Anthropolgy / en From air pollution to Indigenous storytelling: New courses at U of T Mississauga /news/air-pollution-indigenous-storytelling-new-courses-u-t-mississauga <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">From air pollution to Indigenous storytelling: New courses at U of T Mississauga</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/WEBGettyImages-165310233.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=h4zmJIkn 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/WEBGettyImages-165310233.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=Jm2V45po 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/WEBGettyImages-165310233.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=G-jcgjDj 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/WEBGettyImages-165310233.jpg?h=81d682ee&amp;itok=h4zmJIkn" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-08-29T11:15:22-04:00" title="Monday, August 29, 2022 - 11:15" class="datetime">Mon, 08/29/2022 - 11:15</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">The coal-fired Lakeview generating station in Port Credit, a source of air pollution in the GTA, was demolished in 2007. (Photo by Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/kristy-strauss" hreflang="en">Kristy Strauss</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utogether" hreflang="en">UTogether</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/current-sudents" hreflang="en">Current Sudents</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anthropolgy" hreflang="en">Anthropolgy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/indigenous" hreflang="en">Indigenous</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/politics" hreflang="en">Politics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">U of T Mississauga</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>If you could choose any new course to study this year, would you focus on the present and explore the air quality in Peel Region – and its impact on residents? Would you look to the future and learn how to help a robot understand its surroundings?</p> <p>Or would you travel back in time to learn about the lives of prisoners and asylum patients by studying their remains?</p> <div class="image-with-caption left"> <div><img alt src="/sites/default/files/MaddyMantPortrait.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 298px;"><em>For her lesson on the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic, Madeleine Mant dressed as a war nurse. This year she is teaching Behind Bars: Anthropology of Institutional Confinement.<br> (Photo by Drew Lesiuczok)</em></div> </div> <p>“By looking at human skeletons from people who might have died in a hospital, asylum and institution, we can ask some sort of broad questions about health and power and structural violence,” says Assistant Professor&nbsp;<strong>Madeleine Mant</strong>, who will use archaeological records and artifacts to examine questions of health, power and the impact of institutions in her new course, Behind Bars: Anthropology of Institutions and Confinement.</p> <p>It’s just one of a diverse array of offerings from the Ƶ Mississauga that are new for the 2022/2023 academic year:</p> <h3><strong>Robotic Perception</strong></h3> <p>Humans can automatically perceive the world around us and understand what is happening in our environments. We already know where objects are, and what state they are in, by the time we start consciously thinking about what we see and hear around us.</p> <p>But robots aren’t quite there yet.</p> <p>Perception is highly challenging for robots, explains Assistant Professor <strong>Igor Gilitschenski </strong>from the department of mathematical and computational sciences, and students enrolled in Robotic Perception will learn about the challenges computer scientists face when deploying perception algorithms on a robot – as well as algorithms that can be used to address these challenges.</p> <p>“At the end of the course, students will be able to better understand, what are the challenges involved in making a robot understand its environment,” says Gilitschenski.</p> <h3><strong>GIS Capstone Project</strong></h3> <p>This year, geography students will map air pollution throughout Peel Region as part of the GIS Capstone Project, a new course that will allow them to gain real-world experience as they work with external partners in the public and private sector.</p> <p><strong>Tingting Zhu</strong>, an assistant professor, teaching stream in&nbsp;the department of geography, geomatics and environment, says one of the projects will allow students to map air pollution throughout Peel Region and see its impacts on residents. Students will also look at the correlation between air pollution levels and socioeconomic status, and how disadvantaged groups are impacted by air pollution.</p> <p>Zhu says this experiential learning course will give students real-world knowledge and experience that can’t be learned in a classroom.</p> <p>“Experiential learning lets students actively apply their knowledge and skills learned in the program,” says Zhu. “I hope students can hone their professional competencies like communication skills, problem-solving skills, and management skills along with their technical skills.”</p> <h3><strong>Behind Bars: Anthropology of Institutions and Confinement</strong></h3> <p><strong><img alt src="/sites/default/files/WEB_GettyImages-499324299.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;"></strong></p> <p><em>The Kingston Prison for Women operated from 1934 to 2000. A new course, Behind Bars, will examine archeological records and tackle broad questions of health, power and structural violence. (photo by Bob Olsen/Toronto Star via Getty Images)</em></p> <p>Artifacts such as skeletal remains, physician notebooks and confiscated prisoner-made tattoo machines can tell a much larger story of marginalized or institutionalized people, and the health inequities they faced throughout history.</p> <p>In this interdisciplinary course, taught by&nbsp;the department of anthropology's Mant, students will have the opportunity to examine these various archeological records and learn about institutions’ effects on the human body, as well as the impacts of separation on people.</p> <p>“By looking at human skeletons from people who might have died in a hospital, asylum and institution, we can ask some sort of broad questions about health and power and structural violence. Looking at the type of archeological or archival records, we can start to think about the effects of institutions through time,” Mant explains.</p> <p>She hopes the course will help students think more critically about the long-term effects of separating people from others.</p> <p>“I hope this class is a chance for students to think about health-care access through time, to think about ethics, as well as thinking about questions of disability and care within society,” she says.</p> <h3><strong>Linguistics and Computation</strong></h3> <p>When you type “The cricket jumped over the fence” on your computer, how does it know if the word “cricket” refers to the game or the insect? How can it tell the difference between a grammatical and ungrammatical sentence?</p> <p>In this course led by Assistant Professor <strong>Barend Beekhuizen </strong>from the department of language studies, students who have either a background in linguistics or a computing science will be introduced to how linguistics and computing intersect – and how computational algorithms and data structures can be used as a formal language model.</p> <h3><strong>Politics and Social Justice</strong></h3> <p>Problems around gender equality, racism and wealth distribution aren’t just social justice issues. They are also political issues.</p> <p>Politics and Social Justice, led by Assistant Professor <strong>Martha Balaguera Cuervo&nbsp;</strong>from the department of political science, will introduce political science students to the concept of social justice as a political issue. This course will focus on human rights, economic and social inequity, fairness and inclusion – with key concepts including power, identity, conflict, and structural racism, to name a few.</p> <h3><strong>Anishinaabe Storytelling and Oral Tradition</strong></h3> <p><strong>Maria Hupfield</strong>, assistant professor in the department of English and drama and an artist and Anishinaabe-kwe of Wasuaksing First Nation, will lead students on a journey exploring the legends, beliefs and values of the Anishinaabek Nation.</p> <p>In this course, which uses a transdisciplinary approach, students will explore the Anishinaabe story through many different forms including dance regalia, weavings/baskets, poems, songs, and Anishinaabe legends – as well as creation stories and guest speakers.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 29 Aug 2022 15:15:22 +0000 lanthierj 176184 at Researchers find link between apes in Africa and 10-million-year-old ape fossils in Hungary, Spain /news/researchers-find-link-between-extinct-apes-hungary-spain-and-living-apes-africa <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Researchers find link between apes in Africa and 10-million-year-old ape fossils in Hungary, Spain</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Illustration%20-%20Rudapithecus.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=9NxGrwyl 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Illustration%20-%20Rudapithecus.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=rP0t3x2p 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Illustration%20-%20Rudapithecus.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=RcWiiieQ 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Illustration%20-%20Rudapithecus.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=9NxGrwyl" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-04-07T11:41:10-04:00" title="Wednesday, April 7, 2021 - 11:41" class="datetime">Wed, 04/07/2021 - 11:41</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">A re-examination of the inner ear canals of two extinct great ape fossils from approximately 10 million years ago –&nbsp;one&nbsp;from Spain and&nbsp;another&nbsp;from Hungary – shows a close relationship with humans and living African apes (image by John Sibbick)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/sean-bettam" hreflang="en">Sean Bettam</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anthropolgy" hreflang="en">Anthropolgy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p style="margin-bottom:10px">An analysis of prehistoric ape fossils previously discovered in Hungary and Spain is adding weight to the theory that the ancestors of African apes and humans evolved in Europe before migrating to Africa between nine and seven&nbsp;million years ago.</p> <div class="image-with-caption left"> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/Digital%20reconstruction%20of%20ape%20skull%20fossil%20-%20RUD%20200%20reconstruction%203_4.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>A reconstruction of the skull of Rudapithecus from Micro-CT scans&nbsp;(image courtesy of David Begun)</em></p> </div> <p>A re-examination of the inner ear canals of two extinct great ape fossils from approximately 10 million years ago –&nbsp;<em>Hispanopithecus</em>&nbsp;from Spain, and&nbsp;<em>Rudapithecus</em>&nbsp;from Hungary – shows a close relationship with humans and living African apes, according to a study by an international team of researchers <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/118/5/e2015215118">published recently in the journal&nbsp;<em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</em>&nbsp;<em>of the United States of America</em></a>.</p> <p>The specimens date back to a period three to four million years before the oldest known potential pre-human from Africa, the six to seven-million-year-old&nbsp;<em>Sahelanthropus</em>&nbsp;from Chad.</p> <p>“The new evidence from the inner ear supports the hypothesis that hominines originated in Europe and dispersed into Africa along with many other mammals between nine and seven million years ago, but does not definitively prove it,” says&nbsp;<strong>David Begun</strong>,<strong>&nbsp;</strong>a professor in the&nbsp;department of anthropology&nbsp;in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science and one of the co-authors of the study.</p> <p>“Compared with all contemporary apes, the inner ear structures of both&nbsp;<em>Hispanopithecus</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Rudapithecus</em>&nbsp;most closely resemble those of African apes,” adds Begun, who led a team that discovered a&nbsp;<em>Rudapithecus</em>&nbsp;skull during field excavations at the Hungarian site of Rudabánya, where Begun has been directing research since 1997.</p> <p>“The inner ears of&nbsp;<em>Rudapithecus</em>&nbsp;in particular are remarkably similar to those of living chimpanzees and gorillas, which are the closest relatives of humans.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/Rudapithecus%20-%20Hungary%20excavation_1999%20-%203.jpg" alt></p> <p style="margin-bottom:10px"><em>U of T anthropologist David Begun led a team that discovered a Rudapithecus skull during field excavations at the Hungarian site of Rudabánya, where Begun has been directing research since 1997&nbsp;(photo courtesy of David Begun)</em></p> <p>The two species lived about 10 million years ago&nbsp;during the Miocene epoch and are members of an extinct tribe known as dryopithecins, a sub-group of the family of hominids that includes a range of great apes, both living and extinct. Hominids, in turn, are divided into two subfamilies: the pongines, which include orangutans that evolved in Asia, and hominines&nbsp;–&nbsp;the group that includes African apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas), humans and their fossil ancestors.</p> <p>While establishing relationships between living and extinct species that make up the tree of human evolution is&nbsp;one of the great challenges in paleoanthropology, it is well accepted that Miocene great apes play a significant part in completing the puzzle. Using advanced micro-CT scanning technology, the researchers analyzed the kinship between the species based on the structure of their semi-circular inner ear canals. This anatomical structure has previously revealed itself to be informative in reconstructing the genetic relationships between fossil primate species.</p> <p>The technique allowed the researchers to analyze the deformation between continuous surfaces of the bony structures, and then to quantify the differences in shape between individuals and species. Begun and his colleagues were able to better describe these features of&nbsp;Hispanopithecus&nbsp;and&nbsp;Rudapithecus&nbsp;and compare them with apes living today.</p> <p>“The results confirm that both are indeed hominids according to their robust canals, which is a unique character of great apes and humans,” says Begun.</p> <p>He adds that,&nbsp;over time, changes in the semi-circular canals of the inner ear, which are involved in balance, also help to explain how humans evolved from spending most of their time in the trees to coming down to the ground.</p> <p>Researchers, however, remain divided in their view of how dryopithecins are related to living apes. Some feel they are most likely to be a remnant of the great apes that lived before the Asian and African branches split. Others, including Begun, believe that dryopithecins are already on the hominine line.</p> <p>“Even though the specimens predate the earliest known hominines from Africa by at least three million years, more evidence is needed,” says Begun who, along with his students, is currently studying new fossils from Europe that he hopes will resolve this debate.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 07 Apr 2021 15:41:10 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 168990 at Strange dreams during COVID-19? You're not alone, U of T researchers say /news/strange-dreams-during-covid-19-you-re-not-alone-u-t-researchers-say <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Strange dreams during COVID-19? You're not alone, U of T researchers say</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/UTM_Dream_Team_lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=EYoLGCOK 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/UTM_Dream_Team_lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=gCyKjJxk 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/UTM_Dream_Team_lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=SKuciigS 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/UTM_Dream_Team_lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=EYoLGCOK" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-09-30T13:34:39-04:00" title="Wednesday, September 30, 2020 - 13:34" class="datetime">Wed, 09/30/2020 - 13:34</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">With the support of U of T's COVID-19 Student Engagement Award, graduate students at U of T Mississauga sought to understand how the pandemic was influencing people's dreams (image by Bruce Christianson via Unsplash)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/blake-eligh" hreflang="en">Blake Eligh</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/coronavirus" hreflang="en">Coronavirus</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anthropolgy" hreflang="en">Anthropolgy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">U of T Mississauga</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers from the Ƶ are&nbsp;attempting to peer into our unconscious minds&nbsp;to better understand the relationship between dreams and waking life&nbsp;– particularly during a stressful global event like the COVID-19 pandemic.</p> <p><strong>Leela McKinnon</strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Erica Kilius&nbsp;</strong>and&nbsp;<strong>Noor Abbas</strong>&nbsp;are graduate students in the lab of U of T Mississauga anthropologist&nbsp;<strong>David Samson</strong>, an assistant professor who studies how evolution influences human and primate sleep behaviour. Samson’s current research investigates the theory that humans have evolved to have dreams and nightmares as a way to rehearse for real threats in the daytime.</p> <p>With that in mind, the student researchers sought to understand how the pandemic might be influencing the dreams of fellow students.</p> <p>“Never before have we had an overarching global experience where everyone is feeling some sort of effect,” says McKinnon. “We thought it would be interesting to understand what the U of T community is feeling.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/UTM_Dream_Team.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>The dream team: U of T graduate researchers Erica Kilius, Leela McKinnon and Noor Abbas.</em></p> <p>With financial support from&nbsp;U of T’s S <a href="https://global.utoronto.ca/u-of-t-covid-19-student-engagement-award-winners/">COVID-19 Student Engagement Award</a>, the trio collected data from 84 U of T students from 22 countries around the globe. Respondents answered survey and interview questions about the content and themes of their dreams, providing short descriptions of specific dreams that occurred during the early lockdown phase of the pandemic. They also reported whether they felt their cultural background influenced the content or interpretation of their dreams.</p> <p>The researchers <a href="https://create.piktochart.com/output/48534008-covid19-dreams">then analyzed the responses</a> according to what Abbas described as&nbsp;“the big five” themes that researchers track in dream analysis: characters, social interaction, settings, emotions and misfortunes.</p> <p>Anxiety, fear and confusion were the top-reported emotions experienced by dreamers. Respondents also reported that their dreams were more vivid, and that they were having more nightmares than good dreams.</p> <p>About a third of respondents recalled dreams specifically related to COVID-19, including details like personal protective equipment and social distancing that could be linked to the pandemic. One student reported dreaming about a restaurant meal and receiving a bill for the same amount as their tuition fees.</p> <p>“That’s exactly what we would expect if outside anxieties and fears come into dreams, because that’s what people are experiencing in real life,” McKinnon says. “It seems that dreams are related to outside stressors, and that they might have a sort of function. Further analysis may support this idea of threat simulation.”</p> <p>Abbas notes that female respondents reported higher incidents of finding themselves in negative situations and on the receiving end of physical aggression in their dreams.&nbsp;</p> <p>Abbas says this could be interpreted as evidence that there is a difference between how women and men perceive threats. “That we see more in females than in males could indicate a difference in how they rationalize an external threat in their dreams,” she says.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/UTM_Noor_Abbas_illustrations.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>Researcher Noor Abbas illustrated a selection of dreams recounted by study responents.</em></p> <p>The researchers were also interested in the relationship between culture and pandemic dreams.</p> <p>“Culture can influence whether the dreamer naps during the day or stays out late,” Kilius says. “In dreams, culture may also influence the appearance of ancestors, or whether dreams can help to make decisions.”</p> <p>Nearly a quarter of respondents reported that their cultural background had played a role in how their interpreted their pandemic dreams. One respondent reported dreaming of snakes – usually a good sign in the respondent’s Hindu culture. Another dreamer reported seeking safety, even when danger had passed, which they attributed to cultural background.</p> <p>“Threat perception is dependent on your culture,” says Abbas, who illustrated some of the reported dreams for the team’s report. “The way you understand external threats would be perceived the same way.”</p> <p>The student study is related to a&nbsp;larger research project&nbsp;headed up by Samson, whose current research explores the idea that dreams may prime us for next-day behaviour.&nbsp;Samson&nbsp;<a href="/news/u-t-experts-receive-95-million-funding-research-infrastructure">recently received support from the John Evans Leadership Fund</a> infrastructure grant from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation&nbsp;to build a unique sleep laboratory&nbsp;focused on testing evolutionary hypotheses about the function of dreams.</p> <p>“If&nbsp;we rehearse an event in the alternate state of consciousness we call dreaming – usually manifesting as a social or physical challenge in our environment – we are biologically priming our success if we happen to face those threats in the future while awake,” Samson says.</p> <p>“There is the tantalizing possibility that the way our Paleolithic ancestors dreamed may have enhanced their likelihood of survival and reproduction. In other words, from the vantage point of natural history, dreams may be part of the human success story.”</p> <p>The researchers say we can take comfort in&nbsp;the knowledge that people everywhere are sharing common experiences, even while asleep.</p> <p>“Talking about your dreams or thinking it through can sometimes help make these connections,” Kilius says. “We would reassure people that this appears to be normal, and that they aren’t alone.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 30 Sep 2020 17:34:39 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 165876 at From hip-hop to healthy soil: 56 U of T researchers receive Connaught New Researcher Award /news/hip-hop-healthy-soil-56-u-t-researchers-receive-connaught-new-researcher-award <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">From hip-hop to healthy soil: 56 U of T researchers receive Connaught New Researcher Award</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/IMG_7751.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=QPRMejQm 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/IMG_7751.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=KzjQCINz 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/IMG_7751.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=E_z3TIUT 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/IMG_7751.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=QPRMejQm" alt="Lauren Cramer"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-09-17T09:03:29-04:00" title="Thursday, September 17, 2020 - 09:03" class="datetime">Thu, 09/17/2020 - 09:03</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Lauren Cramer, one of 56 Connaught New Researcher Award recipients at U of T, is using architecture to theorize about hip-hop and the points of articulation between the aesthetics of Blackness and visual culture (photo courtesy of Lauren Cramer)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/paul-fraumeni" hreflang="en">Paul Fraumeni</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cell-and-systems-biology" hreflang="en">Cell and Systems Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anthropolgy" hreflang="en">Anthropolgy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/astronomy-astrophysics" hreflang="en">Astronomy &amp; 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Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-kinesiology-physical-education" hreflang="en">Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-music" hreflang="en">Faculty of Music</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/geography-and-planning" hreflang="en">Geography and Planning</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/history" hreflang="en">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/laboratory-medicine-and-pathobiology" hreflang="en">Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/management" hreflang="en">Management</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mechanical-industrial-engineering" hreflang="en">Mechanical &amp; Industrial Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ontario-institute-studies-education" hreflang="en">Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/philosophy" hreflang="en">Philosophy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/political-science" hreflang="en">Political Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/psychology" hreflang="en">Psychology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rotman-school-management" hreflang="en">Rotman School of Management</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sociology" hreflang="en">Sociology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/statistical-sciences" hreflang="en">Statistical Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ted-sargent" hreflang="en">Ted Sargent</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">U of T Mississauga</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">U of T Scarborough</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utias" hreflang="en">UTIAS</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When you think of hip-hop, what comes to mind?</p> <p>For many, it might be music. But <strong>Lauren McLeod Cramer </strong>is quick to point out that music is only one part of hip-hop’s broad culture – a culture that touches on everything from the way we speak, to the clothes we wear, to matters of race and identity.&nbsp;</p> <p>The assistant professor at U of T’s Cinema Studies Institute will be exploring hip-hop’s global influence even further in a new research project called “A Black Joint: Hip-Hop and the Architecture of Blackness,” where she will use architecture to theorize about hip-hop and the points of articulation between the aesthetics of Blackness and visual culture.</p> <p>“This project is about hip-hop and space,” says Cramer, who joined U of T in 2019 after earning her doctorate in communications from Georgia State University. “I realized that when I was talking with students about race and critical race theory, and about Blackness, it was clearer to them when I put it in spatial terms.”</p> <p>“It is easier to understand visually or in 3D. I think of Blackness not as a characteristic of the body but as a way of seeing or experiencing space – from buildings to neighbourhoods.”</p> <p>Cramer is one of 56 winners of the Connaught New Researcher Award, which recognizes assistant professors within the first five years of a tenure-stream academic appointment (<a href="#list">see full list below</a>). The awards, part of U of T’s commitment to fostering excellence in research and innovation, are designed to help recipients establish a strong research program and increase their competitiveness for external funding.</p> <p>This year’s recipients, who will share $1 million in funding, represent the broad spectrum of research undertaken at U of T in the humanities, life sciences, social sciences and physical sciences and engineering.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Lauren McLeod Cramer’s research reflects the broad range of scholarship at the Ƶ and the Connaught New Researcher Award plays a key role in supporting such important and emerging areas of study,” says <strong>Ted Sargent</strong>, vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.&nbsp;</p> <p>“I want to extend my congratulations to Professor Cramer and all of the other award winners this year. I’m personally looking forward to seeing where this exceptional group of investigators takes their work in the years to come.”</p> <p>As for Cramer, she says that “hip-hop visual culture has grown to include a staggering number of objects: music videos, films, photography, digital art, painting and even architecture.”</p> <p>She says her project will explore the spatial nature of hip-hop through a wide range of objects from different cultural spaces and times, including: the choreography of Beyoncé’s “Formation” music video, the subterranean architecture of “the sunken place” in Jordan Peele’s 2017 horror film <em>Get Out,</em> Charles Gaines’s fine art photography and architect David Adjaye’s noted public buildings, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture (part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.).&nbsp;</p> <p>Cramer says that once we are past the pandemic and can travel more easily, the Connaught award will enable her to see that architecture first-hand.&nbsp;</p> <p>“I was incredibly excited after I was told I had won one of the awards,” she says. “I believe that hip-hop allows Blackness to travel through space. Thanks to this funding, I can now map that space.”</p> <p>In response to the protests against anti-Black racism surrounding the most recent incidents of police brutality – including the killing of George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake – Cramer says it’s necessary to approach issues “at the appropriate scale” if you want to have a serious conversations about anti-Blackness.</p> <p>“Racial difference is made and enforced through space: urban planning, environmental action, transportation and the built environment,” she says. “So, it is helpful to think about anti-Blackness in the spaces that we occupy, including pop culture.</p> <p>“That means looking at architectural design, both real – like Adjaye’s work – and imagined, such as in in hip-hop music videos, as a way to understand how race is formed. What is particularly interesting to me is how hip-hop visual culture’s experimental aesthetics might also show us how Blackness can&nbsp;<em>deform&nbsp;</em>space.”</p> <p>The funding for the Connaught New Researcher Award comes from U of T’s Connaught Fund, which was founded in 1972 when the university sold the Connaught Medical Research Laboratories for $29 million. This year, the Connaught New Researchers program has awarded funding to 14 researchers in humanities, nine in life sciences, eight in physical sciences and engineering, and 25 in social sciences.&nbsp;<a id="list" name="list"></a></p> <hr> <p><strong>Here is the full list of winners of the 2020 Connaught New Researcher Award:</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Humanities</em></p> <p><a href="https://utsc.utoronto.ca/news-events/faculty-and-staff/utscs-mark-v-campbell-earns-connaught-new-researcher-award-studying-preserving"><strong>Mark Campbell</strong></a>, department of arts, culture and media, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Urvashi Chakravarty</strong>, department of English, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Lauren McLeod Cramer</strong>, Cinema Studies Institute, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><strong>Anup Grewal</strong>, department of historical and cultural studies, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Ellen Lockhart</strong>, Faculty of Music</p> <p><strong>Christian Pfeiffer</strong>, department of philosophy, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Adrien Rannaud</strong>, department of language studies, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Anjuli Raza Kolb</strong>, department of English and drama, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Laura Risk</strong>, department of arts, culture and media, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Victor Rivas</strong>, department of Spanish and Portuguese, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><strong>Timothy Sayle</strong>, department of history, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><strong>Avery Slater</strong>, department of English and drama, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Anna Thomas</strong>, department of English and drama, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Elizabeth Wijaya</strong>, department of visual studies, U of T Mississauga</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Life Sciences – Social</em></p> <p><a href="https://www.dlsph.utoronto.ca/2020/09/dlsph-professor-untangles-politics-of-hiv-prevention-drug-implementation-in-peru/"><strong>Amaya Perez-Brumer</strong></a>, Dalla Lana School of Public Health</p> <p><strong>Nicholas Spence</strong>, department of sociology, U of T Scarborough</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Life Sciences – Molecular</em></p> <p><strong>Scott MacIvor</strong>, department of biological sciences, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Adam Martin</strong>, department of physical and environmental sciences, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Heather McFarlane</strong>, department of cell and systems biology, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><strong>Glenn Mott</strong>, department of biological sciences, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Derek Ng</strong>, department of biology, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Nicole Novroski</strong>, department of anthropology, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Scott Yuzwa</strong>, department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology, Faculty of Medicine</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Physical Sciences</em></p> <p><a href="https://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/connaught-new-researcher-awards-boost-data-driven-decision-making-and-machine-learning-research/"><strong>Merve Bodur</strong></a>, department of mechanical and industrial engineering, Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</p> <p><a href="https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/news/2019-2020-connaught-new-researcher-awards-highlight-depth-and-diversity-arts-science-research"><strong>Xu Chu</strong></a>, department of Earth sciences, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><strong>Gwendolyn Eadie</strong>, David A. Dunlap department of astronomy and astrophysics, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><strong>Dan Gregory</strong>, department of Earth sciences, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><a href="https://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/connaught-new-researcher-awards-boost-data-driven-decision-making-and-machine-learning-research/"><strong>Nicolas Papernot</strong></a>, Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering, Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</p> <p><strong>Silvana Pesenti</strong>, department of statistical sciences, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><strong>Ting-Kam Leonard Wong</strong>, department of computer and mathematical sciences, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Masayuki Yano</strong>, U of T Institute for Aerospace Studies, Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Social Sciences</em></p> <p><strong>Elizabeth Acorn</strong>, department of political science, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Andrea Allen</strong>, department of anthropology, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><a href="https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/main-news/professor-documenting-caravanation-asylum-seekers-among-utm-researchers-receive-connaught"><strong>Martha Balaguera Cuervo</strong></a>, department of political science, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Michael William Best</strong>, department of psychology, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Waqas Butt</strong>, department of anthropology, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Laurent Cavenaile</strong>, department of management, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Nicole Charles</strong>, department of historical studies, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Akash Chattopadhyay</strong>, department of management, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Alexandre Corhay</strong>, Rotman School of Management</p> <p><strong>Negin Dahya</strong>, Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Michelle Daigle</strong>, department of geography and planning, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><strong>Claudia Milena Diaz Rios</strong>, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</p> <p><strong>Greg Distelhorst</strong>, Centre for Industrial Relations &amp; Human Resources, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><strong>Jim Goldman</strong>, department of economics, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Cassandra Hartblay</strong>, department of anthropology, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Christopher Higgins</strong>, department of human geography, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><a href="https://kpe.utoronto.ca/faculty-news/kpes-janelle-joseph-wins-connaught-new-researcher-award"><strong>Janelle Joseph</strong></a>, Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education</p> <p><strong>Arlo Kempf</strong>, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</p> <p><strong>Fikile Nxumalo</strong>, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</p> <p><strong>Rachel Ruttan</strong>, Rotman School of Management</p> <p><strong>Jason Spicer</strong>, department of geography and planning, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><strong>Anton Tsoy</strong>, department of economics, Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</p> <p><strong>Mark Wade</strong>, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</p> <p><strong>Jue Wang</strong>, department of geography, geomatics and environment, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Jennifer Wemigwans</strong>, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 17 Sep 2020 13:03:29 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 165697 at 3Qs at the U with Science Sam: (Ep. 3) David Samson on sleep /news/3qs-u-science-sam-ep-3-david-samson-sleep <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">3Qs at the U with Science Sam: (Ep. 3) David Samson on sleep</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-05-25T11:44:55-04:00" title="Monday, May 25, 2020 - 11:44" class="datetime">Mon, 05/25/2020 - 11:44</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-youtube field--type-youtube field--label-hidden field__item"><figure class="youtube-container"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8KnNV4cT24U?wmode=opaque" width="450" height="315" id="youtube-field-player" class="youtube-field-player" title="Embedded video for 3Qs at the U with Science Sam: (Ep. 3) David Samson on sleep" aria-label="Embedded video for 3Qs at the U with Science Sam: (Ep. 3) David Samson on sleep: https://www.youtube.com/embed/8KnNV4cT24U?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> </figure> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/3qs-u" hreflang="en">3Qs at the U</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anthropolgy" hreflang="en">Anthropolgy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">U of T Mississauga</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>We know sleep is important, and yet sometimes we just can’t get enough. What should we do to try to get a better night's rest?</p> <p>In episode three of&nbsp;<em>3Qs at the U</em>,&nbsp;<strong>Samantha Yammine</strong>&nbsp;– a Ƶ alumna, neuroscientist and science communicator better known as Science Sam on social media&nbsp;– speaks with <strong>David Samson</strong>,&nbsp;a sleep expert from U of T Mississauga.</p> <p>“You want good sleep hygiene and you want good light hygiene,” says Samson, an assistant professor of anthropology who studies the connection between sleep, our health, and other cognitive functions. “Sleep hygiene means that the environment that you're sleeping in is distraction-free. You don't want any big LCD screens&nbsp;blasting you with blue-wave light because blue-wave light … is going to inhibit melatonin and melatonin is the principal hormone that drives your sleep-awake regulation.”</p> <p><em>3Qs at the U&nbsp;</em>is a weekly video series&nbsp;in which Yammine asks a U of T researcher three questions on a timely topic.&nbsp;It’s&nbsp;produced by U of T Scarborough interactive digital producer&nbsp;<strong>Cory Lawrence</strong>.</p> <h3><a href="/news/tags/3qs-u">See a complete list of episodes</a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 25 May 2020 15:44:55 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 164701 at Social distancing and blame: U of T researcher on lessons from past pandemics /news/social-distancing-and-blame-u-t-researcher-lessons-past-pandemics <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Social distancing and blame: U of T researcher on lessons from past pandemics</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/a025025-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=O2C4g8FY 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/a025025-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=KkIYRjiL 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/a025025-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=MfQi2k11 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/a025025-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=O2C4g8FY" alt="Three men stand in a field in alberta wearing gauze masks"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2020-03-26T16:15:16-04:00" title="Thursday, March 26, 2020 - 16:15" class="datetime">Thu, 03/26/2020 - 16:15</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Three men wear masks in Alberta during the Spanish Influenza epidemic in 1918 (photo by Library and Archives Canada, PA-025025)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/patricia-lonergan" hreflang="en">Patricia Lonergan</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/coronavirus" hreflang="en">Coronavirus</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anthropolgy" hreflang="en">Anthropolgy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/history" hreflang="en">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">U of T Mississauga</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Public meetings are banned. Theatres, schools, colleges and churches are closed. Business hours are restricted across Canada.</p> <p>It sounds like the current state of affairs. But it also happened in&nbsp;1918.</p> <p>While our experiences today with COVID-19 may seem unprecedented, there are clear lessons to be learned from pandemics&nbsp;past, according to Ƶ Mississauga&nbsp;anthropologist&nbsp;<strong>Madeleine Mant</strong>.</p> <p>“Most folks I know haven’t seen anything this intense,” she says. “I certainly haven’t in my lifetime. But if we talk about 1918 influenza, none of this is new – it’s just faster and different.”</p> <p>Much of the response to the 1918 pandemic, also known as Spanish flu, sounds familiar. Mant says some Canadian towns started to attempt total quarantine and the province of Alberta made it compulsory to wear a gauze mask when outdoors. Business owners suffered, too.</p> <p>In fact, people today are facing many of the same challenges and are offering the same critiques they did 102 years ago. Mant points to an anonymous letter in a newspaper in 1918 where the writer references businesses closing at 4 p.m. to help fight the flu, writing, “Is the flu germ more active after 4 p.m. than previous to that hour?” Similar commentary can be found today as businesses restrict their hours.</p> <p>When businesses in 1918 had to shut down for a time, there were calls to the government to help small businesses with “sickly trade and bruised feelings,” Mant says.</p> <p>The 1918 influenza outbreak was unusual in that it killed so many people, including those between 20 and 40 years old.</p> <p>“Pandemics are difficult emotionally as well as biologically for a lot of different reasons,” Mant says. And they have “incredible effects on history.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/Emergency_hospital_during_Influenza_epidemic%2C_Camp_Funston%2C_Kansas_-_NCP_1603.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>An emergency hospital at Camp Funston, Kan., cared for large numbers of soldiers sickened by the 1918 flu (photo via National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC. Image number NCP 1603)</em></p> <p>Shame, blame and stigma often go hand-in-hand with pandemics. A good example of this is syphilis, Mant says. It emerged as we now know it in the 15th century when Italy and France were at war. As soldiers disbanded, they returned to their homeland, bringing syphilis with them, leading to an epidemic in Europe.</p> <p>Everyone needed to name the disease, Mant says, explaining the French called it the Italian disease, the Germans and Italians called it the French disease, the Russians called it the Polish disease, while the Polish called it the German sickness.</p> <p>“We immediately get a sense that everyone is saying it’s coming from somewhere else. It’s not our fault. This dirty disease we’re connecting to sexual behaviour is someone else’s fault,” Mant says.</p> <p>Of course, we know it’s really a bacterium, but suddenly it means something socially, she adds.</p> <p>This same pattern of blame can be found when the bubonic plague, caused by bacterium transmitted by fleas on rats, spread through the trade routes. Also known as the Black Death, the disease was scary because it could kill anyone, rich or poor, and there was no acquired immunity.</p> <p>“What’s important about Black Death in the 14th&nbsp;century is we immediately start to see stigmatized groups being punished,” Mant says. “We see stigma played out in very terrifying ways.”</p> <p>She explains there was a belief that God was punishing people. Jewish individuals and sex workers were targeted, with records showing vulnerable and marginalized individuals being burned alive because people thought that if they got rid of the “sinners”, God would stop punishing them.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/SpanishFluPosterAlberta%5B1%5D.jpg" alt>The emergence of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s also saw the use of language that targeted specific groups.</p> <p>“I hate saying this part of history because it’s so deeply offensive, but we have to talk about it,” Mant says before explaining that when it first emerged in the United States, HIV/AIDS was known as GRID (gay-related immune deficiency) and 4H, which stood for homosexuals, heroin&nbsp;users, hemophiliacs and Haitians.</p> <p>Calling it “emotional and awful language,” Mant says the government was essentially telling people their lifestyles and who they were was making them sick.</p> <p>As the world grapples with a new virus, the language being used to describe this faceless foe is important.</p> <p>“When we have people insisting on calling COVID-19 “the Chinese virus,” that is language being used as a weapon and we can’t ignore it,” Mant says. “It’s not even being subtly racist. It’s just openly stigmatizing.</p> <p>“There’s a moral imperative that we keep each other safe. That’s the really important thing we can learn from these past pandemics. Countries and societies can certainly pull together, but we will slow ourselves down if we spend time blaming.”</p> <p>While we’re once again seeing something scary in 2020, things are different, Mant says. With mass communication we can get information to people faster than ever before and co-ordinate large-scale actions. We have knowledge of the infectious agent, we know what it is and well-stocked labs are working to combat it.</p> <p>“What we need now are the effects of small-scale cumulative action,” Mant says, referring to social distancing, grabbing groceries during off-peak hours and staying home as much as possible. “Disease has been with us since we’ve been around and it’s not necessarily going to go away, but our actions can ensure that the effects are not catastrophic.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 26 Mar 2020 20:15:16 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 163880 at U of T study finds evidence of a new type of social organization in primates /news/u-t-study-finds-evidence-new-type-social-organization-primates <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">U of T study finds evidence of a new type of social organization in primates</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/shutterstock_1198755664.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=UYcFr1lN 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/shutterstock_1198755664.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=ZqVXts1I 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/shutterstock_1198755664.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=BcgULVA2 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/shutterstock_1198755664.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=UYcFr1lN" alt="A colobis monkey sits in a tree in Rwanda"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-10-31T12:20:30-04:00" title="Thursday, October 31, 2019 - 12:20" class="datetime">Thu, 10/31/2019 - 12:20</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">The study of African colobus monkeys by researchers at U of T Scarborough could shed light on how human social organization became so complex (photo by Zaruba Ondrej via Shutterstock)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/don-campbell" hreflang="en">Don Campbell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anthropolgy" hreflang="en">Anthropolgy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">U of T Scarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A study by researchers at the Ƶ has uncovered a new type of social organization in primates – one that may help further our understanding of human evolution. &nbsp;</p> <p>The research, led by U of T Scarborough’s <strong>Julie Teichroeb</strong> and PhD student <strong>Samantha Stead</strong>, for the first time finds evidence of a multi-level society in a species of African colobus monkeys.</p> <p>The monkeys group together in small units. Some units consist of one male and multiple females, while others include multiple males and multiple females.</p> <p>“We haven’t seen multi-male units like this before,” says Teichroeb, who is an assistant professor in the department of anthropology and an expert in primate behaviour and the evolution of social organization in primates.</p> <p>“Other primates that form multi-level societies are one-male/multi-female units – they don’t form multi-male/multi-female units, so this species is unusual in that regard.”</p> <p>The researchers found at least three levels of social organization in the species, known as <em>Colobus angolensis ruwenzorii</em>, which lives near Lake Nabugabo in Uganda. The three levels include smaller core units that cluster into larger clans, with clans sharing a home range within an even larger band.</p> <p>The multi-male core units can have up to eight adult males – all of them reproductive males, meaning they get a chance to mate with females. They also get along with each other.</p> <p>“The males do a lot of greeting behaviour like hugging each other or passing infants around to bond with one another,” says Teichroeb.</p> <p>“Males interacting a lot with infants is odd behaviour among other species of colobus monkeys to begin with, but using infants to bond with each other is very unusual.”</p> <p>In other primates, when two groups meet it usually results in conflict, but in a multi-level society, these groups tend to tolerate each other. While there is evidence of multi-level societies in a few primates, including geladas (a relative of baboons) and hamadryas baboons, they don’t form multi-male/multi-female units like these colobus.</p> <p>Teichroeb says the males may get along because there’s an ample food supply, or because they are clustering together to fight bachelor males wanting to enter the group. It could also be that they are related – something Teichroeb hopes to explore more through genetic data they’ve collected.</p> <p>The researchers found evidence of males dispersing to other core units within the band, while females dispersed outside of the band, which suggests that males are more closely related than females within the band.</p> <p>“Females dispersing and mating outside of the band in a multi-level society is proposed for our human ancestors, so this species could be a good parallel for understanding human evolution,” Teichroeb&nbsp;says.</p> <p>She adds that our human ancestors also showed evidence of male bonding while remaining in the geographical area where they grew up, another characteristic of this colobus species.</p> <p>The study, which received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the American Association of Physical Anthropology, is published in the journal <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217666"><em>PLOS ONE</em></a>.</p> <p>Teichroeb hopes to explore the possibility of a fourth tier of social organization in these monkeys since they didn’t observe a band coming into conflict with another band while doing their research. They also want to further explore the reasons behind the unusual male bonding behaviour.</p> <p>“We have this notion that we understand all the variation in social organization in primates, so finding this new type of organization goes to show there could be different patterns out there we’re not aware of,” Teichroeb says.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 31 Oct 2019 16:20:30 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 160145 at Rescuing crops, reframing history and researching MMIW: 2019 Connaught New Researcher Award winners announced /news/rescuing-crops-reframing-history-and-researching-mmiw-2019-connaught-new-researcher-award <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Rescuing crops, reframing history and researching MMIW: 2019 Connaught New Researcher Award winners announced</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/connaught-group.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=bbKGHvln 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/connaught-group.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ex99Inl_ 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/connaught-group.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=gMIkvJFF 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/connaught-group.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=bbKGHvln" alt="Connaught award winners Eliana Gonzalez-Vigil, Shauna Sweeney and Jerry Flores"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-09-09T10:05:45-04:00" title="Monday, September 9, 2019 - 10:05" class="datetime">Mon, 09/09/2019 - 10:05</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Three of this year's 52 winners of the Connaught New Researcher Award: Eliana Gonzales-Vigil, Shauna Sweeney and Jerry Flores </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jenny-rodrigues" hreflang="en">Jenny Rodrigues</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mathematical-and-computational-sciences" hreflang="en">Mathematical and Computational Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anthropolgy" hreflang="en">Anthropolgy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/astronomy-astrophysics" hreflang="en">Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/awards" hreflang="en">Awards</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/biochemistry" hreflang="en">Biochemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/biology" hreflang="en">Biology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/centre-criminology-sociolegal-studies" hreflang="en">Centre for Criminology &amp; Sociolegal Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/chemistry" hreflang="en">Chemistry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/connaught-fund" hreflang="en">Connaught Fund</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dalla-lana-school-public-health" hreflang="en">Dalla Lana School of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/earth-sciences" hreflang="en">Earth Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/economics" hreflang="en">Economics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/english" hreflang="en">English</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/factor-inwentash-faculty-social-work" hreflang="en">Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-information" hreflang="en">Faculty of Information</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-music" hreflang="en">Faculty of Music</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/history" hreflang="en">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institute-management-innovation" hreflang="en">Institute for Management &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/institute-biomaterials-and-biomedical-engineering-0" hreflang="en">Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/lawrence-s-bloomberg-faculty-nursing" hreflang="en">Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/management" hreflang="en">Management</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mathematics" hreflang="en">Mathematics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mechanical-industrial-engineering" hreflang="en">Mechanical &amp; Industrial Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/molecular-genetics" hreflang="en">Molecular Genetics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ontario-institute-studies-education" hreflang="en">Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/philosophy" hreflang="en">Philosophy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/political-science" hreflang="en">Political Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/psychology" hreflang="en">Psychology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sociology" hreflang="en">Sociology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/statistical-sciences" hreflang="en">Statistical Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">U of T Mississauga</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">U of T Scarborough</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/women-and-gender-studies" hreflang="en">Women and Gender Studies</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Insects destroy up to one quarter of global crops each year, resulting in estimated losses of up to $470 billion. Even in greenhouse conditions, pests can still cause damage by making their way inside through vents.</p> <p>It’s a problem the Ƶ’s <strong>Eliana Gonzales-Vigil </strong>aims to tackle by better understanding the complex relationship between plants and bugs.</p> <p>The biological sciences researcher at U of T Scarborough is specifically looking at how to protect crops from the cabbage looper, a common pest of tomatoes and other vegetables such as peppers, cucumbers and – of course – cabbage.</p> <p>“My long-term goal is to understand how plants defend themselves from insect herbivores,” Gonzales-Vigil said.</p> <p>“But to achieve this, we need to understand all the players involved.”</p> <p>Gonzales-Vigil is one of 52 winners of this year’s Connaught New Researcher Award, designed to help recipients establish a strong research program and increase their competitiveness for external funding. The award is part of U of T’s commitment to fostering excellence in research and innovation by supporting faculty members who are launching their academic careers.</p> <h3><a href="http://connaught.research.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Connaught-New-Researcher.pdf">Read the full list of Connaught New Researcher Award winners here</a></h3> <p>Up to $1 million will be distributed among this year’s winners.</p> <p>“I would like to congratulate all the winners of the Connaught New Researcher Award,” said <strong>Vivek Goel</strong>, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.</p> <p>“These researchers are doing exciting, innovative work across many different disciplines. It’s the Ƶ’s hope that this funding will help set the stage for world-leading scholarship and important new discoveries.”</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/eliana.jpg" alt></p> <p>(<em>photo courtesy of Eliana Gonzalez-Vigil</em>)</p> <p>Gonzales-Vigil is embarking on a study to explore how impacting the gut microbiome of the cabbage looper may help tomato plants be more resistant against the insect’s attack.</p> <p>“We want to test the idea of whether the microbiome of the cabbage looper is being affected by the plant’s chemistry. If yes, then can we manipulate the plant’s chemistry by adding something like a probiotic that would impede insect growth?”</p> <p>She added the Connaught award will help kick-start a new line of research after having most recently focused on how poplar trees defend themselves through a waxy compound secretion.</p> <p>“Having the Connaught has given me the freedom to start something that’s new,” she said, adding that she hopes her research will eventually lead to insect control methods that can be used around the world.</p> <h4>Shauna Sweeney</h4> <h4><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/0815ShaunaSweeney002.jpg" alt></h4> <p>(<em>photo by Nick Iwanyshyn</em>)</p> <p>During her undergraduate studies, U of T’s <strong>Shauna Sweeney </strong>was drawn to Caribbean history courses – in particular the history and the economy of the markets in Caribbean nations. It was an area of research Sweeney, who is herself of Jamaican background, wanted to explore further.</p> <p>An assistant professor in the department of history and at the Women &amp; Gender Studies Institute, Sweeney is currently working on a manuscript that examines the prominent role of enslaved women in developing an informal economy in the Caribbean.</p> <p>She said that by selling or trading goods to each other, enslaved women asserted their own economic rights and ultimately laid the groundwork for a free community following abolition.</p> <p>“In conventional studies of capitalism&nbsp;that consider the deeply violent and exploitative context of slavery, enslaved peoples' own economic lives and politics tend to fall out,” Sweeney said.&nbsp; “So, it’s important to me to restore the social and economic importance of trading to enslaved people and their descendants.”</p> <p>“In addition to being commodities on paper, enslaved people actually were agents in their own economies and had economic interests of their own.”</p> <p>Sweeney plans to conduct further transnational research with the Connaught award, travelling to Europe to visit the Archivo de Indias (Archives of the Indies) and the Archives Nationales d’Outre-mer (National Overseas Archives).</p> <p>The research trips will also help lay a foundation for her second project, which will focus on white female slave owners.</p> <h4>Jerry Flores</h4> <h4><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/jerry.jpg" alt></h4> <p>(<em>photo courtesy of Jerry Flores</em>)</p> <p>As a Mexican who was born and raised in Los Angeles, U of T Mississauga’s <strong>Jerry Flores</strong> brings an outsider’s perspective to a high-profile research project in Canada: an ethnography of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) and men in Toronto.</p> <p>Flores, an assistant professor in the department of sociology, previously published a book about young, incarcerated Latina women.</p> <p>As he heard more stories about MMIW, he began to notice similarities.</p> <p>“The experiences of a lot of these women go like this: They’re abused at home by a partner or a family member and run away to get away from it,” Flores said.</p> <p>“They end up on the street and participate in high risk behaviour or may end up getting involved in drugs or sex work. They meet a new partner – for young women, it’s usually an older man – that brings them home, but quickly spirals into drugs, alcohol and abuse.”</p> <p>Specifically, Flores wants to study the circumstances in which Indigenous people make their way to Toronto. He’s asking: What challenges did they face to come here? Have they lost people on their journey to Toronto? What stories have they heard?</p> <p>Flores is working closely with local organizations, including the Native Women’s Association of Canada and the Aboriginal Law Society in Toronto, to gather stories. Funding from the Connaught New Researcher Award will help compensate participants for their time and provide support for the community organizations that are assisting Flores in his research.</p> <p>“By definition, ethnography is a study of culture. I’m trying to understand the culture of the Indigenous community in Toronto – how they negotiate life, the challenges and the high points. What is it that they need, what do they want to accomplish, and how can we as a collective – U of T Mississauga and U of T in general – support them?”</p> <p>Flores hopes that the study will be able to provide concrete recommendations for policy, community action and scholarship on MMIW.</p> <hr> <p><strong>Here is the full list of winners of the 2019 Connaught New Researcher Award: </strong></p> <h4>&nbsp;</h4> <h4>Humanities:</h4> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Tania Aguila-Way</strong>, assistant professor, department of English</p> <p><strong>Barend Beekhuizen</strong>, assistant professor, department of language studies, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Brendan de Kenessey</strong>, assistant professor, department of philosophy</p> <p><strong>Catherine Evans</strong>, assistant professor, Centre for Criminology &amp; Sociolegal Studies</p> <p><strong>Cindy Ewing</strong>, assistant professor, department of history</p> <p><strong>Sarah Gutsche-Miller</strong>, assistant professor, Faculty of Music</p> <p><strong>Adam Hammond</strong>, assistant professor, department of English</p> <p><strong>Rosalind Hampton</strong>, assistant professor, department of social justice education, Ontario Institute For Studies in Education</p> <p><strong>Mary Elizabeth Luka</strong>, assistant professor, department of arts, culture and media, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Luther Obrock</strong>, assistant professor, department of historical studies, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Shauna Sweeney</strong>, assistant professor, department of history and Women &amp; Gender Studies Institute</p> <p><strong>Katherine Williams</strong>, assistant professor, department of English</p> <h4>&nbsp;</h4> <h4>Life Sciences/Social Cultural</h4> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Jennifer Brooks</strong>, assistant professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health</p> <p><strong>Aaron Conway</strong>, assistant professor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing</p> <p><strong>Marzyeh Ghassemi</strong>, assistant professor, departments of medicine and computer science</p> <p><strong>Quinn Grundy</strong>, assistant professor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing</p> <p><strong>Péter Molnár</strong>, assistant professor, department of biological sciences, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Olli Saarela</strong>, associate professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health</p> <h4>&nbsp;</h4> <h4>Molecular</h4> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Michael Garton</strong>, assistant professor, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering</p> <p><strong>Eliana Gonzales-Vigil</strong>, assistant professor, department of biological sciences, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Thomas Hurd</strong>, assistant professor, department of molecular genetics</p> <p><strong>Hyun Kate Lee</strong>, assistant professor, department of biochemistry</p> <p><strong>Baohua Liu</strong>, assistant professor, department of biology, U of T Mississauga</p> <h4>&nbsp;</h4> <h4>Physical Science</h4> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Melissa Anderson</strong>, assistant professor, department of Earth sciences</p> <p><strong>Amy Bilton</strong>, assistant professor, department of mechanical and industrial engineering</p> <p><strong>Maryam Mehri Dehnavi</strong>, assistant professor, department of computer science</p> <p><strong>Maria Drout</strong>, assistant professor, department of astronomy and astrophysics</p> <p><strong>Murat A. Erdogdu</strong>, assistant professor, departments of computer science and statistical sciences</p> <p><strong>Tovi Grossman</strong>, assistant professor, department of computer science</p> <p><strong>Fan Long</strong>, assistant professor, department of computer science</p> <p><strong>Semechah Lui</strong>, assistant professor, department of chemical and physical sciences, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Fabio Pusateri</strong>, assistant professor, department of mathematics</p> <p><strong>Arul Shankar</strong>, assistant professor, department of mathematical and computational sciences, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Diana Valencia</strong>, assistant professor, department of physical and environmental sciences, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Stanislav Volgushev</strong>, assistant professor, department of mathematical and computational sciences, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Joseph Williams</strong>, assistant professor, department of computer science</p> <p><strong>Mark Wilson</strong>, assistant professor, department of chemistry</p> <h4>&nbsp;</h4> <h4>Social Sciences</h4> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Monica Alexander</strong>, assistant professor, departments of statistical sciences and sociology</p> <p><strong>Noel Anderson</strong>, assistant professor, political science, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Jennifer Brant</strong>, assistant professor, department of curriculum, teaching and learning, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education</p> <p><strong>Michelle Cameron</strong>, assistant professor, department of anthropology</p> <p><strong>Laura Cirelli</strong>, assistant professor, department of psychology, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Fedor Dokshin</strong>, assistant professor, department of sociology</p> <p><strong>Emine Fidan Elcioglu</strong>, assistant professor, department of sociology, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Jerry Flores</strong>, assistant professor, department of sociology, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Ethan Fosse</strong>, assistant professor, department of sociology, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>Charles Martineau</strong>, assistant professor, department of management, U of T Scarborough</p> <p><strong>David Price</strong>, assistant professor, department of economics, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Tahseen Shams</strong>, assistant professor, department of sociology</p> <p><strong>Jennifer Stellar</strong>, assistant professor, department of psychology, U of T Mississauga</p> <p><strong>Jia Xue</strong>, assistant professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Faculty of Information</p> <p><strong>Marius Zoican</strong>, assistant professor, department of management and Institute for Management and Innovation, U of T Mississauga</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 09 Sep 2019 14:05:45 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 157893 at Neanderthal-like ancestors had fingers like ours, finds study co-authored by U of T expert: CBC News /news/neanderthal-ancestors-had-fingers-ours-finds-study-co-authored-u-t-expert-cbc-news <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Neanderthal-like ancestors had fingers like ours, finds study co-authored by U of T expert: CBC News</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/160313662-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=lGVXByIK 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/160313662-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=yLkZ-E8H 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/160313662-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=9IxKKz5N 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/160313662-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=lGVXByIK" alt="Photo of part of pinky finger of Denisovan"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>rahul.kalvapalle</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-09-06T11:03:22-04:00" title="Friday, September 6, 2019 - 11:03" class="datetime">Fri, 09/06/2019 - 11:03</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">DNA from a bone at the base of the pinky finger of a young girl was originally used to identify Denisovans (© MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anthropolgy" hreflang="en">Anthropolgy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Little is known about the Denisovans, an ancient human species related to Neanderthals, but a new study co-authored by the Ƶ’s <strong>Bence Viola&nbsp;</strong>is helping anthropologists put a finger on the mysterious hominins’ place in human evolution.</p> <p>Viola, an assistant professor in the department of anthropology, and researchers from France and Russia used a long-lost piece of Denisovan fossil to digitally reconstruct the species’ finger. The result was indistinguishable from modern humans’ slender fingers, and very different from the blunt, stubby digits of the Neanderthals, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/denisovans-human-1.5271187"><em>CBC News </em>reported</a>.</p> <p>"Until now, all we knew was how their teeth looked," Viola told CBC News, referring to the Denisovans’ massive molars. “All these little pieces allow us to build a picture of who the Denisovans were.”</p> <p>The finding suggests that the Denisovans, who were identified less than a decade ago, may have been more similar to humans than previously postulated.</p> <h3><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/denisovans-human-1.5271187">Read the <em>CBC News </em>story here</a></h3> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="color: rgb(84, 84, 84); font-family: &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></span></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 06 Sep 2019 15:03:22 +0000 rahul.kalvapalle 158116 at ‘The responsibility of truth-telling’: U of T student blends disciplines to document youth criminal court proceedings /news/responsibility-truth-telling-u-t-student-blends-disciplines-document-youth-criminal-court <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">‘The responsibility of truth-telling’: U of T student blends disciplines to document youth criminal court proceedings</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/DSC_1972-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Qu-0_2cV 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/DSC_1972-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=A59VWIS9 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/DSC_1972-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=oY0EMYyL 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/DSC_1972-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Qu-0_2cV" alt="Portrait of Tara Suri"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>noreen.rasbach</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-08-09T14:58:39-04:00" title="Friday, August 9, 2019 - 14:58" class="datetime">Fri, 08/09/2019 - 14:58</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">“Documentaries have the responsibility of truth-telling and I want to be part of that," says Innis College student Tara Suri (photo by Diana Tyszko)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jovana-jankovic" hreflang="en">Jovana Jankovic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/munk-school-global-affairs-public-policy-0" hreflang="en">Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anthropolgy" hreflang="en">Anthropolgy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cinema-studies" hreflang="en">Cinema Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ethnography" hreflang="en">Ethnography</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innis-college" hreflang="en">Innis College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-students" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Tara Suri </strong>has integrated an unusual collection of disciplines into her studies. From cinema to law, linguistics, anthropology and even urban geography, the Ƶ&nbsp;student is happily mixing and matching fields of study to carve out a niche for her work.&nbsp;</p> <p>But when the Innis College student first started her degree, she struggled with how to combine her diverse interests. She was interested in both cinema and anthropology – and hoping to go to law school.</p> <p>Then, one of her teachers,&nbsp;<strong>Benjamin Wright</strong>&nbsp;of the&nbsp;Cinema Studies Institute&nbsp;in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science, encouraged her to explore legal documentary – a genre of non-fiction film that profiles crime, law enforcement, the judicial system and related topics.&nbsp;</p> <p>When Suri watched the seminal Errol Morris film&nbsp;<em>The Thin Blue Line&nbsp;</em>(1988), a documentary about a man wrongly convicted of murder by a corrupt jury, she was hooked.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>“I thought: ‘This is so incredible; I never knew this existed,’” she says. “I grew up in the arts. I was a music kid. And I was struggling with how to bring my interests in art and law together.”</p> <p>At the same time, Suri was looking for volunteer and intern positions in the legal field, trying to figure out whether she’d enjoy law school. She eventually spent two summers at a provincial legal aid clinic that specializes in youth crime.</p> <p>And that’s how some of her most important research emerged.</p> <p>In youth criminal justice courtrooms, Suri noticed that many of the young offenders on trial were unable to fully comprehend the legal proceedings that directly affect their fate. Their representatives were often too overburdened to explain the proceedings to their clients in a meaningful, accessible way.</p> <p>“I saw things happening that shouldn’t have been happening,” she says. “It was such an eye-opening experience. I cried a lot that first week. It was devastating.”</p> <p>Suri documented these youth court proceedings in a paper,&nbsp;“‘Do you understand these charges?’: How procedural communication in youth criminal justice court violates the rights of young offenders in Canada,” which was recently published in&nbsp;<em>Semiotica: Journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies</em>.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>She’s been invited to present her work in U of T classes and will be bringing it to conferences like the International Language and Law Association Conference at UCLA School of Law next month and the Canadian Criminal Justice Association Congress in Quebec City in November.</p> <p>The research came out of an extended collaboration with Professor&nbsp;<strong>Marcel Danesi</strong>&nbsp;of the&nbsp;department of anthropology, with whom she took an introduction to linguistic anthropology course in her second year.</p> <p>“The course’s final assignment was to study how a certain population speaks. I decided to focus on youth crime from an ethnographic perspective – looking at what legal jargon is, how it’s employed in a youth criminal court and how it exemplifies certain theories we learned about in the class, such as oral language competency, gambits, group coded vocabularies and so on.”</p> <p>“Professor Danesi was incredibly supportive,” says Suri. “Within a week of finishing the course, I was back in his office and we decided to develop this into an ethnographic independent study.”</p> <p>Even though she was excited about her project, Suri had to be patient through a long and drawn-out research ethics approval process. “The research ethics board told me that I was working with a very vulnerable population,” she says. Her initial research ethics proposal was rejected.</p> <p>Enter&nbsp;<strong>Emily Hertzman</strong>, a sociocultural anthropologist and postdoctoral researcher in the&nbsp;Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy. Hertzman invited Suri to a workshop she was teaching at the&nbsp;Ethnography Lab&nbsp;on conducting ethnographic research, which helped Suri put together a successful research ethics application.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Looking back on her time at U of T, Suri says she feels “incredibly blessed” with the support, resources and collaborative relationships she has had.</p> <p>“The faculty have been so supportive; I can’t thank them enough. The staff at the department of anthropology helped me find funding for conference travel costs. And research funding from Arts &amp; Science supported me financially while I was simultaneously doing my unpaid internships at legal aid.</p> <p>“I feel so lucky to have found the community that I have.”</p> <p>She’s not only a key member of her community, but one of its emerging leaders. In addition to her academic work, Suri has been extensively involved with the&nbsp;Cinema Studies Student Union. She’s held a part-time, on-campus job at the Innis Library for three years and is a past and current president of U of T’s Duke of Edinburgh’s Award program. Finally, she’ll be returning to the Ethnography Lab&nbsp;as a research group leader, where she’ll conduct workshops on legal ethnography and ethnographic films.&nbsp;</p> <p>What’s next for this multidisciplinary young scholar? For starters, she’s dipping back into her passionate interest in film theory and criticism.</p> <p>“I’m now working on a follow-up paper about the representation of youth crime in legal documentaries,” says Suri.</p> <p>“I’d like to do a master’s degree in either anthropology or cinema, and then law school, hopefully. I’d like to get into legal content advising for non-fiction film. I think there’s so much potential in the media and in film to inform the public, which then informs policy changes.</p> <p>“Documentaries have the responsibility of truth-telling and I want to be part of that.”</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 09 Aug 2019 18:58:39 +0000 noreen.rasbach 157497 at