Engaged and Impactful Team

• The University of Calgary’s International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) team, with students from Medicine, Science, and Engineering, capped their season by winning a gold medal at the 2018 competition. UCalgary’s gold-medal project, entitled Astroplastic: From Colon to Colony, tests the theory of using human waste as the foundation for a bioplastic that can then be used in 3D printers to build tools — a process that would be especially useful to astronauts on deep-space missions.
• Kathleen Ralph was nominated for a UCalgary UMake a Difference 2019 award; Mike Siewert (IT) and Melissa Wrubleski (Mathematics and Statistics) were nominated in 2018.
• 2019 Student Union Teaching Excellence Awards went to:
  Instructors: Jo-Anne Brown, Micheal Pawliuk
  Teaching Assistants: Matthew Adams, Christopher James Hooey, Chris Joshna, Daniel Anthony Levenson, Fathia Messaoudi, Nicole Taylor, Ryan Brendan Toth, Colton Unger
  Hall of Fame Inductee: Heather Addy
• Dr. Steven Vamosi, PhD, was appointed scientific director of the Biogeoscience Institute for a five-year renewable term effective July 2018. Vamosi is also currently the associate dean of equity, diversity, and inclusion, and a professor of population biology.

• Dr. Sean Rogers, PhD, was named director of the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre (BMSC). UCalgary teamed up with four other western Canadian universities 46 years ago to found the BMSC, a shared campus for year-round teaching and research, and a field school for coastal-oriented programs on the outer west coast of Vancouver Island. With Rogers’ appointment, a University of Calgary researcher is at the helm for the first time. 
• In March 2019, Dean Lesley Rigg received an Alberta SheInnovator Award. SHEInnovates Alberta is the first Canadian Chapter and a pilot for the Global Innovation Coalition for Change (GICC), a dynamic partnership between United Nations Women and key representatives from the private sector, academia, and nonprofit institutions focused on developing the innovation market to work better for women and to accelerate the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Dr. George Shimizu received the prestigious Rio Tinto Alcan Award from the Chemical Institute of Canada.
• Graduate students and supporters recognized for excellence at GSA's annual Awards Gala.
• Congratulations Team Robot Unicorns for being a Technovation Junior Division Finalist.
• The Diversity Dialogues series continued its growth, adding new sessions and increasing its reach across campus. Drs. Jessica Theodor and Steven Vamosi ran their interactive workshop on Mitigating Bias in Letters of Recommendation at the invitation of three other Faculties: Arts, Medicine, and Engineering. This past year also saw the first offering of a session on Intersectionality, facilitated by Dr. Jennifer Adams.
• The Science Wellness Committee, or SWELL for short, hosted a series of events under the leadership of its new Chair, Dr. Belinda Heyne. Events included a Board Games event held at the Science Collaborative Space, a hands-on “Show and Tell” of science-related archives and special collections material at the Taylor Family Digital Library, and our second Kubb Tournament. We also have a mobile library of books available for loan.

Faculty of Science alumni takes an unconventional path to leadership in neuroscience and global health.

In December 2017, Ruth Mitchell ’01 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work as part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), thanks in part to an unexpected email she received early on as part of her medical training.

Helping to make the whole university “ecosystem” strong.

After a 35-year career in the oil and gas industry, Clague retired in 2018. Soon after, he became a member of the Faculty of Science Dean’s Circle, an advisory committee that assists the dean in achieving the Faculty’s strategic goals.