Our undergraduate and graduate students combined to jointly host a mixer on February 21st.  This was the first time such an event was held in the department but we anticipate more such occasions.
 
The Douglas and Beatrice Hall Biochemistry Bursary for 2013-2014 was awarded in February to Jesse Daley, a third year Nutrition student in this department.  There are a number of academic prizes awarded in the department each year, but this one has special meaning to employees as we established it in memory of two deceased staff members.  Most of the funds raised for the award came from employee donations.  This is the fourth year that the award has been given.
 
Pancake Day, Tuesday March 4th, was celebrated with a potluck lunch open to department members.  A wide variety of dishes were served, and the pancakes were a nice final touch for dessert.

Planning meetings for the new Core Science Building were held in March and April.  The department has an internal committee for this process, as well as members on an informal joint committee with Biology and Chemistry.  Plans are still at the space usage stage and it is expected to be at least until 2015 before construction would begin.

Rakesh Raghunathan joined Dr. Hoover’s lab as a Master of Science student, Food Science program, in early March.  Welcome aboard Rakesh!

The Biochemistry Society had their end of year formal dinner and dance on Saturday April 5th. This event also serves as a farewell gathering for the graduating class and they celebrated with numerous fun awards for achievement in academics, sports, and other areas of class involvement.  The new executive for the Society for  the 2014-15 academic year was named at the dinner.  Laura Gosine as president will lead the society through the coming year.

We learned in April that nine students who applied for summer jobs in Biochemistry research labs under the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) program were successful in being placed.  In addition, five students were successful in finding summer placements under the Dean of Science program Science Undergraduate Research Awards (SURA).  Congratulations to you all!

MUCEP results were announced in late April.  We have 35 funded positions for 2014-15, a nice increase from the 29.5 funded positions we had for 2013-14.  As this program provides paid work experience in our students’ field of study, the increased number of jobs is appreciated.  Most of the jobs are held in the fall and winter semesters.  Hiring is done online for this, arranged by CDEL who also fund the program.