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NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards 2024 Recipients

About the Award

The Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) are meant to stimulate a student’s interest in research in the natural sciences and engineering. Students work closely together with eligible FASS faculty that can supervise their research. The awards are also meant to encourage students to undertake graduate studies and pursue a research career in these fields.

2024 Recipients

Leah Marshall
Leah Marshall

Leah Marshall
Supervisor: Jo-Anne LeFevre (Department of Cognitive Science, Psychology)

In the Winter semester of 2024, I had the opportunity to explore the acquisition of number knowledge and cardinality in preschool-age children, through an independent study with Dr. Rebecca Merkley and Dr Jo-Anne LeFevre. I also had the chance to assist an honours thesis student with data collection surrounding these topics in an early learning centre. These experiences have grown my passion for learning about mathematical cognition, and left me quite interested in how children learn numbers. I’m looking forward to learning everything I can in the Math Lab this summer! – Leah

About Leah’s Project:
Cardinality is the understanding of the purpose of counting. To assess this conceptual knowledge, however, we need to have children show us what they know. Leah will assist in developing and testing measures of cardinality with preschool children.  Leah will also explore rational number arithmetic among adults to better understand how rational numbers (like fractions and percentages) are used in everyday situations.

Benjamin Schellenberg
Supervisor: Murray Richardson

As a student in Geomatics, I am very interested in remote sensing, particularly satellite information and imaging. Given this, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to use such technology through this research, focusing on identifying and monitoring stream acidification using optical and multispectral satellite imagery. This is a great opportunity to gain insights and experience in remote sensing techniques while also contributing to meaningful research. Also, as a minor in math, I am keen to see how mathematical methods may be applied to this project and in remote sensing more broadly. – Benjamin

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Teju Oladipo
Teju Oladipo

Teju Oladipo
Supervisor: Deepthi Kamawar

Over the past few years, I have been involved as a volunteer in the CRDL lab, where I have enjoyed learning about pre-schoolers saving behaviour and future-oriented cognition. I am thrilled about this award as it will allow me to engage with the lab in a more hands-on way. With this award, I hope to apply the knowledge I have acquired in the classroom and further develop my understanding of future-oriented cognition. – Teju 

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Rowan Dowd
Supervisor: Cassandra Morrison

Rowan Dowd
Rowan Dowd

I am a third-year Psychology undergraduate.  I am very excited and grateful to have been granted the opportunity to continue working in a field of myinterest.  My desire to research this topic is deeply personal, rooted in a familial history of memory decline and cognitive issues. I thus have firsthand experience in dealing with the everyday repercussions of subjective cognitive decline and the underlying cognitive performance and brain structures. Through this work I hope to develop a deeper understanding of these issues as well as improve my ability to work with large datasets, increase my statistical analysis skills, and learn new content analysis methodology. As well, I look forward to learning about the neurobiological mechanisms underlying aging and development in the hopes of increasing our understanding of them and bettering the future of individuals as they experience age-related cognitive decline. – Rowan

About Rowan’s Project:
With increased age people experience a trajectory of normal changes in their cognitive abilities, which may or may not be accompanied by subjective feelings of worsened cognition. Rowan will explore this experience of subjective cognitive decline and how this perception relates to actual cognitive performance and underlying brain structure. This project holds significant implications for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms underlying aging and development.

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Veronica Cramm
Veronica Cramm

Veronica Cramm
Supervisor: John Anderson (Department of Cognitive Science)

Analyzing MRI data is a specialized skill that I am very excited to be able to explore. I am additionally passionate about ensuring inclusivity is a priority in research to ensure generalizable results. This project combines these two things, allowing me to be part of the change, improving upon the current research standard, which is something I’m very proud to be a part of. – Veronica

About Veronica’s Project:
Consider how movement can blur a photo. Similarly, MRI volumes, which are like sequential photo stacks, are vulnerable to motion distortion. The impact of movement varies among individuals; notably, older adults often move more than younger ones. To avoid misinterpreting brain differences due to movement rather than age, and to prevent excluding clinically relevant participants, we must manage this variability carefully. Veronica’s USRA project addresses this challenge innovatively by applying propensity score matching. This technique mitigates noise without eliminating those most affected clinically from our study.