Student AffairsWe’re bringing you an exclusive Masterclasses lineup featuring experts shaping their fields' future.
As part of our International Women’s Day celebrations, we’re recognizing the extraordinary contributions of women leaders— who are breaking barriers, driving innovation, and leading groundbreaking research.
Be part of the conversation and gain insights from inspiring professionals.
Sign up for a Masterclass today! Keep your eyes out for engineering masterclasses to be added soon!
Mathematical Modeling in Public Health
Mathematical modeling is a powerful tool for understanding and predicting complex systems, playing a crucial role in shaping public health strategies. Recent applications have demonstrated its impact, particularly in designing responses to global pandemics. In this session, we will explore the historical evolution of mathematical modeling in public health, highlight key successes, and discuss pressing open research questions that continue to shape the field. Join us to uncover how mathematics can help us prepare for the health challenges of tomorrow.
Speaker: Felicia Magpantay
Morning Session: March 4th, 9-10 AM
Evening Session: March 4th 7-9 PM
The role of communities in building sustainable food systems
Food is one of our most intimate connections to the environment and culture. This masterclass will introduce students to key concepts integral to understanding our relationships with food. These include a food system, food security, and sustainability. Dr. Lowitt then asks, why should we study food systems, and what role can communities play in making food systems more sustainable? To address these questions, she shares examples and lessons learned from her research program with civil society, Indigenous, and food movement partners in Canada.
Speaker: Kristen Lowitt
Morning Session: March 5th, 9-10 AM
Evening Session: March 5th 7-9 PM
Cosmic Stellar Nurseries
In this masterclass, Dr. Sarah Sadavoy will introduce how stars and their planets are born inside cosmic stellar nurseries and how astronomers use telescopes to observe their formation. Stellar nurseries are giant clouds of gas and dust particles that slowly collect under gravity over millions of years to make new stars and planets. Students will learn about different telescopes that are used to study star-forming regions and the open questions that we are trying to solve with these observations.
Speaker: Sarah Sadavoy
Morning Session: March 6th, 8-9 AM
Decoding Data: Unraveling the Magic of Data Science
Join us for an exciting deep dive into the world of data science! In this masterclass, we’ll demystify the core principles of statistical inference, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Using real-world datasets from diverse fields—ranging from healthcare to social media—we’ll bring these concepts to life through hands-on exploration. From uncovering hidden patterns to making smart predictions, we’ll approach data science from three foundational perspectives, showing how numbers can tell powerful stories.
Speaker: Devon Lin
Morning Session: March 11th, 8-9 AM
Evening Session: March 11th, 8-9 PM
Why the environment needs a low-salt diet
Road salt keeps our streets safe in winter, but at what cost? As it melts ice, it also seeps into lakes and rivers, threatening freshwater ecosystems. Join us for an eye-opening session where we’ll explore the hidden impacts of road salt, the latest research on its effects, and innovative strategies to balance winter safety with environmental sustainability. Join this session to learn, discuss, and rethink the way we approach winter road maintenance!
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Morning Session: March 12 9-10 AM
Evening Session: March 12 7-8 PM Registration coming soon
What do you do when a chocolate company says HELP: Understanding cold tolerance and disease resistance in hazelnut
In this lecture, I will take you along a research adventure, that started with the chocolate company Ferrero asking for help in establishing hazelnut farming in Canada, and led to two challenging and exciting questions: How can we protect hazelnut flowers from the cold winters? And how can we prevent the Eastern Filbert Blight from ruining the trees? I will discuss the super interesting history of hazelnuts in Turkey, and how developing a market in other parts of the world would support the second-largest chocolate company in the world. And we'll walk through the strategies and some exciting discoveries when we try to answer these questions. You might get hungry during my lecture, but you'll also gain a new appreciation of the importance of biology in so many things...including chocolates!
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Morning Session: March 13th, 8-9 AM
Evening Session: March 13th, 7-8 PM