Ten Out of Ten: UPEI Students Win Big with NSERC
Students from the University of Prince Edward Island have won graduate scholarships from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC) at a success rate of 100 per cent. All ten of the applications that UPEI was permitted to submit were successful, with six students winning the top awardand#9472;the Canada Graduate Scholarship. These NSERC scholarships allow students to pursue graduate degrees anywhere in Canada.
This NSERC scholarship will make all the difference to PhD candidate Cheryl Wartman who has chosen to stay on Prince Edward Island. "I wanted to pursue my PhD right here at UPEI with Dr. Michael van den Heuvel. He is a world leader in watershed ecology and his work fits perfectly with my research interests," says Wartman. She will research the effects that effluent from pulp mills has on female fish, in particular the impact these environmental contaminants have on their behaviour and physiology to cause them to become more male-like. "I'm very grateful to receive this NSERC award as it provides continuing financial support for my research and recognizes the effort that I've put in to this point."
Dr. Michael van den Heuvel is the Canada Research Chair in Watershed Ecological Integrity in the Faculty of Science at UPEI. He studies the effects of agriculture and chemical use on freshwater and coastal environments.
In addition to the ten graduate winners, 15 undergraduate students have received summer scholarships to pursue research projects with NSERC-funded faculty members. All of this success adds up to nearly $337,000 in new funding for UPEI students.
"The landscape for research funding in Canada is increasingly competitive. And our students are a source of pride and inspiration as they demonstrate their ability to achieve recognition at a national level," says Katherine Schultz, Vice President of Research and Development at UPEI. "The funding is a huge support to students, and the prestige of winning an NSERC award will continue to pay dividends throughout their careers."
The Canada Graduate Scholarship winners are Nicholas Abou Risk, Physics; Brodie Champion, Mathematics and Statistics; Michael McIsaac, Mathematics and Statistics; Evan O'Connor, Physics; Allan Stewart, Physics; and Marcus Trenton, Computer Science and Information Technology. Andre Gaudin, Physics; Daphne Gill, Biomedical Sciences; and Stephen Scully, Chemistry are also NSERC scholarship winners.
