On December 6th, from 9am-5pm, the Faculty of Science will be organizing an event celebrating graduate research. This event will consist of two amazing keynote speakers (see below), student presentations, a lunchtime poster session celebrating dozens of graduate student projects as well as opportunities to network with McMaster Alumni and faculty. The event will conclude with an awards presentation highlighting some of the best presentations and posters throughout the day, as well as other accomplishments throughout the Faculty.
While this is the first year we’re organizing this event, we’re hoping this will become a tradition for the Faculty to come together and celebrate all of our research efforts in science!
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| December 6th | 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM | McMaster Innovation Park – 175 Longwood Rd S, Hamilton, ON |
Tentative Schedule
| Time | Event Name |
|---|---|
| 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM | Welcome, coffee |
| 9:00 AM to 9:15 AM | Opening remarks (Associate Dean, Dean of Science, Dean of Graduate Studies) |
| 9:15 AM to 10:00 AM | Keynote speaker (Dr. Laurel Trainor, Psychology department) |
| 10:00 AM to 11:45 AM | Student presentations |
| 11:45 AM to 12:00 PM | Announcements. and lunch programming overview |
| 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM | Lunch, posters, alumni-student networking |
| 2:00 PM to 2:45 PM | Keynote speaker (Dr. Morgan Wyatt, CEO, Greenlid) |
| 2:45 PM to 4:30 PM | Student presentations |
| 4:30 PM to 5:00 PM | Closing remarks, and student awards |
Keynote Speakers
Morgan Wyatt, McMaster Alumni, Co-Founder & CEO Of Greenlid
Morgan Wyatt is a PhD recipient and alumni from McMaster’s Chemical Biology program. As a PhD student and research fellow, Morgan completed research in the areas of microbiology, genetics, and bioinformatics. Since 2013, he has been the CEO and co-founder of Greenlid, leading manufacturers of compostable and biodegradable retail and food service alternatives such as birch cutlery, wheat straws, and plant fibre plates, coffee cups, and takeout containers. Morgan has been the recipient of the 2018 Manning Innovation – Arthur J.E. Child Award for creating a fully compostable kitchen compost bin.
Laurel Trainor, McMaster Professor – Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour
Dr. Laurel Trainor is a McMaster Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and research scientist at the Rotman Research Institute. Laurel leads the Auditory Development Lab, which studies the perception of sound in infants, children, adults, and how they acquire music and language. Laurel is also the Director of the McMaster Institute for Music & the Mind, which fosters collaborative research between scientists and musicians. She has most recently been the recipient of the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Music Perception and Cognition.
Expandable List
Morning (10:00 AM – 11:45 AM)
| Time | Name of Presenter | Program | Title of Presentation | Presentation Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 – 10:05 AM | Nicole Pangborn | Neuroscience | Acute cannabis beverage intoxication and its effects on multiple facets of decision making | 3-min |
| 10:05 – 10:10 AM | Laura Matchett | Chemistry | Fate of organic pollutants on microplastics | 3-min |
| 10:10 – 10:20 AM | Erin Nicholls | SEES | As the north turns green, what does it mean? Hydrological implications of subarctic shrubification and treeline advance | 8 Min |
| 10:20 – 10:25 AM | Amanda Johnson | Kinesiology | “Exercise and senolytics as therapeutic strategies for improving skeletal muscle mass and function in older adults” | 3-min |
| 10:25 – 10:30 AM | Benjamin Lake | Chem Bio | Directing Covalent Immune Recruitment via Chemical Programming of Endogenous Low Affinity L-Rhamnose Antibodies | 3-min |
| 10:30 – 10:40 AM | Break | Break | Break | Break |
| 10:40 – 10:50 AM | Hanna Krivic | Physics | Stealth-care system: ‘Smart’ red blood cells deliver antibiotics that target specific bacteria | 8 Min |
| 10:50 – 10:55 AM | Ainsly Harrison-Weiss | PNB | Do female plainfin midshipman mate choice copy? | 3-min |
| 10:55 – 11:00 AM | Pengfei Cai | Stats | Recurrent Neural Networks vs Copula Regression for Multivariate Loss Reserving and Risk Capital Analysis | 3-min |
| 11:00 – 11:10 AM | Shane Taylor | Biology | MANF: A Protector of Neuronal Health | 8-min |
| 11:10 – 11:15 AM | Blake Ledger | Astronomy | Stored in the Soul: The Power of the ALMA Archives | 3-min |
| 11:15 – 11:20 AM | Sarah Costa | Physics | Using Optical Properities to Differentiate Cancerous and Noncancerous Lung Tissue | 3-min |
| 11:20- 11:30 AM | Novan Gray | Chemistry | Pushing the limits: New types of uranium-element interactions relevant to heavy metal separations | 8-min |
| 11:30 – 11:35 AM | Michel Giese | SEES | Bridging the Value-Action Gap | 3-min |
| 11:35 – 11:40 AM | Yasaman Heshmatzadeh | Physics | A dripping faucet, the granular version! | 3-min |
<h3>Afternoon (2:45PM – 4:30PM)</h3>
<table class=”table table-striped table-hover”>
<thead>
<tr>
<th> Time</th>
<th> Name of Presenter</th>
<th>Program</th>
<th>Title of Presentation</th>
<th>Presentation Length</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>2:45 – 2:50 PM</td>
<td>Megan Lall</td>
<td>PNB</td>
<td>Moral Injury in Forensic Psychiatry Populations</td>
<td>3-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2:50 – 2:55 PM</td>
<td>Anastasia Soukhov</td>
<td>SEES</td>
<td>Planning equitable and sustainable access-to-opportunity landscapes</td>
<td>3-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2:55 – 3:00 PM</td>
<td>Lindsey Kukoly</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td>How does biological function evolve?</td>
<td>3-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3:00 – 3:10 PM</td>
<td>Katrina Abella</td>
<td>PNB</td>
<td>Early Predictors: The Impact of Childhood Exposure to Interparental Conflict on Developmental Outcomes for Emotional Self-Regulation and Related Problem Behaviour</td>
<td>8-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3:10 – 3:15 PM</td>
<td>Yunfei Ma</td>
<td>CSE</td>
<td>Telematics-based Freight Bottleneck Model</td>
<td>3-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3:15 – 3:20 PM</td>
<td>Karishma Ramdeo</td>
<td>Kinesiology</td>
<td>The effects of exercise on synaptic plasticity in individuals with MCI and Healthy Aging</td>
<td>3-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3:20 – 3:25 PM</td>
<td>Mabel Barreiro Carpio</td>
<td>Chemistry</td>
<td>Designing inks for extrusion 3D bioprinting based on materials with non-ideal rheological properties</td>
<td>3-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3:25- 3:30 PM</td>
<td>Break</td>
<td>Break</td>
<td>Break</td>
<td>Break</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3:30 – 3:40 PM</td>
<td>Ana Mucalica</td>
<td>Math</td>
<td>Solitons on the rarefaction background via the Darboux Transformation</td>
<td>8-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3:40 – 3:45 PM</td>
<td>Zoe Lazar-Kutz</td>
<td>PNB</td>
<td>The trajectories of the creative process in graphic design: A novel two-dimensional model</td>
<td>3-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3:45 – 3:50 PM</td>
<td>Stephanie Ali Fairbairn</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td>Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) – Kaiso, Androgen receptor (AR) and African ancestry</td>
<td>3-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3:50 – 3:55 PM</td>
<td>Alex Mouriopoulos</td>
<td>SEES</td>
<td>Caregivers and Human Rights</td>
<td>3-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3:55 – 4:05 PM</td>
<td>Nigel Majoni</td>
<td>Kinesiology</td>
<td>Markerless Motion Capture of the Hands and Fingers</td>
<td>8-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4:05 – 4:10 PM</td>
<td>Karla Martinez Pomier</td>
<td>Chem Bio</td>
<td>Understanding how aging leads to amyloid diseases and neurodegeneration</td>
<td>3-min</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>4:10 – 4:15 PM</td>
<td>Anna Marie Froude</td>
<td>Neuroscience</td>
<td>Cannabis-Infused Beverages: Acute Neurocognitive Effects on Attention in Recreational Cannabis Users</td>
<td>3-min</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>Poster Presentations</h3>
<table class=”table table-striped table-hover”>
<thead>
<tr>
<td><strong>Name</strong></td>
<td><strong>Program </strong></td>
<td><strong>Poster Title</strong></td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Erica Flaten</td>
<td>PNB</td>
<td>Interpersonal coordination of movement and physiology in early interactions: Comparisons of infant-directed singing and speech</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Noah Britt</td>
<td>PNB</td>
<td>Study of Human Spatial Attention in an Ecologically Valid Environment</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Chantal Carillo</td>
<td>PNB</td>
<td>Simple and Complex Auditory-Motor Synchronization in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Max Altman</td>
<td>PNB</td>
<td>A Hypothesis for Unusual Sensory Experiences Reported By Bereaved Individuals</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Gabrielle Ching-Johnson</td>
<td>CSE</td>
<td>Simple Dry Physics Package for Earth System Models</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jennifer Freeman</td>
<td>CSE</td>
<td>Observing Hidden Ecological Processes By Exploring Spatial Patterns</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mackenzie Neal</td>
<td>Stats</td>
<td>Variable Selection for Skewed Model-Based Clustering</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lan Wang</td>
<td>Stats</td>
<td>Rank-Based Sarmanov for multivariate Loss Reserves</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Han Bao</td>
<td>SEES</td>
<td>Preliminary Identification and Source Tracing of Low Molecular Weight Hydrocarbons within an Oil Sands End Pit Lake</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jacob Bothen</td>
<td>SEES</td>
<td>Assessment of Naphthenic Acid Fraction Compounds within an Oil Sands Pit Lake Utilizing Electrospray Ionization Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ricardo Barros Lourenco</td>
<td>SEES</td>
<td>Understanding climate-forest phenology interactions with AI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Xinran Gao</td>
<td>SEES</td>
<td>Causalities between Climate and Global Vegetation Growth using TROPOMI SIF</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Aneesa Rabbani</td>
<td>SEES</td>
<td>Characterization of the Sequence Stratigraphy and Facies Architecture of the Upper Cretaceous Dunvegan Formation, Northwest Territories, Canada and its Hydrogeological Implications</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Siyi Ma</td>
<td>Neuroscience</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Erika Kropf</td>
<td>Neuroscience</td>
<td>Retrograde axonal transport of proNGF is impaired in aged basal forebrain cholinergic neurons via nitrative stress-induced JNK activation</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mona Abdollahi</td>
<td>Med Sci (Neuro Supervisor)</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Tegan Hargreaves</td>
<td>Neuroscience</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hanad Adan</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td> Investigating the interaction between Kaiso and TGF-Beta Signaling in TNBC Progression and Metastasis</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Quinn Allamby</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td>Life in Plastic, is it Fantastic? Accumulation and toxicity of environmentally relevant microplastics exposures in freshwater macroinvertebrates</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rachel Andrews</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td>Models for obesity-induced cardiac fibrosis in Drosophila</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Shixin Cui</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td>Cockayne Syndrome Group B Protein Uses its DNA Translocase Activity to Promote DNA Synthesis in Mitosis in Response to Replication Stress</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lindyann Lessey</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td>Kaiso and p120 catenin in intestinal inflammation and tumorigenesis</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Susan Marsh-Rollo</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td>Exploring cognitive flexibility in a wild living fish with alternative reproductive tactics</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Reta (Lingrui) Ming</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td>Don’t Worry, Be Happy: Abundant Habitat Related to Lack of Habitat Selection by the At-Risk Blanding’s Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ronak Moftakhari</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td>Lipocalins: The Guardians of the Lipidome</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Faizan Saleem</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Alix Dujardin</td>
<td>Chemical Biology</td>
<td>The formation of RNA pre-polymers in the presence of different prebiotic mineral surfaces studied by Molecular Dynamics simulations</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mariia Kharmina</td>
<td>Chemical Biology</td>
<td>Allosteric Mechanisms of cGMP-dependent Protein Kinase 1a</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Polyniki Gkragkopoulou</td>
<td>Chemical Biology</td>
<td>Structural determination of Type VII Secretion System chaperones</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Hana Mirvakili</td>
<td>Chemical Biology</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sukhvershjit Aulakh</td>
<td>Chemical Biology</td>
<td>Utilizing Modified Erythrocytes to Deliver Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factors Across the Blood-Brain Barrier</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Leonardo Della Libera</td>
<td>Chemical Biology</td>
<td>Investigating the Mechanism of cAMP Signal Termination</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Joseph Maggisano</td>
<td>Chemical Biology</td>
<td>Biological Impact of Spherical Nucleic Acids Containing Cationic Phosphoramidate Backbones</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Kate Hartman</td>
<td>Physics</td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Bobby Tang</td>
<td>Physics</td>
<td>Using I-125 in x-ray fluorescence methods to measure skin iron levels in vivo</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jeremy Karam & Blake Ledger</td>
<td>Astronomy</td>
<td>Astronomy in communities: Extending our reach with the new portable planetarium</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mackenzie Tigwell</td>
<td>Physics</td>
<td>Factors Affecting Degradation of PLLA/Ho-166 Microspheres During Radioisotope Production</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Emma Waddington</td>
<td>Kinesiology</td>
<td>Orienteering expertise is associated with enhanced spatial processing and memory across adulthood”</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Tom Janssen</td>
<td>Kinesiology</td>
<td>Aminoacidemia and muscle protein synthesis in response to the ingestion of plant-based protein blends in young men and women</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Jennifer Williams & Jenna Stone</td>
<td>Kinesiology</td>
<td>No impact of natural menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive phase on substrate oxidation during rest and acute submaximal aerobic exercise in healthy young females</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ryan Chhiba</td>
<td>Kinesiology</td>
<td>Evaluating Multiple Pressure Points on the Hands and Fingers</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Paul Tilley</td>
<td>Kinesiology</td>
<td>Load Distributions on the Hand and Fingers</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Nick Hoffman</td>
<td>Chemistry</td>
<td>Fluorinated copper-containing molecules as precursors for low-temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) of ultra-thin metal films</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Kay McCallum</td>
<td>Chemistry</td>
<td>Art conservation from the atmospheric chemist’s perspective: Investigating environmental degradation and improving monitoring techniques</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Eduardo Gonzalez Martinez</td>
<td>Chemistry</td>
<td>Cost-effective benchtop fabrication of sensitive electrochemical platforms”.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Rhea Desai</td>
<td>Biology</td>
<td>Implications of clonal heterogeneity on low dose radiation effects from Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Financial Mathematics</td>
<td>MFM</td>
<td>Highlight of Projects</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>