York signs research and exchange agreement with China's Beihang University with emphasis on science and engineering

York University signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Beihang University on Friday. The agreement allows for the exchange of students and faculty across disciplines and offers collaborative opportunities for better research, teaching and faculty development. Above: Standing, from left, Professor Tang Wenzhong, director, Institute for Science & Technology, Beihang University; Professor Wang Huiwen, dean, School of Economics […]

Search committee seeks input on criteria for new VP research & innovation

The search committee to appoint a vice-president, research & innovation will soon commence a comprehensive international search for a successor to Professor Stan Shapson. The search committee will be drafting an advertisement to announce the start of the search, which will appear shortly in various publications and websites. In addition, the committee is working on a position profile […]

York University invests $5 million in technology to support life sciences research

York University has strengthened its commitment to research in the life sciences by investing more than $5 million for the procurement of high-tech research support tools. The equipment will support advanced research in the Faculty of Science & Engineering and the Faculty of Health. "This unique investment demonstrates the bold new vision for life sciences […]

Professor Dawn Bazely, director of IRIS, on climate change and Hamilton-area deer populations

An expert in forest ecology is likening an animal rights group’s claim that deer aren’t a threat to Iroquois Heights Conservation Area to those who still deny climate change is underway, wrote the Hamilton Mountain News and the Ancaster News Oct. 14: Dawn Bazely, director of York University’s Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability […]

When do we stop looking for life on Mars? Professor Jack McConnell on the MATMOS project

Will we ever be able to say there is nothing alive on Mars? asked Stephen Strauss in a column for CBC News online Oct. 8: Exactly how do we decide when it's time to end the focus on our planetary neighbour and turn our primary exploratory efforts elsewhere? I ask in part because a casual reader […]

Dream of exploring shipwrecks? Check out Professor Michael Jenkin's wireless controller and underwater robot

A waterproof controller designed and built by York University researchers is allowing an underwater robot to go “wireless” in a unique way. AQUA, an amphibious, otter-like robot, is small and nimble, with flippers rather than propellers, designed for intricate data collection from shipwrecks and reefs. The robot, a joint project of York, McGill and Dalhousie […]

VIDEO: Professor Michael Jenkin's AquaPad tablet computer allows divers to communicate at depth with underwater robots

You would balk at getting an iPad wet, but a tablet computer has now been designed to work deep under the sea – not to allow divers to check e-mail, but so that they can communicate with underwater robots working in hard-to-reach or dangerous locations, such as the inside of shipwrecks or caves in coral […]

Video: Professor Laurence Packer on why and how to make your garden bee-friendly

Without bees, we wouldn’t have coffee to drink at breakfast, tomatoes in your sandwich at lunch or fruit for a snack on the go. While bee populations all over the world are in trouble, there are lots of things individuals can do to create bee-friendly gardens — even if your personal green space is limited […]

York opens Sherman Health Science Research Centre, specializing in neuroscience, kinesiology and psychology research

Originally the site of some of York’s most memorable hockey moments and reputed to have the best arena ice in the province, the former York University Ice Arena, known as the Ice Palace, is now home to a new kind of dream team. The Keele campus building's transformation from a hockey rink into an innovative new health science research centre […]

Lab technologist brings little pieces of Mars to York, promotes space research

Nick Balaskas is on a mission. He wants to set a world record for the number of people who have walked on Mars. Although technically he would need only one person to achieve his goal, Balaskas has set his sights on 500 – a round number he developed based on the total number of individuals […]