Media

OTTAWA, August 3, 2011  —  The University of Ottawa is proud to announce that nine of its students enrolled in doctoral studies have each been awarded a prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.

The scholarships, which are valued at $50,000 annually for a maximum of three years, are awarded to students who demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in three areas: social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and health.

The nine students include the following:

Megan Cotnam – Faculty of Education
Megan Cotnam works with thesis supervisors at two universities, the University of Ottawa (Phyllis Dalley, and acting supervisor Nathalie Bélanger) and the Université de Corse (Alain Di Meglio). She is interested in issues relating to linguistic minorities, in particular, the choice to study in the minority language in Ontario and in Corsica.

Dana Danielson – Faculty of Medicine
Under the supervision of Professor John Pezacki, Dana is researching an essential cellular process termed “RNA silencing,” which plays a major regulatory role in gene expression. Dana is employing “protein engineering” techniques in order to build tools to investigate this cellular pathway with regards to the pathogenesis of the hepatitis C virus.

Elizabeth Darling – Interdisciplinary Program – Population Health
Under the supervision of Professor Mark Walker, Elizabeth’s research aims to contribute to the evaluation of the utility of universal bilirubin screening. Her findings will help to identify potential strategies both to improve efforts to prevent severe hyperbilirubinemia (an abnormally high amount of bile pigment (bilirubin) in the blood) and to ensure health equity.

Rami Darwich – Faculty of Medicine
Rami is a member of a team supervised by Professor (and Vice-President, Research) Mona Nemer, working on the identification of the genetic circuits that pattern the embryonic heart. His work will shed new light on the make-up and growth of the human heart and on the genetic basis of congenital heart disease.

Chiara Fasciani – Faculty of Sciences
Under the supervision of Professor J.C. (Tito) Scaiano, Chiara is studying the applications of visible light irradiation of gold nanoparticles (AuNP) in catalytic processes. In particular, the Plasmon excitation of gold AuNP can be used to perform high temperature reactions at or near room temperature.

Kja Isaacson – Faculty of Arts
Under the supervision of Professor Lauren Gillingham, Kja is working on a project which aims to study literature in relation to scientific writings from the nineteenth century. She proposes that Darwin's theories influenced narration and the representation of time in Victorian fiction and argues that literature in the second half of the century reflects a modern and scientific temporality which stems from evolutionary science.

Anabel Paulos – Faculty of Social Sciences
Under the supervision of professors Ann Denis and Dominique Masson, Anabel is applying social network analysis to study power relations among organization members of feminist transnational advocacy networks. Her research interests include women's and feminist social movements, transnational social movements, and qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

Évelyne Jean-Bouchard – Faculty of Law
Évelyne is currently working under the supervision of Professor Lucie Lamarche. She is conducting an in-depth legal examination of the experience of women in the post-conflict Democratic Republic of Congo.

Laura Porras – Faculty of Law
Under the supervision of the director of the PhD program, Professor Marie-Ève Sylvestre, Laura is working on a project which aims to expose the legal narratives that emerge from the arrangements made by street workers to solve social problems in their daily struggle for survival in the public domain.

The Vanier CGS program is part of the Government of Canada’s science and technology strategy called Mobilizing Science and Technology to Canada’s Advantage. The scholarship is available both to Canadian students at the doctoral level and to international doctoral students who are completing their research in Canada.