Satinder Brar, James and Joanne Love Chair in Environmental Engineering at York University, studies emerging contaminants in wastewater. She creates the techniques to identify new pollutants such as pharmaceutical compounds that are hazardous at extremely low concentrations, and then eliminate them in ways that contribute positively to the ecosystem.

Siobhan Angus, Athina Peidou, and Stephanie Raposo are York University grad students and the 2020 recipients of the Governor General’s Gold Medal for academic excellence. Angus, an art historian, studies the visual culture of resource extraction in Canada. Peidou, an earth and space scientist, studies gravitational maps produced from satellite-based measurements. Raposo, a psychologist, studies sexual satisfaction and intimate relationships.

Dr. James Smith of York University is an engineering professor with a passion for robots and teaching. His robotic models of the human cervix and of quadrupeds teach us how biomimetic approaches to modeling can constrain our thinking, and how collaborating with students in our research can unlock new possibilities.