The Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering is pleased to announce an upcoming Master of Science in Sustainable Design Engineering (MSc-SDE) Thesis Defense on Monday, June 7th at 1pm.  Melanie Bos will defend her thesis titled, Understanding topographic, nutrient management, and weather controls on nitrate and phosphorus losses from a Prince Edward Island Potato Crop.

The presentation and examination will be presented via a web conference. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://upei.zoom.us/j/64367264726?pwd=R1JJci9iV2ZoaTBBbGExcXhSc0VWUT09

Meeting ID: 643 6726 4726
Passcode: 359760

Ph.D. Candidacy Examination Public Presentation and Examination

Jiacheng Chuan, Ph.D. Candidate in ESC

"Bioinformatics methods for metagenomics classification; pros and cons”

Metagenomics has developed rapidly for years, from microbial diversity to functional analysis, from drug discovery to diagnostic trials. Laying the foundation for those applications, classification algorithms and methods have been iterated quickly to fulfill insatiable demands. The taxonomic resolution of metagenomics classifiers has been evolved from the genus to species level and even the strain level. In this review, it is summarized the typical metagenomic classification methods for amplicon- and shotgun-based sequencing and compared the pros and cons of matching algorithms based on k-mer, alignment, assembly, and combined methods. Also, it is discussed the current issues on metagenomic classification, including taxonomic assignment, database update, algorithm suitability, and data interpretation.

Via Google meet.  All are welcome to attend. Please contact Barry Linkletter at GSC@upei.ca for the information to connect.

TITLE OF THESIS: Folic acid (FA) supplementation impact on Avian B-lymphocyte molecular innate and adaptive immunity gene responses under lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV) activation

BRIEF ABSTRACT: Folic acid (FA) is a water-soluble vitamin that is known to participate in mechanisms associated with the gene expression of innate and humoral molecular immunity pathways. One of these mechanisms is the methylation of cytosines located in the DNA-CpG islands. Methylation patterns in DNA-CpG islands are known to control the mRNA expression of some genes. Folic acid has been shown to modulate immune responses and gene expression in different sets of cells. Therefore, this manuscript has investigated and demonstrated the FA supplementation effect on chicken B-lymphocyte innate and adaptive immunity gene expression in response to lipopolysaccharides as a bacteria-derived antigen and infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) as one of the key immunosuppressive viruses in poultry industry.

Anyone who wishes to attend the public presentation should contact the grad studies coordinator at gsc@upei.ca to receive the link to the meeting.

The entire UPEI community was dismayed to hear the news of the discovery of remains at a former residential school in Kamloops, BC. Flags on the UPEI campus will be flown at half-mast until sunset on June 8 to honour the lives of the 215 First Nation children whose remains were found in a mass grave.

UPEI is joining the Government of PEI and many other governments and organizations in lowering the flags to half-mast for 215 hours, representing one hour for every child whose life was lost on the grounds of the former residential school in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc territory.

Crows on campus know if you have food or something that looks like food.

• NEVER FEED the crows or drop food on the ground. This includes food wrappers. 
• KEEP FOOD HIDDEN inside a bag or backpack. Do not just carry a food container. Crows can smell it!
• Should a crow start to attack you, WAVE YOUR HANDS and forcefully shoo them away and continue your walk. That way the crow will learn that it's not productive to show this type of behaviour. 

If everyone on Campus is consistent in dealing with the crows, hopefully, we will all be able to enjoy our beautiful PEI summer outside!

Have you heard? Summer hours at the Campus Foodbank are Wednesdays 2:00 - 7:00 pm for June, July and August. New volunteers can read this How to Guide for easy step by step directions.  

Check available spots here for every Wednesday this summer. Monthly tabs are at the bottom of the page.  

Thanks to the many who have supported the Campus Food Bank this year.  

Synapse is excited to offer the Mitacs Time Management One day Workshop on June 4, 2021 9am-5pm ADT.

This energetic, intensive one-day course will sharpen your professional time management skills and optimize your working week.  Building on the Project Management Institute's (PMI) best practices, methodologies, and productivity tactics, the course provides tools and techniques that can be applied to a partner industry project or employment based role.  

You will learn to:

Optimize your professional days and weeks, effectively define targets and goals so that they are clear and sustainable, accurately estimate activity duration, improve focus and better manage interruptions, reduce corrective communication, defend project schedules without sacrificing relationship quotient, and improve and leverage personal energy for sustainable follow-through on activities.

How to enrol:

1. Create an account on Edge (edge.mitacs.ca)

2. Navigate to the “catalog” tab on the main dashboard and enroll in the workshop title of your choice

3. Select the session (date + time) you wish to attend

4. Follow email notifications for workshop materials and Zoom login information

For help and questions about enrollment, please contact: .training@mitacs.ca

Have you ever been impacted by extreme weather or natural disasters on PEI? Were you able to get the information and the help you needed at the right times? 

We are looking for interview study participants who will share their experiences about how they prepare and respond to these types of events. The information you share with us feed into a design process to create new interactive technologies to help citizens during storms, flash floods or other types of disasters that we increasingly need to respond to in 2021.

We are looking for people who are: fluent in English, 18 years of age or older, live or have lived on PEI  and have experienced an extreme weather or natural disaster event on PEI they would be comfortable speaking about.  Participants for this study also must have reliable internet connection as interviews will be conducted online.  

Interviews will take about 30 minutes to complete and participants will be compensated with an 8Gb USB key worth approximately $12 for their time.  Participants will also be given the opportunity to join in future community co-design sessions for the new technology!

If you would like to improve preparedness and response of Islanders to natural disasters, please contact Choyce Chappell (cachappell@upei.ca) or Christopher Power (cdspower@upei.ca) to set up an interview between 1 June 2021 and 15 July 2021.

If someone else finds your phone, will they be able to get it back to you? Put a next of kin/partners details on the lock screen to make sure: the option is in Settings on Android, Health on iOS and on Windows Phone you'll have the option to edit the wallpaper. 

Through this informative session, as a student you will learn – or review what you already know – about the Occupational Health and Safety Act of PEI. This provincial law exists to protect worker health and safety, and the more you know about it, the more proactive you can be in preventing workplace injury or illness. Learn about employer responsibilities, worker rights and responsibilities, types of workplace hazards, and steps you can take today to make the most of life outside of work!

Any student who wishes to participate can contact Shelly Kavanagh at shkavanagh@upei.ca to register for the course. The Zoom link will be forwarded next Tuesday afternoon, June 1st.

(Session duration - 45 minutes)   

IT Systems and Services would like to inform faculty and staff that the initial phase of the UPEI M365 Project is underway, and that a number of faculties and departments have already migrated from Gmail to Microsoft Outlook services.

If you have not already taken part in one of our earlier migrations, you will be included in the final migration scheduled for June 4–7, 2021. Please keep in mind that this migration encompasses Email, Calendar, and Contacts services only. Additional features of Microsoft’s M365 application suite will become available in a future phase of the project.

You will be receiving more details and support in the days leading up to the migration. In the meantime, please visit our UPEI M365 Project website for more information.
 

Have you let your health screening go by the wayside since the Pandemic began? The Healthy Campus Committee is pleased to invite all faculty and staff to a Wellness Check on June 2 from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm.  The event will be hosted at the McMillan Hall in the W.A. Murphy Building complete with the usual COVID-19 precautions: hand-sanitizing, physical distancing, and wearing a mask. You can have your blood pressure, blood glucose, and lipids checked; you can have your sit/reach strength tested, you can assess your stress/tension at the Tension Release booth, learn about Sun Safety and STI's (Sexually Transmitted Infections). There will be passports that you can submit for some great prizes (e.g Airpod and gym memberships).  

Come and join in on the event on June 2 all morning!

The entire UPEI community was dismayed to hear the news of the discovery of remains at a former residential school in Kamloops, BC. Flags on the UPEI campus will be flown at half-mast until sunset on June 8 to honour the lives of the 215 First Nation children whose remains were found in a mass grave.

UPEI is joining the Government of PEI and many other governments and organizations in lowering the flags to half-mast for 215 hours, representing one hour for every child whose life was lost on the grounds of the former residential school in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc territory.

May 31 is World No Tobacco Day 2021. If you are wanting to lower your risk of smoking-related cancers, COPD, and COVID-19, "Commit to quit". The World Health Organization reports a 50% higher risk of severe disease or death from COVID-19 in tobacco users than in non-tobacco users. Go to this website to pledge to quit today and explore their campaign. You can always visit the UPEI Health & Wellness centre and ask for help in quitting. Email: healthcentre@upei.ca or telephone: 902-566-0616 for an appointment.

Through this informative session, as a student you will learn – or review what you already know – about the Occupational Health and Safety Act of PEI. This provincial law exists to protect worker health and safety, and the more you know about it, the more proactive you can be in preventing workplace injury or illness. Learn about employer responsibilities, worker rights and responsibilities, types of workplace hazards, and steps you can take today to make the most of life outside of work!

Any student who wishes to participate can contact Shelly Kavanagh at shkavanagh@upei.ca to register for the course. The Zoom link will be forwarded next Tuesday afternoon, June 1st.

(Session duration - 45 minutes)   

The Healthy Campus Committee, as part of the Employee Wellness Strategy, will be providing Yoga & Fascial Release Classes for UPEI Faculty and Staff. Brenda Dowel, yoga teacher E-RYT-1000 and Licensed Holistic Practitioner will lead the four-part series of 90-minute classes with a focused approach.

The four week series will feature a different area each week:   Hips & Glutes, Back & Core, Shoulders & Upper Bod and Legs & Lower Body.

Dates:   June 9, 16, 23 and 30

Times:   10:00 am - 11:30 am or 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm

This series will include a comprehensive approach to the entire body while focusing on a particular area for optimal health and vitality.  

•  Grounding; Psoas Release; Centering 
•  Stretching what is tight and strengthening what is weak
•  Fascial Stretching and Myofascial Releases, Yoga & Conditioning Movements
•  Fluid and static movements for the Fascia/Connective Tissue
•  Recognizing and addressing unhealthy movement patterns
•  Relaxation and Integration

The free programming is offered to UPEI staff and faculty only on a first registration basis. To register please email Angela Marchbank at amarchbank@upei.ca indicating which time (morning or afternoon). Twelve participants max per series. Location: Fitness Studio 1, Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre

Curious about how you can get involved with work-integrated learning projects in upcoming semesters?

Riipen is hosting weekly webinars to share information about how you can get involved in supporting youth for the future of work using their online platform.

The sessions will cover:

• An introduction to Riipen
• Available funding opportunities
• How to get started
• Q & A

Visit this link to sign up for an upcoming session.

Can't make it? No problem; sign up and we will send you the recording.

Through this informative session, as a student you will learn – or review what you already know – about the Occupational Health and Safety Act of PEI. This provincial law exists to protect worker health and safety, and the more you know about it, the more proactive you can be in preventing workplace injury or illness. Learn about employer responsibilities, worker rights and responsibilities, types of workplace hazards, and steps you can take today to make the most of life outside of work!

Any student who wishes to participate can contact Shelly Kavanagh at shkavanagh@upei.ca to register for the course. The Zoom link will be forwarded next Tuesday afternoon, June 1st.

(Session duration - 45 minutes)   

The Healthy Campus Committee, as part of the Employee Wellness Strategy, will be providing Yoga & Fascial Release Classes for UPEI Faculty and Staff. Brenda Dowel, yoga teacher E-RYT-1000 and Licensed Holistic Practitioner will lead the four-part series of 90-minute classes with a focused approach.

The four week series will feature a different area each week:   Hips & Glutes, Back & Core, Shoulders & Upper Bod and Legs & Lower Body.

Dates:   June 9, 16, 23 and 30

Times:   10:00 am - 11:30 am or 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm

This series will include a comprehensive approach to the entire body while focusing on a particular area for optimal health and vitality.  

•  Grounding; Psoas Release; Centering 
•  Stretching what is tight and strengthening what is weak
•  Fascial Stretching and Myofascial Releases, Yoga & Conditioning Movements
•  Fluid and static movements for the Fascia/Connective Tissue
•  Recognizing and addressing unhealthy movement patterns
•  Relaxation and Integration

The free programming is offered to UPEI staff and faculty only on a first registration basis. To register please email Angela Marchbank at amarchbank@upei.ca indicating which time (morning or afternoon). Twelve participants max per series. Location: Fitness Studio 1, Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre

IT Systems and Services would like to inform faculty and staff that the initial phase of the UPEI M365 Project is underway, and that a number of faculties and departments have already migrated from Gmail to Microsoft Outlook services.

If you have not already taken part in one of our earlier migrations, you will be included in the final migration scheduled for June 4–7, 2021. Please keep in mind that this migration encompasses Email, Calendar, and Contacts services only. Additional features of Microsoft’s M365 application suite will become available in a future phase of the project.

You will be receiving more details and support in the days leading up to the migration. In the meantime, please visit our UPEI M365 Project website for more information.