The Winter semester started late this year due to Memorial deferring opening from the planned Monday January 6th, to the new date Thursday January 9th.  The three-day closure was in support of the province’s energy conservation plan, made in light of a number of power outages across the island in the days leading up to the 6th.  Some details on the closure were posted on the today.mun site, links listed below.

http://today.mun.ca/news.php?id=8773
http://today.mun.ca/news.php?id=8775


We are pleased to have three new graduate students for Winter, one each enrolled in our M.Sc. program in Biochemistry, our PhD program in Biochemistry , and our PhD program in Food Science.  Narmadaa Thyagarajan is in Dr. Rob Brown’s lab, Craig Ayre is in Dr. Sherri Christian’s lab and Won Young Oh is in Dr. Fereidoon Shahidi’s lab.
 
Dr. Ross McGowan is on sabbatical this semester, and Dr. Kaushik Nag returned from his sabbatical year on January 1st.

We have 22 MUCEP positions for winter, most of which are in research labs.  Our student labs, computer room, and tutorial centre also have MUCEP students placed there.   Some of the 22 positions were for 80 hours but hired two students at 40 hours each, thereby increasing the opportunities for student employment.

Our undergraduate students hosted a mixer on January 17th.  This event was enjoyed by attendees who came from all across the department.