TORONTO, May 15, 1997 -- For the second time in three years, York graduates have scooped up both the PhD dissertation and the Master's thesis awards at the esteemed Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools (NAGS) conference, surpassing fellow scholars from Harvard and Princeton.

History graduate Joe Brandao (PhD'94) and biology graduate Vanessa Visman (MSc'96) were both flown to the annual NAGS conference held this year in New Hampshire. There, the graduates received recognition for their respective work and a $500 (U.S.) prize.

The association is comprised of 200 schools in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. Member institutions include Harvard, Princeton and Cornell. York University graduates also won both of the NAGS awards in 1995. Xianhua Jiang's PhD dissertation won the physics and astronomy category, and Patricia Costello's Master's thesis took the interdisciplinary studies category for that year.

"We are thrilled that these two graduate students have taken top honours in this esteemed competition, and we congratulate them on their success," said David Leyton-Brown, dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. "Their awards reflect the excellence of research, teaching and learning going on at York University, and do us all proud."

Given the calibre of competition, the York graduates should be particularly pleased to have their work honoured by this prestigious association, said JoAnne Williams, academic affairs officer for the Faculty of Graduate Studies. "It is an international award, and York University can certainly take pride in that," said Williams.

Joe Brandao's winning PhD dissertation, "'Your Fyre Shall Burn No More': Iroquois Policy Towards New France and her Native Allies to 1701," confronts the conventionally held view that the Iroquois were "bloodthirsty savages," Brandao says. Canadian historians have traditionally attributed Iroquois warfare to economic motivations, he says. Conversely, Brandao's paper argues that the Iroquois maintained their culture after the European arrival, and that economics were of little importance in the ensuing wars. His dissertation is scheduled for publication this September by Nebraska Press. This fall, Brandao will be joining the staff of the University of Western Michigan to teach North American Native history, and to extend his research of the Iroquois nations into the 1700s.

Vanessa Visman's Master's thesis, "Methal Mercury Accumulation by Larval Chaoborus: Experimental Modelling and Field Perspectives," has also broken new ground. Her overarching concern was the impact of mercury in lakes and streams, Visman said. Her paper focused on the insect larva Chaoborus as part of the greater food web. Visman conducted lab experiments for two years, measuring the passage of mercury into and out of the larva. Her conclusions provided a theoretical model which successfully predicted her subsequent discoveries in the field. Visman is now living in Kentucky and working for a health insurance company. She said has not ruled out the possibility of returning to school to do a PhD.

Winning awards is not unknown to either of these graduates. Brandao and Visman won the Graduate Faculty dissertation and thesis awards respectively from York University in their graduating years.

For more information, call:

Mary Ann Horgan
Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22086
YU/049/97