OIL SPILL

Photo: Marianne Meadahl

Researcher Daniel Esler with Alaskan waterfowl conservation stamp poster. 0

The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, may seem like a long, long time ago. But its effects are still being felt.
A paper co-authored by biology research associate Daniel Esler and published in Science shows that the spill contaminated habitats and food chains for more than a decade.

Trower Treasure Trove
The education faculty’s Geoffrey Madoc-Jones is meticulously cataloguing the archives of author and poet Peter Trower, recently purchased by the university. And the 73-year-old logger-poet is still hot – a new book of poems, There Are Many Ways, and a spoken-word/jazz CD, Sidewalks & Sidehills, are on the shelves, and Trower is technical advisor on a $20-million feature film production of his 1993 novel Grogan’s Cafe. www.petertrower.com/

Illustration: Rod Filbrandt

Photograph courtesy SFU Media and Public Relations

Genetically modified foods can be controversial, but Zamir Punja isn’t afraid of stirring things up. He’s been working on “GM” strains since the 1980s, using new technology.

Photo: Diane Luckow

Changing Places

Photo: Diane Luckow

SFU staff members Dal Sohal (left) and Jill Jodrey have a passion for travel. And now they’re travelling for their work as part of an innovative staff exchange. 0

Two women are the first to benefit from a new initiative to support staff exchanges. The health, career, and counselling centre’s Dal Sohal looks at social norms marketing to promote healthy lifestyles at the University of Arizona, while the learning and instructional development centre’s Jill Jodrey goes to Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, to look at improving learning management systems for students.

Bottom View
The U.S. Navy is interested in SFU-developed sonar technology that provides high-resolution 3-D underwater acoustic mapping and imaging. John Bird, director of the underwater research laboratory, and former doctoral student Paul Kraeutner developed the prototype that has been patented by the university and licensed to a subsea technology company. Kraeutner has a company called Ping DSP that is looking for other commercial uses for the technology. www.ensc.sfu.ca/research/url/ and www.benthos.com

John Bird, director of SFU’s underwater research laboratory, with his new sonar technology. The U.S. Navy paid a visit to the lab to see how they can use it.

Photo: Diane Luckow

Safe Haven

Photo: John Lowman

“this is what conservation looks like,” says john Lowman. 0

Criminologist John Lowman relaxes by spending four hours every spring and fall day photographing migratory birds. His photograph “Safe Haven” wins in the university photo contest. Lowman is a committed supporter of the Wild Bird Trust of B.C., whose flagship project is the 95-acre Maplewood Flats conservation area in North Vancouver. http://members.shaw.ca/jlowman/

Illustration: Rod Filbrandt 0

The Stronger The Better
Winning takes strength. And SFU now has an expert to help its athletes get there. New strength and conditioning adviser
Derek Hansen has set up Olympic training strategies for several national teams and is now working with SFU teams to produce stronger athletes who will miss less time with injuries.

False Creek Trail
Urban planner and geographer Don Alexander highlights the milestones in False Creek’s history with development of a heritage trail. A brochure outlines 50 points of interest along the 12-kilometre route, including the First Nations village of Snauq (under the south end of the Burrard Street Bridge) and Leg-in-Boot Square (named after a severed leg that washed up in the 1800s.) Follow the book review link for a copy of the brochure: www.newcity.ca

Surrey Sizzles
Four recently opened labs at SFU Surrey have leading-edge specialized equipment. The shared virtual environment lab explores computer-generated three-dimensional characters. The InfoNet media lab focuses on image and video processing, computer graphics, and human-computer interaction. The Interactivity lab develops new interactivity tools and techniques. The electronic commerce, communications and communities usability lab supports research in the human and user component of technology development.

Photo: Carol Thorbes

Darrel Mounsey is director of SFU’s Chief Dan George Centre. Continuing studies manages the program. 0

A First Nations First

The Chief Dan George Centre and the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology are jointly offering the province’s first university-level diploma and certificate programs in First Nations public administration. The program will provide education in
administrative and managerial skills.

Wrestlemania

Illustration: Rod Filbrandt

The women’s wresting team is the number one program in North America according to TheMat.com, a service that ranks wrestling programs in Canada and the U.S. The university easily outranks second-place University of Calgary and third-place Cumberland College of Kentucky. Three members of the team, Emily Richardson, Sarah White, and Jessica Peterson, are first in their individual weight classes.

Photo: Marianne Meadahl

Jazz Pianist Geoff Peters is the inventor of one of the hottest newinternet sites.

Well.google-de-do!

Actually it’s GoogleDuel, a Google ranking system developed
by SFU computing science and business major Geoff Peters. It’s all the rage for those with nothing better to do than compare TV anchor Tony Parsons (6,560 mentions) to TV anchor Bill Good (4,950 mentions) or Nicole Kidman (662,000 mentions) to ex-husband Tom Cruise (634,000 mentions). But it has business potential for companies that want to see how they and their products compare with competitors. www.googleduel.com


Immigration Expert

Photo: Marianne Meadahl

Don Devoretz will deliver public lectures in Sweden as part of his appointment.

Economist Don DeVoretz is the first immigration economist to hold the Willy Brandt guest professorship in the school of international migration and ethnic relations at Sweden’s Malmo University. The prestigious eight-month appointment will allow DeVoretz to examine how European Union expansion has affected immigration and migration patterns in Europe. SFU is partnering with Malmo University to advance research in immigration studies as well as in two other areas – education, and interactive arts and industrial design.

Talking About Crime
Youth crime expert Ray Corrado wins this year’s SFU President’s Award for service to media and public relations.
When youth are involved in violent crime, the media frequently ask Corrado their questions: Is there a new trend of youth violence in Canada? Have young people changed? Ironically, they also ask, What is the role of media in shaping young people today? Corrado has answers, and he also is working on solutions. But he says the solutions are never simple because some of the issues are incredibly emotionally charged.

Illustration: Rod Filbrandt

Old Movies

The Audio-Visual Heritage Society of British Columbia and Colin Browne of SFU’s school for the contemporary arts are seeking funding to build an archive to house and display old movies shot in this province; they are also looking for the old movies themselves. If you have old footage, contact Browne at colin_browne@sfu.ca or 604.291.4136.

Illustrations by Rod Filbrandt: www.rodfilbrandt.com

print this story
top of page