Biology

By Sara Elliott 

Every Saturday in Iqaluit, Patricia Rokitnicki spends her morning with community members searching the city for snow bunting nests.

That's not a distraction from her PhD research — it is her PhD research. 

By Sara Elliott

This summer, science student Kitti Keller learned a lesson on how melding biology and physics could one day help identify bacterial pathogens that threaten human health.

“We're hoping to develop a technology so one day you can go to the clinic, give a tiny blood or urine sample and get immediate results showing what's making you sick,” says the third-year biology student.

By Sara Elliott

In Iqaluit, Nunavut, University of Windsor researchers are helping young people turn the birds around their homes into a gateway to Arctic science, conservation training and community-based wildlife monitoring.

The team received a $172,200 three-year grant for the project through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) PromoScience program.

By Sara Elliott

Catherine Febria’s research begins in the smallest streams, where land, water and people meet. Its impact is now being recognized nationally.

From microbes and mushrooms to watersheds across the Great Lakes Basin, the University of Windsor ecologist uses science to understand and restore freshwater ecosystems while building relationships with the communities that depend on them.

UWindsor alumna Sarah Mitton (BSc '18) has taken home her second straight gold in the Commonwealth Games, boosting Canada toward a third-place finish out of 74 Commonwealth nations and territories. 

The former Lancer shot put phenom, who also represented Canada at both the 2020 and 2024 summer Olympics, is a U Sports title holder and was U Sports female athlete of the year in 2018.  

By Sara Elliott 

Isabelle Hinch’s ability to explain her research on how childbirth affects breast cancer risk in three minutes has earned her a spot in a national pitch competition. 

Her talk, Breastfeeding helps reduce the risk of breast cancer…but, explores the complicated truths surrounding breast cancer risk after childbirth. 

By Sara Elliott 

Every night during spring migration, millions of birds cross Canada in darkness, calling out to one another to stay together. 

Until now, no one was listening. 

By Sara Elliott

When they were children, Rachel Koop and Riley Beach unknowingly shared the same dream: becoming marine biologists.

Growing up by the Great Lakes, it seemed unlikely.

By Kate Hargreaves

While warmer spring weather seems to be slow to arrive this year, one of the surest signs of spring on campus is the often-noisy activity of Canada geese. 

Whether honking from the rooftops of tall buildings or nesting in the grass — or occasionally hissing at a passer-by who comes too close — Canada geese are ubiquitous at the University of Windsor. 

By Sara Elliott

Offering free violin lessons to children is a “bright spot” in Avery Ng’s life.  

The fourth-year integrative biology student has been involved with Windsor’s The String Project since its inception four years ago. Volunteers teach violin to pupils in grades 3 to 8 at Frank W. Begley and Marlborough.