In a seminal paper, Juslin and Västfjäll (2008) propose that visual imagery—i.e. experiencing images such as landscapes, people or abstract shapes in one’s mind’s eye—is one of several mechanisms by which music induces emotions in the listener. This claim is supported by evidence showing that 77% of a representative sample report having experienced visual imagery […]

Our goal is to create an environment for the robots to participate in a cooperative situation and collaborate with other robots and human on cooperating task. Games like Hanabi and Block Stacking problems are good examples of goal-oriented and cooperation focused problem-solving tasks that will lead us to implement an algorithm that can be applied […]

The proposed research is a study to test the effectiveness of a health promotion campaign to increase physical activity delivered via WhatsApp to Mexican adolescents. We believe that adolescents who receive three weekly PA promotion messages via WhatsApp will increase their physical activity. Youth aged 15-17 will be recruited from three regional high schools. Changes […]

In my project, I aim to shed light on how the construction of modern nation state in Iran resulted in the environmental marginalization of the indigenous population across the country. The modern state in Iran, I contend, is a product of annexation and plundering of the resources and lands of indigenous populations and minority groups […]

Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is an invasive plant in North America that produces glucosinolates and flavonoids as defensive chemicals. Production of these chemicals includes both plastic and genetic components, but the genes involved in these responses have not been characterized. We propose to use high-throughput sequencing and comparative genomic tools to characterize the complete set […]

Approximately 80% of currently used antibiotics were first discovered from Streptomyces. In addition, many pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, are halogenated. In particular about a quarter of the top-selling pharmaceuticals are fluorine-containing compounds. The overall objective of my doctoral thesis is to elucidate the complete biosynthetic pathway of the fluorinated antibiotic, nucleocidin, in Streptomyces. Elucidating the biosynthesis […]

Under the conditions of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, most individuals are experiencing a major shift in daily routines. For some, having a flexible work schedule may be beneficial to their natural bodily rhythms. For others, the lack of structure that was previously provided by an external schedule may impose misalignment on behavioural circadian […]

The principal objective of this project is to design and fabricate optically functional, slim, flexible, dielectric coatings – luminescent wavelength encoded lattices (LWELs) – that enhance sunlight harvesting and therefore, within the short term, have a measurable, significant impact on the efficiency of commercially available solar cells. LWELs will combine two powerful approaches to incandescent […]

Domesticated over 12,000 years ago, cows are currently found in every country across the globe yet very little is known about their varied histories, geographies, and lives. This despite cows’ centrality to human pursuits of agriculture, colonization, and capitalism as well as their implication in climate change. Furthermore,even as social research on cows begins to […]

In archaeology, chemical analysis of elements in bones can unlock a wealth of anthropological information. Individuals are exposed to various elements throughout their lives, (from sources including food, drinking water, and cookware), which are stored in bone tissue. Because bone tissue regenerates continuously, skeletal remains contain a record of an individual’s lifetime of exposure to […]

My proposed Mitacs-funded research will study health and disease in the medieval (11th-15th centuries AD) population from St. Peter’s Monastery in Osor, Croatia through a study of disease patterns, biochemical analysis of diet, and mortality trends. I will use syndemic theory to frame my research, which maintains that diseases and health conditions can interact with […]

Subduction zones, where one tectonic plate dives under the other, host large earthquakes. Recently, scientists detected faint tremors coming from deep parts of subduction zones and termed them as deep tremor and slow slip. These tremors were accompanied by a minor land shift toward the ocean. These signals appear to be revealing deep, slow, silent […]