#understatement.

Master’s student: Magdalena Rogalsky
Studying in: Department of soil science
Advisor: Professor Don Flaten

Magdalena Rogalsky

UM Today: Where are you from?

Magdalena Rogalsky: Poland, originally.

When did you move here?

It’s been 14 years now.

Are you from a farming background?

My grandparents farmed but they had a very small farm. It was more just to sustain themselves. And that is the extent of it. I didn’t get exposed to agriculture until my third year of university.

What happened in third-year university?

I was in science at U of W and there’s not much agriculture there. I was studying biochemistry and biology. And then I started working as a summer student for the department of soil science at the U of M. And that was that. I was hooked.

What was it about soil that hooked you?

It was partially my boss at the time – Laryssa – who is now a very good friend of mine. She was just so passionate about agriculture and I guess it rubbed off. But also seeing the difference she was making for the farmers. Helping them make their production systems better. And the community itself. I have never worked with such great people, wherever you go. It’s just fantastic.

In her happy place

So you started with soil, how did you end up in corn research?

I actually started in canola, and then I did a little bit of potato work when I came back the following summer to do another summer session. And then I did soybeans for the third year, then a master’s project came up and it was corn. It wasn’t something I expected and I love it.

When you’re at a party and someone asks about your research, what do you say?

We’re looking at a fertilizer management practices for corn production in Manitoba. So we’re looking, basically, at the four Rs – right timing, right placement, right source and right rate for corn production.

Corn is an old crop. How do we not know this by now?

It has been around for a long time, in Manitoba it’s been here for a while but not to extent it has expanded to now. The acreage has increased in the past few years. So now that we have hybrids available that we can grow in our climate, that are shorter-season hybrids, we can work on the agronomic portion. That’s what I’m working on – the fertilizer. How do we feed this crop to get the best yields we can?

So corn acreage has been expanding in Manitoba but we’re not Iowa yet.

Having fun in Iowa

Are you going to do a PhD?

Not right away. I’d like to work first and get that real-life experience, and then maybe come back and do a PhD.

What did you want to be as a kid?

A police officer. Go figure. But my mom knocked that out of my head.

And replaced it with science?

Yeah. She was actually… I knew she used to work in a lab, but then I found out she did very similar work as what I did as a summer student. So maybe that’s where my desire comes from. So she used to be a soil scientists too.

A Rogalsky

Do you have any other hobbies outside of research?

I paint. I’m a painter.

Agricultural landscapes?

On request. But mostly abstract. And I used to be quite the table tennis player. I used to play provincially and nationally.

In Poland or here?

Team Manitoba. And then we went to national qualifiers and we lost.

How did you get into that sport?

My dad. Back in Poland we used to play. First of all, you should know, it’s called table tennis. Ping-pong is in your basement.

The Kusal-Rogalsky team

So if your friends say let’s play ping-pong, you know it’s a casual affair. If they say lets play table tennis, you’re grabbing your runners?

Yeah, and I’d whoop them.

What’s your favourite part of your job?

The fieldwork. Going out there, seeing the crop grow from seed. And watching it grow through mid-season to harvest. It’s so satisfying. And it helps when your hypothesis works out.

Let’s get controversial. GMOs. Yes, no or it’s complicated?

Of course yes. It’s not complicated at all. It’s very simple. But first of all, let’s start off with the fact that the term GMO is, I think, grossly misinterpreted in the public view. Because GMO is just ‘genetically modified organisms.’ Everything has been genetically modified through crossbreeding. What people are thinking of, I think, is the transgenic method of modifying crops, which is just selecting genes and transferring to another organism. And that is just so much more precise than what we have ever been able to do. I mean, prior to this we’d use radiation – beaming radiation onto a plant until it mutates (among other techniques). So we have gone this far and it’s a wonderful technology. It’s been around for a while but I think there needs to be more education out there to explain GMOs better to people. The corn I’m growing is GMO.

Do you eat of lot of corn yourself?

I grow a bit in my garden but that’s the extent of it. I’m not a farmer.

Would you ever want to be a farmer?

That would be my number one job. If I could farm, that’s what I would do.

Do you have any regrets in life?

None that I can think of. I’m pretty happy where I am and how I got here. There’s just been so many wonderful people on the way here that I’m thankful for.

And right now you’re in professor Don Flaten’s lab. Has he given you any good advice?

At the time I started my project with him I was getting married that summer. And he sat me down and said, ‘Magda, you are about to start the most important relationship in your life. The one between you and your supervisor.’

I’ll never forget that. He’s got a pretty good sense of humour. He’s a great supervisor and he cares very much about all his students and wants to see them all succeed.

UM Today: Ok, let’s start from the beginning. Who’s the favourite child?

Sheridan Oswald: Me. In some ways I guess.

You’re the younger one right?

Sheridan: I’m the baby, yeah.

Courtlyn Oswald: She’s the more behaved one I’d say. I was a more go-out type of person she was more of a stay-at-home body.

Have you always played hockey together?

Sheridan: We both started boy’s hockey really young, like four.

Courtlyn: I wouldn’t say four. Maybe five or six. We started playing girls hockey together in Atom and then it would rotate: we’d play together one year and then the next year we’d be apart just because of the age gap. Once Sheridan was in Grade 8 and I was in Grade 10 we were on the same team from there on out.

Was it hard to be a girl playing on a boy’s team?

Sheridan: There were always a couple of other girls.

Courtlyn: When we were younger there were more girls but as we got older we were kind of by ourselves. There’s another girl from MacGregor who plays on [University of Regina] that we are pretty close with. She was the age between us. One year I’d play with her, one year Sheridan would play with her.

Did you play a lot of pond hockey in MacGregor?

Sheridan: Our dad would make a backyard rink and we were on that quite a bit.

What are you studying?

Courtlyn: I actually just got into Nursing for the second semester. I was in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Rec Management before, but just made the switch.

Sheridan: I’m in Family Social Sciences right now and I’m hoping to become a teacher.

How did you get interested in those paths?

Sheridan: Our dad is a teacher and I’ve always liked kids, so I just wanted to become a teacher

Courtlyn: I’ve always had a liking towards the medical industry and I thought Nursing would be the best balance with hockey.

How do you find balancing athletics with academics?

Courtlyn: It’s definitely a jump from playing Midget hockey in high school to here. But my semester right now is pretty easy. I feel I am in for a rude awakening next semester. Two girls on the team got into Nursing this semester and they have been studying non-stop.

Sheridan: My first year… it’s been quiet a big difference. I’m definitely busier.

Would you ever drop hockey?

Sheridan: No. I don’t think I could.

Courtlyn: I don’t think I could either. I’d try limiting my schedule first; take fewer classes. I mean we only get five years. I feel like I’d really miss it if I dropped out.

You started the season on different lines but now you’re line mates. Do you prefer being line mates?

Courtlyn: Yeah, just because we have played together for so long.

Courtlyn and Sheridan Oswald

Who’s the better hockey player?

Sheridan: I think we both have strengths the other doesn’t

Courtlyn: She has a better shot and I’m the better skater

Sheridan: Yeah.

Courtlyn: We’ll go with that. We don’t want to start a fight.

And you also live together?

Courtlyn: Yeah.

So you are with each other…

Simultaneously: Twenty-four-seven.

Courtlyn: This semester we are actually in a lot of the same classes too.

So you’re obviously friends too.

Sheridan: Sometimes.

A lot of parents struggle to have their kids be friends, like real friends. Did your parents do anything that stands out, or do you think you just both happen to have compatible personalities?

Sheridan: Nothing stands out at the moment.

Courtlyn: She’s just more laid back and goes with whatever I do so it kinda works out that way. And we’ve just been together our whole lives so we’re just kinda used to it. We obviously bump heads but nothing too severe.

Sheridan: We’ll have a big fight but two minutes later it’s nothing.

Courtlyn: We’re talking as usual. There’s just this bounce-back thing.

How did you end up at U of M? Did you look at other universities?

Courtlyn: I looked at others but I wanted to stay close to home.

Sheridan: I had some offers elsewhere but I think just overall, this was the best fit for me.

Courtlyn: She wanted to play with me again too.

Do you have any other hobbies?

Courtlyn: I like to cook. And we played more sports in high school but…

Sheridan: When high school hit we had to decide if we wanted to go further in our hockey career or play everything. And that was when we stopped and just focused on hockey.

Do you have a favourite hockey player?

Sheridan: I like Ovechkin.

Courtlyn: I always rotate between the players. I don’t even know.

Sheridan: You just like the cute ones.

Courtlyn: Yeah, I like Crosby and Seguin, Landeskog. I’m all over the place. I don’t even have a favourite team most of the time, but I do like cheering for the jets.

UM Today sat down with Leenders to learn more about her. We came out of the conversation feeling cooler too.

Undergraduate researcher: Amber Leenders
Studying in: Department of Classics
Supervised by: Professor Michael Sampson

Amber Leenders

UM Today: So you’re going into fifth year, studying Classics, but you didn’t always study in this area. What happened?

Amber Leenders: I was majoring in English and I always liked working with kids, so I thought I’d enter Education. I thought English and Biology would be a good balance and was taking lots of courses in those areas. I didn’t really go into university thinking that Classics was going to be a possible career path, but I started taking more and more electives in the subject, and I realized that I couldn’t give it up.

What was it about Classics that got to you?

I’ve been reading classical mythology and literature since I was young. So that was the first thing that interested me. But I just like the variety you get within it. I can’t think of another subject where you get to study all aspects of a society in quite the same way. You get the challenge of the languages, history from a huge variety of eras, you get the scientific side with archeology, and you get to work with people from other departments if you want different insight. And this summer I did an archeological field school in Italy. That made me really fall in love with archaeology.

Was it through U of M?

No, it was directed by Queen’s University and I did it through St. Mary’s University in Halifax.

Where were you and what were you doing?

We were an hour north of Rome and we were excavating a Roman and Etruscan town called Caere.

Did you dig up anything cool?

Oh yeah!

Like what?

Thousands of fragments of pottery, obviously. And lots of everyday items like lamps, metal nails, and animal bones. But I don’t know what I’m allowed to talk about because it hasn’t all been published yet.

I think the coolest part was that the site this year included a lot of underground spaces. We got to climb through and excavate ancient wells and cisterns to investigate the water management system that was used in this town. So that was very cool.

Amber Leenders in an ancient well in Caere

What was it like for you holding a piece of pottery from thousands of years ago? What goes through your mind?

I got emotional the first time even though it was only a very small piece of pottery. It was really challenging at first because the site is backfilled every year: They have to cover it up so it’s better preserved in the off-season. When we were first uncovering it, getting down to the layer they dug last year, there were pieces in the fill that they missed in the previous seasons, so we had to keep throwing out the pieces we found. It was like, ‘this is so cool,’ but there’s no context for the artifact, so you can’t keep it. But eventually we started excavating the new layers, and got to the stuff we were able to keep, and that was super exciting. It’s amazing to think about who last used the artifact and what they were like. I like finding things like weaving tools, for example, because they were probably used by someone of the same gender and age as me.

And now you’re here, doing undergraduate research with professor Sampson. How did you end up here, co-curating a papyri exhibit?

I have done a little bit of assistant work with my Latin professor before, but this is my first big project. I did apply for the undergraduate research award this summer but I didn’t get it. So I was little disappointed, but Dr. Sampson then approached me and asked if I wanted to help with this exhibit for the summer. It was totally out of the blue but exactly what I have been wanting to work on. So it has been an amazing opportunity. I’m very grateful for it.

What: Ink and Sand: an Exhibit on Greek Papyri Purchased by Francis Kelsey and Bernard Grenfell for the University of Michigan in March-April 1920
When: Oct. 12, 2016, to Jan. 13, 2017
Where: Archives and Special Collections, 3rd Floor Elizabeth Dafoe Library, M-F 8:30-4:30
Admission: Free and open to the public

What have you been doing on it?

I am assisting with a bit of everything that needs to be done for the exhibit, doing reading and research, writing, doing some of the graphic design, and helping select artifacts that we’re going to display.

What’s the coolest thing you’re taking away from this project?

With this project, just learning about the papyri themselves is a highlight. They let you learn about the people you wouldn’t know about from other ancient sources. If you’re reading Cicero, for example, it’s all about the same upper-class group. But with papyri you get to learn about the lives of midwives, or you read letters from deployed soldiers to their mothers back home. Stuff like that. You get access to a side of the ancient world that you might not see otherwise. That’s my favourite aspect of what I’m doing right now. I’m excited to share it with others through the exhibit.

Enjoying an ancient storage jar in an Italian museum

Who’s your favourite Greek god?

Oh! Athena.

Why?

I like the military and wisdom aspects of her.

Least favourite god?

Dang! Probably Zeus because he starts a lot of problems. I shouldn’t pick a least favourite though because that is asking for trouble, if mythology has taught me anything.

What did you want to be as kid?

I wanted to be a ballerina for a while. I also wanted to be a paleontologist or archeologist at one point. I liked the idea of digging stuff up – I watched too many BBC documentaries as a kid.

Any hobbies?

Yeah! I am involved in the local slam poetry scene – I’m a performer, and I’m one of the directors of the youth slam organization in the city, called Voices, Ink. Our goal is to give young people a stage to be creative on.

I used to be a dancer for a long time too – ballet. But a few years ago I started doing karate instead and I have fallen in love with that. I just got my black belt last year.

High five!

Thanks!

Now, when she is not canoeing or hiking, she’s researching how places like zoos can impact people’s views on environmentalism and sustainability.

Bueddefeld is one of the roughly 3,800 students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Graduate Studies. UM Today sat down to chat with this charming individual.

PhD Candidate: Jill Bueddefeld
Studying in: Department of environment and geography
PhD Co-Advisors: Professors Mary Benbow and Christine Van Winkle

Jill Bueddefeld in Churchill, MB

UM Today: When you’re at a party, what do you tell people you do?

Jill Bueddefeld: That I do nature-based tourism research, looking at how people learn about the environment and have potentially meaningful tourism experiences.

And you examined Journey to Churchill for this, right?

Yes, I did that for my master’s and my PhD will expand on that work.

My master’s looked at what people learned from these experiences and we developed something called post-visit resources. It’s already a thing but it’s only been tested in Australia so we developed one for the zoo here and distributed it to a treatment group. And then we compared learning and behaviour change between a group of visitors who have been to the zoo versus those who got this post-visit treatment that told them how to be more sustainable.

So what did you find?

We also did an assessment of the zoo’s interpretative centre and they had a bunch of objectives – some were interpretive, some emotional and some behavioural. They did well on a lot of them, which is kind of surprising because you think these visits are often quick. I mean, kids are screaming, people have to go to the bathroom, they’re rushed, and so you wonder what people are actually getting from it.

And a fair amount, it turns out…. Even these short interactions can be really meaningful.

So people in general are supportive and caring of conservation but there this disconnect between what we know is a problem, and knowing what our role in that problem is.

Jill Bueddefeld does nature-based tourism research at the zoo

Would this be for, say, climate change?

Exactly.

Is that because it’s such a daunting challenge?

It’s so daunting, that’s the problem. Like, what do we do? What’s my role?

My research addresses this problem by facilitating and telling people things like, here are six things you can do to have an impact.

Zoos can play a really important role in social change because they reach such a large and broad audience. They are able to communicate these messages and hopefully trigger people to start thinking about these environmental and sustainability issues. And with these post-visit resources you sort of wind up being able to facilitate that process more directly.

Is your PhD work looking at the same thing?

It’s sort of similar but we’re looking at comparative experiences – so Journey to Churchill and Churchill itself, the actual town.

What I’ve learned from this is that behaviour change is really, really hard to measure…

One of the biggest things we found in the study was that people made changes in their lives that weren’t necessarily the ones we suggested. So the survey data showed no change, but all the interview data showed that people were making changes. That was interesting.

So people were telling us they made all these changes but they didn’t put them on the survey because they weren’t on our list. So they created a butterfly garden, or installed solar panels at their cabin, or hung their laundry to dry. Things like that.

We make changes in our lives that are really specific to us and I think zoos and other places like them need to facilitate more than dictate. Don’t say here’s what you should do. Rather, they should say, here are some problems, now think critically of what your role is in that.

What did you want to be as a little girl?

I wanted to be a game farm manager – helping wild animals back into nature.

I grew up on a farm so this wasn’t totally left field.

Where did you grow up?

In southern Manitoba near the border. It was a grain and oil seed farm. My dad liked to travel so he didn’t want to be a dairy farmer.

He had a lot of animals growing up and he hated it. It’s so much work. Dairy farmers work so hard.

Did you help out on the farm?

All the time.

What are your hobbies?

I like gardening – veggies and flowers. I’m also obsessed with training my goldendoodle, she’s the cutest little goofball.

Jill Bueddefeld and Piper go for a paddle

What’s your first memory?

Oh man! Actually it was my first birthday. I remember I lost a balloon my grandpa gave to me.

Best advice you have received?

The best thing anyone has ever told me was from my dad. He said, you need to be kind to people no matter who they are or what their position in life is.

Kindness is super important. And I found that to be true in my research. I had so many participants and the number of nice people who stopped to help me with my research at the zoo was overwhelming – how kind people were every day. I know that’s cheesy to say, but it really was. And it’s important to me now.

Being smart and good at what you do is important, but I like to work with people that are also just genuinely nice and supportive of one another… So I’m really thankful I work with people who are just nice people – they are kind and pleasant to be around.

What are your biggest zoo visitor pet peeves?

People thinking that animals are there for their entertainment. People banging on glass. Those sorts of things.

What’s your favourite animal at the zoo?

It sounds lame, but the polar bears.

I spent so much time there and got to know them and their different personalities.

Who is your favourite?

I think Hudson is still my favourite. He was the only bear when I was doing my master’s there, and he’s just a ham.

Least favourite animal?

The peacock. It snuck up behind me and scared me almost daily with its loud call (which is actually called a scream). It was so annoying.

Biggest regrets in life?

I should have traveled a bit more before taking on these commitments. I did a lot, but…

Favourite country?

That’s a tough one, but favourite place I visited was probably Peru or the Cook Islands – the snorkeling was amazing there.

What’s your prized possession?

I have a fancy globe from my dad and some stamps from him as well. He passed away not too long ago.

And years ago when we were travelling in New Zealand as a family, I collected stamps, which is terribly boring hobby. Stamps and rocks. Anyway, we were in New Zealand and I found these health stamps that I just loved. And I was 12! Who loves health stamps!? But I did. But they cost pretty much all of my spending money for the last week so I decided not to buy them – we had a lot of other things to do. So I left them and regretted it, and lamented them for a full year.

My parents went back 10 years later for some anniversary trip and my dad tracked down this guy in the same city and bought the same stamps. Same colour and everything – he even remembered the right colours! And he gave them to me for Christmas that year. So that’s by far my favourite thing.

What’s been the most interesting thing you discovered in your research?

When I did the post-visit stuff I didn’t think it would actually work.

Like, people won’t change? They won’t care?

Yeah. They won’t care. People won’t want to help me in my research. They’ll be mean to me. I assumed all those things. But people were soooo nice. And the biggest thing I found was that I couldn’t believe the changes between the quantitative and qualitative findings. I could not believe it. I could not believe how different they were – so it was such a big wake up call to the importance of doing mixed methods research.

It was exciting because it showed that, hey, we can enact changes in people but not in the subscribed way we planned. People are going to take things and run in a completely different direction and that needs to be supported.

Blunt is one of the roughly 3,800 students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Graduate Studies. He’s a Wu Scholar an an all around nice guy – spend one minute with him in the Engineering Building and at least one person will emphatically wave hello to him in that time. UM Today sat down to chat with this gregarious guy.

PhD student: Warren Blunt
Advisor: Nazim Cicek. (“However,” Blunt said, “I have to also acknowledge David Levin. Although not officially a co-supervisor, he has also created a lot of opportunities for me that I am thankful for.”)
Studying in: Faculty of Engineering, department of biosystems engineering

UM Today: Where are you from?

Warren Blunt: I was born in Winnipeg but my parents built a house in Stonewall, Manitoba, in the early 1980s so I lived all my life there.

Did you do your undergrad at the U of M?

Yes, same department I’m in now – biosystems engineering. I did a five-year program with a specialization in what was then called the Environmental Option. And I also added a management minor on top of that.

With the Asper School?

Yeah, I actually got accepted for it through the Asper School of Business, which was a nice feather in my cap at the time. But since becoming more involved with research and grad school at the PhD level, it may have become somewhat of a moot point. But I’ll see what I’ll do after—maybe it will come in handy yet. But it was really good. It was refreshing getting out of the engineering mindset and seeing what the people in Asper were up to, and challenging myself to something different. It was gratifying despite making for a hectic schedule.

Warren Blunt

Why did you stick around here for grad school? What kept you here? Did you look at other schools?

I did a little bit. But based on what I saw I preferred what was happening here on a research basis. And I have the privilege of having a supervisor who creates opportunities and collaborates a lot, so there are opportunities to go somewhere else and work in a different lab, get some new perspectives, and maybe international experience as well. And that will hopefully take away some of the criticism that normally comes with studying at the same place for so long.

Based on the way everything turned out with scholarships, I mean I knew ahead of time I would get an NSERC award, but I had no idea I’d get the Wu Scholarship, and there were a few awards within Engineering that I picked up. I could never have imagined it. And it certainly made it all worthwhile and I don’t think I would have got those opportunities at other universities.

What went through your mind when you got the Wu Scholarship?

“Who is Sir Gordon Wu?” was the first question that came to mind. I had a lot of curiosities because it was brand new—I was in the first crop of Wu Scholars. So I’ never heard of it.

Did you even know you were in the running?

No. I had no idea.

Out of any scholarship I’ve ever received I’d say that one caught me the most off guard. I was thinking they sent the email to the wrong person, but really hoping they hadn’t.

So it was surprising but in a very, very, very good way.

So how does that feel? I’ve never had someone just surprise me with money saying here, go keep doing what you’re doing because you’re awesome at it.

I think this is the one time in your life when this is ever going to happen, and even then it catches you off-guard. It’s hard to put into perspective when you don’t directly work for it. It feels like you didn’t really earn it. But it was really exciting and helped me set aside all the financial considerations that make grad school such a struggle for too many students. It changes your priorities. I got to put all that aside and say, “Okay, I don’t need to worry about this anymore so let’s just buckle down and work hard, produce good results, and enjoy this experience.”

It’s so much better than wasting energy worrying about how I’m going to pay my rent.

Warren Blunt

In a nutshell, what is your research focused on?

If I had to summarize that in one sentence I’d say I use bacteria to degrade agricultural and industrial waste products and simultaneously synthesize a polymer that resembles plastic. But is has the benefits of being completely biodegradable and produced from renewable resources.

But that is a hugely diverse field, involving scientists from a host of different backgrounds, like microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, etcetera. My job is to look into some of the engineering considerations around how to scale this process up to pilot or industrial scale.

Is this bacteria bred to do this or was it found to be doing this in nature?

These are natural. You have to give it certain stress conditions to make it synthesize the polymer, otherwise it’s just happily growing and making new cells. But if you can slow the growth rate or stop it altogether, the cells will use any excess carbon source—the waste products from agriculture or related industries—to make polymer instead of using it to make proteins, nucleic acids, and new cells. It’s similar to the way that when we consume excess energy we store it as fat.

How did you get involved in this research?

It’s not a great story. Before I started working in this lab, which was back in 2009, I was working odd jobs—a trucking company, I worked on farms and golf courses. Nothing that would really jump off the page in terms of a resumé so I was looking to change that. And then this email circulated from the Faculty to undergrads about an NSERC undergrad research award.

I thought I could do this and take some courses alongside it in the summer to get ahead while I was here. I thought I would do it just for one summer. But it got me just interested enough that I came back the next summer and I got involved in a project that was just getting started and it ended up sending me—as an undergrad—to New Zealand for six weeks in the summer to get trained on some equipment that we would later implement for our own research purposes at U of M. And that would become the foundation for my master’s thesis.

I mean, I talked earlier about having a supervisor(s) that create opportunities and that’s an example. Having an opportunity like that put before me was too good to be refused. So that’s how I got drawn into another summer of research. It kept me hooked and in September 2011, I started my master’s.

Then I thought I would stop at my master’s but the lab shifted focus, which was refreshing, and then the opportunities kept coming — and scholarships. So I stayed to do a PhD.

Have you received any good advice from your supervisor?

The best advice I ever got was don’t expect anything, just observe. That’s extremely hard to do after you run one experiment and then you run the same thing to show reproducibility—it’s really hard not to expect you’ll get the same result. It’s also frustrating when you don’t. And that happens a lot—I’d say every success has been built on equally as many (or more) failures. And it’s frustrating, but when you finally crack that puzzle it’s really rewarding.

What did you want to be as a kid when you were young?

I always liked tinkering with mechanical things so I debated going into mechanical engineering. But honestly, growing up in rural Manitoba, as a kid I wanted to have a farm. I loved watching the machines in the field, riding along, and growing things. Soil has to be one of the most important resources we have. And I’m still interested in those things. That’s probably what led me to biosystems because there is a large agricultural component. Since then I deviated from that and leaned more toward the environmental stream. However, they are interconnected.

Do you have any hobbies?

I did. Now I only do research.

Blunt used to have hobbies, before research

What were your hobbies?

I really enjoy the outdoors –mountain biking, cross-country skiing, water skiing, gardening. I’m a four-seasons kind of guy.

Guitar, I play guitar. Or I used to at least.

What’s the best part of your job?

I think the best part is something that took me a while to learn: the process of having to figure something out and not just have it given to you. If you fail at something three times before you get it right, that feels way better than if you try something and it works and you don’t really know why or you take it for granted, or you read something about what someone has already done and you replicate it and it works. It’s a very rewarding process to find the answers for yourself and to build up a solution rather than just having something work out the first time. I’d say that’s the more rewarding part.

The university is encouraging all members of the U of M community to join in its efforts to support students, like Warren, by matching donations made toward scholarships before June 30.

All gifts made towards undergraduate scholarships will be matched dollar for dollar by the U of M. Gifts towards graduate student scholarships will be tripled.

For more information, visit: https://frontandcentre.cc.umanitoba.ca/scholarships-change-lives/

To make your gift today, visit: https://give.umanitoba.ca/donationform

She came to the U of M to become a school teacher, but then she discovered new passions – psychological methods, and academic administration. The University is grateful for that because she has served her peers and the academy in various administrative roles with integrity and passion since her first appointment in 1984. Now, the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) is about to take administrative leave. (Join us on June 23 to celebrate her service.)

UM Today spoke with charming, sharp and indefatigable Dr. Keselman on the eve of her departure from the Administration Building. We asked about her fond memories, ambitions, and pet peeves.

UM Today: A lot of people say you’re a very funny woman. What’s the funniest moment from your career so far?

Joanne Keselman: Every leadership team I’ve been a part of – as Associate Dean in Education, VP Research, and now as Provost – has gotten into antics with people. Typically, it was around their send offs. So we’d dress up in crazy costumes and sing ridiculous songs.

When Bob Raeburn – the executive assistant to the President – left, we all got dressed up and Debbie [McCallum] was Dolly Parton and Gerry Miller was Kenny Rogers. I was somebody in that band. I was dressed up as a country singer, but secretly pretended to be Tina Turner.

We’ve done a variety of those things. When Elaine Goldie left, Debbie and I dressed up as Elaine Goldie. (We all had the same outfit as we shopped at the same dress shop!) And we serenaded her to the tune of “She’s a Lady” along with Jeff Leclerc as Tom Jones.

Joanne Keselman, as Tina Turner in disguise

You have a lot of fond memories. What’s your proudest achievement?

I loved all of my positions but I particularly enjoyed being Vice President (Research) because I got to know and work with so many of our fantastic researchers. I was in that job at a time when the research funding environment was really changing and we were applying for new, large, team-based projects. So, it really gave me a great opportunity to learn a lot about what these people were doing and to work with them on preparing funding proposals – they are an amazing bunch doing amazing work!

I think the major research undertakings that were funded through these programs really highlighted for people the research mission of the university and the depth of our research enterprise. So I feel that one of the greatest—if you want to call it this—achievements that I was part of, was to really raise the profile of the university’s research and the impact and importance of our work to our province and our country. That is what I probably look back on most fondly.

Any regrets?

I don’t have any regrets but I would say there is an endless amount of work and there are new challenges and opportunities every day so you never really feel that you finished everything off. But I think I’ve had a good run.

How are you going to personally celebrate stepping down from administration?

The Keselmans

I’d like to do more travelling. My husband, Harvey, retired a couple of years ago, so I think he’s looking forward
to me having a bit more free time. In addition to doing some overseas travel, we’d both like to spend more time in New Jersey with our children and grandchildren.

I also have family here, including a new great-nephew who just turned one, so I would like to spend more time getting to know him.

I’d like to exercise more and take up cooking again, and I’d like to do more volunteer work.

Is any particular organization dear to you?

I have been really impressed with what our Rady Faculty of Health Sciences has done with respect to the Habitat for Humanity Builds, and I think that’s an organization I would be really interested in getting involved in. And Siloam Mission is another really great organization.

And my dad is in a senior’s residence in St. Vital and I go and visit him every Sunday. As a result of that I have gotten to know a lot of his friends over there. It’s interesting that, while some people are fortunate to have regular visits by family, there are a lot of people who don’t have family who can visit and it looks like it could be a lonely life. So I have thought I could volunteer some time there.

But I am going on administration leave, I’m not retiring. So I have projects that I have lined up to do during this leave period.

Through my administrative career I have become increasingly interested in academic leadership development. So one of the things I’m hoping to do during my administrative leave is to do more exploration and research on that – what are best practices with respect to developing leaders within academic institutions. I’m looking forward to spending more time on that. I’m also planning on exploring innovations in the teaching research methods and statistics in anticipation of returning to the classroom following my leave.

You’ve been here for a long time and have moved up the ranks. Would you say you were always ambitious or was that something that developed in you later in life?

I never had an aspiration to be in administration. I graduated with my PhD and assumed I would just focus on research and teaching, and would have been very happy to do that. But I ended up taking on some committee work early in my career, which made me realize that I really like working with other people and I got a lot of satisfaction out of helping other people achieve their goals. And then I had the good fortune, when I was in Education, of a new Dean arriving and appointing me to the new position of Associate Dean (Graduate Studies and Research). And as they say, the rest is history.

People often ask me how I got from there to here but I never planned it. Opportunities arose and I worked hard, focused on the job, and then other opportunities presented themselves. I’m kind of surprised where I ended up in a way. I came to the university as a student to become a school teacher of some sort.

Really!? What happened along the way to change your path?

The graduate

When I came to the university I thought that I wanted to be either a kindergarten teacher or perhaps a math and French teacher. I enrolled in the Faculty of Arts and I was hoping to transfer into the Faculty of Education that following year because Education had indicated it was going to start a new four-year bachelor of education program with a specialty in early childhood education.

Shortly before the fall of that second year, however, I learned that the new program was going to be deferred a year. So I had to quickly organize myself and get a set of courses for my second year in Arts. In that second year I declared a major in psychology and I took a required undergraduate research methods and statistics course, which I really liked. And so I never went back to education – I decided I was interested in getting my degree in psychology and by the end of that degree I had already decided I was going to go to graduate school, majoring in psychological methods. So you just never know, do you?

What did you want to be as a little girl?

I always thought about being a teacher.

But I have always had an interest in animals even though I have never had a dog or a cat. I’ve only ever had birds—budgies. Given this interest, I took a number of comparative psychology courses during my early years at university that involved the study of animals, some taking place at the zoo. I started to think it might be fun to be a zookeeper. So, another area for volunteer work!

Have you received any advice that stands out and you took to heart, or have you ever extolled some wisdom you’re proud of?

I have been significantly influenced by John Stapleton, my first mentor in administration. I often think of my time working with him. It’s kind of funny because that was so many years ago – I was appointed Associate Dean in 1984. He was a very thoughtful, caring, kind person, and a great listener who really valued, I think, everyone’s opinion. I remember that and I try to be like him. I have tried to be a really good listener and to think carefully about what people are saying because even if you don’t agree with somebody, most times they have something useful to say and often they make you think differently about things.

But I have definitely learned something from everybody whom I have been fortunate to work with along the way.

If you were on Jeopardy, what anecdote would you tell host Alex Trebek?

I’m not sure. I have a lot of shoes. Oh my goodness, I have a lot of shoes, and earrings! What else is quirky about me? I have so many cookbooks it’s ridiculous. I used to do a lot of cooking, which is something else I hope to have a bit more time for.

Do you have any pet peeves?

People who drive well below the speed limit. And people who don’t get their wallet out to pay for purchases until after the bill is rung up.

What is your favourite spot on one of our campuses?

My new favourite building is the Active Living Centre – it’s gorgeous. And I really love to walk along the Pedway too.

But when I think about what is the most picturesque, I would say the centre of the Fort Garry campus with the quad and the buildings surrounding it. And I love the Administration Building – inside and out. I think it’s beautiful.

You really love it here.

I really do.

As much as when you first came here?

More.

Making the place she loves even more beautiful, Dr. Keselman gardens with children on Campus Beautification Day 2013

Kehler is one of one of the roughly 3,800 students enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Graduate Studies and UM Today sat down with him to learn more about how he came here and what cool things he does.

Master’s student: Scott Kehler
Studying in: Department of environment and geography in the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources
Advisor: John Hanesiak

UM Today: Where are you from?

Scott Kehler: I’m originally from Steinbach but I have been living in Winnipeg for about four years

Did you do your undergrad here too?

Yeah, an honours in physical geography.

Did you look at other schools when deciding on a masters?

Not really because my advisor was doing a field project called PECAN – which stand for Plains Elevated Convection at Night. It was a major US field study about nocturnal thunderstorms and that was something I really wanted to be part of.

What’s special about thunderstorms at night?

Actually thunderstorms are more common at night but we don’t know why. So we undertook this major to project to figure this out

Any answers?

So far there are a few theories, but nothing solid yet. People are just starting to analyze the data from the project so it will be a few years before we see some more definite conclusions.

It’s a big issue because, especially in the US, these storms can be very large and they contribute a huge amount to rainfall to agricultural areas. So we want to understand why these storms are happening at night because they are critical to the agriculture of the region. These storms can also be a significant hazard to lives and property. Nocturnal thunderstorms can produce large hail, damaging winds, and torrential rain.

What could we do with this information?

We can’t stop a storm but producers want to know the climatology of their region so they know what crops to grow. And because thunderstorms are more erratic than other phenomena, it’s important to know the characteristics and trends of them so they can be better predicted, helping to provide advance warning if a dangerous storm is heading for a particular location.

What is it you like about this field of study?

Part of the field that I really enjoy is just getting out there and observing storms. I especially like watching tornadoes. Although that’s not really my area of research at the moment but I do spend some time observing tornadoes and daytime storms.

Is there something cool about thunderstorms that maybe people don’t know?

I think one misconception about thunderstorms is the way they behave. People have a lot of misconceptions about if a tornado is coming, you should go to a certain corner of your basement. But thunderstorms can move in any direction and can change direction. But people seem to assume that thunderstorms follow a certain track.

There was a famous case in the US of where the storm changed directions. You may have heard of the tornado called El Reno. It killed a couple of storm chasers. That storm was famous for changing course mid tract. It was going towards the southeast and then suddenly turned and started heading towards the northeast. And when it made that change the storm chasers got caught off guard and some were killed in that incident.

Scott Kehler at a tornado near Alpena, South Dakota

Have you ever done storm chasing?

Yeah.

What’s that like?

It can be exciting but there is a lot of waiting. Waiting is a huge part of it. If we’re storm chasing we’re lucky if we only have to drive a couple of hours. That would be a good day. The furthest I’ve driven in one day is to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, which is about six and half hours from here. So I drove all the way out there because I was anticipating storms and we waited for a while and eventually one formed. We followed it, and then drove back again. So that day we spent about 14 or 16 hours driving. And of that whole 16-hour day we were maybe watching a storm for a few hours.

It’s mostly waiting and driving.

When it’s happening though, is it exciting? Or are you nervous about lighting?

Oh yeah it’s exciting but lightning is probably the second most dangerous aspect of storm chasing. The most dangerous aspect, no question, is the driving. But lightning is so unpredictable—you have no idea where it will strike. Tornadoes can be erratic but you have a general sense of where it’s going. Same with hail—you know what parts of the storm are producing hail and you can avoid it. But lighting can strike anywhere. You just never know where it’s going to happen.

Are your parents scientists?

No, my mom is a retired gym teacher and my dad is a manager at a trucking company.

Have you always been a curious fellow interested in climate and weather?

I’ve always been interested in science and I picked up the weather aspect probably about 10 years ago. Since that time that has been my main focus area. I just enjoy the challenge of it because forecasting weather is a really tough problem. You’re never going to be perfect, so there is always room to improve and learn more.

Do you even bother to pay attention to long-term forecasts?

I actually have some inside information on that. The first two days of Environment Canada’s forecast are produced by the people who work at Environment Canada, and the rest is produced by computer systems. So when I look at the forecasts, well, I mainly do my own forecasting to begin with, but if I look at theirs I really just pay attention to what they are saying for the next day or so because I know someone has examined it.

Frankly, I wouldn’t pay attention to the Weather Network’s 14-day forecast because at that range the computers accumulate so many errors in their calculations that it’s really not reliable.

You mentioned you were always into science, but 10 years ago you got interested in weather. Why? Did you get exposed to something that sparked your interest?

I became very interested in weather around the time of the Elie tornado in June 2007. The Elie tornado was the strongest tornado to ever occur in Canada, and the only F5 tornado in Canada to this day. Since that storm happened so close to home it got me thinking a lot more about weather. From that point on weather forecasting became my main hobby and led me to pursue an atmospheric science degree at the U of M in 2011.

Chilling in St. Maarten

What are your hobbies?

Storm chasing is a big hobby. I’m also involved a lot in politics.

What kind of involvement?

I manage provincial and federal election campaigns for the Liberals.

How did you get involved in that?

The reason I got involved in politics was because I was very unhappy with the direction the country was headed under the Harper Conservatives. I decided that the only way to help change the direction of our government was to get involved. The first election campaign I worked on was the 2008 Federal Election. I have worked on every Federal campaign since, including being a campaign manager for the Liberal Party in the 2015 Federal Election. It was very exciting to see Canadians elect a Liberal government last fall and it was rewarding to know that I had a part in that election.

What did you want to be as a kid?

When I was really young I wanted to be a heavy equipment operator—like driving excavators and big trucks. When I was a bit older, around age 10, I wanted to be an engineer.

If you were on Jeopardy, what would your anecdote be?

I have a lot of weather stories but none that stands out.

Want to tell me a weather story?

The one I talk about the most is a storm chase I did last summer in western Manitoba. A lot of people heard about the tornado that happened by Tilston at the end of July. It was a big story because it was a massive tornado that went through mainly open fields but it attracted storm chasers from all over Canada ad the US. So it was a big deal in our community.

It was the strongest thunderstorm I have ever seen. And I have seen thunderstorms all over Canada and the US. But that storm stood out as being the strongest I have ever witnessed, which was right here in Manitoba. And I think a lot of people overlook how strong our storms can be here. People assume these really strong storms only happen in, say, Oklahoma.

Have you seen the movie Twister?

I have and it annoys me in one sense because people may think it’s somewhat realistic, and it’s not.

If you’re lucky, you’ll see one tornado for every 10 storms you observe.

And these tornadoes aren’t just popping out of nowhere, they take time to develop. You’re generally waiting around for it to happen and develop.

Master’s student: Karlee Dyck
Studying in: Human nutritional sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
Advisor: Miyoung Suh

UM Today: Where are you from?

Karlee Dyck: I grew up just outside the city in a really small town called Landmark.

I know Landmark.

You do? That’s surprising. It is the heart of Canada though. It’s on our sign. We’re geographically—from east to west—the centre.

Where did you do your undergrad?

Here at the U of M. I’m a registered dietitian and I did my internship placement in Winnipeg as well. So I’ve hung around Manitoba for most of my life.

When you’re at a party, what do you tell people you research?

Well, I had to do this recently with the Three-Minute Thesis.

So what I tell them is that I work with pregnant women and that we’re looking at how nutrition can potentially reduce the risk of FASD.

We know that even though women know not to drink alcohol during pregnancy, it still happens. Women don’t know they’re pregnant, or perhaps there are substance use issues. But certain nutrients can potentially mitigate the affects of alcohol. At least that is what we have seen in animal models. So my research is to look at how much of these nutrients pregnant women are actually consuming.

How did you get into this line of research?

I was working at as a dietitian up in Thompson and a friend of mine was doing the initial stages of this project as her master’s. We connected, and there was an opening for another master’s student so I came back down to do this project.

Are your parents scientists or foodies? How did nutritional sciences become your scholarly passion?

My dad is in the auto body industry and my mom is the secretary at the high school where I grew up.

So, my interest in nutrition came up when I was trying to choose a faculty after U1. I was really interested in digestion during my anatomy class, and that’s how this whole thing began. Kind of random.

Has your advisor given you any good advice?

She has been very helpful. When I go to her and ask if should apply for something or try something new she always tells me, “Yeah, why not!?.” So she’s very good at helping me not to limit myself and to try different possibilities.

Karlee Dyck

Whose idea was it to do 3MT?

It was mine. A student from our lab had entered last year and I just thought it was the coolest thing. So I’ve been thinking about the 3MT for about a year.

What was it about 3MT that you liked so much?

First off, it’s great to present what you’ve worked on for a couple of years and to have people want to listen. That’s kind of nice.

And I just like the challenge of it, and I thought… I don’t know… it just seemed like the right fit.

Well it was a good fit because you won our competition. How did that feel?

Oh it was crazy. It was really exhilarating. At the finals I really thought that the competition was so high and I had no idea what would happen. So I was pretty surprised when my name was called.

What do you do now to prep for regionals?

I gave myself a bit of a break because I found I was dreaming about my speech.

Now I have a month till regionals so I’m going to pick it up again. Tweak the script a bit and practice in front of other people to get different feedback.

Were you always into public speaking?

Just informally. I’m a musician though so I’ve done performances in that aspect.

I think that really helps in terms of preparing myself for 3MT.

What type of music?

I play classical piano. I still take lessons on the side—I have one more exam until I complete my ARCT [The Associate of The Royal Conservatory diploma].

What’s your favourite classical song?

That’s really hard.

How about composer?

[Claude] Debussy. Definitely Debussy.

Were you ever in a band?

In a high school band I used to play flute.

Really!? What else do you play?

I bought a mandolin but I never ended up learning how to play it. Do you want to buy a mandolin?

Nah, I’m good. What did you want to be as a kid?

I went through phases. I thought I was going to be a pop star for a while: I choreographed dances with my best friend and everything. Then I wanted to be an interior designer, but realized I’d have to deign what others liked and not necessarily what I liked.

I think secretly I’ve always wanted to be dancer but I’m still working on that one.

Did you ever take dance lessons?

Only as an adult.

That was not the answer I was expecting.

I did the UMSwing group on campus. I didn’t dance as a kid but dancing is my adult dream.

There were a couple of years where I was really hard-core into swing dancing.

Do you cook?

I felt like I had to learn to cook because I was going to be a dietician.

My poor brother, we were living together for a while during university and he had to go through my experimental phase when I was trying out recipes on him. I’m now a much better cook and he actually wants to come over for dinner.

Do you hate any food?

I’ll eat anything, or at least I’ll try it.

Were you a good eater as a kid. You ate your veggies?

Oh no. I was super picky. Food couldn’t touch other food. Stuff like that.

Do you have any hobbies?

Besides piano and dancing, cross-country skiing. I’m on a volleyball team too. Travelling, when I get the chance.

Where have you gone?

I had this really great experience a number of years ago. I went WWOFING. Have you ever heard of it? It’s worldwide workers on organic farms. You can do it anywhere in the world and I went to the UK for the summer. You basically get room and board for working on farms.

And then I was involved in research in Brazil. We were looking at nutrition in Indigenous populations there.

The joy of WWOFING

If you were going to give dietary advice to anyone, what’s your go-to tidbit?

Eat foods that make you feel good, and in moderation. And move your body in ways that feel good. Food means more than just eating nutrients or ‘super foods’.

If you were on Jeopardy, what would your anecdote be when talking to Alex Trebek?

It’s embarrassing. It has to do with my days of thinking I’d be a pop star. When I was about 10 or 11 me and a couple of friends entered a local talent show and we lip-synched to Britney Spears. We actually won! To this day we have the trophy and me and my best friend try to sneak it into each other’s homes so the other person has to keep it and display it. It’s been a back and forth thing for the past 15 years. I have it right now. She got me good. She snuck it into a trunk that I bought off of her.

Oh, Trojan horse style.

Exactly! And now I don’t know how I’m going to give it back yet.

Balhara is one of the roughly 3,800 students are enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Graduate Studies. UM Today wanted to know more about why she left India for Canada to do groundbreaking work on asthma at the U of M.

PhD candidate: Jyoti Balhara
Studying in: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Health Sciences
Advisor: Professor Abdelilah Soussi Gounni

UM Today: Where are you from?

Jyoti Balhara: I was born in Northern India, in Haryana province, which is close to Delhi. But Delhi has expanded so much you could even say I am from Delhi.

When did you come to U of M?

One of Balhara’s hobbies is embroidery. She also hosts a radio show.

I moved to Winnipeg in 2009 and I haven’t been to any other city. I came here to pursue my master’s degree.

Back home I did my bachelor’s in biotechnology. It was a new discipline in India and I think mine was the second batch in our university to take it.

Then I did a master’s in biomedical sciences from Delhi University. After I finished my master’s, I was carefully looking at labs that were pursuing research in asthma throughout the world, and then I was introduced to Dr. Gounni’s lab by a senior of mine. I applied and got admission and now I’m here.

Why asthma research? And how did you end up choosing the U of M?

There’s a story why I wanted to work on asthma.

My mother suffered from asthma for a very long time. You could say since I was born. So the time I spent with her I have seen the pain that she was going through—nights when she would stop making that snoring sound, the sound that said she was struggling to breathe, I’d wake up to see if she was alive. It really scared me. And that made me realize that asthma is a disease like any other chronic disease: it not only affects the patient, it affects the whole family. It’s chronic. It’s there forever.

And I saw that my mother was basically resistant to every drug that was given to her, which is common with asthmatics—they tend to become resistant to medications.

So that encouraged me to think about pursuing a career where I could find new ways to either treat or diagnose asthma. Or if I’m not able to do that, then at least I should be able to help someone who is doing that.

So when I finished my master’s in India I was looking for labs doing research in asthma—the kind of research I could understand. I didn’t want to go to one that was doing high-fi work. I wanted something practical, something I could relate to my mother or someone else I witnessed.

So when I was told about Abdel’s lab I read some of his papers and I was like, “Yes! I know what they are doing and I do have skill sets to do the kind of research they are doing. Let’s try it.”

And the best thing about Canada is that you are a free person here. No one is asking you to stop doing something that you were already doing in your country. So that freedom was an important factor for me while I was choosing what country to go to.

Freedom as a researcher?

Freedom as a researcher. Freedom as a person. I can practice my language, I can wear my clothes, I can practice my faith. It’s a very liberal country. The multiculturalism was absolutely a selling point. And, additionally, Canada has showcased exceptional performance in science and technology, especially in life sciences. So altogether it was the best choice for me and my family.

In a nutshell, what is your research?

Currently, I’m looking at an immune system molecule and how it is involved in the development of asthma, and whether or not it can be exploited as therapeutic or a diagnostic tool.

The molecule I’m working on is interesting because before we started working with it in asthma, it was shown that this molecule was involved in fertility in females. So this molecule was actually helping to make a mesh in ovaries where a fertilized egg can come, sit and grow.

What’s the molecule doing in asthma?

What we extrapolated from ovaries, is the kind of bedding it is making inside of ovaries, probably it is making the same kind of bedding in the lungs and other tissues as well and that is how it is stabilizing the structure of tissues.

In asthma, this molecule is increased in humans. Based on our mouse studies we have identified that if this molecule is absent, allergic inflammation—the one seen in asthmatics—is significantly increased.

Is it doing that in healthy people too, just in more moderate ways?

It is everywhere in your body. And it is always doing this good thing. It’s giving structure to things. In the lungs, it is probably doing the same thing but in addition to this function, this molecule is also regulating the immune system. And that is amazing. I mean, something was discovered in ovaries and now we are exploring what it can do in other parts of the body. That is amazing.

Your excitement about this isn’t going to come across in text. You get really excited about this, don’t you?

I do. My research challenges me. It surprises me every time I analyze my data. Because how I look at my data is, let’s say I am told that I should look at one cell type. Well, I’m curious. I have the devil’s mind, so I’m going to look at it, but since I’m already sacrificing my mouse, I feel that I should also look at other cells or tissues. And when I do so, I find interesting, sometimes unexpected things. If I’m able to connect the expected results and that unexpected results, that is the best-case scenario.

Hunting the unexpected.

You definitely seem driven by the scientific hunt for discovery, but is your mother part of your motivations still to this day?

She motivates me but not in terms of science. She is an inspiration for me because what I am doing right now, I was motivated to do that after I saw her. To help her. But this is not from her alone. I think what I read recently is that every tenth person is asthmatic, or something like that. It’s not just my mother—it could be anyone. It’s not just my story. And I think most people in the life sciences are motivated by stories like this.

What did you want to be as a child?

I wanted to be either a lawyer—I’m a chatterbox—or a journalist: I’m a shameless creature, I’m not afraid or shy to approach people and ask questions and I was always like that. That’s what I wanted to be but as I grew up I took biology in Grade 11 and 12 and biotechnology was a new field and I thought, ‘Wow, I have an option that is different from medicine!’ So that’s how I got into it.

My father is a lawyer. So he’s a chatterbox like me.

My mom is a housewife but she was an entrepreneur for some time.

And you have a little boy, right?

Yes, I have a three year old. He’s a little monster. He’s so full of energy.

The Balhara family

How is it being a PhD candidate and a mother of a young child? How do you balance that?

I think that is what a PhD teaches us. When we are in graduate school, especially in the PhD program, we are pushed to do multitasking. And that was an additional task so I was okay with it. It was hard. But I think I managed. My husband helps me a lot.

On the other hand, my son is the best kid I have ever seen. He’s three. He’s like an atom bomb, but trust me, I have never had a sleepless night with him—he is a good sleeper.

I’m not a good sleeper. I’m a very light sleeper. Even a pin dropping—I’m the first one to wake up.

That was the thing: when I was little kid back home in India, when my grandparents got sick they would come and stay at our home while they took treatment at the hospital. And I was the one who’d sleep with my grandparents because every time they coughed or needed something, I was the first one to wake up because I was such a light sleeper. So it was my job to take care of them.

Balhara doing her radio show for hindi-speaking science lovers

Do you have any hobbies?

I wish I could have some extra time for hobbies. I used to do a lot before my son was born, but I still sometimes nowadays do craft work. I used to do lots of at embrodery, and embroidery. I make greeting cards for events we have in the department too. And I do some painting. I’m not a good fine artist though. I once I wanted to paint a buffalo and I ended up making a pig. So I’m not a good fine artist.

In my free time I volunteer too. I am an asthma ambassador and I spread awareness about asthma, factors affecting it and ways to manage it—in a very informal manner. I also volunteer to organize Ramp Up weekend, an initiative by StartUp Winnipeg. The aim of this event, which takes place twice a year, is to promote startup culture in our town.

Nowadays, I also host a radio show once a week where I basically try to connect hindi-speaking listeners with our city. Science, innovation and technology are my main focus because that’s where I come from.

Master’s student: Bailey Rankine
Studied in: Biological Sciences
Advisor: Professor Gary Anderson, associate head of biological sciences

UM Today: Where are you from?

Bailey Rankine: I was born and raised in Winnipeg. I finished high school here and then I went to Red River College to get a two-year diploma in chemical and bioscience technology. Then I went over to Vancouver Island and did my undergrad in biology and earth science.

How did you come to be at the U of M?

I was living in Florida doing sea turtle work in the summer, and in the winter I was working on a mangrove project. And I was emailing researchers at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) because it’s just an amazing facility and they are doing great work. And I thought, well, wouldn’t it be great to work there – it’s close to Winnipeg too.

One researcher, Vince Palace, got back to me. He needed a gradate student and he had a project ready to go at ELA.

So Vince Palace became your supervisor?

He started out as my supervisor. He’s an adjunct prof here; he teaches ecotoxicology courses.

He was working for the federal government originally – at the Freshwater Institute. And I basically got to ELA and signed a contract, and about two weeks later the Harper government announced they were shutting ELA down, they also closed the division working on contaminants and pesticides. So my supervisor was essentially laid off. He was still kind of available to me but I had to find a new supervisor, and now I have Dr. Gary Anderson, who is just great.

Collecting zooplankton samples at ELA

So are you done your master’s now?

Yes, I defended at the end of November.

When you’re at a party and someone asks about what you did your Master’s in, what do you tell them?

I say aquatic contaminants research.

What are you doing now at the U of M?

I’m working for Plant Science now.

How did you end up there?

I went in to interview Dr. Martin Entz when I was the science editor for the Manitoban. At the end of the interview he was like, ‘Well, do you need a job?’

I was like, ‘Sure! This turned around great.’ And I have been working with them since.

I’m overseeing their organic oats-breading project for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

During the field season it’s a lot of maintaining the plots and looking for certain characteristics in the varieties. Now it’s more taking the weights, running different tests. I also help out on a lot of other projects as needed – for other grad students or researchers.

Are you falling in love with plants now or do you miss sea turtles?

I miss the turtles. Especially in the winter.

Would you go back to that or are you getting passionate about oats?

I wouldn’t say I’m passionate about oats but it is interesting because my graduate research was on agricultural contaminants, so actually working in agriculture and seeing the other side of it – even though I’m working in organics – I’m learning a lot about agricultural practices, more than I did just from doing research – literature reviews and stuff. You learn a lot more from the people who are actually working in it. It’s pretty eye opening and I enjoy that. But I definitely want to go back to conservation. Whether or not it’s marine or freshwater, I don’t know, but I definitely want to get back into aquatics.

You did a lot of experiential learning when you were a student. Tell me about that. Where did you go? What did you do?

Rankine and colleagues cook hot dogs over a lava flow in Hawaii while doing field work. // Submitted photo

I started out during my undergrad. The first place I went was Belize for a tropical field school. It was five weeks. We spent a week on the coast doing snorkeling, doing surveys. But we spent the majority of our time in jungles doing terrestrial surveys. We did a couple of homestays with families and that’s kind of what opened my eyes to the whole studying abroad experience, getting credits outside the classroom. I was totally hooked. Every opportunity I got, I’d take. Another one I did was in Hawaii – my minor was in earth science so that one focused on volcanoes. But of course I molded my research towards biology so I investigated vegetation succession after a devastating lava flow. That was fun.

I also participated in a two-week summer course at Bamfield Marine Science Centre – a remote facility on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Their programs promote independent research and are intense and hands-on.

The field research at ELA was great too. And during my Master’s I took a leave of absence for six months and went to Western Australia to work on a sea turtle project there.

I’m doing some recruiting here on campus for International Student Volunteers. They are sending a conservation project to Costa Rica. I’m working with them to get that going – doing some recruiting and helping out with fundraising for participants. I’m really encouraging students to take part in it.

What do you say to students to get them to do experiential learning?

Oh, you think it’s so cliché because you hear it over and over again but it’s totally life changing. When I first went to field school in Belize I remember being so terrified. I was sick to my stomach about leaving home and travelling on my own and stuff like that. It was scary, but by the end of two months I was like, ‘I’m not coming home. I’m good.’

So I just encourage students to push themselves outside of that comfort zone. It’s such a rewarding experience.

What did you want to be as a kid?

I don’t want to say. I’m so embarrassed by it.

I’m a huge Dallas Cowboys fan and when I was a kid I wanted to be one of their cheerleaders. And I remember a time in Grade 1 when the teacher asked what I wanted to be, I remember saying ‘Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader.’ Every one else was like, marine biologist or veterinarian.

It’s funny how those things kind of reversed and I’m closer to being a marine biologist.

Rankine did an anemone survey at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre – a remote facility on the West Coast of Vancouver Island – in 2010.

Are you still a Cowboys fan?

Oh yeah.

Were you ever a cheerleader?

In junior high.

Was it what you thought it would be?

It was a lot of fun but it was competitive cheerleading. It wasn’t as glamorous as the Dallas Cowboys squad.

How did you get into conservation?

It wasn’t until I was at Vancouver Island University and I started going to information sessions. At Red River I was very chemistry focused. It was what I was good at, and so I did it. But I realized I didn’t want to work in a lab every day. So I knew I should pursue some other education.

I was thinking aquaculture at one point but then I saw information on the Belize field school and that triggered me following this path.

Rankine holds a sea turtle hatchling from a project she was working on in Florida in 2011

Is the sea turtle your favourite animal?

The sea turtle and the nautilus.

Least favourite animal?

I don’t have one.

Do you fear any animal?

No. Well, if something sneaks up on me I’ll be startled but I’m not scared of any animal. In Australia I actually did a venomous snake-handling course. So I got to work with a lot of scary snakes.

If you were on Jeopardy, what would your anecdote be when they introduce the contestants?

I think it would have to be about sea turtles because that seems to be what draws everyone.

Tell me a sea turtle story.

In Australia, with the Gnaraloo Turtle Conservation Program, me and a fellow researcher would split up on this super isolated beach and walk in different directions to do our morning surveys. It’s a seven-kilometer long beach and at one point he radios me and says he found a stranded turtle who must have been on the beach for hours. The sun was getting hotter, and you know, these turtles can bake in the sun if they can’t get back to the water. We needed to help it.

But these turtles are like 500 pounds and she’s in between two giant dunes. So somehow we have to get her over this dune, which was running like 100 meters. And we’re thinking, how are we going to do this? This is going to be exhausting.

And I have this blanket from Mexico that I bring with me everywhere I go. I always have it with me. So we’re like, okay, let’s get her on this blanket and heave her up over the dunes.

It was such a crazy ordeal but eventually we got her back into the water.

How did you get the turtle onto the blanket?

We laid it in front of her and tapped the back of her shell, which made her go forward a bit, and then right away we’d haul her. We could go maybe 10 meters and then we’d have to take a break because she was so heavy. I don’t know how many times we did that. Like, 40. It was so exhausting. We named her Muriel.

That was quite an experience.

How did the blanket fair in the process?

She shredded it. She absolutely shredded it. But it was worth it. I still have it though. I had to keep it.

Do you listen to music in the lab?

I listen to podcasts. I listen to Stuff You Should Know all the time. I love it. I’ve probably listened to every podcast. Sometime I re-listen to them over and over again.

Favourite place you’ve travelled?

Indonesia.

Any hobbies?

I’m so busy I honesty consider learning one of my hobbies. I also really like fishing – walleye and bass fishing. Bass is one of my favourite, they just fight like crazy. Anything outdoors I like, but it’s more summer orientated. In the winter I’m really boring. I just read.

Favourite book?

Gone With the Wind