Changing the World
Molecular biology professor Fiona Brinkman is one of 100 people under 35 whose work "will change the world" according to Technology Review, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's magazine on innovation. Brinkman researches bacterial pathogens and is honoured for creating a free online program called PhyloBlast that allows researchers to compare relationships between the genetic codes of bacteria and the cells they infect. Brinkman also has a lead role in a major genomic project recently funded by Genome Canada.

Giant Pearls
Biology professor Peter Fankboner is showing off his cultivated abalone pearls in New York. The pearls, plus his comprehensive, original patent for abalone pearl culture, are in an exhibit titled Pearls, co-sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. To find out more about Fankboner's pearls go to his website.

All that Jazz
Colin Browne of the school for contemporary arts is working on a documentary about jazz legends Linton and the late Erroll Garner. Linton's stage show, I Never Said Goodbye, about the relationship between the brothers, forms a central part of the film. Vancouver's Linton, with his elegant style at the piano, is a regular at jazz venues throughout the city.

Girl Violence
Recent immigrants are the most likely to be beaten up by other girls, say SFU researchers. And it's often the result of a power struggle with other ethnic groups in schools, according to criminologist Margaret Jackson. Researcher Candice Odgers says girl bullies who beat up other girls are often scarred by sexual and emotional abuse. It seems that girl violence is on the rise, but that may be due to more reporting by victims and more charges by police.

Old Bones
Earth scientist Brent Ward is finding pieces of bone from before the last ice age. At anestimated 16,000 to 18,000 years old, the bone fragments are the earliest uncovered so far; they survived the last glacial period because they were buried in a sea cave near Zeballos on Vancouver Island.

The Two Minute Pitch
Executive MBA students Steve Parkhill, Celeste Brosseau, Ryan Sharp, Ian Huntley, and Thomas Congdon talk business fast. And they talk persuasively enough to be one of the top five teams in a contest where participants pitch a business plan to a venture capitalist in a two-minute elevator ride. Other teams in the top five are from Harvard, Cornell, Georgia, and Wake Forest universities.

Distinguished Women
SFU scoops up half the honours at the YWCA Women of Distinction Awards.

Diabetes researcher Diane Finegood of the school of kinesiology wins in the science, research, and medicine category; continuing studies fish physiologist Pat Gallaugher, interim director of the centre for coastal studies, wins in the social action category; and recent graduate Melanie Clark wins in the young women of distinction category.

Gallaugher, SFU fish physiologist Tony Farrell, and SFU statistician Rick Routledge also win the two annual Murray A. Newman Awards, one for excellence in aquatic conservation and one for pioneering marine research. Find information on diabetes research online. Find information on the centre for coastal studies online.

Hot air hurts
Government dithering is making it very costly for Canada to succeed in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within the tight time frame of the Kyoto accord, says a new book, The Cost of Climate Policy. Energy expert Mark Jaccard and co-authors John Nyboer and Bryn Sadownik of SFU's energy and materials research group conclude that governments can launch low-risk policies that will lower the long-run costs of GHG reduction, but instead they keep talking. Find information on the book online.

They're Coming Cloooooser
Tropical diseases, including malaria, West Nile fever, and Chagas' disease, are on our doorstep. Carl Lowenberger, one of the university's newest Canada Research Chair appointees, is exploring insect immune systems to find out why tropical disease-carrying insects allow parasites to develop when their immune systems could kill the invaders. For information on Lowenberger's research go online.

Predicting Purchases
Your every transaction is tracked and now retailers can figure out what you'll probably buy next. It's all thanks to SFU spinoff DBMiner Technology Inc. The database software is the data mining element of Microsoft's new SQL Server 2000 analysis services and can uncover massive amounts of information that can help stores identify trends, decide which products to group together, and decide whether weekly specials are financially worthwhile.

Forest Practices
Michael Howlett was a lumberjackÑnow he's a forest policy expert. During university summers he'd trade city life in Montreal for such B.C. hotspots as Houston and Canal Flats. A political science professor at SFU since 1989, his latest book is Canadian Forest Policy: Adapting to Change. The book is an anthology of essays by key industry researchers.

Brother Act
Mathematicians Jonathan and Peter Borwein's latest coup is a $4.7 million grant from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI). It will go toward the construction of a $12 million interdisciplinary research facility in the mathematical and computational sciences (IRMACS). Peter is associate director of SFU's centre for experimental and constructive mathematics and IRMACS's project leader, while Jonathan is Shrum professor of science and holds the Canada Research Chair in information technology at SFU.

Siren Song of the Islands Archaeology
professor emeritus Richard Shutler returns to New Caledonia for the 50th anniversary of the first excavation at a famous site known as Lapita. In 1952 he was a graduate student at Berkeley and was one of only a handful of archaeologists working in the South Pacific; now there are about 50. Shutler calls the invitation an amazing honour and says he's the last left of the early archaeologists who worked in the region.

Eyes on Science
Biologist Christina Ames is one of only three people in B.C. to receive a 2002 Women in Engineering Science Award. Under a National Research Council (NRC) program, she will spend three summers working with the NRC in Ottawa conducting experiments aimed at regenerating non-self-repairing living tissue. Ames will also tour schools on behalf of the NRC to promote career opportunities for young people in the sciences and engineering. aq

Column Art by Atomos

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