Atmospheric chemists in the Faculty of Science, including Professors Cora Young and Trevor VandenBoer and their graduate student Daniel Persaud, are participating in the 快播视频 of Winter Air Pollution in Toronto (SWAPIT), led by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). The study aims to better understand the mix of pollutants in Toronto鈥檚 urban winter air and why known pollutants haven鈥檛 declined as expected over the years.

鈥淭he unique thing about this study is that it's occurring during the winter months when there are different sources of pollutants from indoor heating to the de-icing of highways, which could have impacts. It is now evident that the levels of some pollutants are elevated in the winter months,鈥� says Persaud. 鈥淢ost of the other studies focused on smog, which normally occurs during the summer months.鈥�

Read the full news story from聽News@York.

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鈥淎 lot of people, when they think about math, think about geometry and Pythagoras鈥� theorem,鈥� says Iain Moyles, an associate professor in York鈥檚 Department of Mathematics & Statistics. 鈥淢ath is a language of structure and logic and science that can help you test a hypothesis. So we鈥檝e designed a mathematical model to understand the cause and effect of peer influence in smoking.鈥�

The idea came from PhD student Sarah Machado-Marques in response to a class assignment to experiment with math modelling to explain the psychology behind human behaviour.

Although she has never vaped, she says she wanted to understand why so many of her peers took up the e-cigarette craze when they were in high school.

鈥淚鈥檓 really interested in why people do what they do, what drives people to make certain decisions,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 was walking around campus and noticed that vaping is still relevant in both my age group and also younger age groups, and so I started thinking, how can we use math to address this problem?鈥�

Ten years ago, the surge in vaping among adolescents was considered an epidemic. In 2018, the number of U.S. high-school students vaping nearly doubled in a single year, according to the American Heart Association. More recent data, from Statistics Canada, shows that vaping is still popular among Canadian youth. In 2022, one in 10 Canadians aged 20 to 24 and one in 15 aged 15 to 19 vaped every day, compared with one in 50 Canadians aged 25 and older.

Moyles says the vaping epidemic is not a classic disease like COVID-19 but a social contagion that behaves like one.

鈥淚n a standard disease, you might walk past someone and infect them with an actual virus or bacteria,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n vaping or similar behaviours, an adolescent can pressure someone and you change your behaviour because you were 鈥榠nfected鈥� by the influence of your peer.鈥�

Machado-Marques says it can be a subtle pressure, where teenagers and young adults feel the need to fit in or mimic the behaviour of their friends.

What their research suggests is that while teenagers can be influenced to vape because their friends are, equally so, they may be influenced to quit the habit because their friends are. Their mathematical model shows that the long-term trajectory of vaping is a cyclical pattern of starting and quitting depending on what their cohort is doing.

鈥淲e see this re-emergence in society all the time 鈥� things that were cool when we were kids, then weren鈥檛 cool,鈥� says Moyles. 鈥淥ur kids and our grandkids eventually find them again and once again they become cool.鈥�

The findings from Machado-Marques and Moyles can apply to any adolescent trend where friends have influence on each other. The same cycle can be seen in the pendulum between bell bottoms and skinny jeans, and curly and straight hair, for example.

Moyles says math modelling can be used by parents, teachers and public health authorities to identify cycles of undesirable adolescent behaviours influenced by peers and look for opportunities to intervene.

鈥淭he key learning I would say from our modelling would be to recognize the cycle and to start to saying, 鈥極K, when do we think this sort of thing is happening and how do we get ahead of it?鈥欌��

The researchers say that while prevention is always best, attempts to influence more positive behaviour among adolescents may be strongest coming from other adolescents.

鈥淚f a parent or teacher encourages a certain behaviour, adolescents might do the opposite, just because it's not coming from within their influence group,鈥� says Moyles. 鈥淭he key from the influence structure of our model is to find a way to have that information coming through the peer network.鈥�

Courtesy of YFile

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快播视频 biology PhD student Gliselle Marin is leading conservation efforts in Belize by studying the way the country鈥檚 bats contribute to biodiversity, while trying to remove the larger stigmas associated with the nocturnal animals.

Marin鈥檚 commitment to bats was inked two years ago when she put aside a lifelong fear of needles and had three of the flying mammals tattooed on the nape of her neck.

Today, the international student is leveraging all that she is learning about bats to help lead local conservation efforts in Belize, the richly biodiverse country where she was born.

鈥淚 see a future where the people who live amongst the biodiversity here have agency over the resources around them,鈥� said Marin, whose research takes her to the forests of Belize three times a year for weeks at a time.

She has just wrapped up a five-night bat survey in the Lamanai Archaeological Reserve, which is built around the ruins of a pre-classic Mayan city. This kind of field research involves capturing bats in nets and harp traps, which can catch flying bats more easily without damaging their wings.

She is logging the species she finds and also studying their diets. By extracting DNA from their dung, she hopes to understand whether bats are diversifying what they consume because they like the variety, or because they aren鈥檛 getting the nectar, fruit or insects they need from their environment.

Through her field work in Belize, she found that a species of bat believed to limit its food intake to nectar was also eating insects. This particular bat had evolved to have an elongated nose like a hummingbird and a hairy, retractable tongue to help it take in the nectar. Yet, it was eating insects.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what my research is based off,鈥� said Marin. 鈥淚鈥檓 looking at what different guilds of bats are supposed to be eating and investigating further to see if there are more anomalies in what they are actually eating.鈥�

What her research finds could lead to improved bat conservation and efforts to conserve the country鈥檚 forests, which are under threat from agricultural expansion, as well as climate and natural disasters like hurricanes. Healthy bats mean healthy forests.

The role birds play in the ecosystem is better understood; yet, at night, when bats are active, they take over many of the same jobs, including dispersing seeds that will grow first in degraded areas and build back forests.

鈥淭he birds perform all these ecosystem roles during the daytime. And bats are kind of their counterparts at night,鈥� she said.

Marin is part of a small movement trying to educate communities, both locally and further afield, about that connection.

She works closely with her supervisor, Elizabeth Clare, an assistant professor of biology at York who runs the Clare Lab devoted to biodiversity, and goes by @Dr_bat_girl on social media.

They both share a desire to raise awareness about the contributions of bats to the ecosystem through her work, and also to destigmatize them.

鈥淭hey go under the radar a lot because they鈥檙e still stigmatized. When you hear of bats, you think rabies or that they fly into your hair,鈥� she said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot that people just don鈥檛 know. The more I learn about bats, the more I realize how amazing they are.鈥�

Courtesy of YFile

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Congratulations to PhD graduate Jennifer Porat, who has received one of this year鈥檚 Governor General鈥檚 Gold Medals, which recognize the outstanding scholastic achievements of graduate students in Canada. She is among three recipients at York.

Porat earned a PhD in biology following the completion of her bachelor of science degree at 快播视频. Both degrees were pursued under the mentorship of Professor Mark Bayfield in the Department of Biology. Her research focused uncovering novel functions for RNA-modifying enzymes and understanding the mechanisms by which they promote RNA function and stability to carry out different cellular processes.

Porat credits Bayfield and his support for her decision to pursue graduate studies at 快播视频 and her positive experiences at the University. She also expresses gratitude to the Faculty of Graduate Studies 鈥� notably, its funding of conference travel that she urges other students to take advantage of.

鈥淚鈥檓 incredibly grateful to be receiving this honour,鈥� says Porat. 鈥淚鈥檝e been fortunate enough to conduct research that I am passionate about, so it is very gratifying to learn that other people are excited about my work as well.鈥�

Porat will continue that work as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University, still focused on RNA biology, in hopes of one day running her own lab.

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Additionally, FGS nominated Porat for a dissertation prize presented by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS). The CAGS-ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award recognizes Canadian doctoral dissertations that make significant and original contributions to their academic field. Winners receive a $1,500 cash prize, a certificate of recognition and an invitation to attend the Annual CAGS Conference.

Jennifer Porat

Jennifer Porat received an FGS Doctoral Dissertation Prize for her thesis, 鈥淩NA methyltransferases Influence Noncoding RNA Biogenesis and Function Through Catalytic-Independent Activities.鈥�

Porat鈥檚 innovative study encompasses various aspects of ribonucleic acid (RNA) biology 鈥� a molecule essential for most biological functions 鈥� while focusing on the lesser-studied functions of a set of eukaryotic RNA modification enzymes. The dissertation provides evidence supporting the multifaceted nature of these enzymes and underscores their importance in many fundamental biological processes. The pinnacle recognition of Porat鈥檚 scholarly excellence is exemplified by her recent Scaringe Award that acknowledges outstanding achievement of young scientists engaged in RNA research presented by the RNA Society, an international scientific society with more than 1,800 members dedicated to fostering research and education in the field of RNA science.

The examination committee Chair, Professor Emanuel Rosonina, stated that Porat鈥檚 work 鈥渇undamentally changes how we think about RNA-modifying enzymes.鈥� He continued, 鈥淚t is not common that a student forges new ground and concepts like this. Hers is among the most impressive PhD theses and defenses that I have seen at York and beyond.鈥�

Nina Garret

Nina Garrett received an FGS Master鈥檚 Thesis Prize for her thesis, 鈥淢easuring neotropical bat diversity using airborne eDNA.鈥�

Garrett鈥檚 thesis develops the novel technique of capturing airborne environmental DNA (eDNA) for the detection of tropical bat species. Garrett successfully demonstrates that airborne eDNA can accurately characterize a mixed-species community with varying abundances and that the type of sampler does not impact DNA concentration or read count. This study was extremely high-risk science because no one had ever attempted this type of work under field conditions with wild animals. At the time she started, there were only three published scientific works in existence demonstrating that airborne eDNA collection was even possible and all had been conducted under extremely controlled and artificial conditions (i.e. in a zoo).

Garrett鈥檚 two data chapters were published in PeerJ and Environmental DNA journals. Additionally, she has been acknowledged for her advanced academic and research leadership, having received prestigious awards for her master鈥檚 studies, including the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada鈥檚 master鈥檚 graduate scholarship and recognitions for her research presentations at provincial and national conferences.

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Graduate Student Teaching & Professional Development

Handbooks

• Introductory Guide for Laboratory Demonstrators by Dr. Stephanie Domenikos and Anni Siren for the Teaching Commons, 快播视频 is licensed under
• International Teaching Assistant Handbook
• Mobile YU-Card FAQ for Faculty & Staff

Resources for Teaching

• Resources for new Teaching Assistants (holding tutorials, office hours, accessibility, marking, and critical reading & writing)
• Teaching Resources from Teaching Commons (Assessment, AI, Hybrid Teaching)
• Teaching Assistant Checklist

Exams

• Best Practices for Invigilation of in-person exams

Awards

• Faculty of Science Teaching Assistant Awards

Resources & Support

Administrative Support

• FGS Forms on Academic Affairs, Student Affair, Thesis and Dissertation and Student Finances
• Graduate Supervision Guidelines

Academic Support

• Learning Skills Development
• ESL Open Learning Centre
• Academic Integrity Website
• Experiential Education

Wellness Support & Social Opportunities

• Graduate Wellness Services

Indigenous Student Services

Teaching Certificates at York

Certificates include:

• Record of Completion Certificate for engaging in higher education teaching and learning workshops
• Record of Completion Certificate for supporting teaching at York
• Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Learn more about Teaching Certificates at York

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With the recent advances in machine learning techniques, Joel Zylberberg, an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at 快播视频, decided it would be useful to science students to understand these methods, so he developed a graduate course to share his knowledge.

His course, Deep Learning for Physicists, made its debut in 2021 and was repeated in 2022. Its positive reception encouraged Zylberberg to think more broadly, and this year he is offering the course through the to graduate students from the 12 Ontario universities that are members of the institute.

鈥淚 like the idea of having more downstream impact from my teaching, working with a class of 35 rather than five,鈥� Zylberberg said. 鈥淭he applications are pretty diverse; students are working with everything from space science to quantum mechanics. I get to interact with all of this fun science through a set of methods that I know pretty well.鈥�

He noted that the core machine learning ideas date back to the 1980s and 1990s, 鈥渂ut more sophisticated hardware now allows us to make models on a different scale.鈥�

鈥淢achine learning methods have come to dominate a lot of quantitative work and I wanted to give graduate students a strong foundation,鈥� he continued. 鈥淐omputer science students may have done a course or two in machine learning, but there鈥檚 no undergraduate course available for natural science students. Most of the students who enrol in the course have a pretty sophisticated mathematics background with solid undergraduate training in calculus. About half of them now have some prior machine learning experience and come to the course to learn to think about this topic in a more systematic way.鈥�

The first half of the course is devoted to understanding the theory of why systems are built in a particular way and how they work; the second half of the course focuses on applying the theory. The assignments require students to make various machine learning applications and their final project asks them to solve a scientific problem using the course methods.

Jordan Krywonos, a York PhD student in cosmology, took the course last year and now serves as a teaching assistant for the course.

鈥淢y supervisor had an idea for a project that involved machine learning, but neither of us had experience with these methods,鈥� said Krywonos, who is based at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ont. 鈥淚t was a good opportunity to have expert guidance in how to solve any machine learning problems we encountered.鈥�

She applied machine learning to her work in predicting the dark matter halos for a population of galaxies, a project Krywonos scaled up afterward.

鈥淚 continue to use the course techniques for this ongoing project,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying various machine learning algorithms to see which one has the best performance.鈥�

In another example, one of the graduate students in Zylberberg鈥檚 lab found a way to use machine learning to see glowing cells in a mouse鈥檚 brain more clearly by using a model that removed much of the data noise from the measuring device, improving the signal-to-noise ratio by a factor of 20.

During the course, Zylberberg has the class review research papers together so they can analyze the machine learning applications employed in each study. For Krywonos, it has been helpful, since machine learning is being used more frequently in cosmology today.

鈥淲hen I read through a research paper now, I can understand and analyze it better,鈥� she said.

This year鈥檚 class is being taught in hyflex fashion: all of the students, whether at York or at other universities, have the option of coming to class in-person or joining via Zoom. The online option allows students across Ontario to enrol in a valuable course to which they wouldn鈥檛 have access otherwise, while the in-person option provides students with the opportunity to enjoy a traditional classroom setting. No matter which option they choose, Zylberberg aims to provide them with an equitable experience.

鈥淲e鈥檝e gotten a lot of practice using hybrid formats over the last few years, given the pandemic,鈥� Zylberberg said.

The final few sessions of the class are devoted to a mini-conference where the students present their projects, honing skills that will be useful in the workplace.

鈥淪cientists need to be able to communicate what they are doing and why,鈥� Zylberberg said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a broadly useful skill in academic research, as well as in industry where one might be selling a product or pitching a new venture to investors.鈥�

Cheryl van Daalen Smith, FGS associate dean, academic said, 鈥淲ith its relevant subject matter, its accessible delivery mode and its broad reach, Deep Learning for Physicists is an example of the innovative graduate courses that the Faculty of Graduate Studies is proud to offer.鈥�

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Nicholas Bragagnolo, a PhD student in the Department of Chemistry鈥檚 at 快播视频, won the 2023 Etter Student Lecturer Award from the American Crystallographic Association (ACA), which represents those working in the branch of science concerned with the structure and properties of crystals.

The ACA houses 14 scientific interest groups (SIG), each representing a specific crystallographic discipline or area of interest. Among them is the Canadian Division SIG, which had the opportunity to 鈥� along with all other groups 鈥� invite one student to present a lecture at an ACA conference and receive an award.

Bragagnolo was selected and 鈥� after receiving transportation funding from the ACA Travel Award and the Canadian National Committee for Crystallography鈥檚 Larry Calvert Award 鈥� attended an ACA meeting in Baltimore in July.

There, he presented a 20-minute lecture titled 鈥淪olution characterization of the dynamic conjugative entry exclusion protein TraG,鈥� as part of a session about the future of light sources, and won the Etter Student Lecturer Award. He also received honourable mentions for a three-minute thesis presentation.

The event, and the award, are part of the ACA鈥檚 initiative to provide young students and scientists with opportunities to demonstrate their research achievements and work.

鈥淥verall it was a very successful conference and I鈥檓 grateful to my lab members Arnold Apostol and Christina Rodriguez and my supervisor Gerald Audette for their support,鈥� Bragagnolo wrote in following the event. 鈥淚 made many valuable connections as well as new friends and gained a lot of insight into new techniques to help complete my thesis.鈥�

Earlier this year, Bragagnolo was recognized by 快播视频鈥檚 (AGSBS) with the People鈥檚 Choice Student Talk Award (Session 2) during the AGSBS 49th Annual Biology Symposium. Bragagnoloa presented a talk titled 鈥淪tructural Studies of the Conjugative Entry Exclusion Protein TraG.鈥�

In 2021, he was awarded a York Graduate Scholarship by the Faculty of Science.

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Biophysicist Ozzy Mermut in the Faculty of Science was awarded a grant from York鈥檚 Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Research Clusters (CIRC) program to develop her team鈥檚 new photon counting technology to study algal blooms in Indigenous lakes of Tkaronto and Six Nations. The project team, which also includes Professors William Pietro and Sylvie Morin (Chemistry) and Adjunct Professor Christopher Barrett (Physics & Astronomy), is currently searching for a local Master鈥檚 student from the Indigenous lands being studied to conduct the research.

The graduate student will study the optical properties of algae in water bodies encompassed by Indigenous Tkaronto and Six Nations. The goal of the investigation is to use the team鈥檚 novel technology to analyze and correlate the photonic properties of algae in the Tkaronto region water as a biomarker indicator of 鈥渉ealth鈥� and/or 鈥渟tress鈥� of the water ecosystem. More specifically, the project will explore the impact of contaminants of emerging concern on algal health in local waters. The student should be in the field of chemistry (physical or analytical instrumentation) or biophysics/engineering (biophotonics), and preferably from the local region encompassing Tkaronto and Six Nations under study in this project.

This research is made possible thanks to the CIRC for Detection and Remediation of Water Contaminants, and Mermut鈥檚 York Research Chair in Vision Biophotonics (VISTA).

Students interested in this graduate research and from the region should contact Professor Mermut (omermut@yorku.ca) for this opportunity with their CV and statement of interest. For more information about Mermut鈥檚 research program, visit her lab website: .

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Lao received a Master鈥檚 Thesis Prize for 鈥淒eveloping an Automated Nitrous Acid (HONO) Platform to Detect Emerging Pollutants in a Commercial and Domestic Environment.鈥� Lao鈥檚 innovative research focused on the development and application of new methods to measure the important atmospheric component, HONO. This chemical can react with other atmospheric component to form highly toxic products. Only in the last few years has HONO鈥檚 importance indoors been considered, but it remains difficult to measure accurately. Lao鈥檚 work creates substantial impact in the field by advancing the ability to measure HONO indoors.

Professor Cora Young, Chair of the Examining Committee, commended Lao鈥檚 study: 鈥淚t was clear to the committee that Melodie鈥檚 contributions to the field of atmospheric chemistry are significant, greatly exceeding those typical for an MSc degree. Her work has and will continue to make an impact on a national and global stage.鈥�

Dogantzis received a Doctoral Dissertation Prize for 鈥淯nderstanding the Evolutionary Origin and Ancestral Complexity of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Populations.鈥� Through her study, Dogantzis 鈥� who was also awarded a Governor General鈥檚 Gold Medal 鈥� advanced knowledge in the field of bee evolution and population genetics and developed new tools to protect the beekeeping industry from the accidental introduction of the highly invasive Africanized bees. Dogantzis created the world鈥檚 largest dataset on honeybee genomics, which involved sequencing over 200 new honeybee genomes from all over the world. Her sophisticated bioinformatic analysis debunked a recent hypothesis that honeybees originated in Africa by providing evidence that honeybees originated in western Asia.

Chair of the Examining Committee Elizabeth Clare praised Dogantzis鈥� accomplishment. 鈥淗er applied tools are expected to have a massive societal and economic benefit, not just for Canada, but across the world.鈥�

.

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