PEARL - Paleoecological Environmental Assessment and Research Laboratory

🎉 Big congratulations to Dr. Cale Gushulak and Dr. Branaavan Sivarajah, who both successfully defended their PhDs (remotely!) over the last couple of months. We will miss you so much at PEARL but can't wait to see what you take on next. 🎉

PEARL PhD candidate Matthew Duda is the lead author on a recently published article in Proc. Roy Soc Lond B. that is generating some media attention. Hundreds of years of bird droppings on Baccalieu Island (64 km north of St John's, Newfoundland, Canada) have provided clues to the long-term dynamics of the vulnerable seabird, Leach’s Storm-petrel.

To read more visit:

Baccalieu Baccalieu

Earlier this month, Brian Cu***ng was announced as the 2020 recipient of the Frank Rigler Award. The Rigler award is the highest honour given by the Society of Canadian Limnologists (SCL), for lifetime achievement in Canadian Limnology.

Congratulations Brian!

http://socanlimnol.ca/awards/frank-h-rigler/

With another academic year beginning, the Limnology Seminar Series is back! Our meetings are on Wednesdays at 12:30-1:30 pm.

Follow the link (http://post.queensu.ca/~pearl/seminar.htm) to check out our current schedule.

If you research freshwater and are interested in giving a talk, contact Liz ([email protected]) or Graham ([email protected]).

post.queensu.ca Geochemical and mineralogical characterization of arsenic in lake sediments impacted by legacy gold mining in the Yellowkife region, Northwest Territories, Canada

John Glew Celebration of Life; 2-4 pm, Sunday April 28

Dear friends of John Glew,

We at PEARL, along with John Glew’s family, will be holding a celebration of his life. Anyone who has ever had the good fortune to know John could not help but be impressed at how many facets there were to his character and how rich his life was - and that he never wasted a moment of it. This is an occasion for us to remember him and all of the wonderful things that he accomplished, and what he meant to us all. We will have on display a sampling of John’s work and things that he was passionate about (which are many), some of his amazing contributions to science, his love of drawing and painting, his curiosity for understanding how things are made, and his unique view on life.

It would be wonderful if you could drop by between 2 pm and 4 pm on Sunday, April 28, 2019 at the atrium in the Biosciences Complex (116 Barrie St), Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario.

A few people will speak regarding John’s life and influence, but most of the ceremony will be mingling with old friends. There will be some light refreshments (cookies, pies).

We thought it would be nice to have a memory board, so if you would like, you can bring along your favourite photo, or write some thoughts, or any other memento that has a special connection to John, and you can pin it to the board. If you have photos that you would like us to display on a digital frame, feel free to send them to us ahead of time so we can include them. We realize that there are likely many who cannot make it to the celebration - but maybe you would like to contribute by sending us your special memories, photos or thoughts

As we may not have everybody's email addresses, feel free to pass this message along to friends of John Glew.

Please email to let us know if you plan on attending as it would be important for us to have some estimate on numbers, etc.

We look forward to seeing you then,

On behalf of the Glew family and PEARL,

Kathleen Rühland ([email protected])
John P. Smol ([email protected])

A few weeks ago, we lost a member of the PEARL family when John R. Glew passed away very suddenly, but peacefully, in his sleep.

John was remarkably skilled in both science and instrument development, stemming from his early work as a tool and die maker in Sheffield, England, prior to moving to Canada in 1968. Once in Canada, he enrolled in a BSc program at Trent University as a mature student, graduated, then continued on to obtain a BEd from Queen’s University. After a few years of teaching, he decided to pursue graduate studies, first at McMaster University where he received an MSc in physical geography, then returning (now in his 40s) to Queen’s University to begin a PhD in Geography. However, he did not graduate.

A chance encounter in the Queen’s Geography Department between John Glew and a new biology professor named John Smol (only a few days into his professorship), set him down a new path.

Upon leaving the Geography Department, John began working with the young PEARL lab, designing and building specialized equipment, and making remarkable drawings (he illustrated all of John Smol’s books). Today he is best known for his various Glew corers (originally designed for early acid rain investigations), that are now used on all seven continents. John was an inaugural winner of the International Paleolimnology Association Service Award, presented in Glasgow in 2012 for “dedicated work in developing and improving new corers and samplers used by paleolimnologists worldwide”.

John officially retired a few years ago, but continued on as a part-time employee at PEARL and we saw him almost every day. The afternoon before he died, John seemed fine and as argumentative as usual, at 76 years old.

John is survived by his brother (Peter Marshall-Glew) of Victoria, British Columbia and his family, as well as thousands of friends.

John, we miss you. Rest in peace.

Congratulations to Dr. Clare Nelligan , who successfully defended her PhD thesis yesterday! We are sad that Clare will be leaving us, but wishing her all the best at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks!

Congratulations to Brigitte Simmatis, who successfully defended her MSc thesis yesterday! We are excited that Bri will be staying on at PEARL for her PhD!

PEARL sampling of the Turkey Lakes Watershed (north of Sault Ste. Marie).

Survey on Graduate Student & Postdoc Funding | Science & Policy Exchange Science & Policy Exchange (SPE) wants to hear what YOU think about Canadian federal funding for students and postdoctoral fellows.