WESTWOOD LAB MEMBERS RECEIVE SCHOLARSHIPS AND RESEARCH AWARDS

From left to right: Riley Scanlan, Ali MacKellar, Ben Collison, Samantha Chu.

In a show of academic and research excellence, four members of the Westwood Lab have received scholarships for their research endeavours at Dalhousie University.

Riley Scanlan, current Master of Environmental Studies (MES) student in the Dalhousie School for Resource and Environmental Studies (SRES), received the Scotiabank Ethics in Action Bursary valued at $10,000, which recognizes students who exemplify the importance of ethical leadership and who have first-class academic standing. She was also awarded the Canada Graduate Scholarships – Master’s program from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for her thesis titled “Quantifying boreal forest connectivity in Unama’ki to guide restoration efforts.” Adding to this impressive haul, she also won Dalhousie’s Neil Munro Parks and Protected Areas Award.

Ali MacKellar, who will be starting a MES at Dalhousie this coming fall, received the Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship – Master’s, the Killam Predoctoral Scholarship – Master’s, and the SRES Research Legacy Scholarship. Together, these awards are capped $25,000 per year for up to two years to outstanding graduate students in thesis-based programs. These scholarships will support their research on “Queers, closets, and man camps” and the impacts of major infrastructure and natural resource development projects (MINRDP) on 2SLGBTQQIA+ persons in Canada.

Future lab member and recent Master of Resource and Environmental Management (MREM) graduate Ben Collison was awarded the Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral valued at $15,000 per year for up to four years. He will be starting an Interdisciplinary PhD (IDPhD) in January 2023 with the objective of better understanding how forestry road networks and the use of tree marking influences wildlife habitat connectivity, biodiversity responses to forest regeneration, and opportunities for human recreation associated with different methods of ecological forestry.

Finally, recent Bachelor of Management graduate and Westwood Lab honour’s student Samantha Chu won the Deborah Buszard Prize for a student who has contributed significantly to academic life in Dalhousie’s College of Sustainability.

Congratulations to all four students and we look forward to seeing the impact of your research!