS member, is among the co-authors of a new article published in Biological Conservation, titled "Conservation social science: Understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation." The article examines the need to consider humans’ livelihoods, cultural traditions and dependence on natural resources when planning and carrying out conservation projects around the world.

Bradford and Bharadwaj Team on Article, Book Chapter
Lori Bradford and Lalita Bharadwaj of GIWS are among the co-authors of a new article published in Science Direct, titled "There Is No Publicity Like Word Of Mouth… Lessons for Communicating Drinking Water Risks in the Urban Setting. Sustainable Cities and Society," and a book chapter on Indigenizing water governance in Canada available in the print edition of Water Policy in Canada.

Ecology Under Lake Ice
Winter conditions are rapidly changing in temperate ecosystems, particularly for those that experience periods of snow and ice cover. GIWS' Helen Baulch has co-authored a paper, with collaborators including post docs Rebecca North and Michael Kehoe, on ecologies under frozen lakes. The article can be read in full here.

AGU Student Events
The American Geophysical Union 2016 Fall Meeting, taking place December 12 - 16 in San Francisco, CA, is hosting a number of events organized by the Hydrological Section Student Subcommittee, including: 

For information on those activities which do not have accompanying links, please visit the AGU website.