Newsletter - Faculty of Health Sciences

Issue 3
NEWSLETTER: SCHOOL OF HUMAN KINETICS © COPYRIGHT
Newsletter:
School of Human Kinetics
February
2016
©Copyright
STEPHEN STUART AND HIS STUDENTS TAKE A PICTURE WITH THE MAYOR
IN THIS ISSUE
“Pink the Rink” Event Raised $1000 for
Breast Cancer Action Ottawa
by Yasmine Elgarawany
On November 15th, Stephen Stuart’s students
along with the Sports Services worked
together to
The goal of this project was to give students
the opportunity to experience the theory
discussed in class, and put it into practice in a
real life situation.
They worked together with Sport Services to
create the marketing around a Gee-Gee’s
Women’s hockey game against the University
of Montreal. They decided to work with Breast
Cancer Action Ottawa to raise awareness of,
and funds for, their charitable work.
Breast Cancer Action Ottawa work locally with
people who are affected by breast cancer, as
well as the families of the affected, to provide
real support: that is to say, they do not
perform any research or lobbying. Because of
this association with Breast Cancer, the event
was named “Pink the Rink”.
As well as working with Sport Services and
Breast Cancer Action Ottawa, Stephen Stuart
and his students worked with the City to gain a
proclamation that the day of the match,
November 15th, was Ottawa’s official “Pink the
Rink” day. This was an important event in the
project, as it demonstrated to students how
marketing can take an event that has little
intrinsic value, and build it into an event of
great value.
As for how the event was organised, students
worked in different groups, each group being
responsible to perform a different marketing
function. Each had to liaise effectively
between all stakeholders: themselves, the
host (Sport Services), sponsors, customers,
the beneficiary, and the city among others.
Stephen Stuart tells us that on game day, the
turnout was by far the highest the team had
seen this season, and post-game research
indicated that everyone attending thoroughly
enjoyed the full roster of activities organized
by students at and around the event. At the
final whistle, Ottawa beat Montreal 5-4... a
great result!
Nicholas Ravanelli’s Scholarship
Nicholas has been awarded the Endeavour Research
Scholarship by the Asutralian Government. He will be
traveling overseas to Australia for 6 months to
complete part of his research for his thesis.
Page 3
A total of $1000 was raised for Breast Cancer
Action Ottawa due to ticket sales and
sponsorship, and various raffles etc. organized
by the students. This was greatly appreciated
by Breast Cancer Action Ottawa: their CEO
praised the students and reminded them how
much work this sum covers.
The students were also commended by the
Head Coach, who said their efforts made for a
wonderful atmosphere for the game.
The check was presented to the students in
the last class. It was officiated by François
Gravelle.
Ryan Graham
Look inside for more information about our newly
appointed professor, Ryan Graham.
Page 2
FEBRUARY2016KINETICS © COPYRIGHT | Issue 3
2
New professor:
Ryan Graham
by Yasmine Elgarawany
Since September 2015, we welcomed a new
professor among our wonderful staff: Dr.
Ryan Graham. He left his position as an
Assistant professor in the School of Physical
and Health Education at Nipissing
University, where he was the director of the
Biomechanics and Ergonomics Lab, to join
us here as an Assistant professor in the
School of Human Kinetics.
Dr. Graham completed his PhD at Queen’s
University in 2012, and was hired at
Nipissing University. He decided to move to
the University of Ottawa because he
“wanted to be at a research-intensive
institution with excellent undergraduate
and graduate students and professors”. He
also mentioned that he loves the city, and
grew up in the area.
research, funded by the NSERC, focuses on
the quantitative assessment of low back
pain risk factors and mechanisms, with
specific reference to spine (in)stability and
impaired neuromuscular control.
His domain of research is biomechanics and
ergonomics. He combines these two fields
in his research to improve musculoskeletal
injury
understanding,
assessment,
prevention and rehabilitation. His current
Dr. Graham is a member of several
associations: The Canadian Society for
Biomechanics (CSB), The International
Society of Biomechanics (ISB), the American
Society of Biomechanics (ASB), and The
Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran
Health Research.
Presently, he is collaborating with Dr. Linda
McLean from the Rehab Sciences. He is
looking forward to working closely with
many other professors from our school and
faculty.
Pleins feux sur une étudiante en maitrise: Stephany Brizay
by Yasmine Elgarawany
Stephany Brizay est une de nos
étudiantes aux études supérieures,
sous la supervision de Benoit Séguin.
Elle complète présentement sa
maîtrise en sciences de l’activité
physique avec spécialisation en
administration du sport. Elle vient de
débuter sa recherche qui portera sur
l’utilisation des médias sociaux par
les athlètes afin de créer leur image
de marque.
Elle a reçu son premier baccalauréat
à l’Université de Sherbrooke en
communication marketing et son
deuxième baccalauréat en relations
publiques à l’Université d’Ottawa. En
ce moment, elle entraine l’équipe de
stratégie
numérique
qui
représentera l’Université d’Ottawa
aux Jeux de la communication en mars
prochain.
Stephany complète sa maitrise en ce
moment, non pas dans le but de se trouver
un emploi, mais parce qu’elle aime
apprendre, explorer, analyser, et car elle
avait besoin d’un défi supplémentaire. Elle
n’est pas certaine si elle continuera ses
études après la complétion de sa maitrise,
mais elle contemple la possibilité de faire un
doctorat. Par contre, elle sait qu’elle n’est
pas faite pour avoir un horaire routinier et
qu'elle désire voyager avec sa famille.
Stephany a la chance d’avoir un mari qui
l’appui dans ses décisions et deux enfants
qui la pousse à aller au bout de ses
ambitions.
FEBRUARY2016KINETICS © COPYRIGHT | Issue 3
STUDENTS WHO HAVE COMPLETED THEIR
THESIS
The School of Human Kinetics would like to
congratulate the following students for having
successfully completed their thesis :

Jessica McNeil (PhD), under the supervision
of Éric Doucet and Geneviève Forest

Rachael Bertram (PhD),
supervision of Diane Culver

Matthew Koop (MA), under the supervision
of George Karlis

Sofia Zoupa (MA), under the supervision of
George Karlis

Rebecca Robertson (MA),
supervision of Diane Ste-Marie
under
the

Francine Darroch (PhD),
supervision of Audrey Giles
under
the
under
the
LUNCH AND LEARN : 17 FÉVRIER
Mercredi le 17 février,
Pierre Trudel nous
promet
de
nous
impressionner
pendant
le
Lunch&Learn
avec
une
présentation
concernant le meilleur
contexte
d’apprentissage pour
trois catégories de
personne :
1. Les entraîneurs sportifs de Hauteperformance
2. Les professeur(e)s universitaires
3. Les personnes ayant à vivre une
expérience avec le cancer
Soyez présents et emmenez votre lunch!
Événement offert en français seulement
DR. NAOTO FUJII’S AWARD
The School of Human Kinetics would like to
congratualte
Naoto Fujii, a
Postdoctoral
fellow who has
been
working
with Dr. Glen
Kenny for 2.5
years, for the
American
Physiological
Society 2016 Exercise and Environmental
Physiology New Investigator Research Award.
Dr. Fujii has contributed to the training of
over 25 young undergraduate 2-4th year
trainees as well as to 22 graduate trainees.
“I take this opportunity to thank Dr. Fuji for his
continued contribution to the training of
students and to the School of Human Kinetics.”
- Benoit Séguin
3
Nicholas Ravanelli’s Endeavour Scholarship
by Yasmine Elgarawany
The School of Human Kinetics would like to
congratulate Nicholas Ravanelli for being
awarded
the
Endeavour
Research
Scholarship by the Australian Government.
He is one of the only 9 students being
awarded this scholarship in Canada. This
scholarship offers graduate students the
chance to go abroad, for a determined
period of time, and conduct part of their
thesis research in Australia. The project that
is proposed for this scholarship must be
important not only for the home country of
the student, but also for Australian citizens.
Nicholas’s PhD Thesis is focused on the
independent effect of training on maximum
heat dissipation during heat stress. His cosupervisors are Dr. Pascal Imbeault and Dr.
Ollie Jay. His primary focus is whether the
way in which individuals sweat changes as a
function of training to maximize their ability
to dissipate heat produced during exercise.
The project he proposed to conduct in
Australia is an extension of his PhD, looking
at whether environmental characteristics
are the driving force for any changes in
potential sweating adaptation associated
with training, if any. He currently is in the
process of conducting the first aim of his
thesis, where he has participants go under
an aerobic training regime to increase their
maximum oxygen consumption by at least
10%.
Here is an excerpt from Nicholas’
application regarding the importance of his
project to Australia (and to worldwide
communities for that matter):
A 2015 report by the Climate Institute, an
Australian
based
research
and
communications organization, outlined that
heat exposure policies vary significantly
between sports and governing bodies,
without much consistency between their
guidelines with threshold temperatures
ranging from 32°C – 41°C. While ambient
temperature is critical, our most modifiable
avenue for heat loss, evaporation, can be
affected by ambient humidity and pose a
greater threat than temperature alone (see
Ravanelli et al., JAMA, 2015). As Australian
heat records were broken throughout 2014,
and with evidence suggesting heat waves will
intensify and become more frequent in the
future, it is imperative that research strives
to find the environmental limits which
combine ambient temperature and humidity
to ensure the athletes safety during
competition. Moreover, one must be able to
identify if differences exist between athletic
populations in their maximum ability to
dissipate rate through evaporation as this
project proposes to accomplish. By
conducting this project abroad and as part of
my PhD, this collaboration will solidify a long
standing relationship between institutions
and open the doors for future research
endeavours. This opportunity will foster skill
acquisition from a different work
environment which I may translate to fellow
peers and coworkers.
Nicholas was informed of his successful
application on November 3rd, 2015. He was
really excited, and notified his PhD cosupervisor Dr. Ollie Jay, instantly. Dr. Ollie
Jay was a previous faculty member, and is
now an adjunct professor, at the University
of Ottawa. He currently works at the
University of Sydney, and helped Nicholas
apply to this scholarship. As expected, Dr.
Ollie Jay was also excited, and is looking
forward for Nicholas to complete his
research in Australia.
Nicholas’ plans for the future are to
continue conducting research, gain greater
knowledge in different techniques and
areas of study, and finally be able to
integrate them into multifaceted research
programs. His ultimate goal would be to
continue through academics, becoming a
professor with a research unit. He works in
a research unit with multiple areas of
research, which has led to some great
collaborative
projects
combining
independent interests.