News

On July 15th the three federal granting agencies announced the results of the 2021 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Congratulations to Alberto Campos for receiving this highly competitive scholarship.

Congratulations to Cameron Bullen for receiving the Freda Pagani Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award for his thesis entitled, “A marine megafaunal extinction and its consequences for kelp forests of the North Pacific“!

On CHANS Lab Views, Kai weighs arguments for and against mandatory vaccination at universities, and considers alternatives. He concludes that purely voluntary approaches may be easy solutions, but they are likely not the fairest. He proposes to change the default, at least: make vaccination expected.

Thanks to Colton Stevens for the beautiful photo and the editing!

CHANS Lab is mourning the sudden passing of Adrian Semmelink, who did his Master’s with Kai Chan and Terre Satterfield from 2015-2018. Adrian was a warm, enthusiastic, empathetic person who seemed to set everyone at ease with his manner and his wonderful sense of humour. He brightened every room he walked in, and touched every person who came to know him. He made the world a better place through his research on sustainable agriculture and farmer practices, and through just being Adrian. We will miss him deeply and sorely. See Kai’s words to Adrian’s family and friends.

To honour Adrian Semmelink and in recognition of his dedication to sustainable agriculture practices, family and friends will be establishing an award in his name. The award will support students pursuing their Master’s or PhD in UBC’s Resources, Environment and Sustainability (RES) program with preference given to those whose studies focus on sustainable agriculture. Our goal is to establish either an annual award or an endowed award. The minimum amount to establish an annual award is $10,000 to be distributed in increments over 5-10 years. We will be able to endow Adrian’s award in perpetuity if we reach $50,000. The final use of funds will be determined by IRES in consultation with Adrian’s family.
http://support.ubc.ca/adrian-semmelink

Kai and Matt Mitchell are seeking a PhD student to model biodiversity and ecosystem services in Metro Vancouver (see the job ad).

Following their publication of a new paper in People and Nature, Kai Chan and Terre Satterfield reflect on the maturation of ecosystem services as a field, and how it has risen to some critiques but not others. In Relational Thinking, The People and Nature Blog.

Maayan successfully defended her PhD dissertation entitled “Perennial Agriculture: Agronomy and Environment in Long-Lived Food Systems“. Congratulations, Maayan!

John successfully defended his PhD dissertation entitled “Nutrient Yields from Northwest Atlantic Fisheries: Analysis, Indicators, and Optimization“. Congratulations, John!