Potential Advisors for URA Students

Research Focus: Glaciology, Ice-Ocean Interaction, Remote Sensing

Website:

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Measuring ice sheet-ocean interaction through basal channel change
2. Using visible-band satellite imagery to detect ice-sheet surface melt
3. Investigating long-term changes in ice shelf geometry and velocity
4. Supraglacial lake changes on Arctic mountain glaciers

Contact Email: karen.alley@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: resource conflicts; energy transitions; extraction; conservation; waste; (de)colonization 

Website:

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. The politics of nuclear waste disposal
2. Critical mineral extraction and social justice 
3. The politics of 'fast-tracking' development projects
4. Indigenous peoples and the conservation economy

Contact Email: warren.bernauer@umanitoba.ca 

Reserach Focus: Vertebrae paleontology, dinosaurs, marine reptiles, tooth development, otolith analysis, fossilization

Website: https://kirstinbrink.weebly.com/

Department Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Using (paleo)histology to understand bone, tooth, and otolith development
2. Using 3D data to reconstruct extinct organisms
3. Using geochemical methods in fossils to understand the process of fossilization
4. Examining micro and macrofossils to reconstruct Cretaceous-aged ecosystems
5. Using geochemical methods in otoliths to understand past environmental contamination

Research Focus: Arctic Ocean Biogeochemistry, River-Ocean Interactions

Website:

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Researches the role of freshwater in Arctic Ocean carbon and nutrient cycling, with a focus on southern Canadian Arctic archipelago 
2. Analyzing collected water sample (laboratory experience) 
3. Working with geospatial data sets (GIS experience)  
4. Processing and interpreting hydrographic and geochemical data collected by profiling and moored instruments (data processing and interpretation experience) 

Contact Email: kristina.brown@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Arctic Microbial Ecology and Genomics

Website:

http://cryomics.org/

Google Scholar

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Understanding the role of horizontal gene transfer in adaptation to icy environments
2. Discovering novel Arctic microbes through metagenomics
3. Investigating the impacts of oil spills on marine microbial ecosystems
4. Exploring the biodiversity of sea ice microbial communities

Contact Email: eric.collins@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Arctic Climate System, Extratropical Cyclones, Sea Ice, Climate Modeling

Research Website:

https://sites.google.com/view/climate-crawford/research

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects: 

1. Linking rain-on-snow events in the Arctic to changing storm systems
2. Shifting climatology of Canadian storms: Mackenzie Lows and Alberta Clippers
3. Climate change assessments for areas of natural and cultural significance (e.g., Auyuittuq National Park, Winnipeg’s Nestaweya River Trail for ice skating)

Contact Email: alex.crawford@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Arctic marine physics and climate

Website:
Google Scholar
Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Remote sensing and modelling of river plumes and mixing fronts in the Arctic coastal domain
2. Development and application of ice drift algorithm using new high-resolution satellite imagery
3. Role of sea ice in sediment transport in coastal environments
4. Assessment of the sea ice-albedo feedback mechanism during the Arctic melt season
5. Analysis of climate trends and variability in high-latitude marine environments
6. Scientific and indigenous use of sea ice as platforms: benefits and obstacles
7. Same as for 1-6 above, but for freshwater systems (lakes, river and glaciers) of your choice  

Contact Email: jens.ehn@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Tourism, Political Ecology, Cultural Geography

Website:

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Canoeing, Culture and Politics
2. Historical Aspects of Tourism in Churchill Manitoba
3. Iconography of Polar Bears in Manitoba
4. Environmental Movements in North America
5. Development of Winnipeg Tourism

Contact Email: bruce.erickson@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Social and cultural geography; therapeutic landscapes and wellness; families and caregiving

Website:

Departmental profile

Possible Research Projects: These are fairly broad themes which in collaboration with interested Honours students would be developed into specific foci for a research project that can be accomplished within 6-7 months.

1. Space/places/geographies of wellness – e.g., effects of engagement with nature, social interaction and sense of community amongst different social groups
2. Therapeutic landscapes: ‘blue place’ (e.g, water, prairie skies) as therapeutic/source of mental & physical wellness – may involve creative work
3. Food geographies topics: e.g., social media and notions about healthy food, food trends, tor echnologies such as 3D food printing

Contact email: bcatharine.hallman@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Storms, Extreme/Severe Weather, Convection, Surface-Atmosphere Interactions

Websites:

Google Scholar

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Characterizing historical tornado or hail events
2. Characterizing historical storm events (any season)
3. Wildfire and weather associations
4. Projects in collaboration with the Prairie and Arctic Storm Prediction Centre

email: john.hanesiak@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Aquatic Ecotoxicology and Risk Assessment

Website:

Google Scholar

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Biological mechanisms of microplastic formation in freshwater ecosystems.
2. Characterizing recovery of aquatic plants following herbicide exposure.
3. Understanding the use of pesticides by Old Order Mennonites.
4. Investigating reporting biases within the ecotoxicology literature.
5. Characterizing the impacts of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) on shallow wetlands.

Contact Email: mark.hanson@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Arctic Marine Ecology

Website:

Google Scholar
Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Photo analyses of beluga health from harvested whales.
2. Beluga health: visual and biotracer analysis blubber
3. Indigenous knowledge of Beluga whales in the ISR.
4. Temporal trends in beluga diet
5. Characterizing vocalization of beluga calls.

Contact Email: lisa.loseto@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Polar Physical Oceanography, Ice-Ocean interaction, Numerical Modelling

Website:

https://sites.google.com/view/portal-ocean/portal

Department Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Comparing modelled iceberg dispersion to observations
2. Antarctic-origin water masses representation in a North Atlantic-Arctic model domain
3. Role of iceberg melt plume on primary production
4. Iceberg dispersal and climate change
5. Freshwater accumulation and release from the Arctic in perturbed simulations

Contact Email: juliana.marinimarson@umanitoba.ca

Research Areas:

COVID-19 and Indigenous communities; environmental health; environmental justice; cross-cultural environmental impact assessment; environmental education; land-based education; experiential and community service learning; environmental conservation and restoration; community-based research with Indigenous and rural communities; food justice; Indigenous food systems and sovereignty; alternative agriculture; risk analysis; risk communication; documentary film

Websites:

Environmental Conservation Lab

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:
(there may be opportunities for student employment for all the projects below)

1. COVID-19 and its implications for Indigenous communities across Canada
2. Impacts of past pandemics including H1N1 and Spanish Flu for Indigenous communities
3. Land-based environmental education with Indigenous communities.
4. Community-based environmental monitoring in the North focusing on fish, wildlife and/or water quality
5. Health and food implications of hydropower for nearby Indigenous communities in northern Manitoba
6. International alliances and environmental justice as related to megadams

Contact Information: steph.mclachlan@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Biological Oceanographer – focus on Arctic primary producers

Websites:

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Phenology (timing) of Arctic phytoplankton production – remote sensing from under the sea ice
2. Physical and environmental drivers of kelp distribution and production
3. Light availability and limitation in the sea ice ecosystem
4. Nutrient uptake and limitation in the sea ice ecosystem
5. Tracing the importance of ice algae in an Arctic marine foodweb (collaboration with DFO researcher)
6. Distribution of zooplankton around Southampton Island, northern Hudson Bay (collaboration with DFO researcher)

Contact Email: cj_mundy@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Environmental History, Political Ecology, Resource Conflict

Website:

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. The history of oil and gas extraction in the Arctic
2. Resource transitions on the Canadian Prairies
3. Animals, Energy and the politics of protected areas in the North
4. Socioeconomic and environmental effects of extractive economies
5. Nature in the city: Urban political ecology in Winnipeg

Contact email: jonathan.peyton@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Planetary health, environmental justice, Indigenous-led land based education and two-eyed seeing. 
Website:

Departmental Profile 

Possible Research Projects:

1. Land-based and two-eyed seeing Indigenous-led education.
2. Indigenous governance and the environment
3. Environmental Justice
4. Participatory video
5. Planetary health and planetary boundaries.

Contact email: s.thompson@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Research Focus: Geographic Information Systems, Urban Green Space,  Wildlife Conservation, Plant and Habitat Assessment

Website:

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Plant communities and management of grasslands
2. Habitat mapping and site suitability for species at risk
3. Urban greenspace biodiversity and management
4. Upland bird and plant conservation
5. Remote sensing of grassland systems 

Contact Email: david.walker@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Environmental chemistry; biogeochemistry; environmental contaminants

Website:

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~wangf

Google Scholar

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Mercury and other trace element contaminants in the Arctic/global environment
2. Fate and response techniques for oil spills in Arctic/marine waters
3. Microplastics in Arctic/marine waters
4. Chemical processes at freezing temperatures

Contact Email: feiyue.wang@umanitoba.ca

Research Focus: Community-Based Monitoring, Environmental change, Environmental governance, Indigenous studies, Water governance and policy

Website:

Departmental Profile

Possible Research Projects:

1. Climate change adaptation in Indigenous communities
2. Community-Based Monitoring of environmental change
3. Indigenous governance and the environment
4. Ground water security in the Arctic
5. Water governance and policy and climate change

Contact Email: nicole.wilson2@umanitoba.ca