University Council for Research undergraduate awards provide terrific opportunity for StFX students

April 17th, 2015

 

“This opportunity will give me experience working in the field and lab, which will directly help my potential future career working in the pharmaceutical industry. I am very excited to start work this summer and it would not be possible without the UCR award,” says Jennifer Poirier from Coldbrook, NS, an honours biology student, who will work with biology professor Dr. David Garbary.

 

They will be researching the economically important alga Ascophyllum nodosum in Digby, NS. More specifically, she says they will research the symbiotic relationships of this alga.

 

Devin Manning, a second year Bachelor of Science human kinetics student from Saint John, NB, is also excited to be immersed in StFX’s research environment this summer. 
 

He will spend six weeks with human kinetics professor Dr. Dan Kane researching mitochondrial lactate oxidation.

“It’s amazing to have the opportunity to research at StFX, and with Dan. He’s amazing. Personally, I’ll be able to grow tenfold, given the opportunity to do research at StFX,” he says. 

Ben Lambourne of Antigonish, NS, a business student majoring in enterprise development, will be researching social entrepreneurship with business professor Dr. Monica Diochon, seeing how entrepreneurship thrives in not-for-profits. They will be looking at how entrepreneurship occurs and how leaders lead. 

Mr. Lambourne says the experience should be invaluable for his future. He hopes to open a carpentry shop, and the more entrepreneurial experience and knowledge he attains, the better, he says. 

“It’s a great way for me to test out possible career interests,” says Janet Tait, a third year biology student from Toronto, ON who will work with biology professor Dr. Bill Marshall on ion transport in a killifish. Not only will she get research experience under her belt, the work will form the basis of her honours thesis, she says. “It’s really exciting for me.”