“My interest in data stems from previous work as a residential energy auditor. I was responsible for creating hundreds of home energy models to predict energy savings associated with efficiency upgrades. However, my job was limited to the creation of the models; I never had the chance to follow-up and verify energy savings after the work was complete. This led me to a master’s research project with Dalhousie’s Renewable Energy Storage Laboratory.”
Read moreDr. Paul Corkum
“A short laser pulse can develop temporal sub-structures that lead to remarkable laser beam stability. When one of the modern lasers like this fires, God has to stop and think about what to do.”
Read moreJeremy Slayter & The ASRJ (2/2)
(2/2) “Academia is a competitive industry. Without a metric to track progress, it’s difficult to measure how successful a researcher is. The rate of publication is one of those metrics, but it encourages quantity rather than quality, potentially stifling development.”
Jeremy Slayter & The ASRJ (1/2)
(1/2) “It was my friend Andrew Ward and I, we both wanted to pursue a career in healthcare, but we weren’t sure how to get started. When we realized that there was no infrastructure to support students to discover exciting projects in Atlantic Canada, we knew we should put something together. We spent a lot of time designing a model. It should accurately and objectively describe the research, and we wanted to highlight local researchers and to connect students with them. It was challenging putting an idea into action of building networks, creating a team, building a website, and much more. It has been one of the most rewarding difficulties we have ever undertaken. I learned a lot about myself, our team, how to create an organization and the publishing industry, as well as how to oversee a large project from concept to reality.”
Read moreAndrea Mayo
“I did a lot of sports in high school, and I really appreciate the value of health. UNB has a good kinesiology program, but it wasn’t until I took Dr. Danielle Bouchard’s class about aging and physical activity, I opened a door in kinesiology that wasn’t shown to me before. Then I became her research assistant working in local nursing homes, and I just felt in love with older people, hmm, older adults, that’s the proper term. I was trying to see if I could give an exercise program that might improve their ability to do activities on their own within wheelchairs, because a lot of exercise programs right now are for those who’re able to walk, but not many that gear towards those who can’t get over the chairs.”
Youji Cheng
"Escaping from work is indeed a luxury. Millennial scientists don’t really have work-life balance. We’re the generation that pays 3 times more rent compared to our parents during our scientific training while working our ass off to pay our debt. A PhD is not the minimum requirement for professorships anymore, one postdoc might not be enough, but can we even survive our mental health to finish more than one postdoc? In our spare time, we worry about how robots and climate change are going to destroy our planet. I’m privileged that my boss has worked for big names like Richard Bader and John Polanyi, but how many of us would have that kind of opportunities? I can only see work; otherwise I don’t have a life in the future."
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