2024 Prix d'excellence de l'AD脡SAQ聽for Distinguished Dissertation
Dr. Alex Diaz-Papkovich聽is the 2024 winner of the Prix d'excellence de l'AD脡SAQ for Distinguished Dissertion in Quantitative Life Sciences.
The genomic revolution has given us biobanks鈥攎assive repositories of human genetic data connected to information like biomedical measures and demographic data. We can use biobank data to study how genetics are related to health or population histories. Since biobank data is incredibly large and complex, we have a classic needle-in-a-haystack problem, and we need to develop new statistical approaches to find the needles. My research pioneered a method of biobank analysis that simplifies genetic data by studying its topology with visualization and cluster analysis. By taking this topological approach, we can quickly find subtle signals in our data and identify patterns between genetic variation, population history, geographic distribution, and health measures. This methodology was fast and flexible enough to handle genetic data from hundreds of thousands of individuals and has been rapidly adopted by biobank consortia around the world.
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2019 CAGS-ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award
Dr. Janelle Marie Baker is the 2019 winner of the CAGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertion Award in the Catefory of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The award will be presented during the 57th Annual CAGS Conference in Halifax.
Dr. Baker鈥檚 dissertation is an exploration of sak芒wiyiniwak (Northern Bush Cree) experiences with wild or 鈥榖ush鈥� food contamination in what is now known as Alberta鈥檚 oil sands region. It is based on ethnographic research and collaborative experiences with members of Bigstone Cree Nation and Fort McKay First Nation in their traditional territories, and during community-based environmental monitoring studies of wild food contamination. As a highly original work of engaged ethnography, Baker鈥檚 dissertation probes indigenous diagnostics and etiologies of degraded food quality and discloses a complex of social, cultural, and environmental effects commonly overlooked in conventional impact studies.
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2015 Canadian Association of Graduate Studies (CAGS) Distinguished Dissertation Award
Dr. Bree Akesson is the 2015 winner of the CAGS Distinguished Dissertation Award in the category of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The award was presented during the CAGS Annual Conference in Calgary in October, 2015.
Dr. Akesson has spent much of her academic career studying how political violence and war affects children鈥檚 sense of place. She used innovative technologies to track and create maps of individuals' sense of place in war-torn areas and to give voice to the people involved in her research. She received her PhD in Social Work from 平特五不中 and is now an Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University specializing in international child protection and the psychosocial effects of war and disaster on young families.
2013 Council of Graduate Schools (CGS)/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award
Dr. Valorie Salimpoor is the 2013 recipient of the CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Disseration Award, presented at a ceremony during the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) 53rd Annual Meeting. The award recognizes recent doctoral recipients who have already made unusually significant and original contributions to their fields. ProQuest, an international leader in dissertation archiving, discovery and access, sponsors the awards and an independent committee from the Council of Graduate Schools selects the winners.
Dr. Salimpoor received her PhD in Psychology in the Behavioral Neuroscience Training Program from 平特五不中. In her research, she explores the strong impact music has on humans by investigating the reward systems in the brain to better understand how humans experience pleasure and what motivates our thoughts and behaviours. She is currently a postdoc in Randy McIntosh's lab at the Rotman Research Institute at the University of Toronto.
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