Graduate Students Receive $15,000 in Federal Funds for Northern Field Research

(March 30, 2011 - Thunder Bay, ON)  Six graduate students at Lakehead have been awarded $15,000 for field research support in Northern Canada. The funds are granted through the Northern Scientific Training Program (NSTP), a Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development program administered at Lakehead by the Centre for Northern Studies (CNS). NSTP aims to promote interest in northern studies, and provide opportunities for advanced and graduate students to obtain experience and professional training in the North.

"Over the past two years, Lakehead students have been awarded almost $35,000 to offset the cost of conducting field work in the Canadian North,” states CNS Director and Chair of the Interdisciplinary Northern Studies Programs Committee, Dr. Michel S. Beaulieu. “Our student's continued success at these highly competitive grants underscores the ongoing significance of our university in northern research.”

"Graduate students pursuing research in Northern Canada are participating in one of the core areas that distinguishes Lakehead from most other research-intensive Canadian schools," adds Dr. Philip Hicks, Dean of Graduate Studies.

Projects supported this year include:

• David Finch, MES in Northern Environments and Cultures, "Customary Patterns of Animal Use and Disposal in Fort Severn"
• Ryan Garnett, MES in Nature Based Recreation and Tourism, "Incorporating 3D Visualization into Wilderness Perception Mapping"
• William Halliday, MSc in Biology, "A Comparative Analysis of Transborder Effect of Predation Risk on Lemming Habitat Use"
• Jocelyn Inksetter, MES in Northern Environments and Cultures, "Women's Work: Balancing Subsistence and Wage Labour in Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut"
• Charlie Mattina, MES in Nature-Based Recreation and Tourism, "Vulnerability in Canada's North: Understanding a Community's Adaptive Needs to Climate Change"
• Mary Jane Moses, MSc in Biology, "Impact of Grizzly Bear Lemming Habitat Use"