Tell us about yourself

I’ve been with my wife Kendra for 23 years, and I have two sons, Asher and Jude, who are 16 and 13 respectively, and our dog Ollie who turns two tomorrow. I am a mass spectrometry method validation specialist. I got my BSc (Biochemistry) from the University of Winnipeg in 2013, and PhD (Chemistry) from the University of Manitoba in 2019. In my post-doc, I developed analytical methods for federal compliance under the Cannabis Act (2018), after which time I worked with Environment and Climate Change Canada studying the impact of different retention structures on nutrient loading into the Red River Basin. During the pandemic, I made several courses for the Department of Environment and Geography, after which I was solicited to create the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences’ Manitoba Analytical Solutions (MASS) Lab in the Richardson Centre for Food Technology and Research. Now I have made numerous additional methods for several faculties, in addition to Health Canada.

Why did you get into this area of study?

I used to want to be an orthopedic surgeon, then a cancer researcher in my early 20s. Then during my undergrad, I took ecotoxicology with the Canada Research Chair Dr. Charles Wong at the University of Winnipeg. That completely opened my eyes to how humans and other organisms are exposed to environmental contaminants, whether water, food, air, or soil. The entire field of epigenetics fascinates me – how toxicants can alter gene expression in addition to their baseline toxicity. This led me to become an analytical chemist who specialized in water, whether surface water, wastewater, groundwater, or drinking water. Water security is critical to not only the health of the environment and agriculture but also vulnerable peoples such as our Indigenous communities. From that point on I have expanded to many different matrices.

One of the most nuanced aspects of environmental chemistry is contaminant fate, sorption, and transport via solids, soils, and sediments. Just because something is not found in the water doesn’t mean it is not in the environment. Conversely, just because something is found in the environment doesn’t necessarily mean it is a threat to aquatic biota. It is all about your perspective, values, and understanding of risk calculations.

What are you seeking to explore with your research?

The main objectives are ultraviolet filters (e.g. sunscreens), pesticides and their transformation products, and perfluorinated compounds in the environment. There is essentially no freshwater data on UV filters in Canada including environmental fate and toxicity, so we don’t know how dangerous they are and they are used everywhere at high levels. Also, we will be quantifying pesticide transformation into different environmental forms to get a better picture of the true inventory that can impact human and biotic health. The biobed at the Ian N. Morrison Farm will degrade pesticides during remediation, so determining the extent will also be critical to estimating environmental loads. Lastly, I will build upon my perfluorinated compound research experience and explore leaching into Canadian soils via buried textiles.

Will you be teaching?

I currently teach Introduction to Environment and Health, and Advanced Issues in Environment and Health. I will be looking to teach the Soil Science pesticides course this winter; and I would love to develop a senior level/ graduate applied mass spectrometry interdisciplinary course relating to agriculture, engineering, food, and environment.

I fundamentally believe teaching is the cornerstone of higher education, not it being a business. The most effective teacher is knowledgeable, translatable, and approachable. This means you have to know what you’re talking about, translate it in different ways to different students, and create a culture of safety where students feel comfortable to talking to you. Shout out to CATL for helping train faculty to achieve this!

Any interesting stories you’d like to share about your field of study?

The hallmark feature of me as a professor is how I got here. After stopping halfway through my BSc at UW in 2000, I became a carpenter and then fuel trucker for Petro Canada for 13 years. Along the way I got married, bought a house, and had two sons. I went to grad school when they were one and four years old, so I sort of did everything backwards. I am a fan of growing good people, not just cranking out publications – focusing on execution, not results.

Second, as I stay rooted in Manitoba I realize that there is a significant knowledge gap in my field of applied mass spectrometry. It is much more common in more biotech centered areas such as California, the Eastern seaboard, and the GTA, but Manitoba has the opportunity to become a great hub for forensic mass spectrometry and environmental contaminant analytical chemistry. This is especially true when committing to the principles of Anishinaabe Nibi Inaakonigewin (water law) and reconciliation with our Indigenous communities.

What you like to do in your spare time?

I am a restless soul who never stops. I love to coach Kids of Mud mountain biking with Woodcock Cycle for the past seven years. I have coached hockey in St. Boniface for years, I volunteer with several scientific societies and their conferences, and I serve my political party at provincial and federal levels. I travel around North America mountain biking, and I serve on local trails organizations to grow our infrastructure and community in Manitoba when I am not fixing or custom-building bikes for others. I have also rekindled my love for the gym in the past five years. I go three to four days per week. Whether it was trucking or now in the office or lab, this life will break you if you don’t fight back.

Professor Nicole J. Wilson secured a SSHRC Connections Grant to support a project titled, “Water and climate justice: Advancing intersectional approaches.” The project will engage leading water scholars and practitioners to consider how a combined water and climate justice lens adds nuance to understandings of the linked water and climate crises, as they help us understand the unequal impacts of these linked injustices along the lines of gender, race and ethnicity, disability, Indigeneity and more.

Nicole J. Wilson, Canada Research Chair in Arctic Environmental Change and Governance, Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources and Co-Chair of the UM United Nations Academic Impact Hub for SDG6 on Clean Water and Sanitation.

The partners for this project include the UM Centre for Human Rights Research, UM Centre for Earth Observation Science, Decolonizing Water, the UBC Program on Water Governance, the Household Water Insecurity Experiences – Research Coordination Network (HWISE) and the Centre

Public Event

As part of this project, the University of Manitoba will host a public event at the Canadian Human Rights Museum on the topic will be on May 28^th, 2024. Everyone is welcome!

Find additional information about this event from the Centre for Human Rights Research Events Calendar, or the Riddell Faculty’s Events Calendar.

Program

Territorial Welcome: Elder Charlotte Nolin (Elder in Residence, Ongomiizwin, University of Manitoba)

Panelists: Elder Sherry Copenance (Ojibways of Onigaming, University of Manitoba), Aimée Craft (University of Ottawa), Colleen James (Carcross/Tagish First Nation), Deborah McGregor (York University), Teresa Montoya (The University of Chicago), Megan Mills-Novoa (University of California, Berkeley), and Sameer H. Shah (University of Washington).

Chair: Nicole J. Wilson (University of Manitoba)

Location: Canadian Human Rights Museum, 85 Israel Asper Way, Winnipeg, MB R3C 0L5

Time: 6:30pm to 8pm Central Time. Doors at 6pm. Space is limited so please come early.

Accessibility: ASL interpretation will be available at this event.

This is the theme of UN Water’s 2021 World Water Day activities—a day that celebrates water and raises awareness of the global water crisis on March 22. It draws our focus to the value of water and what it means to people in terms of its true value and how we can better protect this vital resource.

The day is intended to support the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: clean water and sanitation for all by 2030. Spoiler alert: we need to ACCELERATE!

The UM was named host by UN Academic Impact (UNAI) for SDG 6—the only university in North America named an SDG Hub Host—in recognition of its ongoing research and initiatives that contribute to advancement of the goal of clean water and sanitation for all.

The UM UNAI SDG 6 Hub Working Group was set up to bring together researchers and graduate students undertaking research in the areas of SDG 6, to foster knowledge sharing and collaboration.

In the lead up to World Water Day, UM Today asked some of the Working Group members: What does water mean to you? Here are their answers:

Dr. Myrle Ballard

“Water is a core need, good for the soul.”

—Dr. Myrle Ballard, Indigenous Scholar, Assistant Professor, Chemistry, Faculty of Science

Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst

“When I think about water, I think about H2O and an angle of 104.5 degrees,” said Dr. Annemieke Farenhorst, Professor, Soil Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences; Co-Chair, UM UNAI SDG 6 Hub Working Group. “I wonder about how much water there can be on Mars, and whether humanity is willing to solve the Earth’s problems before setting foot on Mars. Billions of people on Earth do not have access to safe drinking water. It is hard to comprehend billions of people; particularly when living in the Canadian Prairies with all that open space. Just consider, one out of every three people you know, does not have access to safe drinking water. In the province of Manitoba, this person is most likely to be living in a First Nations community. There are estimates that at least one in every four people living in a First Nations community in Canada, lack the human right to clean, running drinking water. I often wonder where is the humanity in addressing this issue which has gone on for way too long.”

Dr. Adele Perry

“Water is history. The relationship between people and water is one that is made over time, and made in ways that tell us a great deal about relations between people and the world they inhabit.”

—Dr. Adele Perry, Distinguished Professor of History and Women’s and Gender Studies, and Director of the Centre for Human Rights Research at UM.

Soomin Han is the SDG SDSN Youth Coordinator at UM and says that to her, “Water, as a foundation of life, brings together people, communities, the environment, and connects all these things with each other. The UN SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation plays a critical role in encouraging the efforts to ensure that everyone has access to safe and affordable drinking water and that we are protecting and restoring water ecosystems.”

The goal of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG) is to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. UM was named host by UN Academic Impact (UNAI) for SDG 6—the only university in North America named an SDG Hub Host—in recognition of its ongoing research and initiatives that contribute to advancement of the goal of clean water and sanitation for all.

The UM UNAI SDG 6 Hub Working Group is made up of researchers (faculty and graduate students) undertaking research in the areas of SDG 6.

Marcos Cordeiro is a member of the Working Group and an assistant professor in the Department of Animal Science in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences. UM Today caught up with him recently to learn a bit more about him and how his research advances the SDG 6 goals for clean water and sanitation.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your current research.

​I am a two-time graduate (MSc, PhD) of the UM and former international student. I completed my PhD in Biosystems Engineering. I returned to UM in 2019, after completing my post-doctoral research at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). My research focuses on modelling of agroecosystems at varying spatial scales. I am working on further developing sustainable food systems modelling, which involves both crop and animal production. I conduct agro-environmental modeling, statistical analysis of large datasets, spatial analyses using GIS and remote sensing.

How does your research align with the UN’s SDG 6 goals for clean water and sanitation?

Water is a key aspect related to the sustainability of agroecosystems, not only from a production perspective but also from a nutrient dynamics’ standpoint. One of the objectives of my research is to improve nutrient dynamics (water quality) and water-use efficiency in crop and animal agriculture, which relate to SDG targets 6.3 and 6.4, to improve water quality and increase water-use efficiency, respectively. My research also focuses on increasing the sustainability of grassland ecosystems and associated wetlands, which relates to SDG target 6.6, to protect and restore water-related ecosystems.

What impact do you hope your research will have in the long-term?

I hope my research will promote management practices that reduce water use and nutrient export in agriculture. Recent findings from our research in collaboration with AAFC shows that the beef industry uses 17% less water for each kg of beef than 30 years ago. This is encouraging. We hope to find new ways to keep increasing this efficiency across other agricultural sectors in the years to come.

What is something that people would find surprising about you?

Although I work with digital tools all the time, I was brought up in the tail end of the analog era. So, I’m fond of analog gear. That said, I also think it’s important to remember where all this technology came from. Now that we have Alexa to turn on the lights, let’s not forget Thomas Edison in the first place.

For the 2020 field season, CEOS research associate and drone technician Madison Harasyn and I are sampling two distinct stormwater retention ponds at the University of Manitoba SmartPark once a week. Sampling began in June and is planned to continue until the end of September; this is an overview of our field work day on the fifth of August.

To start off the day, we load up our truck at the Sea Ice Research Facility (SERF) with the boat in tow and all of our equipment: the drone and its cameras, an Idronaut CTD probe, an ASD handheld spectroradiometer, a Secchi disc, and a cooler for storing water samples. Both of the ponds are close by, so we are lucky enough to be able to use SERF as a convenient base of operations.

CEOS Research Associate Madison Harasyn with a truck full of supplies for sampling stormwater systems

Sampling begins at the west pond, which is a naturalized stormwater retention pond surrounded by emergent vegetation such as cattails. We have spotted many red-winged blackbirds, ducks and ducklings, and a few migrating American white pelicans here over the summer. Upon our arrival we make a few observations and jot them down in our field notes, these include: the percentage of cloud cover in the sky, the estimated wind speed as per the Beaufort wind scale, the wind’s direction, and the growth of vegetation in and around the pond.

Stormwater retention pond

Before taking the boat on the pond, Madison flies the drone, a DJI M210 RTK model, over the pond in two flight paths. One of these flights is an L-shaped transect across the pond from shore to shore at an altitude of 25 feet. The other flight is higher, at around 175 feet, depending on the wind speed that day. Using images captured from the second flight we can later stitch together an image of the entire pond, which is then called an orthomosaic.

DJI M210 RTK model drone

The camera attached to the bottom of the drone during these flights is the MicaSense Altum, which is a multi-spectral camera, meaning it has multiple lenses with different filters that each take a picture simultaneously. These images can be used to see how much blue, green, and red light was captured by the drone at one spot, while near-infrared and longwave infrared imagery are also captured. Before and after each flight we hold the drone over a barium-sulfate reflectance panel and take a picture. We can use these panel images during processing to measure the solar irradiance on the ground and calibrate the flight images accordingly.

After flying the drone, we push the boat into the pond with all of our water sampling equipment in it. Using a GPS, we navigate to a consistent spot on the pond and set up. Here, the ASD handheld spectroradiometer is used to measure the reflectance of the water. This process also involves using a reflectance panel for calibration much like the one for the drone camera. The ASD is a hyperspectral sensor, meaning it takes very high resolution measurements that tell us how much light is being reflected back from the water at many different wavelengths. The range of wavelengths it measures includes those of the various filters of the Altum camera attached to the drone. Using the ASD, we can essentially get a “close-up” of the water that we can compare to the images from the drone.

ASD handheld spectroradiometer

After using the ASD, we take a water sample with a bottle, rinsing and shaking it three times with surface water before taking the final sample from slightly below the surface. From the sample bottle, we take a subsample for algal community analysis into a smaller vial that contains Lugol’s preservative. One of these vials is pictured below, the dark colour of its contents is due to the preservative.

Sample from stormwater retention pond

We also take a profile of the water using the Idronaut CTD probe, where CTD stands for conductivity, temperature, and depth. A Secchi disc, 30 cm wide and painted black and white, is lowered into the water and used to visually indicate water clarity; this is measured by the depth at which the white portion can no longer be seen. A simple thermometer is used to measure temperature in the air and on the water’s surface.

After we finish our field work at the west pond, we head back to SERF for lunch before heading back out to the east pond. While our sampling routine at the east pond is the same, the pond itself is quite different. It is about a meter shallower and generally more turbid than the west pond, and is classified as a conventional stormwater retention pond as opposed to a naturalized one.

Stormwater retention SmartPond

The east pond is surrounded by rocks and does not have the same tall grasses and cattails surrounding it. Vegetation has slowly covered the rocks over the past few weeks, but in June the shore was still relatively bare. While the majority of them are geese, birds frequent this pond as well. We have spotted pelicans stopping to rest here too, and what I believe to be a double-crested cormorant, although I am not an ornithologist!

The east pond has an algae advisory sign, pictured below, that the west pond does not. Toxic blue-green algae blooms are notorious for washing up on the shores of Lake Winnipeg and have been spotted here as well. One of the goals of our research is to contribute to the advancement of water quality monitoring techniques that allow for the early detection of events such as harmful algae blooms.

Toxic blue-green algae advisory sign at the retention pond

After we finish sampling for the day, I take our water samples back to our lab at CEOS, where the bottles are refrigerated overnight. I filter them the following day, giving the filter papers 24 hours to dry in a desiccator before freezing them for future analysis of parameters such as chlorophyll-a, total suspended solids, suspended phosphorus, and various others. The results from these analyses will tell us about the optical properties of the water and its levels of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen. This knowledge can help us understand our ASD measurements and drone imagery, as well as provide insights for beneficial management practices of the retention ponds.

This story was originally published on the Lake Winnipeg Basin Initiative website:

https://lwbin.cc.umanitoba.ca/a-day-in-the-field-sampling-the-smartpark-retention-ponds/

The collaboration between CEOS and MMF expands on the Manitoba Métis Community-Based Water Monitoring Program and creates a Water-Weather Keeper Program to facilitate the sharing of water-, weather- and climate-related information.

“This project will allow CEOS to grow our partnership with the MMF as we collaboratively develop and implement a water-weather keeper pilot program, designed to facilitate the creation and sharing of water quality information in locations prioritized by local Indigenous people,” says Claire Herbert, field program manager for the Manitoba Great Lakes Project at CEOS.

MMF members will be trained in water sampling methods and provided with analytical support and training by CEOS. A summer student will also be hired through the university’s Indigenous training initiative to assist with the project.

A parallel initiative builds on the MMF’s community-based monitoring program, which started in 2018 to increase the number of Manitoba Métis citizen scientists involved in measuring phosphorus concentrations.

The Water-Weather Keeper Program aims to gather and update traditional and measurable knowledge on the health and nutrient loading to Lake Winnipeg. The project will foster a new partnership between MMF and CEOS, and increase the capacity for community-based water quality research and monitoring while employing and educating Manitoba Métis citizens.

Funding for the projects comes from the federal government’s $25.7-million investment in the Lake Winnipeg Basin Program, which is part of a $70.5-million investment in freshwater protection.

“Water is a shared responsibility between federal, provincial, municipal and Indigenous governments,”  Parliamentary Secretary Terry Duguid says.

“Collaboration is the key to restoring and protecting Lake Winnipeg’s water quality and preserving the ecological health of this vital resource.”

LAKE WINNIPEG BASIN PROGRAM FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENT

More than 150 middle-and-high school learners met with climate researchers on March 5 for Arctic Science Day. Students learned how new knowledge is developed from working in Arctic conditions, and how the learning process can be a lot like playing video games.

Arctic Science Day is a partnership between FortWhyte Alive and the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Manitoba. It connects students from grades 6-12 with climate scientists involved in various forms of environmental research, from physics to chemistry to playing with video game joysticks.

But first, the kids had to learn the basics.

Over 100 grade 6-8 students from three schools learned about the challenges of oil spill clean-up in the Arctic. After PhD candidates introduced students to the interactions between freshwater and saltwater in the Arctic Ocean, students got engaged in an oil-spill response workshop.

Next, Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr. Michelle McCrystall initiated the youth with climate models with a computer simulation. “Climate modelling is the process which aims to allow us to further understand important interactions in the climate system and to project these in to the future to predict potential changes in Earth’s climate,” she says.

“The predictions are based on a number of factors such as future energy sources, population size, projected socio-economic growth and land use change of varying degrees to give a range of possible future climate scenarios,” Dr. McCrystall adds.

More than 60 high school students from 15 schools spent the day visiting research stations on FortWhyte’s Lake Cargill, learning about sunlight reflection and absorption through sea ice, remote sensing of ice thickness, and how to take ice core samples.

Students also learned how to age a narwhal by counting the growth lines on its tusk, and about technology used in marine mammal research. Other topics included impacts of ocean acidification and contaminants like methylmercury.

Research Associate Maddie Harasyn showed how drone piloting is part of collecting climate data through remote sensing. Harasyn operates a drone like a real-life video game to collect land surface data.

“The students were really interested in the technology, and how cool and exciting drones are. And then they were even more excited to learn about how scientists apply the data to mapping vegetation or finding caribou in the forest,” Harasyn says.

Maddie Harasyn showing the sensors on a drone used in Arctic research

It’s not only drone pilots like Harasyn who get to operate joysticks for science. High-scoring gamers couldn’t help but hear PhD candidate Lisa Matthes compare the underwater navigation methods of her research to playing a video game.

“When we visit the North for field measurements, we no longer only drill small ice holes for single measurements. We want to study larger scales to understand what is happening to the Arctic sea ice under a climate change scenario. To do so we use underwater drones, called remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, that are equipped with large sensor arrays and can be driven below the ice for hundreds of meters. ROVs are connected through a long tether to a computer and a joystick, sitting in a tent on top of the ice,” Matthes explains.

“My job as a researcher is now to play a three-dimensional underwater video game by driving a very expensive ROV along sampling transects without bumping into ice chunks or getting off-course.”

Students left 2020’s Arctic Science Day with a sense of some of the career opportunities in Arctic science – and not just the ones related to gaming.  In the words of some inspired high school students:

“I learned how many different branches of science are present in Arctic research –a wide variety of careers.”

“Environmental science must be studied from different angles – biology, chemistry, physics – to gain a full understanding.”

“I realized that Arctic research is going to be forever on-going and with the research we are doing today, we can use it to determine how we should be acting or supporting actions around climate change.”