Windsor public school board hires first wellness teacher to focus on student mental health The Greater Essex County District School Board hired its first wellness teacher to help students learn more about their mental health. (James Arthur Gekiere/Belga Mag/AFP/Getty Images) With reports of children's mental wellness significantly impacted over the course of the pandemic, Windsor's English public school board has created a new role to help youth prioritize their mental health. The Greater Essex County District School Board hired Jodi Nolin as its first wellness teacher at a time when youth across the country have faced increasing stress and pressures due to the pandemic. Nolin told CBC Radio's Windsor Morning that she is helping students bring more attention to their mind by engaging in mental health literacy lessons, social-emotional learning and mindfulness techniques. "When I come in the room, I tell them when we're in school we spend a lot of time developing our intelligence and strengthening our body to sports and exercise but historically…
Research team to develop sensors to aid transition to green energy sources Chemistry professors Bulent Mutus, Marcus Drover, and Simon Rondeau-Gagné are collaborating on a research project to develop sensors making storage and distribution of hydrogen safer Three UWindsor researchers are joining forces to help Canada transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources. They are developing sensing equipment that will enhance how dihydrogen gas is stored and transported. Chemistry professors Marcus Drover, Simon Rondeau-Gagné, and Bulent Mutus received a $366,400 NSERC Alliance Missions grant for their two-year proposal, “Strengthening Green Energy Sources in Canada: Optical Sensors for Safe Storage and Distribution of Hydrogen.” Each researcher will bring a unique expertise to the table. In a three-tiered approach, Dr. Drover will begin the process by making new small molecules that will interact with dihydrogen. Dr. Rondeau-Gagné will take those molecules, incorporate them into polymers and make extended thin film networks of these new materials…
Research probes effect of pandemic on treatment of people who use fentanyl Social work professor Adrian Guta is helping lead a research project exploring how the COVID-19 pandemic affected people who use fentanyl and those who treat them. How has the pandemic affected people who use the potentially deadly street drug fentanyl and those who treat them? A research project by University of Windsor social work professor Adrian Guta will delve into this question, shedding light on the wider impact the pandemic has had on Canadian society. “In the context of the pandemic, there’s been a lot of change in how we’re responding to opioid addiction and the drug crisis,” Dr. Guta said. “We know the pandemic has complicated access to care and treatment.” Guta, together with University of Toronto researcher Carol Strike, has been awarded a grant of nearly $322,000 from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to study how the COVD-19 pandemic and the nationwide epidemic of overdoses are changing addictions medicine. UWindsor postdoctoral fellow Katherine Rudzinski…
Local study finds elevated distress levels in kids due to COVID-19 pandemic Many Canadians are struggling with stress and depression due to the coronavirus pandemic. PHOTO BY POSTMEDIA FILE PHOTO A WE-Spark Health Institute study of the mental health of local children during the COVID-19 pandemic found elevated levels of psychological distress and increased symptoms across five of seven psychiatric disorders. The study involving 317 families and over 630 individuals found increased incidences of depression, irritability, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. “We sought to look at how widespread each disorder was and we found it varied depending on the month we looked at,” said the study’s lead researcher Lance Rappaport, who is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Windsor. “Just how pronounced it was was connected to when a child felt unsafe.” The study, which was released Monday, was conducted between June 2020 and December 2021 and included children, parents or caregivers. WE-SPARK…
UWindsor researchers discover children’s mental health worsens when COVID-19 cases surge Photo courtesy CTV News Windsor A new scientific paper by University of Windsor researchers shows the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of Ontario children. Overall, researchers say children and their parents or caregivers reported a broad impact of the pandemic on children’s psychological distress and psychiatric symptoms during the research phase from June 2020 through December 2021. The report shows children reported greater worry that they or a loved one might contract COVID-19 during months when there were more cases, hospitalizations, and deaths related to COVID-19. Greater worry that they or a loved one might contract COVID-19 was associated with elevated psychological distress and elevated symptoms on five of seven psychiatric disorders - depression, irritability, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder. “Given the current public debate about public health measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19, particularly as…
Research experience leads physics grad to pursue PhD Research opportunities in her undergrad career have propelled Renée Goodman to Oxford University for doctoral studies in condensed matter physics. Undergraduate research opportunities in the Faculty of Science paid off for recent graduate Renée Goodman (BSc 2021), who is heading to Oxford University in the fall to pursue doctoral studies in condensed matter physics. Focusing on organic electronics and polymer chemistry research, Goodman prepared novel stretchable conjugated polymers and self-healing materials in Simon Rondeau-Gagné’s materials chemistry lab from 2018 through 2021. A professor of chemistry and biochemistry, Dr. Rondeau-Gagné says Goodman became an important part of his group and greatly contributed to advancing his research. “In her research, Renée performed a lot of organic synthesis, and used state-of-the-art instruments and techniques to characterize new materials in addition to starting an entirely novel direction in my research program on doped polymer…
Windsor-Essex public school board trustees to discuss bringing mask mandate back for students Trustees with the Greater Essex County District School Board will discuss re-implementing a mask mandate for its students, following a decision from Ottawa school board trustees to do the same, according to GECDSB officials. Though it's not clear exactly when it will go into effect, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board voted Tuesday night to reinstate mandatory masking in its schools. According to board chairperson Alicia Higgison, trustees with the GECDSB have been expressing concern over recent pandemic metrics. Among those metrics are updated data from WE SPARK HEALTH Institute which shows the level of COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex's wastewater has reached a record high since the pandemic started. The previous record was set on Jan. 14. On that date, the research institute recorded the viral level in wastewater at 178,055 SARS-CoV-2 gene copies per litre. But that record was broken this week when that number rose to 193,200 on Apr. 11. Despite that metric, however, Higgison…
Researchers seeking to close the carbon cycle by creating fuels from waste Chemistry professor Marcus Drover is leading a research team exploring ways to turn waste carbon dioxide into fuels. Chemistry professor Marcus Drover and his team are flipping the script on carbon dioxide production in their latest research project. They will look at taking an environmentally damaging industry by-product and turning it into an efficient fuel source. Dr. Drover is the recipient of an Imperial Oil University Research Award for $25,000 for a one-year project called “Oxygenated Fuel Products from Gaseous Carbon Waste Streams.” Typically when a fuel is burned, it produces the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide as a by-product. Drover intends to use this waste product as a fuel source. “We are looking to close the carbon cycle by transforming carbon dioxide into fuels or fuel additives, which in turn are combusted to produce more carbon dioxide,” says Drover. “The strategy isn’t to mitigate carbon dioxide production, it is to close the carbon cycle as we take the…
Fundraising event to support healthcare innovation in Windsor-Essex WE-SPARK Health Institute is hosting a fundraising event to support health care innovation in Windsor/Essex. It is the first event since the launch of the health institute. “WE-SPARK officially launched in March 2020, just as a world-wide pandemic was at our doorstep” said Dr. Lisa Porter executive director. “Now we have an opportunity to gather in person to showcase the incredible research happening across our region, recognize the people behind all the great work, and focus our efforts on ensuring we can continue to support health research in the future.” The “Cheers to Hope” event will raise funds for health research grants that bring together experts from its four partner institutions – Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, St. Clair College, the University of Windsor and Windsor Regional Hospital – as well as collaborators across the Windsor/Essex region, Canada, and internationally. “Our local research community went into overdrive to activate and operationalize a large…
