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2010 SSMARt Innovation Award Winners
To view the live-blog from the 2010 SSMARt Awards, please click here
Innovation Youth of the Year: Chris Rugo (St. Mary’s College), Madeline Trottier (Blind River Public School).
Chris Rugo is a grade eleven student at St. Mary’s College. He has maintained an academic average of over ninety percent. Chris created the spirit video for St. Mary’s that was posted on YouTube and received a great deal of attention locally. As a volunteer, Chris has produced two videos for Sault Ste. Marie highlighting the city as being a green community and an alternative energy capital of North America. Chris will also be leading a team of students in the development of SMC Today, an online media broadcasting tool that will feature bi-weekly news pages and social media elements.
Madeline Trottier is a grade eight student at Blind River Public School. Madeline has consistently maintained an average of over 90 percent throughout elementary school. She has volunteered with the Ministry of Natural Resources on numerous wildlife surveys and as a historical re-enactor at the Blind River Timber Village. She is active in several school clubs and is her school’s student council president. Madeline has displayed a passion for science and biodiversity. She was invited to compete in the Canada-wide Science fair in Peterborough, where her project placed in the top one percent of all entries and received an honourable mention. Madeline also submitted an art essay for a contest with Ontario Nature this past winter. Her painting on biodiversity won first place and she was awarded a $500 savings bond and $250 for her class to take part in a nature related activity.
Innovation Student/Graduate of the Year: Jessica Shanahan.
Jessica was a volunteer as an undergraduate student at Algoma University’s Brain-Computer Interface Lab for several years. Upon graduating from Algoma U, she obtained a FEDNOR internship to work as the lab coordinator and she has been working formally there now for the last several months. In this capacity she has been able to procure several thousand dollars in grant money for the lab and has also assisted with studies and developing and conducting experiments.
Best Website Award: www.mollymediastudios.com by Fuzednotions Creative Studio and Molly Media Studios.
Innovation Leader of the Year: Dr. Basil Arif, team leader, Great Lakes Forestry Centre with Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service.
The research carried out under Dr. Arif’s leadership is focused on developing environmentally-friendly methods of controlling forest pests. In 2003 his group was awarded a $4.6 million dollar grant from Genome Canada to develop a virus for control of the spruce budworm. His work has resulted in two worldwide generic patents. Dr. Arif was invited by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to serve in a scientific group investigating the relationship between tsetse flies and their viruses. He has represented Canada internationally at many conferences and has given over one hundred invited presentations to national and international audiences.
Innovation Educator of the Year: Dr. David Brodbeck (Algoma University).
Dr. Brodbeck is an associate professor in the Psychology Department at Algoma U. He has shown innovation and creativity by making extensive use of social media in his teaching approach. For the last four years Dr. Brodbeck has been recording and podcasting his lectures. His podcasts have consistently ranked in the top fifty most-downloaded on iTunes podcast directory. His students’ average grades have improved by five and a half percent since he began podcasting. Dr. Brodbeck uses social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and Instant Messaging to stay in touch with students and answer questions outside of regular office hours. He is also a frequently-cited researcher on comparative cognition and he has been nominated for several teaching awards in the past in both Ontario and Newfoundland.
Innovation Researcher of the Year: Dr. Barry Lyons (Natural Resources Canada – Canadian Forest Service).
Dr. Lyons coordinates a team of research staff at the Great Lakes Forestry Centre that studies the emerald ash borer, a highly destructive insect originally from western Asia. Dr. Lyons’ team has led the development of innovative sampling and detection methods for this pest and has developed an operational plan for control in urban centres. When infested trees were found in Sault Ste. Marie in 2008, Dr. Lyons took on the role of advisor to the city, and based on his guidance the city developed a management plan for ash trees. He has also helped develop a plan that integrates tree removal and the use of a plant-based insecticide developed at GLFC to reduce and control Emerald Ash Borer populati
Innovation Project of the Year: Central Algoma Freshwater Coalition.
In early May of 2010, the Central Algoma Freshwater Coalition undertook a shoreline restoration project at Stobie Creek in Desbarats, Ontario (Stobie Creek Restoration Project). To combat the effects of shoreline erosion CAFC planted three hundred and sixty-five trees along a large stretch of shoreline with the help of over one hundred student volunteers from five classes at Central Algoma Secondary School. Before planting the trees, students took part in an educational seminar by CAFC where they learned about the importance of water quality in our local ecosystems. CAFC also engaged the community be recruiting volunteers and partner organizations to supervise the project and by publicizing its work through the media.
Innovation Company of the Year: Superior Energy Solutions.
Superior Energy Solutions focuses on commercial and residential solar installations. Superior Energy Solutions has over one megawatt’s worth of projects in development for the next year and revenue forecasts for existing projects totals over nine-hundred and fifty thousand dollars annually. The company has completed the first Ontario Power Authority micro-fit contract in Sault Ste. Marie. This project is also the first in Sault Ste. Marie to be installed and operated under the Ontario Power Authority’s microFIT contract. Located at Kensington Place Apartments, the solar installations will produce approximately 12,000 kilowatts of power while reducing two hundred and two tons of CO2 over the next 25 years. The company is also working closely with Sault College on research and development of new proprietary technology.
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