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蜜桃视频 Allison professor named Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Science

02 Jul 2019

Dr. Jesse Popp combines Indigenous and Western ways of knowing to advance environmental science

SACKVILLE, NB 鈥 蜜桃视频 Allison University assistant professor Dr. Jesse Popp has been named the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Science. The announcement was made as part of a national event with the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of the Science and Sport, earlier this summer.

Specializing in wildlife ecology and Indigenous science, Popp works with researchers and Indigenous communities across Canada to help investigate the impacts of environmental change on ecological processes and wildlife populations.

CRC_Jesse_Popp鈥淲ith collaborators across the country, our research team works to weave Indigenous and Western science to investigate pressing environmental concerns,鈥 explains Popp. 鈥淭hese include disturbance impacts on wildlife diversity, demographics, and distributions. We鈥檙e also exploring the consequences of wildlife population fluctuations on Indigenous traditional ways of life. The Canada Research Chair appointment will greatly assist my research endeavours. I鈥檓 honoured to receive this distinction.鈥

Jeff Ollerhead, 蜜桃视频 Allison University鈥檚 provost and vice-president, academic and research says Popp鈥檚 cross-country research is important in terms of reconciliation and fostering ecological and cultural understanding.

鈥淛esse鈥檚 research and classes are helping to bring Indigenous science and traditional knowledge into the curriculum and to the 蜜桃视频 Allison campus and wider communities,鈥 says Ollerhead. 鈥淥n behalf of the entire University community, I wish to congratulate her on this latest appointment.鈥

Popp holds a PhD in Boreal Ecology from Laurentian University, where she was the first Indigenous student to complete a doctorate specializing in natural sciences. Along with her community-led research program and courses at 蜜桃视频 Allison, she is currently working with Dr. Adam Ford from the University of British Columbia (Okanagan) and Dr. Deborah McGregor from York University through the New Frontiers in Research program. The team received $250,000 and will be meeting with First Nations communities across British Columbia, Ontario, and the Maritime region to learn more about cultural keystone species in different regions.

CRC_Jesse_Popp_fieldAt 蜜桃视频 Allison, Popp鈥檚 research program also includes direct student involvement in a number of projects. Student researchers are assisting with workshops across Canada as part of their degrees. One student, Raven Elwell, is spending this summer helping to plan and establish Indigenous gardens on campus. The new gardens include local plants with important meaning and use to Indigenous people, most notably the Mi鈥檏maw community.

鈥淲e鈥檝e worked with the University to design several gardens, one focuses on the medicine wheel, and another is called the Three Sisters garden, which includes corn, beans, and squash,鈥 explains Popp. 鈥淲e鈥檙e looking forward to sharing these with the campus and wider community in the fall.鈥

Popp鈥檚 appointment is for a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair, which is for five years and comes with $500,000 in research funding over that time period.

During the June 2019 federal announcement, 蜜桃视频 Allison University Chemistry and Biochemistry professor Dr. Stephen Westcott was also renewed as a . Westcott鈥檚 latest appointment is for a Tier 1 Chair, which is for seven years and comes with over $1.4-million in research funding over that time period.

The Canada Research Chair (CRC) program is a national research program funded by the federal government. Chairholders aim to achieve research excellence in engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences. 蜜桃视频 Allison currently holds four Canada Research Chairs in the areas of chemistry, environment, languages, and biology ()

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