{"id":74671,"date":"2021-03-15T10:04:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T14:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=74671"},"modified":"2025-10-17T18:32:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:32:47","slug":"covid-19-tackling-pandemic-issues","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/covid-19-tackling-pandemic-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"A Year of COVID-19: Tackling Pandemic Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n A Year of COVID-19: Tackling Pandemic Issues\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

It\u2019s been a full year since the world changed dramatically. Over the past 12 months, Carleton University students, faculty, researchers and staff have been tackling problems posed by the pandemic in a broad range of areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization<\/a> formally called the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic and by March 16, remote classes were beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vice-President
Vice-President (Research and International) Rafik Goubran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Soon after, Carleton began providing grants to nearly 60 researchers so they could quickly get moving on projects in areas such as e-health, autonomous systems, data science, machine learning, elder care, epidemiology and more.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen a crisis touches every aspect of our lives, researchers from all academic backgrounds have a valuable contribution to make,\u201d said Rafik Goubran, Carleton\u2019s vice-president (Research and International).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\"Prof.
Prof. Christina Gabriel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe COVID-19 pandemic is multi-faceted and our response to it must be equally so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many researchers have also received funding from external sources for COVID-related projects, such as Prof. Chantal Trudel<\/a> from the School of Industrial Design, whose team, including partners from the Bruy\u00e8re Research Institute, are improving long-term care spaces by designing them in a way that protects residents and staff from infectious disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carleton faculty also received support to look at longer-term impacts of the pandemic, including Political Science Prof. Christina Gabriel\u2019s<\/a> effort to investigate the experiences of immigrant women in Canada, a group that statistically faces more precarious employment and higher unemployment rates than Canadian-born women.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Felix<\/figure>\n\n\n

Carleton Alumni Involved in Research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Nine Carleton research projects are supporting a broad range of work involving collaborations with the not-for-profit sector and industry to address pandemic-related challenges. They involve faculty from diverse departments, including Biology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Chemistry, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, the School of Computer Science and Systems and Computer Engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Carleton alumni who are working in the community are also contributing to Canada\u2019s pandemic response, such as Aerospace graduate Felix Denomme, who played a key role in Ottawa-based B-Con Engineering\u2019s quick shift last spring from making optical systems for communications satellites to producing face shields for health care workers and earned praise from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Felix
Felix Denomme<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our responsibility as engineers to do whatever we can to help during this crisis,\u201d said Denomme.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cOne of the huge draws for people who go into engineering is that you get to be creative and apply your problem-solving skills to help people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The hallmark of Carleton\u2019s response to COVID-19 inside the university been a focus on supporting students, faculty and staff who have continued learning, teaching and conducting research while facing unprecedented challenges working from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"President
President Benoit-Antoine Bacon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am deeply grateful for the immense creativity, flexibility and compassion our community has shown in adapting to this extended and challenging public health crisis,\u201d President Benoit-Antoine Bacon<\/a> said in a recent message to the community<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cAs we look for the proverbial light at the end of the pandemic tunnel,\u201d Bacon wrote, \u201cwe continue preparations to emerge from the pandemic stronger than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Classes Quickly Shift Online<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Immediately after the March 2020 pivot, when classes and meetings were swiftly moved to online platforms, Teaching and Learning Services<\/a> and Information Technology Services<\/a> triaged teaching and technical issues, while Carleton\u2019s Students and Enrolment<\/a> division emphasized the importance of taking care of one\u2019s mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring exams were successfully shifted online, as were well-being resources, although Health and Counselling Services staff did see some students in person in addition to virtual appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Strategic<\/a>
Strategic Integrated Plan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This focus on wellness is central to Carleton\u2019s Strategic Integrated Plan<\/a> (SIP), which was approved by the university\u2019s Senate and Board of Governors last spring before being officially released<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, Carleton was named one of the National Capital Region\u2019s top employers<\/a> for the seventh straight year, with judges noting the university\u2019s robust healthy workplace culture (supported by the Healthy Workplace Strategic Plan<\/a>) and its responses to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the past year, another constant at Carleton has been frequent communications with the university community about pandemic procedures and policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These messages, which are compiled and available on Carleton\u2019s COVID-19 website<\/a>, not only supply essential information to help students, faculty and staff navigate their days, but also provide a sense of reassurance and connection \u2014 a reminder of the resources that are available, including compassionate grading options and an emergency fund for students with immediate needs, and the importance of supporting one another through difficult times.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Stock<\/figure>\n\n\n

—
\nMore Stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a full year since the world changed dramatically. Over the past 12 months, Carleton University students, faculty, researchers and staff have been tackling problems posed by the pandemic in a broad range of areas. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization formally called the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic and by March […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":65765,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[28,54,13],"cu_story_tag":[1918,1921,1919,1929],"class_list":["post-74671","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_type-health-wellness","cu_story_type-research-discovery","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-engineering-and-design","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-public-and-global-affairs","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-science","cu_story_tag-president"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/74671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/74671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98582,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/74671\/revisions\/98582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=74671"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=74671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}