Featured Spotlights
Researcher Spotlight
Innovative Solutions for De-risking Species Detections in Tidal Energy Environmental Effects Monitoring Programs
Using new environmental DNA (eDNA) technology, it’s possible to rapidly identify and determine quantities of different fish species in high-flow marine conditions.
Success Stories
Testing of a New Turbine Blade Design and Blade Materials
Because there’s not yet a standardized, optimal way of extracting power from tidal currents, many tidal industry technologies are currently being tested around the world. The Testing of a New Turbine Blade Design and Blade Materials project used Canada’s largest university aquatic research facility – Dalhousie University’s Aquatron – to demonstrate the potential of a new hydrokinetic tidal turbine design.
Researcher Spotlight
Maricarmen Guerra Paris
“For me, it has been exciting to learn how to use new instruments and to test how the different instruments and techniques, that we typically use in the field, work and compare in both controlled environments and energetic tidal channels. This research matters because turbulence measurements are difficult in highly-energetic environments, turbulence varies spatially and in time, and it is not easy to accurately capture its variability.”
Researcher Spotlight
Dr. Martin Fowler
OERA-funded projects: Piston Coring Geochemistry Program and Morocco-Nova Scotia Conjugate Margin Program
A chance encounter at a summer job during his studies toward a BSc in chemistry and geochemistry helped Martin Fowler find the exact intersection of chemistry and geology best suited to him.
Student Spotlight
Christopher Sangster
Time spent as a child on the beaches of his home province instilled in Chris Sangster a natural curiosity about his surroundings. “My interest in geology began when I was quite young,” he says. “My parents and I spent a lot of time exploring the beaches around Nova Scotia and collecting interesting rocks and sometimes fossils which we would come across.”
Student Spotlight
Jessie Lilly
For Jessie, holiday trips to Vancouver Island, charter fishing excursions with her dad and becoming a certified diver at the age of 15 sparked her interest in marine ecology. These experiences made her aware of the tough balance between sustaining fisheries and preserving ecosystems, leading her to want to pursue fisheries science.
Researcher Spotlight
Dr. Alex Hay
If not for the classic 1937 seafaring movie Captains Courageous and inspiration from the sailor and sea captain Angus Walters, Alex Hay might have become an astrophysicist instead of an ocean physicist. “It was a coin toss,” between the two, he says.
Researcher Spotlight
Dr. Lukas Swan
Lukas Swan was first introduced to renewable energy and battery electric vehicles while growing up in California. “I became fascinated with energy use, saw a unique role for my skills, and applied them to batteries for grid storage,” he says.
Researcher Spotlight
Dr. Georgia Pe-Piper
Looking out for the best interests of her students resulted in a mid-career shift in focus for Dr. Georgia Pe-Piper.
Success Stories
