BGSA Newsletter | October 9th, 2024

Artwork by Kate Sheridan

Hi BGSA!

Here’s the info to keep on your radar for the next few weeks:

BGSA Retreat!!

Mark your calendars: This year’s BGSA retreat will happen on the last weekend of classes - November 29th to December 1st! As per usual, this event will run over the weekend, and will include transportation, meals and accommodations.

Please watch out for an announcement in ~2 weeks for cost & sign-up! Spots will be limited!

BGSA General Assembly

This semester’s BGSA General Assembly will be held on October 28th at 3:30PM in N7/1.

We will be in touch in a couple weeks about the agenda, motions, and deadlines. If you are a BGSA rep, please plan to attend and provide a brief update if relevant - we will be in contact if we need to hear from you!

Events & Seminars

Bi-Weekly BGSA 5 à 7

Wednesday, October 16th at Thomson House, starting at 5pm will be our next 5 à 7. Come to Thomson House after work and have a drink with your fellow biologists!

Just like last semester, these will run every other Wednesday (same time) at Thomson House. The BGSA doesn't have the budget to pay for drinks. We only supply the company.

Watch out later for info about our weekly Coffee Hours as well!

Bi-Weekly BGSA Coffee Hour

BGSA Coffee hours are BACK for the semester starting Wednesday October 23rd at 11AM! They will be held bi-weekly on the weeks without beer hours. Join us in the BGSA room - we supply the coffee!

Find Your Shoal Social, AFS Quebec

Wednesday, October 16th at Thomson House, from 5-7pm in the blue room, come join American Fisheries Society (AFS) Quebec for a pint of beer and at their social! There will be a sustainability icebreaker themed activity as well! Come meet fellow aquatic biologists and people who are passionate about aquatic science!

PGSS Halloween Party

Don’t miss our biggest event of the year! The PGSS Halloween Party! Thomson House will transform into a haunted mansion, and our dance floor will be spooktacular! Get your costumes ready, it’s going to be a fantastic night of fun and frights!

November 2nd, 10PM-2AM, Thomson House

8$, RSVP here

CEEB Seminar Series

This week, Thursday Oct. 10, we have Dr. Andrea Paz from the Université de Montréal presenting their talk on "The distribution of biological diversity and its relation with environments at different spatial scales" in Stewart N2/2 & on Zoom; 4 PM (3:30 for coffee & snacks… try to bring your own mugs).

Next, we will have Dr. Nicola Smith from Concordia will present their talk “Drivers of marine ecological change and the need to diversify ecology” on Oct. 24th.

EEL Talks

This year’s EEL talks will be run on Fridays at noon - Room N7/1. Don't miss out on the EEL talk this Friday with Paola Carrion-Aviles on October 11 at 12PM in Stewart Bio N7/1. This will be Paola's PhD exit seminar, titled Spatio-temporal dynamics in the evolution and ecology of Darwin's finches (more details below). Pizza will be served at 11:30 am for lunch. If you can't join us here is the Zoom link.

Next, join us for Jessica Reemeyer’s PhD exit seminar, “Effects of multiple environmental stressors on the physiology, behaviour, and ecology of Canadian fish species at risk” on Oct. 25th!

WIPS Talks

Tomorrow Oct. 10th at 1PM in N7/1, Maddy Shred from the Brouhard lab will present their exit seminar: “Conformational flexibility of tubulin dimers influences microtubule dynamics across evolution”.

Next, come listen to the work of Amirhossein Najafabadi and Lauren Kolwaski on Oct. 24th.

Molecular Seminar Series

The next MCDB talk is on Monday, October 21st at 12pm in Stewart Biology N2/2. Dr. Yumi Kim from John Hopkins University will be giving a talk titled, “The synaptonemal complex in Caenorhabditis elegans”. The next talk after that will be on Monday, October 28th at 12pm in Stewart N2/2, where Dr. Amy Smith-Dijak will be giving a talk (title TBA).

NBB Seminar Series

The next NBB seminar will be on Friday, October 25th at 1:30pm in Stewart Biology S3/4. Dr. Taylor Shirtliff-Hinds will be speaking on “Modelling ataxia in C. elegans: conserved genes in movement coordination from worms to humans”. The next talk after that will be given by Dr. JC Boivin, who’s talk is titled, “Out of Harm’s Way: How does the nociceptive system adapt to noxious experiences?” It will be on Friday, November 1st, at 1:30pm in Stewart Biology S3/4.

QLS Seminar Series

This year, they run on Tuesdays from 12-1PM at 550 Sherbrooke, Room 189. Please note there will be no QLS seminar next week as it is Reading Week (Oct 15-18). We will resume on October 22 with recent QLS graduate Niklas Brake (McGill University) presenting “An orchestra out of rhythm: aperiodic EEG and the 1/f spectral trend”.

Please find this year’s schedule and speakers list here!

TRACE Talks

Careers in Research and Policy Analysis, TOMORROW, October 10, 12 – 1 pm (Zoom registration)

Panelists:

Chris Chhim (PhD, Political Science), Lead Analyst – Custom Research, CBC/Radio-Canada.
Mary-Rose Bradley-Gill (PhD, Biology), Senior Program Analyst, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).
Vanessa Sung (PhD, Biochemistry), Policy Advisor, Office of the Chief Science Advisor, Canada

Please see the attached flyer and the TRaCE Talks website for more information.

GIS Day

November 13, 12PM, Burnside, 5th Floor

On GIS Day we celebrate Geospatial Data Science at McGill! GIS Day starts at noon with our keynote speech and ends with a wine & cheese reception in the late afternoon.

This year we are glad to have Lauren Bennett as keynote speaker. She is the Program Manager of Spatial Analysis and Data Science at Esri. She oversees research and development for data analysis features within the company’s geographic information system (GIS) software systems. This includes spatiotemporal statistics, spatial machine learning, and multidimensional and big data analytics.

Opting out of distributing information and images for BGSA and MBSU members

The Web & Communications Committee of the Biology Department would like to post content (e.g., awards, papers, grants, BGSA and MBSU activities, etc) on various platforms (e.g., Instagram, X, Facebook, website, newsletter) on a regular basis. These postings are more impactful if they are associated with an image, and to expedite postings, we plan to use images that are currently available on websites associated with the department and university.Please respond to this form if you are NOT comfortable with the committee sharing content about you and using your image.

Also, share your exciting news such as publications and public interviews here.

Winter TA Job Postings

The TA job postings for Winter 2025 are up on Workday from Oct 1 to Oct 25. Please make a point of applying for a position during this period if you wish to TA as there is no guarantee that the posting will be repeated.

If you’re internal (hold a position now), apply as an internal. If not, apply as an external by going to https://mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/mcgill_careers, sign in and create an account using a non-McGill email account.

If you need more info on how to apply, email susan.gabe@mcgill.ca.

No More Free Hours AGSEM Campaign

Did you know that nearly half of TAs work an average of 13 hours over their contract, unpaid? That’s nearly $470 that McGill is pocketing while you work for free. Meanwhile, contracts across the university have had their hours cut (like in Biology), while our workload remains close to the same or the same. This year, we’re following the rules and working the hours that are on our contracts. Sign the NMFH pledge, and follow the participation guide. Learn more about AGSEM’s No More Free Hours campaign here, and remember to track your hours at the template here.

Announcements & Other Opportunities

SORTEE Conference

The 2024 Society for Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (SORTEE) Conference is just around the corner! The conference will take place virtually from 15 October 07:00 UTC to 16 October 10:00 UTC, covering all time zones.

There is still time to register at https://www.sortee.org/upcoming/, and the full program is available online through the SORTEE Shiny app. We invite you to join us for an engaging lineup of unconferences, hackathons, workshops, and plenary presentations, including:

1) Dr. Hu Chuan-Peng: ''Promoting Open Science via grassroots network in a developing country''

2) Dr. Kate Laskowski: ''What to do when you don't trust your data anymore''.

92nd Acfas Congress / 92e Congrès de l’Acfas

C’est avec enthousiasme que nous invitons les membres de votre communauté étudiante à soumettre une proposition de communication libre au 92 e Congrès de l’Acfas, organisé par l’École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), en collaboration avec l’Université Concordia. Plus grand rassemblement multidisciplinaire de la francophonie, le congrès de l’Acfas est la plateforme par excellence pour diffuser ses résultats de recherche et faire ses premières armes en communication scientifique.

Placé sous la thématique La recherche au cœur des solutions technologiques et sociales, le 92e Congrès de l’Acfas se tiendra du 5 au 9 mai 2025, à Montréal et en ligne. Depuis 2023, le congrès propose une formule hybride pour favoriser la participation de la communauté scientifique à travers la francophonie et assurer un rayonnement élargi des recherches francophones

Pour plus d'informations et pour s’inscrire, cliquez ici!

DEADLINE OCTOBER 11th!

Nature & Business Summit

On November 26, Montreal will host the first Nature & Business Summit, an event designed to strengthen corporate commitment to biodiversity protection. The event will bring together key players from the worlds of business, research and biodiversity protection to encourage collaboration and promote concrete action within companies. Date : November 26, 2024, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Venue : HEC Montréal Downtown. Register here

GREAT Awards

GREAT awards are given to students who will travel to present their research at a scientific conference. The maximum amount of the award is $750 and priority will be given to students who have not yet received the award. Your application will only be reviewed if it includes proof of registration.

Interested applicants should complete the GREAT Award Application at least one month before the conference. If you have any questions, contact patricia.lianos@mcgill.ca.

PGSS Travel Award

PGSS Travel Awards Program provides funding to graduate student members attending conferences or competitions as part of their graduate studies. Upcoming deadline: November 15, 2024 (for travel events between December 15, 2024- April 15, 2025).

Find more info here.

QCBS Learning Development Award

The Learning Development Award is available to graduate student and post-doctoral QCBS members, who propose contributions towards the training and learning experience of graduate students and faculty beyond established academic courses within the QCBS network.

This award has been put together to allow grad students and postdoctoral fellows to get involved in the development of learning clubs and “user groups” to transfer scientific and technical knowledge. Apply at the link and learn more about the award here. The next deadline is November 15th, with $180 awarded per student according to the importance of their involvement.

MITACS Globalink Award

The Mitacs Globalink Research Award (GRA) supports research collaborations between Canada and select partner organizations and eligible countries and regions.

Under the joint supervision of a home and host professor, senior undergraduate students, graduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows will receive a $6,000 research award to conduct a 12- to 24-week research project in the other country. Awards are offered in partnership with Mitacs’s Canadian academic partners (and, in some cases, with Mitacs’s international partners) and are subject to available funding.

For more info about how to apply, please see here.

GIC conference grant

We continue to support McGill students to participate in geospatial data science, GIS and Earth Observation conferences. The GIC offers a grant up to $300 to cover registration fees for students who contribute to a conference in these fields. You are eligible if you have already registered at a conference for active participation (e.g. giving a paper). For applying, please send an email to the GIC Director Tim Elrick (tim.elrick@mcgill.ca) detailing the conference you have registered and the planned contribution at the conference.

BGSA is on Slack! Please join to get in touch with other graduate students.

Use the BGSAjiji googlesheet to post any lease transfers/sublets or other items

for other BGSA members! As always, please be respectful.

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