Climate Change and Saving the World

The University of British Columbia, Rachel White, Anais Orsi, Zac Hudson, Dianne Mitchinson, Bethany Ladd, Gregory Dipple

We will cover a variety of topics throughout the week, which would include the following: 

Climate change and climate impacts: extreme weather events heatwaves, coastal flooding, extreme rainfall, melting snow and ice … climate change impacts our lives in many ways. My group here at UBC researches the impacts of climate change on extreme weather and climate events — why, how, and by how much, will these extreme events change in strength or frequency because of human-caused climate change?

In this mini workshop we will explore some of the many impacts of climate change, and understand how scientists are able to predict how extreme weather and climate events may change in the future. Based on locations (within Canada) chosen by you, we will research how aspects of weather that impact your communities are expected to change, including: maximum temperatures, minimum temperatures, heavy rainfall, sea level rise, droughts and frost days. We will talk about climate models, how they are used, what they can be used for and how I use them in my research. By analysing the output of climate models, you will create a summary of how climate extremes are projected to change for your chosen location, and explore how differences in future greenhouse gas emissions will affect the climate change impacts.

Students are asked to come prepared to the workshop with a story about a particular weather/climate event that has influenced their hometown/community, or a type of weather/climate event that they or their community is concerned about. Ideas include: heatwaves, flooding events, droughts, snow/ice melt events, heavy rainfall, changes in growing season of plants/crops….

Mineral Exploration and Mining to Fight Climate Change 

This session will focus on the role of geoscientists in the search for the metals needed to build batteries and green energy infrastructure to help the world lower their carbon emissions. It might sound strange that mining can help reduce greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere, but it’s true and we will explain how and why! Geology, the study of rocks and minerals, helps us to look for the best places to find important metals like gold, copper, and nickel. But that’s only the first step! We must then embark on mining these metals responsibly. Two themes will be focused on: 1) how we use knowledge of earth processes to find metals that are important for the switch to green energy such as solar panels and electric car batteries, and 2) using knowledge of minerals to develop mines that can remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and safely store it in rocks to help the fight against climate change. 

Dr. Dianne Mitchinson, Bethany Ladd and Katrin Steinthorsdottir are all geologists that work in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia and will be presenting and leading discussions and activities that include, Metals in Everyday Life, What Does Mineral Exploration and CO2 Research in the Field and Lab Look Like, and Find the Pirate’s Treasure!

Rain and climate change, with Anaïs Orsi (UBC Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences)

Climate change is not just global warming, it’s also becoming wetter, and drier. Unlike temperature, which is increasing nearly everywhere, precipitation changes can go both ways. Why is that? In this course, we will start with your own story about changing rain and/or snow. It can be from traditional knowledge shared by your elders, something you heard in the news or from your own experience. We will use these stories to develop how science can inform our lives.  On the first day, we will use your stories to define a question, investigate what we can measure to document the process, explore how we could carry out these measurements. You will get to build your own rain gauge. On the second day, we will hunt for some data on the internet, and learn the basic tools that scientists use to analyze data: calculate the mean (what we consider normal), and define what is considered an extreme event, using a computer. Finally, we will investigate together how climate change will impact the variable we defined based on your story. 

Can Chemistry Change The World? (Zac Hudson)

Chemistry will be critical to confronting some of the greatest sustainability challenges in human history. Developing new technologies for clean energy generation, biodegradable plastics, wastewater treatment, and food security will all rely on an understanding of chemistry. This half-day session includes a series of experiments you can do at home, guided live on video by Ph.D. students at UBC. We’ll illustrate the principles of chemical separation, acids and bases, and show you how to make plastic at home. We’ll conclude with a lecture that shows how chemistry is at the forefront of the fight against climate change, plastic pollution, and clean air and water.

Astronomy – my place in the universe

The University of British Columbia, Douglas Scott, Ingrid Stairs, Jess McIver and Jeremy Heye

We will discuss the properties of ordinary stars, like our sun, and extremely compact versions, such as white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes. We’ll also look at galaxies of stars and how they define structure on the largest scales in the Universe. How do we use familiar ideas to understand such objects? In what ways are they completely different from things we’re used to in our everyday lives?

A week in the life of a veterinary professional

University of Saskatchewan, Jordan Woodsworth

The Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan trains veterinary professionals from all over Western Canada, and we look forward to learning along with you this May. Students will be hosted by a variety of our staff and faculty who will provide learning opportunities including but not limited to: preventive healthcare for pets; animal wound care; dental care and procedures; veterinary radiology; veterinary rehabilitation; parasitology; wildlife pathology; communications; and what it’s like to train and work as a veterinary technologist. Join us for an exciting week of learning what it’s like to work as an animal health professional, and see firsthand the wide range of career paths available in this area.

What’s in my food?

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Sijo Joseph and Team

Explore food science by spending a week with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s grain science and nutrition lab, located at the Richardson Centre for Food Technology and Research on the University of Manitoba campus. Meet the research scientists and technicians who conduct research projects to improve the quality and nutrition of Canadian-grown crops and the foods made from them. Have you ever wondered things like: What kind of machine makes rolled oats? How do they measure all those components on a food label? If someone built a machine to simulate the human digestive system what would it look like? Why is fibre so healthy for you? Is there a way to quantify colour? What is gluten anyway? Discover answers to these questions and more through science discussions, lab equipment demonstrations, virtual lab tour and participation in hands-on food science experiments that can be done together virtually with items from your kitchen. By the end of the week you will know more about what components your food is made up of, how they are measured in the lab, and how they impact things like texture, digestibility and nutrition. 

Shockwave Science

Queen’s University, Laurent Beland

Students will run a few computer simulations on Queen’s supercomputer, and analyze them. The student will simulate, atom by atom, how high-energy particles create super sonic shockwaves in metals. By doing so, they will simulate, and visualize, how atom-scale defects are created in materials used in nuclear reactors.

This is a project that would be best for a student who is interested in both physics/engineering and computer science. 

Picture this — the Science of Light

University of Ottawa, Jeff Lundeen and Aldo Martinez

We’re preparing a series of activities about Optics: the science of light! The students will learn about light, its properties, and applications of them. The activities consist of several hands-on experiments that involve the use of polarizer sheets, natural and artificial light sources, transparent materials. The students will also build their own pinhole camera and explore polarization effects in photography. By creating their optical wave-guides, the students will explore the mechanism behind an optical fiber! Finally the students will have the opportunity to virtually visit our research lab and see our current experiments!

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Human Mechanics Behind Robots

Queen’s University, Amy Wu

The Biomechanics x Robotics Laboratory (BxRL) conducts research at the intersection of human biomechanics and robotics with the aim of augmenting human mobility. We are interested in understanding human locomotor and balance control behaviour and to apply biologically inspired principles to develop robotic technologies, such as legged robots and powered exoskeletons. Likewise, we aim to leverage robots to reveal the mechanisms behind human behaviour. We are passionate about using maker-style manufacturing techniques to build impactful, openly available robotic devices for both research and education. We are a part of Queen’s Mechanical and Materials Engineering department and Ingenuity Labs Research Institute.

The Water We Drink

University of Ottawa, Paul Mayer, David Bryce, Darrin Richeson and Adam Shuhendler

This activity is centred around water.  How do we clean it, how do we test it?  Student will work with four research groups from the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Ottawa spanning the disciplines of Physical Chemistry (Paul Mayer and David Bryce), Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis (Darrin Richeson) and Chemical Biology (Adam Shuhendler).  They will be introduced to the water purification process and then work through a series of four activities focussing on a) physical water purification by filtration, b) conductivity measurements for salinity using a 9-V battery, c) testing water for pH, alkalinity and hardness, and d) mineral content (nitrates, copper, iron).  Experiments will be conducted with prepared kits and “do-it-yourself” activities using materials you find around the house/garden.  We will then analyze the results by location and distribution across the regions.

Soil, Microbes, and Northern Lights

University of Manitoba, Ayush Kumar

These sessions will introduce you to some of the ongoing research activities in the Faculty of Science. There will be hands-on activities that will demonstrate the functioning of microbes. Students will be introduced to bacteria and discuss the differences between harmful and useful bacteria. There will be a panel discussion with graduate and undergraduate students in the Faculty of Science. Students will also learn about the Wawatay (Anishinaabe for Northern Lights).

More than Dirt

University of Manitoba, Annemieke Farenhorst

We are a research team that studies the quality of soil and water. In this section, we will talk about how soil can be a filter to protect the environment. We will show some of the instruments used to screen for pesticides, antimicrobials and other chemicals in water. We will also talk about biobeds, which is not something you can sleep in but it is actually something that helps to recycle pesticide waste and protects the environment. You will meet some of the students working on biobeds,  We will also show you some of our research findings such as what kind of pesticides we find in the environment and what type of chemicals we are going to look for this summer and where.

Carbon Footprint — Waste

University of Manitoba,
Joe Ackerman

Both of these topics have work for the students to complete before the online session (way before!). The Carbon Footprint section lets you navigate a carbon footprint calculator and figure out where you stand on that scale and what you might do to change it. The Waste section asks you to actually collect and sort the waste you generate in a week. It is a pretty interesting thing to do (I collected plastic waste for a year [see The long renovation project: video]). We will pool our data and talk about waste as a potential resource.

Fundamental Particles – Cosmic Rays and the Aurora

University of Manitoba, Juliette Mammei

Students will learn about the most fundamental particles that we are made of, and the forces that govern their interactions. They will participate in modules developed by quarknet, and guided by Dr. Mammei and members of her research group to analyze real data from an experiment at CERN – the Large Hadron Collider. Dr. Mammei will describe how fundamental particles affect our lives from radiation and its effects to the difference between cosmic rays and the aurora.

Solidworks Design

University of Saskatchewan, Dr. Duncan Cree

Students will learn about the most fundamental particles that we are made of, and the forces that govern their interactions. They will participate in modules developed by quarknet, and guided by Dr. Mammei and members of her research group to analyze real data from an experiment at CERN – the Large Hadron Collider. Dr. Mammei will describe how fundamental particles affect our lives from radiation and its effects to the difference between cosmic rays and the aurora.

BEAM Robotics

University of Manitoba, Dr. Witold Kinsner

For students interested in robotics, part of the project introduces the concept of a robot, and particularly the BEAM robot. It discusses the various components of a robot, as well as their interactions and constraints. It then attempts to design a small robot and implement it using inexpensive components. The objective of this part is to show that mathematics, physics, electronics, circuits, and design principles are all needed to accomplish such a task.