Research and Creative Activity

Raise a glass to local health innovation at Cheers to Hope 2025

Alice Tsui, Larry Jacobs and Linda DiRosaRepresenting education, excellence and research at WE-SPARK’s 2024 Cheers to Hope event are (left to right) Alice Tsui, Larry Jacobs and Linda DiRosa. Join the 2025 celebration on Nov. 6 from 5 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at the Ambassador Golf Club.

When the Windsor-Essex community gathers at the WE-SPARK Health Institute’s annual Cheers to Hope event one thing is certain – it is time to celebrate.  

This year’s inspirational evening takes place on Nov. 6 from 5 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at the Ambassador Golf Club.   

UWindsor professor earns international fellowship to shape the future of human–AI driving research

Dr. Biondi with French research teamKinesiology Prof. Francesco Biondi meets with the French research team in Lyon. [Photo courtesy of Francesco Biondi]

By Sara Elliott 

A University of Windsor kinesiology professor has earned an international fellowship to advance research into the relationship between human drivers and self-driving cars. 

Through the Mourou-Strickland Mobility Program, an initiative designed by the French Embassy in Canada, Francesco Biondi will collaborate with a researcher at the University of Lyon in France. 

Seniors dive into fish ecology during tour of UWindsor’s freshwater research centre

Seniors at FRECProf. Trevor Pitcher offers members of the UNI-COM: Lifelong Learning Class an opportunity for hands-on learning at UWindsor’s Freshwater Restoration Ecology Centre (FREC) in LaSalle. [Photo courtesy of George Plantus]

A group of seniors passionate about lifelong education cast their curiosity into the waters of fish ecology during a recent visit to the University of Windsor’s Freshwater Restoration Ecology Centre (FREC) in LaSalle. 

The visitors were members of the University-Community (UNI-COM): Lifelong Learning Class, a voluntary organization of adults aged 50 and older who, with support from the University and the community, promote teaching, learning, mentoring, advocacy and research.  

Science grads take home Governor General’s gold medals

Madison Mooney and Aaron BondyDr. Madison Faye Mooney (Chemistry and Biochemistry ’24) and Dr. Aaron Thomas Bondy (Physics ’24) will be awarded the prestigious Governor General’s Gold Medal (photos care of award recipients).

Two recent PhD graduates from the Faculty of Science will be recognized for their exceptional academic achievement with the prestigious Governor General’s Gold Medal. 

Madison Faye Mooney and Aaron Thomas Bondy were selected to receive the medal from all graduating master’s and doctoral students in 2024/2025. 

Using percussion science to keep drummers injury-free

Nadia Azar and Jeff Burrows (on drums)Nadia Azar monitors professional drummer Jeff Burrows’ heart rate and energy expenditure while he drums. [DAVE GAUTHIER/University of Windsor]

By Sara Elliott

Drummers’ bodies endure a brutal beating during live shows, but Nadia Azar’s research seeks to alleviate that stress. 

“Professional athletes don’t just go out in the field or onto the ice and play their game. There’s a lot of preparation that comes before that, such as getting in the gym and working on strength and conditioning,” says Dr. Azar, kinesiology professor. 

Psychology research team explores impact of mindfulness apps

Alexander Daros seated holding a bookDr. Alexander Daros and the MAST Lab published research showing value in interim supports for those waiting for psychological services (photo care of Alexander Daros)

By Kate Hargreaves 

As demand for mental health care rises in hospitals and private practice, waitlists for these essential services continue to grow. 

That’s why assistant professor of psychology, Alexander Daros, and his research team began investigating innovative interim solutions to support people while they wait. 

Mobile Arctic lab puts science in motion and makes it more accessible

Female Bunting Rock GabionFemale Snow bunting in a wire-rock gabion in Iqaluit, Nunavut [photo courtesy S. Simard-Provençal].

By Sara Elliott 

Next summer, a team of scientists will travel across the Arctic tundra in a new mobile research and training lab. 

As they collect data in Iqaluit, they hope to better understand how the rapidly declining snow bunting — an Arctic-breeding songbird that winters in southern Canada — is responding to urban development in the North. 

Researchers investigate potential health risks linked to Arctic permafrost thaw

the down gradient form the slump which shows  a network  of mud flows , iron oxide (rusty looking) microbial mats which have colonized the melted perma frostA researcher stands below the slump, where muddy water flows through a network of channels. Rust-coloured microbial mats cover the surface, growing where the permafrost has melted. [Photo courtesy of Chris Weisener]

By Sara Elliott

As the once permanently frozen ground known as permafrost rapidly thaws in the Canadian Arctic, emerging health threats loom.  

Researchers at the University of Windsor are using modern science and Indigenous knowledge to address the emerging issue.  

Poet Marie Howe, UWindsor alum, honoured with Pulitzer

Poet Marie HoweUniversity of Windsor alumna Marie Howe has been awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection New and Selected Poems. (Courtesy Marie Howe)

By Lindsay Charlton

Acclaimed poet Marie Howe (BA 1974) was stunned to learn she had been awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection New and Selected Poems.

“It was absolutely stunning and surprising that this happened,” she recalled. “I heard about the news from a friend who called me and said, ‘You won the Pulitzer.’ I didn’t believe it. For about three or four minutes, we went back and forth, and I told him, ‘Stop, that’s not even funny, don’t even say that.’”