Researchers at Brock

Dramatic Arts professor studying dark tourism

Imagine a tourism experience where you pay to spend hours pretending to illegally cross the American border from Mexico.
You trudge through muddy fields under the blare of gunfire. You run exhausted through sewer tunnels. You are placed, scared and blindfolded, in the back of a truck, only to end up where you started — at a restaurant, gift shop and main offices, and people telling you to enjoy your stay. This is the new trend in post-9/11 dark tourism, a term that describes the act of visiting the sites of tragedies as a tourist. This experience is called immersive simulation, and Natalie Alvarez, assistant professor of Dramatic Arts, is writing a book about it.

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Sexual orientation research garners worldwide attention

Tony Bogaert is used to making waves with his research into sexual orientation. And that fascination is unlikely to die any time soon. The Community Health Sciences professor cross-appointed to Psychology has two studies in the works — one on gay men and birth order, and one on physical differences between those who identify as straight versus those who identify as gay or lesbian.
Both are the continuation of a body of sexual orientation research that has garnered worldwide interest in the past 10 years.

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NSERC accelerator enhances study of fresh-water snails

While Gaynor Spencer is officially on sabbatical during the summer of 2010, you will likely find the associate professor of Biological Sciences in her lab nearly every day, working on the projects for which she recently earned a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant. Profile continued ... 

Grant receives two national honours in one year

Barry Grant is having a busy year. In the spring, he was honoured for 34 years of teaching, research and overall service with an award from the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). A few months later, with adjunct professor Joan Nicks, he celebrated the release of the book Covering Niagara: Studies in Local Popular Culture, a book they co-edited. Then, in the late summer, it was announced that Grant, a professor in Communications, Popular Culture and Film, will be the recipient of Canada's highest academic honour with his election to the Royal Society of Canada (RSC).

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Lung cancer predictors will prevent unneeded biopsies

Martin Tammemagi, associate professor, Community Health Sciences, and a team of U.S. researchers have found a way to better pinpoint when an abnormal chest X-ray means cancer. They studied the chest radiographs of 12,314 people and found 14 factors that help determine whether to proceed with a biopsy. Profile continued...

English professor receives prestigious Killam Fellowship

Sauer, a professor in the Department of English, is only the second Brock professor to receive the Killam Fellowship, an award that comes with two years of funding to focus on one’s area of research. 

Her works focus on the writings of John Milton, the famous early modern poet and polemicist, who composed one of the most celebrated works in the English literary canon, Paradise Lost. Profile continued...

Giant bills generate big interest

“A new kind of heating bill.”   “Who can cool his body fast? Toucan.”   “Toucan’s bill gives big chill.”

Those are just a few of the colourful headlines Glenn Tattersall’s work generated recently when the results of his study were published in the prestigious journal Science.

Tattersall, an associate professor in Biological Sciences, found that Toco Toucans use their bills to regulate their body temperature.

“An elephant uses its ears to dump heat,” Tattersall said. “Mice use their tails. Toucans use their bills.” Profile continued...

Teaching self-esteem in Africa through gymnastics

With this program summer = reading

John McNamara, associate professor, Child and Youth Studies, has teamed with Jackie Van Lankveld, manager of Pre-school Speech and Language Services at the Niagara Peninsula Children’s Centre, to develop a program to keep the minds of kindergarten students sharp, even during a season when school is a memory. Profile continued...

Taking steps towards understanding weight loss

At Brock’s Behavioural Health Sciences Research Lab, two professors and trainee researchers at the graduate and undergraduate levels aim to answer that question across the next three years. Profile continued...

Solving problems on a molecular level

Travis Dudding is a problem solver on a molecular level.

The associate professor in the department of Chemistry spends much of his research time trying to solve the mechanistic riddles around synthetically important chemical reactions using computational chemistry. In many cases, Dudding and his research team are after the synthesis of medicinally useful pharmaceuticals in a much shorter time, while utilizing considerably fewer resources as well.

His work has come to the attention of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States, who have awarded Dudding a $64,800 U.S. sub-contract to work on a specific reaction discovered by a colleague at the University at Buffalo. Profile continued...