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Cutting-edge professors share their expertise  

Centennial speaker series at Marianopolis features Concordia talent

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Some of our best and brightest academics will be presenting their research at Marianopolis College through a special arrangement for the CEGEP’s centennial.

On Oct. 28, Roméo Dallaire, Senior Fellow at Concordia’s Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, represented the university as part of Marianopolis’ Centennial Speaker Series. The world-renowned Senator and Lieutenant-General (ret) spoke about youth activism and Canada’s role in the world.

“Mr. Dallaire is a strong national figure with a very powerful message,” says Sami Antaki, Executive Director of University Communications Services.

“His words are even more relevant with the recent Will to Intervene report,” he continued, referring to the document released in late September which urged the governments of Canada and the United States to take direct action to prevent future genocides (see Journal, Sept. 17, 2009).

President Judith Woodsworth will also be one of the distinguished guests of honour at LuminoCity, the Marianopolis College Centennial Gala on Nov. 5.

Damon Matthews, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography Planning and Environment, was the first of four Concordia professors to speak during the college’s activity periods on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

Matthews touched on the science and solutions behind climate change. He spoke about disappearing Arctic sea ice, ocean acidification, and Canada’s ecological footprint.

“Canada, for various reasons…is among the worst countries in the world right now in terms of proximity to our Kyoto targets. Even the U.S., which did not ratify Kyoto, is closer to meeting its emissions targets than we are,” he told the audience.

Following suit, Andreas Athienitis and several of his students will make a presentation on Nov. 3. Athienitis is Concordia’s Research Chair, Tier 1, in Solar Energy in Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering. He is also director of the Solar Buildings Research Network (SBRN).

Jennifer McGrath, associate professor of psychology, will delve into sleep and stress on Feb. 23. Her research explores the progression of cardiovascular disease risk factors along the developmental spectrum and assesses community prevention efforts using public-health perspectives.

Vincent Martin from biology has experience sharing his research with CEGEP students – he was already invited to Vanier College. On March 23, he will be lecturing at Marianopolis. He is Canada Research Chair in Microbial Genomics and Engineering and also a member of the Cellulosic Biofuels Network (CBioN), a major national project focusing on the conversion of agricultural waste into biofuels.

“In association with the Office of Research and the Provost, we’ve chosen professors who are doing research in fields that have truly captured our imagination,” says Chris Mota, director of Media Relations.

“This is a great opportunity for our researchers to reach out to CEGEP students to show them the breadth of important work being done at Concordia and to inspire them with their ideas and energy,” Antaki added.