James Delgado PhD '06

World-renowned maritime archaeologist James Delgado (PhD'06), co-host of The Sea Hunters television program and executive director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum takes on new challenges in Texas. Delgado becomes executive director of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University at College Station. His SFU thesis is a synthesis of 28 years of work on the rise of San Francisco as a port.

Really Big Deal
Terry Snutch, Neuromed Pharmaceuticals co-founder and outstanding alumni award winner (BSc'79, PhD'85), signs the largest agreement in Canadian biotech history for the painkiller NMED-160 - a deal with Merck & Co. potentially worth $500 million. Snutch was the first scientist in the world to describe the molecular basis for calcium channels in the cardiovascular, endocrine, and nervous systems. In addition to heading up Neuromed, Snutch is with UBC's Michael Smith Laboratories. 

Minting Our Money
Ian E. Bennett (BA'70), most recently Ottawa's deputy minister of finance, is the new Master of the Royal Canadian Mint. The mint is responsible for the production and distribution of all Canada's circulation coins as well as producing foreign circulation, numismatic, and bullion coins for domestic and international consumers.  

Top Food
Alumni Association past president Kalpna Solanki (BA'89, MBA'00) receives a Food in Canada magazine top 10 innovators award for her BOBOBABY company. She is the first to offer certified organic age-appropriate frozen food for babies.

Two Superintendents and a President
Langley and Nanaimo school districts, as well as Malaspina University-College, are headed up by SFU grads. Cheryle Beaumont (MEd'90) is new school superintendent in Langley and Michael Munro (MEd'86) is new superintendent in Nanaimo, while Ralph Nilson (BA'76) will take up his duties as president of Malaspina in January.

Hoop Dreams
Outstanding alumni award winner and Toronto Raptors assistant coach Jay Triano (BA'82, PDP'87) takes on a four-year contract as head coach of the Republic of Georgia team. He keeps his job with the Raptors while working to move the Georgia team from Europe's B league to its A league so they can try to qualify for the next world championship.

The Fido Files
Fido, the hot film about a domesticated zombie, opens the Toronto Film Festival's Canada First program. The film is directed by Andrew Currie (BA'93 ), co-produced by Trent Carlson (BA'93), and stars Carrie-Anne Moss. It opens across the country this fall. <www.anagrampictures.ca/films_fido.html>

Honorary Degrees
Two alumni receive honorary degrees: noted biographer Maria Tippett (BA'72, LLD'06) in June and outstanding alumni award winner and football legend Lui Passaglia (BA'76, LLD'06) in the fall.

Yonghong Bing PhD'05

Yonghong Bing (PhD'05) wins a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council award for top doctoral research in science and engineering. The award, one of only four made across the country, includes $10,000 and a silver medal. Bing pursued her research under the supervision of chemistry professor Zuo-Guang Ye, the director of solid-state systems at 4D LABS.

Due South
For adventurer Danny Catt (BSc'87, MSc'91), his journey up the eastern coast of Africa was only a start. In January Catt will begin his latest quest, Antarctic to the Amazon - Making Global Connections. Follow the trip through an interactive web site developed by Catt and his students and colleagues from BCIT at <www.catt-trax2.bcit.ca>. For a taste of his previous trek go to <www.catt-trax.bcit.ca> .

The Zine Scene
Outstanding alumni award winner Brian Fawcett (BA'70) gets upwards of 200,000 hits per day on his dooneyscafe.com web zine that he co-writes with Stan Persky.

Chair Again
Richard J. Swift, QC (BA'72) is re-elected chair of the British Columbia Institute of Technology board of governors. Swift is managing partner of Swift Datoo and Company in Courtenay.

Golden
Jocelyn Tomkinson (BSc'06) receives this year's Terry Fox gold medal. She was born with a tumour on her spinal cord and was forced to withdraw from university because of constant pain. She returned a year later with an implanted biomedical device that pumps a regular stream of medication into her system and allows her to function. She begins her master of global health program at SFU in January.

Movies, Movies
Self-taught filmmaker Dave Cote, who studied psychology at SFU, casts, films, edits, and produces feature-length film Windup that makes its way to the Cannes film festival <www.windupmovie.com>. Tovah Paglaro (BBA'06) shoots Locked Out in Gastown. She is the only western Canadian director among six selected nationwide in Corus Entertainment's young filmmakers initiative.

Marketing the Movies
What do people want from movie web sites? According to Clayton Mitchell (BBA'03, MBA'06) they want story content rather than games and gossip. His thesis looks at movie web sites as marketing tools and concludes that most movie makers aren't using the web to best advantage.

Drafted!
Two of the Clan are off to the pro league. Lineman Dean Valli (BA'06), one of only 10 offensive linemen invited to the CFL's annual evaluation camp, is picked by the B.C. Lions. Kicker/punter Luca Congi, the country's top-ranked punter, is picked by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.aq

Photographs by: James Delgado by Marianne Meadahl/PAMR. Yonghong Bing by Carol Thorbes/PAMR

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