Honouring students who receive national research funding
Posted: September 14, 2015 6:00 a.m.
President Vianne Timmons (centre) honours students who receive tri-council funding including (l-r) Dallas Novakowski, psychology; Sandeep Mishra, faculty supervisor; Charlayna McGill, actuarial science; and Josh Gonzales, psychology. Photo courtesy of Rae Graham - U of R Photography.
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University of Regina students who have received funding for their research projects were treated recently to a reception at the home of President Vianne Timmons.
There are 34 students at the U of R who have received funding from the federal bodies that provide research funding - the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
“I’m very proud of these students who have clearly demonstrated the quality of their research by obtaining this funding in what is a very competitive national environment,” says President Timmons.
The students are in various faculties, including Science, Engineering and Applied Science, Arts, and Fine Arts. They are undergraduate, master’s and PhD students.
One of the students who attended the reception was Charlayna McGill, an actuarial science student who did research in mathematics.
“I think the U of R is a good place to do research because we have an outstanding number of professors who do research, and it’s a really good atmosphere,” she says.
Josh Gonzales, a psychology master’s student, received a SSHRC grant and is studying risk-taking in sports. “We’re looking at how people make decisions, for example, whether they run or pass. There’s something called the risk sensitivity theory, which basically states the further you are from a goal, the more likely you are to take on risk,” he says.
Josh also likes that atmosphere for research at the U of R.
“A smaller faculty makes it easier to get to know other people, and your advisor,” he says.
Also receiving a SSHRC grant is Dallas Novakowski, who’s working on his master’s in psychology.
“We’re looking at characteristics such as strength, intelligence, and attractiveness and how that affects a person when it comes to taking risks,” he says.
He’s very pleased with the research environment at the U of R, and says “I have a wonderful relationship with a great supervisor, Sundeep Mishra.”
“The fact that these students have received this funding is yet another indication of the strength of the University of Regina’s research enterprise, and a testament to the talented and dedicated faculty members who play such an important and inspiring role in our students’ lives as teachers, supervisors and research mentors,” President Timmons says.