inbrief

(May 23, 2002, Gazette)

MUN students win minerals medals
Dianne E. Mitchinson, a graduate of the Department of Earth Sciences, has been awarded the President’s Medal of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, (CIM) Canada's largest professional minerals industry organization.

This award is presented annually to the student who has submitted the best student thesis, in both undergraduate and graduate levels, from entries received from all across Canada.

Ms. Mitchinson submitted her B.Sc. (Hons.) thesis, titled Petrography and Geochemistry of the Caribou Hill Intrusion, Central Newfoundland, and its Discordant Pegmatites.

CIM recognized her excellence with the President's Medal, a cheque for $1,000 and an all expense-paid trip to Vancouver to receive the award at the CIM annual general meeting held on April 29.

As well, Trevor McHattie has been awarded the Gelinas Award of the Geological Association of Canada for the best M.Sc. thesis.

The Volcanology and Igneous Petrology Division of the Geological Association of Canada annually presents three medals for the most outstanding theses, written by Canadians or submitted to Canadian universities, which comprise material at least 50 per cent related to volcanology and igneous petrology.

Nominated theses are evaluated on the basis or originality, validity of concepts, organization and presentation of data, understanding of volcanology and depth of research. Mr. McHattie’s M.Sc. thesis is entitled Petrogenesis of the Wathaman Batholith and La Ronge Domain plutons in the Reindeer Lake Area, Trans-Hudson Orogn, Saskatchewan.

The Geological Association of Canada recognized the excellence of Mr. McHattie’s thesis with a Silver Medal.

Home court for Sea-Hawks hoopsters
The verdict is in. Memorial University will host the Atlantic University Sport Women’s Basketball Championships next season. AUS schools recently met for their annual general meeting where Memorial delegates delivered a bid package that included technical, support and cultural elements to help sell the idea of Memorial’s suitability to host the games.

There was unanimous support for the concept, but there was some concern about the financial implications for participating schools. A guarantee offer by Memorial to participating schools, combined with a travel subsidy provided by the AUS helped alleviate budget concerns presented by some schools.

Frank Butler, Memorial’s director of athletics, said the bid was made possible through the support of Memorial University Recreation Complex (MURC) Inc., the School of Human Kinetics and Recreation and the university community.

“We are absolutely delighted to host this event and we’ll be looking to deliver a quality experience for participants and spectators. The corporate community, the university and our fans have been tremendously supportive of the Memorial women’s basketball program and we are more than happy to reward them by bringing this tournament to Newfoundland.”

Underwater lecture
Dr. Neil Bose, candidate for the Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in offshore and underwater vehicles design, will give a general presentation on Tuesday, May 28, starting at 5 p.m. in the Engineering Lecture Theatre, room EN-2006, S. J. Carew Building. The presentation will focus on offshore and underwater vehicles design with a description of several current projects.

Dr. Bose will give an overview of an NSERC funded strategic project on the use of autonomous underwater vehicles for environmental monitoring in the offshore industry.

The work includes studies of ocean ecological risk assessment, the need for accurate data for validation of numerical models, the role of autonomous underwater vehicles in offshore environmental monitoring, and the enhancement of autonomous underwater vehicle performance through the design of improved sub-systems and components.

Also, three projects in their formative stages will be described: the hydrodynamic design of risers for deepwater operations, the assessment of wash from the thrusters of dynamic positioning systems and vehicles for marine mining and dredging.

Microarray facility now available
A new powerful technology called microarrays allows researchers to analyze tens of thousands of genes and hundreds of proteins in a single experiment. This state-of-the-art $100,000 facility, purchased with funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, is now available in the Faculty of Medicine.

Dr. Guang Sun, in the Division of Genetics, said collaborations are welcome and service in scanning of slides using the Packard BioScience ScanArray Express is now available. Future services will include preparation of fluorescently labelled DNA from total RNA, hybridization of labelled DNA to microchips, and data analysis. For further details contact Dr. Sun at 777-6474 or by e-mail gsun@mun.ca.

Seat installation at The Works
The installation of the seats and bleachers at the Field House was set to begin May 20 but there has been a slight delay with the installation. The process will now begin June 3 and is expected to take a minimum of 30 days. The main floor track and hardwood court will be closed during the installation. This is a new and exciting addition to the facility. Over 1,000 seats and 352 bleacher seats will be installed. The Works is trying to provide alternate arrangements for some services and to ensure the least amount of disruption to customers.