Dr. Tarlok Sahota

February 6, 2023 – Thunder Bay, Ont.  

Dr. Tarlok Sahota is one of 11 individuals who will be inducted into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame in June.

Dr. Sahota, the Director of the Lakehead University Agricultural Research Station, is the first person from Thunder Bay to receive this honour.

He has made great contributions in his work managing and sustaining the privately-run Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station and its successful transition to the Lakehead University Agricultural Research Station.

Under the leadership of Dr. Sahota, the research station has always focussed on development-oriented agricultural research that found an easy application on farms, due to vigorous extension efforts of Dr. Sahota and receptive farmers.

Until 2004, Thunder Bay producers grew only a few crops that were needed for cattle. Dr. Sahota’s research and extension helped area growers to diversify their cropping systems by adding numerous crops to their mix.

He has authored hundreds of publications, extension articles and participated in media reports.

Thunder Bay farmers rely on research conducted by Dr. Sahota to make their businesses more profitable and environmentally sustainable.

The Thunder Bay Federation of Agriculture nominated Dr. Sahota, for which he is very grateful.

“This induction means a lot to me,” Dr. Sahota said.

“It is a recognition of the farmer-focussed research that I perform at LUARS. It is also a recognition of the Northwestern Ontario farmers who brought prosperity on their farms and in the rural communities by quickly adopting my research.”

All individuals have been selected by the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame Association as worthy candidates based on their life-long commitments to Ontario agriculture.

The inductees will be recognized in a ceremony on June 11, bringing the total number of inductees recognized since 1980 to 256. To qualify for this prestigious recognition, inductees must have shown visionary leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

“Congratulations to Dr. Sahota on being inducted into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame. This is a great honour and represents a long career of work providing valuable extension work to our Agricultural community,” said Dr. Andrew P. Dean, Lakehead University’s Vice-President, Research and Innovation.

For more about the inductees, visit this page.

– 30 –

Media: For more information or interviews, please contact Brandon Walker, Media, Communications and Marketing Associate, at (807) 343-8110 ext. 8372 or mediarelations@lakeheadu.ca.

Lakehead University is a fully comprehensive university with approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and over 2,000 faculty and staff at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead has nine faculties, including Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Graduate Studies, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Law, Natural Resources Management, Science & Environmental Studies, and Social Sciences & Humanities. Lakehead University’s achievements have been recognized nationally and internationally, including being ranked in the top half of Times Higher Education's 2023 World Universities Rankings for the fourth consecutive year, and the number one university in the world with fewer than 10,000 students in THE’s 2022 Impact Rankings (which assesses institutions against the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals). Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.

Dr. Rosario Adapon Turvey, Associate Professor of Sustainability Sciences and Geography and the Environment at Lakehead University, has just published her new book: “Perspectives on Economic Security” released by Cambridge Scholars Publishing on February 20, 2023. 

This book on economic security is particularly timely as the world economy confronts difficult challenges – such as the COVID-19 pandemic and high inflation rates that may trigger financial crisis and concerns about likely recessions in national economies and societies across the globe. 

Economic security is a valuable, influential and multi-dimensional subject of intellectual inquiry in the social sciences and interdisciplinary fields. This book explores the multifaceted perspectives on economic security from the standpoint of sustainability, labour, economic diplomacy, global development and fragile states. 

This book will inform learners, researchers and practitioners about recent research and pedagogical trends from a wide range of viewpoints shaping economic security and insecurity worldwide. 

For more information about Dr. Turvey’s book, please visit this page. 

Lakehead University’s School of Nursing is pleased to announce the grand opening of its newest lab in the Braun Building, located in BB 1022.

The Nursing Skills Lab is a 10-bed, hands-on learning space that provides students with opportunities to use mannequins and other equipment to practice nursing on as they learn assessment and skills theory and put it into practice.

Since 1965, the School has built capacity for nursing leadership in Northwestern Ontario and beyond.

With full national accreditation, Lakehead’s nursing curriculum includes theory, labs and simulations, and clinical experiences at every level from the moment students arrive on campus.

The School of Nursing continues to flourish with the addition of a graduate program – the Masters of Nursing - Nurse Practitioner [NP] and Advanced Nursing Practice [APN] streams added in 2021.

All are welcome to visit the new lab on Tuesday, March 14, between 10 am and 12:30 pm. There will also be a door prize!

The grand opening speeches and ribbon cutting will occur at 12:30 pm.

In the afternoon, the School of Nursing will host a recruitment event with high school students who will enjoy an immersive learning experience with a variety of nursing skills.

SDG Week Canada is a national collaboration from March 6 to 10, 2023 featuring workshops, panels, and other interactive programming to increase awareness of and engagement with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on university and college campuses. Brought to you by the Sustainability Hub at UBC, SDSN Canada, and Colleges and Institutes Canada, and locally through the Office of Sustainability. SDG Week Canada aims to:

-Raise awareness of the SDGs through interdisciplinary teaching and learning opportunities on post-secondary campuses.
-Build long-term momentum around the SDGs in Canada’s post-secondary sector by embedding and institutionalizing the SDGs in campus operations, strategic planning, teaching, learning, and research.
-Create a cross-disciplinary collaborative environment for post-secondary institutions to work together and across sectors to advance the SDGs in Canada.
-Integrate the guiding values of the SDGs to create inclusive and respectful conversations to inform universal, transformative, and interconnected solutions.

Please visit https://www.lakeheadu.ca/about/sustainability/events for more information about individual event and see the above poster for the weekly schedule of events.

The R&I Bulletin is distributed weekly every Tuesday by the Office of Research Services and includes information on research funding opportunities, events, workshops and news updates from our funding partners. The latest version of the R&I Bulletin (as well as past issues) can be accessed here.

Check out the latest Lake Superior Living Labs Network (LSLLN) newsletter to learn about LSLLN's first 2023 webinar on Feb. 21, The Thin Outdoors: Creating a Culture of Fat Inclusion in Outdoor Recreation by Leigh Potvin, information about two documentary screenings, and three updates from the SSM hub.

January 30, 2023 – Thunder Bay, Ont.  

Starting in Fall 2023, Lakehead University’s Faculty of Engineering will offer a new Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering (BEng) program for undergraduate students.

Recently approved by the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance, the new program is pending final approval from Lakehead’s Senate this winter.

Lakehead is now one of six universities in the province and the first in Northern Ontario to offer a degree in Mechatronics Engineering.

Mechatronics Engineering is a new and rapidly growing multi-disciplinary branch of engineering that is at the intersection of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, and Computer Science. This includes the design of robotics, control systems, and electromechanical systems.

“The technological revolution we are experiencing is increasingly merging traditional disciplines of engineering, and new ones are emerging, including Mechatronics Engineering,” said Professor Janusz Kozinski, Dean of Engineering at Lakehead University.

“This is a truly innovative field at the forefront of new industries, and we are thrilled to offer this program to students at Lakehead.”

The Mechatronics Engineering BEng program will initially be available at the Thunder Bay campus.

The program has been designed to prepare students to create technologies that support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

With sustainability and co-op at its core, this program will integrate business, law, and public safety into the learning experience – giving students a deeper and broader insight to accompany their engineering expertise.

“We have listened to industry and employers across the province who are telling us they need highly skilled mechatronics engineering graduates to drive innovation and develop new technologies.

“In this program, students will gain the skills they need to design the intelligent machines of the future, from electric vehicles to large-scale industrial robots,” Dr. Kozinski added.

Students can apply from high school or via Lakehead’s unique college transfer program that enables engineering technology diploma graduates to complete a Bachelor of Engineering degree in only two years.

Lakehead offers six undergraduate engineering programs: Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Software Engineering, and now Mechatronics Engineering.

For more information, visit lakehead.engineering/mechatronics or contact program coordinator Dr. Wilson Wang at wilson.wang@lakeheadu.ca.

– 30 –

Media: For more information or interviews, please contact Brandon Walker, Media, Communications and Marketing Associate, at (807) 343-8110 ext. 8372 or mediarelations@lakeheadu.ca.

Lakehead University is a fully comprehensive university with approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and over 2,000 faculty and staff at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead has nine faculties, including Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Graduate Studies, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Law, Natural Resources Management, Science & Environmental Studies, and Social Sciences & Humanities. Lakehead University’s achievements have been recognized nationally and internationally, including being ranked in the top half of Times Higher Education's 2023 World Universities Rankings for the fourth consecutive year, and the number one university in the world with fewer than 10,000 students in THE’s 2022 Impact Rankings (which assesses institutions against the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals). Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.

Co-Directors Robin Sutherland, left, and Larissa Speak unveiled the Institute's new logo, a Thunderbird, on Thursday, Jan. 26.

January 26, 2023 – Thunder Bay, Ont.  

Today Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law unveiled the new Anishnaabemowin name of the Indigenous Law and Justice Institute and a new logo at a ceremony in the John N. Paterson Auditorium.

The new name, Mino-Waabandan Inaakonigewinan, means “seeing the law in a good way.”

Elder Ron Linklater bestowed the new name on the Institute during a naming ceremony at Bora Laskin’s inaugural summer land-based learning camp in August 2022.

Designed by local Anishinaabe artist Ryan Pooman, the new logo is a Thunderbird. The logo represents power, protection, and strength – qualities associated with vision and leadership that will guide the Institute.

Originally led by former Professor Nancy Sandy as Director and supported by Sherry Abotossaway as Outreach and Research Coordinator, the Institute currently consists of Co-Directors Larissa Speak, Assistant Professor at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, and Robin Sutherland, the Director of Indigenous Relations at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law.

Anna Chief, the Indigenous Outreach and Recruitment Coordinator with Indigenous Initiatives at Lakehead University, is the Institute’s Land-Based Learning Coordinator.

“Today, we are extremely excited to share the Anishinaabemowin name we were ceremonially gifted at our inaugural summer land-based learning camp, as well as the logo created for our institute,” Speak said.

Both the name and logo reflect the important work the Institute is doing with communities to revitalize Indigenous laws and legal orders. 

“Mino-waabandan Inaakonigewinan,’ or ‘seeing the law in a good way,’ is something we strive for daily through our law program and the Institute’s activities. The Thunderbird image also relates to seeing law in a good way and reflects our location in Thunder Bay, especially with Fort William First Nation being our closest neighbour and home to Anemki Wajiw, or Thunder Mountain,” Sutherland said. 

“Looking ahead to the future, we are excited to continue working to fulfill community needs in terms of law revitalization, hosting our biennial Indigenous Law Conference, expanding our land-based learning camp, building our resource library, and supporting student and faculty research.  We are sincerely grateful to the Department of Justice and the Law Foundation of Ontario for their ongoing support,” Speak said.

– 30 –

Media: For more information or interviews, please contact Brandon Walker, Media, Communications and Marketing Associate, at (807) 343-8110 ext. 8372 or mediarelations@lakeheadu.ca.

Lakehead University is a fully comprehensive university with approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and over 2,000 faculty and staff at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead has nine faculties, including Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Graduate Studies, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Law, Natural Resources Management, Science & Environmental Studies, and Social Sciences & Humanities. Lakehead University’s achievements have been recognized nationally and internationally, including being ranked in the top half of Times Higher Education's 2023 World Universities Rankings for the fourth consecutive year, and the number one university in the world with fewer than 10,000 students in THE’s 2022 Impact Rankings (which assesses institutions against the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals). Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.

 

Dr. Aislin Mushquash and her team will conduct a randomized controlled trial to investigate if the JoyPop^TM app
is an effective intervention for adolescents experiencing mild to moderate mental health symptoms who are on
the waitlist for outpatient services.

January 25, 2023 – Thunder Bay and Orillia, Ont.

Dr. Aislin Mushquash, a Clinical Psychologist at Dilico Anishinabek Family Care and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Lakehead University, is receiving a prestigious SickKids/Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Research Grant.

The three-year, $299,938 grant will fund a unique study aimed at improving mental health for 12-to-18-year-old youth in Northwestern Ontario.

Dr. Mushquash and her team will conduct a randomized controlled trial to investigate if the JoyPop^TM app is an effective intervention for adolescents experiencing mild to moderate mental health symptoms who are on the waitlist for outpatient services.

The study will be in partnership with Dilico Anishinabek Family Care and Children’s Centre Thunder Bay, two of the busiest organizations providing mental health services to youth in Northwestern Ontario.

“As psychologists, we talk about the detriments of excessive screen time,” Dr. Mushquash said. “But we have an opportunity to turn the phones that youth already have in their pockets into a positive resource.”

Dr. Mushquash’s earlier studies established that the JoyPop^TM app can help older youth develop better emotion regulation strategies and reduce symptoms of distress, that users see value in the app, and that youth and service providers are open to integrating the app into usual care. She said that the primary goal of the next trial is to find out if younger youth seeking mental health services can also benefit.

The study will also investigate differences across the gender spectrum and between Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth, whether this early intervention reduces the level and amount of services needed downstream, and whether the app increases the willingness for youth to engage with services more fully once they are able to access them.

“That’s a new piece we’ll be measuring – the motivation and the readiness for counselling after using the app,” she said.

The need in Northwestern Ontario is greater than most places in Ontario and Canada. Wait times are longer and there are fewer mental health clinicians to serve youth in need. If successful, this app could help address those factors to provide support faster.

“Of course, an app will never replace coming in and talking to a counsellor, social worker, or psychologist. But we hope it can be something that allows youth to start building their capacity and skill set in the short term.”

The JoyPop^TM app is a made-in-Canada solution developed in collaboration with researchers at McMaster University and Clearbridge Mobile. Currently, the app is available for the iPhone and iPad.

Dr. Mushquash’s team purchased used iPhones that they will give to youth who do not have one for the duration of their research, thanks to a Thunder Bay Community Foundation grant received during their pilot research.

New Investigator Research Grants enable early-career researchers to make a meaningful contribution to the fight for children’s health. SickKids Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health jointly sponsor these grants.

This program provides child health researchers who are early in their careers with support so they can compete for research grants with more senior investigators.

“Congratulations to Dr. Mushquash for receiving this important grant and thanks to SickKIds and CIHR for the funding,” said Dr. Andrew P. Dean, Lakehead’s Vice-President, Research and Innovation.

“This research will allow Dr. Mushquash to build upon her previous evaluations of JoyPop and to extend it to youth. It is absolutely clear that finding and evaluating the effectiveness of new methods to help our youth with mental health symptoms has never been more important.

“This is particularly important in Northwestern Ontario where capacity for mental health counselling is less than in other areas of the province,” Dr. Dean said.

– 30 –

Media: For more information or interviews, please contact Brandon Walker, Media, Communications and Marketing Associate, at (807) 343-8110 ext. 8372 or mediarelations@lakeheadu.ca.

Lakehead University is a fully comprehensive university with approximately 9,700 full-time equivalent students and over 2,000 faculty and staff at two campuses in Orillia and Thunder Bay, Ontario. Lakehead has nine faculties, including Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Graduate Studies, Health & Behavioural Sciences, Law, Natural Resources Management, Science & Environmental Studies, and Social Sciences & Humanities. Lakehead University’s achievements have been recognized nationally and internationally, including being ranked in the top half of Times Higher Education's 2023 World Universities Rankings for the fourth consecutive year, and the number one university in the world with fewer than 10,000 students in THE’s 2022 Impact Rankings (which assesses institutions against the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals). Visit www.lakeheadu.ca.

The R&I Bulletin is distributed every Tuesday by the Office of Research Services and includes information on research funding opportunities, events, workshops and news/updates from our funding partners.

The latest version of the R&I Bulletin (as well as past issues) can be accessed by clicking here.