By Brittany Ekelund, BCS ’21, Research Recast(ed) co-host

Spring has officially sprung, and scholarship is in full bloom as the annual MacEwan Celebrates Month of Scholarship picks up this month. It’s an opportunity for everyone to learn, share in and celebrate the work that keeps MacEwan students and scholars hustling and bustling throughout the year.

This month, Research Recast(ed), a podcast from the university’s Office of Research Services hosted by alumna Brittany Ekelund and music student Dylan Cave, is working overtime to bring you a special series of podcasts. 

Special Podcast Episode: Dr. Samuel Mugo

Available now

Influenced by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Dr. Samuel Mugo encourages his students and research assistants to look at how chemistry can be applied to global issues like food security, climate change and access to healthcare. The 2021 Distinguished Research Award recipient joins us to talk about his research on point-of-need frugal smart sensors – small non-invasive devices attached to the body that monitor and analyze health in real-time – and how they can help democratize healthcare in places where access to chemical analysis is expensive or inaccessible.

“We produce or consume a lot of food that is imported with a huge environmental footprint. And so, again, that draws my attention. Can we just use less, and can we conserve?”

Special Podcast Episode: Dr. Erin Walton

Available now

Geologist and meteoriticist Dr. Erin Walton’s research is literally out of this world. The Board of Governors Research Chair collaborates with the Canadian Space Agency. Her scholarship includes seminal work on the Steen River Impact Crater and, most recently, a new project involving the geochronology of her favourite asteroid, 4 Vesta. 

In this episode, we touch on deep themes of mentorship as Dr. Walton walks us through two projects involving graduate students – including a follow-up project “pushing the boundaries of experimental metrology” as it tests her own Steen River hypothesis using nanomaterials.

“To our knowledge, they’re the first of their kind that have ever been performed,” says Dr. Walton. “When we were looking through the literature, I was like, well, I can't believe that people haven't done this before.”

Allyship, E-Scooters and Criminal Psychology

Available April 14

In the first podcast focused on Student Research Day, we hear from three student researchers. 

First, Alysha-Khanu Lakhani discusses her paper on Indigenous allyship in the Asian Diaspora, touching on implicit bias, challenging perceptions and cognitive imperialism. Next, Brady Bailey shares his award-winning scholarship looking at sustainability, e-scooters and the sharing economy. Lastly, Mackenzie Thomas discusses her pioneering research into typographies and risk assessment of criminogenic needs of sexual offenders.

Special Podcast Episode: Dr. Christopher Striemer

Available April 19

Neuroscientist Dr. Christopher Striemer wants to understand how the brain controls attention and movement, and one of the ways to figure that out is by paying attention to what happens when something goes wrong.

“If the brain is injured and it causes a set of symptoms, then we can understand what parts of the brain are responsible for those behaviours,” says the 2020 Distinguished Research Award recipient. “And that allows us to, number one, better understand how the brain operates when it's functioning normally, and also potentially how to rehabilitate the patients better.”

Dr. Striemer studies attention and movement with prisms – essentially special glasses that shift your vision - and in explaining his work, we get a crash course on the brain and the processes behind how we process and attend to the world.

Authenticity, Design Activism and Immersive Audio

Available April 28

In the second Student Research Day podcast, three more student scholars share their scholarly activities. First, Elana ‘Lainy’ Beaver talks about her part in a course-based research project on authenticity in child and youth care. Next, Carolina Tiemi Odashima discusses design and typography, touching on all four projects she presented this past year. Lastly, our own Research Recast(ed) co-host Dylan Cave speaks to his scholarship on using immersive audiovisual research and modern technology to elevate a traditionally developed ballet and bring the art form to a new standard.