Frontier Issue 1 May 2006

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Y MDocket no.: 1127Version no: 2

Client : UBC ResearchDate: 2005 April 03Item: Frontier magazine

Size: 8.5x11.75 inchesLogos: reproPhotos: fpo

Line Screen: 150 lineFonts: DIN, A Garamond ProProofed by: gq

A Journal of Research and Discovery > Issue 01 > May 2006

VOLCANOES ON VENUSLessons for earth

THE POWER OF ONEWhy even a single species matters

IN SEARCH OF ASYLUMExploring immigration laws

IS THE WORLDGETTING SAFER? Human Security Report

Offi ce of the Vice President Research

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3May 2006

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All trapping is the responsibility of the printer/pre-press company outputting fi nal fi lm/plates.

Deep in the soil of New Zealand, buried traces of a richer moment in the country’s history form an archeological record of a world now vanished. Many layers down, strips of nitrogen-rich earth are evidence ofa time when billions of seabirds nested, their droppings completing an immense transfer of nutrients from the ocean to the land. It only took a short while, probably less thana century, for the enormous population of seabirds to be decimated by an unfamiliar foe. Th eir demise caused a key change in the soil; the insects that feasted on their litter died off , setting in motion a larger change that profoundly aff ected the entire country.

“We’ve just woken up to what really happened in New Zealand — until recently nobody had any idea,” says UBC Professor of Zoology Tony Sinclair, who’s been consulting with the New Zealand govern-ment. “Th ere must have been an explosion in the rat population of astronomical proportions — the whole island must have been swimming with rats. Th e birds just stood around and got eaten. Th ey had no time in which to evolve behaviour to deal with them.” Th e rats ransacked the nestsof the seabirds and in doing so, caused a complete shift in the ecosystem. Without the nutrients the seabirds supplied, a rich

fauna simply disappeared. One famous example is the Moa, a species of large, ostrich-like bird that is now completely extinct. With no written or oral record of the time, the evidence lay buried under-ground until the story was pieced together. “It’s an eye-opener on how the world works and how it has changed,” says Sinclair.

Th e Pacifi c rat still lives in New Zealand and is now regarded as a benign pest. But when the rats arrived, in the canoes of the Maori people who traveled to the island, they were one of the fi rst mammals to land there. Th ere are marine mammals native to New Zealand; seals and dolphins can travel

TONY SINCLAIR IS UNCOVERING HOW INFINITESIMAL CHANGESTO AN ECOSYSTEM CAN PRODUCE DRASTIC RESULTS FOR US ALL

IN THIS ISSUE >

Species Showdown 03Removing just one species froman ecosystem can have radicalresults. Tony Sinclair’s grand-scalebiodiversity knockout experimentsets out to determine why

V is for Volcanology 06By studying volcanoes on Venus,Mark Jellinek is advancing thescience of predicting volcanicactivity on earth

In Search of Asylum 09Immigration laws have been shiftingunder the social and political pressures of globalization, according to Catherine Dauvergne, and the effects are notwhat you’d expect

FREEDOM FROM FEAR 12A decline in the number of wars,genocides and human rightsabuses over the past decade? TheHuman Security Report 2005 uncoverssurprising trends in global confl ict

Digging Deeper 16UBC’s Mineral Deposit ResearchUnit is advancing the long-termsuccess of the exploration and miningindustry within British Columbia

Wood Wide Web 18Melanie Jones and Dan Durall aren’tlooking to the treetops for clues aboutthe “wood wide web.” They’re lookingto the soil at fungi that are crucial torenewing our forests

Chatman’s Dilemma 20Stephen Chatman fl ourishes in the demanding world of experimental composition. His choral compositionsare winning him high praise as well

Cover photo> Panos Pictures/Lana Slezic

Welcome to the inaugural issue of frontier, the University of British Columbia’s new journal of research.

As part of UBC’s vision to “conduct outstanding research to serve the people of British Columbia, Canada and the world,” we are proud to showcase some of the innovative research activities — and the minds behind them — inthe pages that follow.

At UBC, we are dedicated to fostering an environment that will incubate ideas, offer world-calibre and meaningful research, advance knowledge and impact the communities we serve.

The broad spectrum of disciplines across UBC mesh to create a unique environment for idea exchange and research collaboration that stimulates creativity and innovation. We are deeply committed to being an active and accessible member of local, national and international communities. This commitment, we believe, is evident through our participation in a varietyof research ventures, from the sequencing of the SARS genome to addressingthe changing face of global violence and championing human security inthe 21st century.

The activities described in the pages that follow are just a few examplesof the myriad of research activity taking place at UBC. I hope you fi nd themto be of interest, and welcome your feedback.

Enjoy this fi rst issue of frontier.

Dr. John Hepburn, Vice President Research

A MESSAGE FROMTHE VICE PRESIDENTRESEARCH

SPECIES SHOWDOWN

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3May 2006

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Deep in the soil of New Zealand, buried traces of a richer moment in the country’s history form an archeological record of a world now vanished. Many layers down, strips of nitrogen-rich earth are evidence ofa time when billions of seabirds nested, their droppings completing an immense transfer of nutrients from the ocean to the land. It only took a short while, probably less thana century, for the enormous population of seabirds to be decimated by an unfamiliar foe. Th eir demise caused a key change in the soil; the insects that feasted on their litter died off , setting in motion a larger change that profoundly aff ected the entire country.

“We’ve just woken up to what really happened in New Zealand — until recently nobody had any idea,” says UBC Professor of Zoology Tony Sinclair, who’s been consulting with the New Zealand govern-ment. “Th ere must have been an explosion in the rat population of astronomical proportions — the whole island must have been swimming with rats. Th e birds just stood around and got eaten. Th ey had no time in which to evolve behaviour to deal with them.” Th e rats ransacked the nestsof the seabirds and in doing so, caused a complete shift in the ecosystem. Without the nutrients the seabirds supplied, a rich

fauna simply disappeared. One famous example is the Moa, a species of large, ostrich-like bird that is now completely extinct. With no written or oral record of the time, the evidence lay buried under-ground until the story was pieced together. “It’s an eye-opener on how the world works and how it has changed,” says Sinclair.

Th e Pacifi c rat still lives in New Zealand and is now regarded as a benign pest. But when the rats arrived, in the canoes of the Maori people who traveled to the island, they were one of the fi rst mammals to land there. Th ere are marine mammals native to New Zealand; seals and dolphins can travel

TONY SINCLAIR IS UNCOVERING HOW INFINITESIMAL CHANGESTO AN ECOSYSTEM CAN PRODUCE DRASTIC RESULTS FOR US ALL

IN THIS ISSUE >

Species Showdown 03Removing just one species froman ecosystem can have radicalresults. Tony Sinclair’s grand-scalebiodiversity knockout experimentsets out to determine why

V is for Volcanology 06By studying volcanoes on Venus,Mark Jellinek is advancing thescience of predicting volcanicactivity on earth

In Search of Asylum 09Immigration laws have been shiftingunder the social and political pressures of globalization, according to Catherine Dauvergne, and the effects are notwhat you’d expect

FREEDOM FROM FEAR 12A decline in the number of wars,genocides and human rightsabuses over the past decade? TheHuman Security Report 2005 uncoverssurprising trends in global confl ict

Digging Deeper 16UBC’s Mineral Deposit ResearchUnit is advancing the long-termsuccess of the exploration and miningindustry within British Columbia

Wood Wide Web 18Melanie Jones and Dan Durall aren’tlooking to the treetops for clues aboutthe “wood wide web.” They’re lookingto the soil at fungi that are crucial torenewing our forests

Chatman’s Dilemma 20Stephen Chatman fl ourishes in the demanding world of experimental composition. His choral compositionsare winning him high praise as well

Cover photo> Panos Pictures/Lana Slezic

Welcome to the inaugural issue of frontier, the University of British Columbia’s new journal of research.

As part of UBC’s vision to “conduct outstanding research to serve the people of British Columbia, Canada and the world,” we are proud to showcase some of the innovative research activities — and the minds behind them — inthe pages that follow.

At UBC, we are dedicated to fostering an environment that will incubate ideas, offer world-calibre and meaningful research, advance knowledge and impact the communities we serve.

The broad spectrum of disciplines across UBC mesh to create a unique environment for idea exchange and research collaboration that stimulates creativity and innovation. We are deeply committed to being an active and accessible member of local, national and international communities. This commitment, we believe, is evident through our participation in a varietyof research ventures, from the sequencing of the SARS genome to addressingthe changing face of global violence and championing human security inthe 21st century.

The activities described in the pages that follow are just a few examplesof the myriad of research activity taking place at UBC. I hope you fi nd themto be of interest, and welcome your feedback.

Enjoy this fi rst issue of frontier.

Dr. John Hepburn, Vice President Research

A MESSAGE FROMTHE VICE PRESIDENTRESEARCH

SPECIES SHOWDOWN

5May 2006

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“Just how much can we destroy before it starts to spiral downwards, out of control? That’s the most important issue that’s facing humans right now.”

anywhere. And two species of fruit bat were also native; but there were no terrestrial mammals at all. So the other inhabitants of the islands — the birds, lizards, and insects — had never developed any behaviour to protect themselves against a predator of this kind. It would have taken about 1,000 years for that kind of behaviour to evolve, but the rats weren’t going to wait.

What happened in New Zealand is a dramatic example of the kind of change Sinclair works tirelessly to understand,and to prevent if possible. He explains the concept of what he calls a “keystone” species; it might be operating on a low level, perhaps a microbe in the soil. But if it disappears, then the whole ecosystem will change rapidly. Any interference with the keystone group, human or otherwise, could have drastic results. “Just how much can we destroy before it starts to spiral downwards, out of control? Th at’s the most important issue that’s facing humans right now, I think,”he suggests.

Putting together the pieces of the system, and fi guring out how it functions, is Sinclair’s life work. It’s a job that has taken him all over the world, but Tanzania, where he was raised, has always been a primary area of study. Beginning in 1965, he built a detailed record of the Serengeti National Park, one of the world’s oldest and most diverse natural ecosystems. Sinclair and his

colleagues have created, and continue to create, a comprehensive picture of life in the park that includes the large mammals, birds and insects — right down to the microbes in the soil. He’s published the results in a series of books entitled Serengeti; the fourth book is in the planning stages. His study of 40 years forms an ongoing sequence, one of the longest detailed records of any place on earth.

While the Serengeti is a unique area,the results of Sinclair’s study there have applications elsewhere. “Th e Serengeti isan important baseline concept,” he claims. “We are using the Serengeti to understand how the whole system works and how it changes if you start interfering with it. So I can compare human areas where much of it has been removed with a natural area where it’s relatively intact.”

Th e complex and biodiverse world ofthe Serengeti off ers a good contrast to an environment such as the one found in Canada’s north, another area of interest for Sinclair. “Does more species mean more stability? If you take out more species, does that mean it becomes more unstable and therefore more prone to these collapses?We actually don’t know the answer to this.” So Canada’s far north, with very few species, serves as another kind of extreme: “If you take some things out of that kind of environment, does that have a greater or lesser impact?”

Sinclair envisions a new experiment, what he refers to as “a grand-scale biodiversity knockout experiment,” or as he calls it, BIOKO, which proposes to use a gradient of natural diversity from Canada’s high Arctic to the Prairies. Researchers will remove a key species from a controlled study plot and then further disturb the plot, for example, by adding fertilizer. Th e eff ect of removing the species from the plot will be monitored for three years. Roy Turkington, a colleague in the botany department, designed the pilot study and is already at work in the Yukon.

If the pilot study is successful, similar experiments will be done in a range of geographical environments. Th is is a massive, worldwide project that will be run from UBC’s Integrated Biodiversity Laboratory,a new facility that will be built with $33 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the BC Knowledge Devel-opment Fund, and funding from UBC. Th e new lab is due to be completed in fi ve years.

As Sinclair nears his retirement from formal academic life, he may not steer this project to its completion, but it will form part of his legacy to UBC: “Th at’s a 20-year program — something that I have suggested and others can decide if they want to follow on.” He envisions a new generation of ecosystem specialists from all over the world getting involved in knockout research.

Tony Sinclair is a professor at the Beaty Biodiversity Research Centre at UBC where he was its fi rst director. The current director is Professor Dolph Schluter.Tony Sinclair’s projects have received funding from NSERC, CFI, the BC Knowledge Development Fund, National Geographic and the British EcologicalSociety. He is supported by a Senior Killam ResearchFellowship from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Illustration> kaldor.com

5May 2006

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“Just how much can we destroy before it starts to spiral downwards, out of control? That’s the most important issue that’s facing humans right now.”

anywhere. And two species of fruit bat were also native; but there were no terrestrial mammals at all. So the other inhabitants of the islands — the birds, lizards, and insects — had never developed any behaviour to protect themselves against a predator of this kind. It would have taken about 1,000 years for that kind of behaviour to evolve, but the rats weren’t going to wait.

What happened in New Zealand is a dramatic example of the kind of change Sinclair works tirelessly to understand,and to prevent if possible. He explains the concept of what he calls a “keystone” species; it might be operating on a low level, perhaps a microbe in the soil. But if it disappears, then the whole ecosystem will change rapidly. Any interference with the keystone group, human or otherwise, could have drastic results. “Just how much can we destroy before it starts to spiral downwards, out of control? Th at’s the most important issue that’s facing humans right now, I think,”he suggests.

Putting together the pieces of the system, and fi guring out how it functions, is Sinclair’s life work. It’s a job that has taken him all over the world, but Tanzania, where he was raised, has always been a primary area of study. Beginning in 1965, he built a detailed record of the Serengeti National Park, one of the world’s oldest and most diverse natural ecosystems. Sinclair and his

colleagues have created, and continue to create, a comprehensive picture of life in the park that includes the large mammals, birds and insects — right down to the microbes in the soil. He’s published the results in a series of books entitled Serengeti; the fourth book is in the planning stages. His study of 40 years forms an ongoing sequence, one of the longest detailed records of any place on earth.

While the Serengeti is a unique area,the results of Sinclair’s study there have applications elsewhere. “Th e Serengeti isan important baseline concept,” he claims. “We are using the Serengeti to understand how the whole system works and how it changes if you start interfering with it. So I can compare human areas where much of it has been removed with a natural area where it’s relatively intact.”

Th e complex and biodiverse world ofthe Serengeti off ers a good contrast to an environment such as the one found in Canada’s north, another area of interest for Sinclair. “Does more species mean more stability? If you take out more species, does that mean it becomes more unstable and therefore more prone to these collapses?We actually don’t know the answer to this.” So Canada’s far north, with very few species, serves as another kind of extreme: “If you take some things out of that kind of environment, does that have a greater or lesser impact?”

Sinclair envisions a new experiment, what he refers to as “a grand-scale biodiversity knockout experiment,” or as he calls it, BIOKO, which proposes to use a gradient of natural diversity from Canada’s high Arctic to the Prairies. Researchers will remove a key species from a controlled study plot and then further disturb the plot, for example, by adding fertilizer. Th e eff ect of removing the species from the plot will be monitored for three years. Roy Turkington, a colleague in the botany department, designed the pilot study and is already at work in the Yukon.

If the pilot study is successful, similar experiments will be done in a range of geographical environments. Th is is a massive, worldwide project that will be run from UBC’s Integrated Biodiversity Laboratory,a new facility that will be built with $33 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the BC Knowledge Devel-opment Fund, and funding from UBC. Th e new lab is due to be completed in fi ve years.

As Sinclair nears his retirement from formal academic life, he may not steer this project to its completion, but it will form part of his legacy to UBC: “Th at’s a 20-year program — something that I have suggested and others can decide if they want to follow on.” He envisions a new generation of ecosystem specialists from all over the world getting involved in knockout research.

Tony Sinclair is a professor at the Beaty Biodiversity Research Centre at UBC where he was its fi rst director. The current director is Professor Dolph Schluter.Tony Sinclair’s projects have received funding from NSERC, CFI, the BC Knowledge Development Fund, National Geographic and the British EcologicalSociety. He is supported by a Senior Killam ResearchFellowship from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Illustration> kaldor.com

6 May 2006

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All trapping is the responpre-press company outp

7May 2006

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nsibility of the printer/utting fi nal fi lm/plates.

is forVolcanology

Mark Jellinek is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at UBC. But that doesn’t mean his interests have any earthly limits; in fact, much of his work takes place on planets no human has ever visited. His work in comparative planetology means he can use information about other planets to enhanceour knowledge about the processes that govern the earth. >

Volcanoes are funda-mentally cool, says

Mark Jellinek.Especially ifthey’re on

Venus

Photo> kaldor.com

6 May 2006

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7May 2006

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is forVolcanology

Mark Jellinek is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences at UBC. But that doesn’t mean his interests have any earthly limits; in fact, much of his work takes place on planets no human has ever visited. His work in comparative planetology means he can use information about other planets to enhanceour knowledge about the processes that govern the earth. >

Volcanoes are funda-mentally cool, says

Mark Jellinek.Especially ifthey’re on

Venus

Photo> kaldor.com

8 May 2006

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9May 2006

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One aspect of the earth’s mechanics that holds particular fascination for Jellinek is the sight of an erupting volcano; in fact, it was lava fl ow that got him going in the fi rst place. “I was on the big island of Hawaii, where you can sit and watch an eruption into the ocean. You can actually watch the island grow a few thousand square metres every day. It’s astonishing.” Previous to this, he had also spent time in the GalapagosIslands, where as an undergraduate he worked on an exploded volcano. He explains

that most volcanoes make eruptions that humans can outrun, but the one he was exploring was one that humans could not.

Th e volcanoes sparked Jellinek’s curios-ity: “I got interested in the bigger problems by trying to understand how volcanoes work. I wanted to understand why there are volcanoes around here, why only a few are found in the middle of the earth, and how the spatial distribution and the style of the volcanoes can give you information about how the interior of the earth works. And generally, how the interior of the planet evolved through time.”

He explains that volcanoes are directly related to the processes that govern how the planets cool off . “Planets are just big heat engines, essentially. Th e core of the earth is made of liquid iron; above it is the mantle, which is solid, and on top of the mantle fl oat the continents. Th e oceanic lithosphere is essentially the rock that holds up the ocean. Plate tectonics is the process of stirring the mantle; it happens as a result of the oceanic lithosphere bending and going down beneath

continents, which stirs up the mantle and melts it. If you stand back and look at the earth over a long time — a billion years — and you do a time-lapse movie of it, the stirring is really vigorous. Th e planet is very good at cooling itself off . Volcanoes are surface expressions of this process and their erupting is another way to draw heat out of the mantle.”

But understanding these processes on earth was only the beginning for Jellinek. Soon he was making comparisons between

what can be observed on earth, and what could be determined about other planets. Venus holds particular interest: it’s the same size and the same mass as the earth, and is subject to the same amount of gravity. Yet it has no plate tectonics. Jellinek wants to know why. And in trying to answer that question, other questions pop up: why are volcanoes scattered all over the surface of Venus? If Venus and earth are approximately the same age (4.5 billion years old), then why is the crust of Venus only 700 million years old? Why is it so young if the planet has no plate tectonics? Did the entire mantle of the planet buckle down and collapse?

In trying to resolve some of these ques-tions, Jellinek points to models that suggest Venus did at one time have plate tectonics. In a whole new spin on global warming, he also comments that the atmosphere of Venus could potentially turn plate tectonics back on. On earth, he says, we worry about an increase in temperature of 0.1 Kelvin every 10 years. On Venus, the temperature is going up several full degrees in that same

10-year period. Because there’s no ocean on Venus to absorb the excess carbon dioxide, the planet cannot cool itself eff ectively. Learning more about the greenhouse eff ect on Venus off ers a clear picture of what happens when the atmosphere of a planet continues to warm up, with no process to cool it down.

Investigating the mechanics of a planet such as Venus or Mars isn’t easy. But Jellinek says we actually know more about the topography of Mars than we do about the earth. Th e most eff ective measure of topog-raphy is done with laser altimetry, in which a satellite travels around a planet thousands of times, criss-crossing orbits, and shootsa laser at it. It measures the amount of time the laser takes to travel from the satelliteto the surface and back to the satellite,and the topography is revealed. Th is worksbest on Mars, because the laser cannotpenetrate cloud cover and Mars has no clouds. Venus is always covered in clouds so its topography is measured by radar only. And the earth of course, has partial cloud cover, which interferes with the laser process. Knowledge of topography, com-bined with information about gravity and the presence or absence of volcanoes on a planet, can reveal its interior processes.

Jellinek’s work contributes to the fun-damental body of knowledge that we have about the earth and its interior processes, but it also has some immediate practical applications. One is predicting volcanic activity, which is especially important given that a huge fraction of the earth’s population lives on active volcanoes. An ambitious new project in New Zealand aims to further our predictive ability about volcanoes, not only there but in other countries as well. Jellinek is asking some big questions about the earth, and looking for some very small and precise answers.

LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT ON VENUS OFFERS A CLEAR PICTURE OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE ATMOSPHERE OF A PLANET CONTINUES TO WARM UP, WITH NO PROCESS TO COOL IT DOWN.

Ignored within the confi nes of an obscure detention centre, fi ve men of Muslim descent are being held without the possibility of trial. Th eir crimes have yet to be identifi ed, much less substantiated. They received no warning, no warrant and certainly have no prospect of adequate legal defense. While incidences like this have surfaced internationally before, not many would believe this is currentlythe case in Canada.

Not long after Sept. 11, 2001, the Canadian government implemented anti-terrorism legislation that eff ectively made it easier to detain non-citizens, using secret evidence, who are suspected ofbeing related to terrorist organizations. Surprisingly, it is immigration legislation — not anti-terrorism law — that is being used to detainthe fi ve men indefi nitely. Th is year, the Supreme Court of Canada will decide again on the constitutionality of these immigrationlaws. Until then, the fi ve men must wait.

“If we send them back to where they came from, they’re likely to be tortured or killed. If we keep them here, it appears we don’t have enough information to put them on trial,” says Catherine Dauvergne,

Catherine Dauvergne probes the global

pressures that are challenging the

state of immigrationlaws in Canada and

around the world

IN SEARCH OF

Mark Jellinek’s projects receive funding from NSERC and the CFI. He is a CIAR scholar at UBC. The National Science Foundation and NASA support his work in the US. In New Zealand, he has received funding from the Marsden Foundation. He also became a scholar in CIAR’s Earth System Evolution Program in 2003.

ASYLUM

Photo> Getty Images/Getty Images News/David McNew

8 May 2006

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9May 2006

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One aspect of the earth’s mechanics that holds particular fascination for Jellinek is the sight of an erupting volcano; in fact, it was lava fl ow that got him going in the fi rst place. “I was on the big island of Hawaii, where you can sit and watch an eruption into the ocean. You can actually watch the island grow a few thousand square metres every day. It’s astonishing.” Previous to this, he had also spent time in the GalapagosIslands, where as an undergraduate he worked on an exploded volcano. He explains

that most volcanoes make eruptions that humans can outrun, but the one he was exploring was one that humans could not.

Th e volcanoes sparked Jellinek’s curios-ity: “I got interested in the bigger problems by trying to understand how volcanoes work. I wanted to understand why there are volcanoes around here, why only a few are found in the middle of the earth, and how the spatial distribution and the style of the volcanoes can give you information about how the interior of the earth works. And generally, how the interior of the planet evolved through time.”

He explains that volcanoes are directly related to the processes that govern how the planets cool off . “Planets are just big heat engines, essentially. Th e core of the earth is made of liquid iron; above it is the mantle, which is solid, and on top of the mantle fl oat the continents. Th e oceanic lithosphere is essentially the rock that holds up the ocean. Plate tectonics is the process of stirring the mantle; it happens as a result of the oceanic lithosphere bending and going down beneath

continents, which stirs up the mantle and melts it. If you stand back and look at the earth over a long time — a billion years — and you do a time-lapse movie of it, the stirring is really vigorous. Th e planet is very good at cooling itself off . Volcanoes are surface expressions of this process and their erupting is another way to draw heat out of the mantle.”

But understanding these processes on earth was only the beginning for Jellinek. Soon he was making comparisons between

what can be observed on earth, and what could be determined about other planets. Venus holds particular interest: it’s the same size and the same mass as the earth, and is subject to the same amount of gravity. Yet it has no plate tectonics. Jellinek wants to know why. And in trying to answer that question, other questions pop up: why are volcanoes scattered all over the surface of Venus? If Venus and earth are approximately the same age (4.5 billion years old), then why is the crust of Venus only 700 million years old? Why is it so young if the planet has no plate tectonics? Did the entire mantle of the planet buckle down and collapse?

In trying to resolve some of these ques-tions, Jellinek points to models that suggest Venus did at one time have plate tectonics. In a whole new spin on global warming, he also comments that the atmosphere of Venus could potentially turn plate tectonics back on. On earth, he says, we worry about an increase in temperature of 0.1 Kelvin every 10 years. On Venus, the temperature is going up several full degrees in that same

10-year period. Because there’s no ocean on Venus to absorb the excess carbon dioxide, the planet cannot cool itself eff ectively. Learning more about the greenhouse eff ect on Venus off ers a clear picture of what happens when the atmosphere of a planet continues to warm up, with no process to cool it down.

Investigating the mechanics of a planet such as Venus or Mars isn’t easy. But Jellinek says we actually know more about the topography of Mars than we do about the earth. Th e most eff ective measure of topog-raphy is done with laser altimetry, in which a satellite travels around a planet thousands of times, criss-crossing orbits, and shootsa laser at it. It measures the amount of time the laser takes to travel from the satelliteto the surface and back to the satellite,and the topography is revealed. Th is worksbest on Mars, because the laser cannotpenetrate cloud cover and Mars has no clouds. Venus is always covered in clouds so its topography is measured by radar only. And the earth of course, has partial cloud cover, which interferes with the laser process. Knowledge of topography, com-bined with information about gravity and the presence or absence of volcanoes on a planet, can reveal its interior processes.

Jellinek’s work contributes to the fun-damental body of knowledge that we have about the earth and its interior processes, but it also has some immediate practical applications. One is predicting volcanic activity, which is especially important given that a huge fraction of the earth’s population lives on active volcanoes. An ambitious new project in New Zealand aims to further our predictive ability about volcanoes, not only there but in other countries as well. Jellinek is asking some big questions about the earth, and looking for some very small and precise answers.

LEARNING MORE ABOUT THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT ON VENUS OFFERS A CLEAR PICTURE OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE ATMOSPHERE OF A PLANET CONTINUES TO WARM UP, WITH NO PROCESS TO COOL IT DOWN.

Ignored within the confi nes of an obscure detention centre, fi ve men of Muslim descent are being held without the possibility of trial. Th eir crimes have yet to be identifi ed, much less substantiated. They received no warning, no warrant and certainly have no prospect of adequate legal defense. While incidences like this have surfaced internationally before, not many would believe this is currentlythe case in Canada.

Not long after Sept. 11, 2001, the Canadian government implemented anti-terrorism legislation that eff ectively made it easier to detain non-citizens, using secret evidence, who are suspected ofbeing related to terrorist organizations. Surprisingly, it is immigration legislation — not anti-terrorism law — that is being used to detainthe fi ve men indefi nitely. Th is year, the Supreme Court of Canada will decide again on the constitutionality of these immigrationlaws. Until then, the fi ve men must wait.

“If we send them back to where they came from, they’re likely to be tortured or killed. If we keep them here, it appears we don’t have enough information to put them on trial,” says Catherine Dauvergne,

Catherine Dauvergne probes the global

pressures that are challenging the

state of immigrationlaws in Canada and

around the world

IN SEARCH OF

Mark Jellinek’s projects receive funding from NSERC and the CFI. He is a CIAR scholar at UBC. The National Science Foundation and NASA support his work in the US. In New Zealand, he has received funding from the Marsden Foundation. He also became a scholar in CIAR’s Earth System Evolution Program in 2003.

ASYLUM

Photo> Getty Images/Getty Images News/David McNew

10 May 2006

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11May 2006

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for humanitarian and compassionate exceptions, which are acceptedor declined at the discretion of the immigration minister. Th isis the offi cial “loophole” in Canadian immigration law, and thereis almost no information on how or why decision-makers in Canadian immigration use this legal provision. Discovering the nature of these exceptions is an area that Dauvergne is currently dissectingin another research-project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

But it is the stories of refugee claimants who don’t make it into Canada that make the biggest impression on Dauvergne. Her research takes her into the traumatic lives of refugee seekers. Many people come to Canada with the hopes of fi nding a better life but for one reason or another do not fi t into the framework of Canada’s immigration legislation.

“It’s very diffi cult to talk to people who you know have no legal redress and particularly if you believe them,” she says. “Th at’s a diffi cult point to bring across in public discourse. Just because you get rejected doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong.”

Much of Dauvergne’s research on migration law manifests itself into policies and recommendations that she hopes governments and agencies involved in immigration can take steps to implement. However, on a broader scale, she hopes her research can contribute to a greater public

discourse that will make people think diff erently about migration.“I’m keen on people being better informed of what Canada’s

international commitments to refugees actually are. Th ere’s a huge amount of misinformation about refugees that is produced almost daily in the Canadian press,” she declares.

Migration law has been Dauvergne’s life work since she graduated from UBC’s Faculty of Law about a decade ago. In addition to her book on globalization and research-project with SSHRC, she is fi lling her already-busy schedule with two more projects. Funded by the Australian Research Council, she is researching fi rst-instance refugee decision-making in six countries with a colleague at the Universityof Sydney. She is also in the fi nal stages of revising a collaborative report funded by Status of Women Canada entitled “Gendering Canada’s Refugee Process” that examines gender in the Canadian refugee determination process.

Dauvergne admits it’s sometimes hard to be an academic lawyer because there’s always the pull to become an advocate for refugee cases. But she shows no signs of forgoing her research for the life ofa practicing lawyer.

“Th ere’s at least a decade of interest left for me,” she says. “I think immigration law is interesting because it is ignored [and] I’m interested in that place at the margin.”

UBC associate professor and Canada Research Chair in migration law. Canada, it seems, is not unique in using its migration legislation to put citizens in indefi nite detention. “It’s a crisis of liberal democracy to decide what to do with these people.”

Security politics in the realm of migration law is just one aspect of globalization and illegal migration that Dauvergne is researching. Since 2002, she has been investigating how migration laws around the globe have been shifting under contemporary social and political pressure due to globalization. Published in 2005, her book Humani-tarianism, Identity and Nation: Migration Laws in Canada and Australia traces the links between immigration’s tradition of nation-building and the challenge of admitting people who do not refl ect a country’s national interests. Delving deeper into the nexus of globalizationand migration law, her newest fi ndings will be documented in a forthcoming book, Making People Illegal: Globalization, Soverignty and Migration Law, which will be published in 2007.

Traditional discourse surrounding globalization and law tends to revolve around economic law and the global accumulation and movement of capital. Dauvergne says globalization’s eff ect onimmigration law is creating an important yet little-studied trend: fewer disadvantaged (i.e. poor) people are seeking political asylum despite the fact that the number of displaced peoples has remained constant. One of the ambitions in her forthcoming book is to investigate why this phenomenon exists.

“Over the past decade, most prosperous Western nations have been involved in cracking down on migration and [that’s] partially to do with a very successful legal maneuvering that makes it impossible to seek asylum,” she says. “States can then turn around and say there are fewer people than ever before that are seeking asylum when it’s really a product of eff orts to legally defi ne people out of the system.”

Each year, it is estimated that 30,000 people apply for refugee status in Canada. In addition, there are about 10,000 applications

“It’s a crisis of liberal democracy todecide what to do with these people.”

Photos left to right> Getty Images/Getty Images News/David McNew > Panos Pictures/Andrew Testa > Panos Pictures/Yann Mingard/Strates > Paul Joseph

Catherine Dauvergne is an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in migration law at UBC’s Faculty of Law. Her research is supported by grants from SSHRC, the Australia Research Council and Status of Women Canada.

10 May 2006

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11May 2006

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for humanitarian and compassionate exceptions, which are acceptedor declined at the discretion of the immigration minister. Th isis the offi cial “loophole” in Canadian immigration law, and thereis almost no information on how or why decision-makers in Canadian immigration use this legal provision. Discovering the nature of these exceptions is an area that Dauvergne is currently dissectingin another research-project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

But it is the stories of refugee claimants who don’t make it into Canada that make the biggest impression on Dauvergne. Her research takes her into the traumatic lives of refugee seekers. Many people come to Canada with the hopes of fi nding a better life but for one reason or another do not fi t into the framework of Canada’s immigration legislation.

“It’s very diffi cult to talk to people who you know have no legal redress and particularly if you believe them,” she says. “Th at’s a diffi cult point to bring across in public discourse. Just because you get rejected doesn’t mean you’ve done anything wrong.”

Much of Dauvergne’s research on migration law manifests itself into policies and recommendations that she hopes governments and agencies involved in immigration can take steps to implement. However, on a broader scale, she hopes her research can contribute to a greater public

discourse that will make people think diff erently about migration.“I’m keen on people being better informed of what Canada’s

international commitments to refugees actually are. Th ere’s a huge amount of misinformation about refugees that is produced almost daily in the Canadian press,” she declares.

Migration law has been Dauvergne’s life work since she graduated from UBC’s Faculty of Law about a decade ago. In addition to her book on globalization and research-project with SSHRC, she is fi lling her already-busy schedule with two more projects. Funded by the Australian Research Council, she is researching fi rst-instance refugee decision-making in six countries with a colleague at the Universityof Sydney. She is also in the fi nal stages of revising a collaborative report funded by Status of Women Canada entitled “Gendering Canada’s Refugee Process” that examines gender in the Canadian refugee determination process.

Dauvergne admits it’s sometimes hard to be an academic lawyer because there’s always the pull to become an advocate for refugee cases. But she shows no signs of forgoing her research for the life ofa practicing lawyer.

“Th ere’s at least a decade of interest left for me,” she says. “I think immigration law is interesting because it is ignored [and] I’m interested in that place at the margin.”

UBC associate professor and Canada Research Chair in migration law. Canada, it seems, is not unique in using its migration legislation to put citizens in indefi nite detention. “It’s a crisis of liberal democracy to decide what to do with these people.”

Security politics in the realm of migration law is just one aspect of globalization and illegal migration that Dauvergne is researching. Since 2002, she has been investigating how migration laws around the globe have been shifting under contemporary social and political pressure due to globalization. Published in 2005, her book Humani-tarianism, Identity and Nation: Migration Laws in Canada and Australia traces the links between immigration’s tradition of nation-building and the challenge of admitting people who do not refl ect a country’s national interests. Delving deeper into the nexus of globalizationand migration law, her newest fi ndings will be documented in a forthcoming book, Making People Illegal: Globalization, Soverignty and Migration Law, which will be published in 2007.

Traditional discourse surrounding globalization and law tends to revolve around economic law and the global accumulation and movement of capital. Dauvergne says globalization’s eff ect onimmigration law is creating an important yet little-studied trend: fewer disadvantaged (i.e. poor) people are seeking political asylum despite the fact that the number of displaced peoples has remained constant. One of the ambitions in her forthcoming book is to investigate why this phenomenon exists.

“Over the past decade, most prosperous Western nations have been involved in cracking down on migration and [that’s] partially to do with a very successful legal maneuvering that makes it impossible to seek asylum,” she says. “States can then turn around and say there are fewer people than ever before that are seeking asylum when it’s really a product of eff orts to legally defi ne people out of the system.”

Each year, it is estimated that 30,000 people apply for refugee status in Canada. In addition, there are about 10,000 applications

“It’s a crisis of liberal democracy todecide what to do with these people.”

Photos left to right> Getty Images/Getty Images News/David McNew > Panos Pictures/Andrew Testa > Panos Pictures/Yann Mingard/Strates > Paul Joseph

Catherine Dauvergne is an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in migration law at UBC’s Faculty of Law. Her research is supported by grants from SSHRC, the Australia Research Council and Status of Women Canada.

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13May 2006

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“IN A WORLD WHERE WAR,TERRORISM AND HUMANITARIAN CRISES CAN SEEM ALL-PERVASIVE,THE HUMAN SECURITY REPORT OFFERS A RARE MESSAGE OF HOPE”Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Desmond Tutu Peace Centre

Photo> Panos Pictures/Frits Meyst

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13May 2006

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“IN A WORLD WHERE WAR,TERRORISM AND HUMANITARIAN CRISES CAN SEEM ALL-PERVASIVE,THE HUMAN SECURITY REPORT OFFERS A RARE MESSAGE OF HOPE”Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Desmond Tutu Peace Centre

Photo> Panos Pictures/Frits Meyst

14 May 2006

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15May 2006

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frontier: What is the Human Security Report?Zoe Nielsen: Th e Human Security Report maps the incidence, intensity and consequences of global violence. In addition to updating the core data sets that measure the number of confl icts, the instances of one-sided violence (the killing of innocent civilians), their location and the number of people killed, each Report will also have a thematic focus.

Th e idea for the Human Security Report came about when Professor Andrew Mack, director of the Human Security Centre, was working at the United Nations as the headof strategic planning in Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s offi ce. Mack asked the question, “Is what the UN doing really making a diff erence?” In the late 1990s, no one could really answer that question.f: What is the goal of the Human Security Report?ZN: We aim to produce evidence for evidence-based policy. No international organization collects information on trends in global security. Governments, policy makers and others working in this area can’t turn to offi cial sources because they simply don’t exist. We are trying to meet that gap. We hope to infl uence policy but we don’t attempt to provide policy prescriptions.As researchers, our role is to highlight the research that’s available and to allow those more appropriately qualifi ed to determine what to do with that information.f: How do you defi ne human security?ZN: We defi ne human security in terms of protecting individuals and communities from violent threats. Human security is about looking at security from the perspective of citizens rather than states.f: What are some of the surprising conclusions that came out of the Human Security Report 2005?ZN: Last year’s Report had two counter-intuitive messages. Th e fi rst was that global political violence has really decreased in the last decade and the second is that the single most compelling explanation for the decrease in political violence is the huge increase in

international activity that has taken place in the wake of the Cold War. We estimate that only about 30 to 40 per cent of UN confl ict prevention and post-confl ict initiatives, which include things like peace operations and disbarment, demobilization and reintegration programs, have been successful. Th at’snot a very high success rate. But when you remember that these activities weren’t really taking place before the end of the Cold War, it becomes clear that the combination of all of these activities has had a huge cumulative eff ect and even partially successful initiatives can bring profound change.f: Why does human security matter to Canadians?ZN: Beyond the humanitarian imperative,it is clear that in a globalized world, what happens beyond our shores has an impact on what happens in the country in which we live. Th is can be in terms of refugee fl ows, infectious diseases or terrorist attacks.f: Why does the general public lack so much knowledge on global confl icts?ZN: A lot of it has to do with the media and the imperative of “if it bleeds, it leads.” It’s

about getting an exciting story out therethat will sell a paper. A story of people getting killed in a particular confl ict is more interest-ing than a story of how fi ghting in a country may or may not have come to an end. In reality, it will take several years before we know whether the drop in battle-deaths represents the end of the confl ict or simplya lull in the fi ghting. Another important issue, as I mentioned earlier, is the lack of offi cial statistics in this area.f: What will be the core focus of the next Human Security Report?ZN: Th e next Report will focus on the war-disease nexus or what we call the hidden costs of war. What has become very clear from the research is that the majority of people who die in areas of confl ict are not killed by bombs or bullets, but from the indirect eff ects such as war-induced disease and malnutrition. We know the ratio of direct to indirect casualties can range from one-to-one, to one-to-twenty and maybe even higher. Th ere are, however, no reliable global estimates on the number of people

who die from the indirect eff ects of confl ict. We want to shed some more light on this issue because the indirect eff ects of war are not only profound and undocumented, but are, in many cases, preventable.f: What is your background?ZN: I’m a lawyer and worked as a clerk fora judge of the Federal Court of Australia. After that, I went to the Fletcher School of Diplomacy where I did a Masters of Law and Diplomacy. From there, I went to the International Peace Academy (IPA) in New York where I was a senior program offi cer on the confl ict prevention program. From IPA, I came to UBC.f: What is the personal appeal of this typeof research?ZN: For me, it’s the interdisciplinary nature of the work that I fi nd very interesting. I get to use skills and knowledge that I developed while studying for both my degrees. It is also very exciting to be working on issues that have not received a lot of attention but yet are vitally important and can make a real diff erence in the lives of many, many people.

While the global media readily gives front page coverage to war-induced death and destruction,more than a decade of positive changes on the global security front has been quietly ignored — until now. Zoe Nielsen, associate director of UBC’s Human Security Centre, and the Centre’s research team have compiled the Human Security Report 2005 — the most comprehensive study of its kind. The Report, which is published by Oxford University Press, but is available in its entirety online, shows that all forms of political violence, except international terrorism, have declined worldwide since the early 1990s.

Photo> Panos Pictures/Martin Adler

“THIS REPORT IS THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL COMPENDIUMOF HUMAN SECURITY RESEARCH EVER PRODUCED. IT SHOULD BE ONTHE DESK OF EVERY POLICYMAKER.” Lloyd Axworthy, President and Vice Chancellor University of Winnipeg, Foreign Minister of Canada 1995–2000

Zoe Nielsen is the associate director of UBC’s Human Security Centre. The Human Security Report is funded by fi ve governments including Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom, with assistance from the Rockefeller Foundation. It is published annually bythe Human Security Centre at UBC’s Liu Institute for Global Issues, where the in-house teamof researchers is complemented by collaborators in Sweden, Norway and the United States.(Photo> Paul Joseph)

14 May 2006

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15May 2006

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frontier: What is the Human Security Report?Zoe Nielsen: Th e Human Security Report maps the incidence, intensity and consequences of global violence. In addition to updating the core data sets that measure the number of confl icts, the instances of one-sided violence (the killing of innocent civilians), their location and the number of people killed, each Report will also have a thematic focus.

Th e idea for the Human Security Report came about when Professor Andrew Mack, director of the Human Security Centre, was working at the United Nations as the headof strategic planning in Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s offi ce. Mack asked the question, “Is what the UN doing really making a diff erence?” In the late 1990s, no one could really answer that question.f: What is the goal of the Human Security Report?ZN: We aim to produce evidence for evidence-based policy. No international organization collects information on trends in global security. Governments, policy makers and others working in this area can’t turn to offi cial sources because they simply don’t exist. We are trying to meet that gap. We hope to infl uence policy but we don’t attempt to provide policy prescriptions.As researchers, our role is to highlight the research that’s available and to allow those more appropriately qualifi ed to determine what to do with that information.f: How do you defi ne human security?ZN: We defi ne human security in terms of protecting individuals and communities from violent threats. Human security is about looking at security from the perspective of citizens rather than states.f: What are some of the surprising conclusions that came out of the Human Security Report 2005?ZN: Last year’s Report had two counter-intuitive messages. Th e fi rst was that global political violence has really decreased in the last decade and the second is that the single most compelling explanation for the decrease in political violence is the huge increase in

international activity that has taken place in the wake of the Cold War. We estimate that only about 30 to 40 per cent of UN confl ict prevention and post-confl ict initiatives, which include things like peace operations and disbarment, demobilization and reintegration programs, have been successful. Th at’snot a very high success rate. But when you remember that these activities weren’t really taking place before the end of the Cold War, it becomes clear that the combination of all of these activities has had a huge cumulative eff ect and even partially successful initiatives can bring profound change.f: Why does human security matter to Canadians?ZN: Beyond the humanitarian imperative,it is clear that in a globalized world, what happens beyond our shores has an impact on what happens in the country in which we live. Th is can be in terms of refugee fl ows, infectious diseases or terrorist attacks.f: Why does the general public lack so much knowledge on global confl icts?ZN: A lot of it has to do with the media and the imperative of “if it bleeds, it leads.” It’s

about getting an exciting story out therethat will sell a paper. A story of people getting killed in a particular confl ict is more interest-ing than a story of how fi ghting in a country may or may not have come to an end. In reality, it will take several years before we know whether the drop in battle-deaths represents the end of the confl ict or simplya lull in the fi ghting. Another important issue, as I mentioned earlier, is the lack of offi cial statistics in this area.f: What will be the core focus of the next Human Security Report?ZN: Th e next Report will focus on the war-disease nexus or what we call the hidden costs of war. What has become very clear from the research is that the majority of people who die in areas of confl ict are not killed by bombs or bullets, but from the indirect eff ects such as war-induced disease and malnutrition. We know the ratio of direct to indirect casualties can range from one-to-one, to one-to-twenty and maybe even higher. Th ere are, however, no reliable global estimates on the number of people

who die from the indirect eff ects of confl ict. We want to shed some more light on this issue because the indirect eff ects of war are not only profound and undocumented, but are, in many cases, preventable.f: What is your background?ZN: I’m a lawyer and worked as a clerk fora judge of the Federal Court of Australia. After that, I went to the Fletcher School of Diplomacy where I did a Masters of Law and Diplomacy. From there, I went to the International Peace Academy (IPA) in New York where I was a senior program offi cer on the confl ict prevention program. From IPA, I came to UBC.f: What is the personal appeal of this typeof research?ZN: For me, it’s the interdisciplinary nature of the work that I fi nd very interesting. I get to use skills and knowledge that I developed while studying for both my degrees. It is also very exciting to be working on issues that have not received a lot of attention but yet are vitally important and can make a real diff erence in the lives of many, many people.

While the global media readily gives front page coverage to war-induced death and destruction,more than a decade of positive changes on the global security front has been quietly ignored — until now. Zoe Nielsen, associate director of UBC’s Human Security Centre, and the Centre’s research team have compiled the Human Security Report 2005 — the most comprehensive study of its kind. The Report, which is published by Oxford University Press, but is available in its entirety online, shows that all forms of political violence, except international terrorism, have declined worldwide since the early 1990s.

Photo> Panos Pictures/Martin Adler

“THIS REPORT IS THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE ANNUAL COMPENDIUMOF HUMAN SECURITY RESEARCH EVER PRODUCED. IT SHOULD BE ONTHE DESK OF EVERY POLICYMAKER.” Lloyd Axworthy, President and Vice Chancellor University of Winnipeg, Foreign Minister of Canada 1995–2000

Zoe Nielsen is the associate director of UBC’s Human Security Centre. The Human Security Report is funded by fi ve governments including Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom, with assistance from the Rockefeller Foundation. It is published annually bythe Human Security Centre at UBC’s Liu Institute for Global Issues, where the in-house teamof researchers is complemented by collaborators in Sweden, Norway and the United States.(Photo> Paul Joseph)

16 May 2006

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17May 2006

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Like a lot of discoveries, fi nding a simple tool to explore for mineral resources was an unintended byproduct of other research. When the people at UBC’s Mineral Deposit Research Unit (MDRU) discovered a new way to fi nd silver, that wasn’t what they were trying to do.

“One of the research associates was waiting for an instrument to cycle up,” explains MDRU Director Dick Tosdal.“He fl ipped on a UV light and fl uorescent minerals appeared in samples collected around silver-bearing veins. Fluorescenceof minerals has been known since the early part of last century. It’s been used to explore for tungsten, but not silver or zinc. We stumbled upon it. You get a lot of interesting research results through serendipity. Of course there’s a lot of hard slugging, andwell thought-out science, but there is always an element of surprise.”

It’s one of the few random aspects of MDRU, set up in 1989 as a cooperative venture between British Columbia’s mining industry and UBC. Mining is the biggest industry in the province. But its economics

don’t allow for much research and develop-ment, partly because its elemental aspects — exploration, extraction and processing — can be severely capital- and labor-intensive. MDRU’s mission is two-fold: undertaking necessary research no single mining company could aff ord, and training successive new generations of researchers and scientists that will keep the mining industry vital.

“Very few of the metal exploration companies do their own research today,” Tosdal says. “Th ey come to others, including us. It’s not contract research; the primary business of MDRU and the university is training the next generation of mining researchers and scientists, and in doing so, the training allows for a better understanding of the formation and controls on mineral deposits, in particular, copper, gold, silver, diamonds and platinum group elements.”

MDRU’s research addresses the mining industry’s most pressing questions, and gives the university a way to collaborate with the industry to help them keep working at their best.

“MDRU provides quality geological

research and is undoubtedly one of the best collaborative research institutions in the world,” says Barrick Gold chief geologist (now retired), C.J. Hodgson. “It not only delivers critical training to new exploration-ists, it improves the ore deposit models that guide our exploration.”

MRDU’s mission also includes short courses and seminars to keep people working in the mining business up to date. Mining companies fi nancially support the unit and its research, and they get access to information, knowledge and techniques that would likely never be discovered otherwise. It’s a model that’s the fi rst of its kind in North America, and one of the best in the world.

“MDRU is its own business unit; we’re completely self-funded,” Tosdal says. “Th e University provides us space, logistical support and has contributed to an endow-ment, but everybody working at MDRUis paid by MDRU. Faculty members within the department are important participants in MDRU projects, but the researchstaff generates its own salary and its own fi nancial support.”

“MDRU plays a vital role in advancing research within the Faculty of Scienceat UBC,” says UBC Vice President Research John Hepburn. “It also serves to strengthen UBC’s ties with industry by providing valuable data and research that benefi ts both the university community and the exploration and mining industry. MDRU continues to play an integral role in the Faculty’s research activities.”

In the 17 years since its inception, MDRU’s reputation, infl uence and scope have expanded. From its base in British Columbia, its people are at work through-out North and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia on six broad research themes.

Examining hydrothermal systems yields crucial information about how mineral deposits are formed: what kinds of resources are there, similar or ancillary resources that could also be present, as well as understand-

ing how metalliferous fl uids move. Th at research is currently being conducted in British Columbia, Nevada, Mongolia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, El Salvador, Australia, Tanzania and Turkey. Studying tectonics, MDRU’s researchers fi nd out how the structures of mineral deposits take shape, and that, in turn, helps mining companies know where to look, and where not to. In probing magmatic ore deposits, researchers fi nd out how iron, titanium, chromium, copper, nickel and platinum were formed billions of years ago during the Archeanand Proterozoic geologic eras. Th ere’s the methodology of exploration, determining which techniques and tools can off er the greatest accuracy with the most effi ciency, including making detailed 3-D models of the subsurface from data collected from the surface. As Canada grows into the third-largest diamond producer on the planet, understanding the kimberlite pipes that bring diamonds closer to the surface is essential. Knowing which minerals occur along with diamonds and how they’re distributed are crucial, too. Finally, there’s work being

done on sustainability and containing greenhouse gases using waste rock and mine tailings.

Tosdal is on top of all of it: “I am a voyeur in the sense that I am interested in everything and involved in everything.” He says he doesn’t have the time he’d like toget intimately involved with the nuts and bolts of each research initiative, because the demands of running MDRU mean he has to be aware of everything the unit does. “We’re running over $2 million of research funds annually. Somebody has to monitorit and make sure all the reports go out and make sure that it’s all done at a high level of academic excellence. And then, at the same time, we have to be looking one or two years down the road at the next opportunity, the next project.” As active research projectsare completed, fresh, highly-trained graduate students become available to the marketfor employment: the majority of these are employed in B.C. and in Canada. In doing so, MDRU will help maintain the long-term feasibility of the exploration and mining culture that is intrinsic to our economy.

“VERY FEW OF THE METALEXPLORATION COMPANIES DO THEIR OWN RESEARCH TODAY.”

THE MINERAL DEPOSIT RESEARCH UNIT’S FINDINGSTRANSLATE INTO MORE EFFECTIVE MINING — ANDA NEW GENERATION OF SCIENCE-SAVVY MINERS

16 May 2006

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17May 2006

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Like a lot of discoveries, fi nding a simple tool to explore for mineral resources was an unintended byproduct of other research. When the people at UBC’s Mineral Deposit Research Unit (MDRU) discovered a new way to fi nd silver, that wasn’t what they were trying to do.

“One of the research associates was waiting for an instrument to cycle up,” explains MDRU Director Dick Tosdal.“He fl ipped on a UV light and fl uorescent minerals appeared in samples collected around silver-bearing veins. Fluorescenceof minerals has been known since the early part of last century. It’s been used to explore for tungsten, but not silver or zinc. We stumbled upon it. You get a lot of interesting research results through serendipity. Of course there’s a lot of hard slugging, andwell thought-out science, but there is always an element of surprise.”

It’s one of the few random aspects of MDRU, set up in 1989 as a cooperative venture between British Columbia’s mining industry and UBC. Mining is the biggest industry in the province. But its economics

don’t allow for much research and develop-ment, partly because its elemental aspects — exploration, extraction and processing — can be severely capital- and labor-intensive. MDRU’s mission is two-fold: undertaking necessary research no single mining company could aff ord, and training successive new generations of researchers and scientists that will keep the mining industry vital.

“Very few of the metal exploration companies do their own research today,” Tosdal says. “Th ey come to others, including us. It’s not contract research; the primary business of MDRU and the university is training the next generation of mining researchers and scientists, and in doing so, the training allows for a better understanding of the formation and controls on mineral deposits, in particular, copper, gold, silver, diamonds and platinum group elements.”

MDRU’s research addresses the mining industry’s most pressing questions, and gives the university a way to collaborate with the industry to help them keep working at their best.

“MDRU provides quality geological

research and is undoubtedly one of the best collaborative research institutions in the world,” says Barrick Gold chief geologist (now retired), C.J. Hodgson. “It not only delivers critical training to new exploration-ists, it improves the ore deposit models that guide our exploration.”

MRDU’s mission also includes short courses and seminars to keep people working in the mining business up to date. Mining companies fi nancially support the unit and its research, and they get access to information, knowledge and techniques that would likely never be discovered otherwise. It’s a model that’s the fi rst of its kind in North America, and one of the best in the world.

“MDRU is its own business unit; we’re completely self-funded,” Tosdal says. “Th e University provides us space, logistical support and has contributed to an endow-ment, but everybody working at MDRUis paid by MDRU. Faculty members within the department are important participants in MDRU projects, but the researchstaff generates its own salary and its own fi nancial support.”

“MDRU plays a vital role in advancing research within the Faculty of Scienceat UBC,” says UBC Vice President Research John Hepburn. “It also serves to strengthen UBC’s ties with industry by providing valuable data and research that benefi ts both the university community and the exploration and mining industry. MDRU continues to play an integral role in the Faculty’s research activities.”

In the 17 years since its inception, MDRU’s reputation, infl uence and scope have expanded. From its base in British Columbia, its people are at work through-out North and South America, Africa, Asia and Australia on six broad research themes.

Examining hydrothermal systems yields crucial information about how mineral deposits are formed: what kinds of resources are there, similar or ancillary resources that could also be present, as well as understand-

ing how metalliferous fl uids move. Th at research is currently being conducted in British Columbia, Nevada, Mongolia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, El Salvador, Australia, Tanzania and Turkey. Studying tectonics, MDRU’s researchers fi nd out how the structures of mineral deposits take shape, and that, in turn, helps mining companies know where to look, and where not to. In probing magmatic ore deposits, researchers fi nd out how iron, titanium, chromium, copper, nickel and platinum were formed billions of years ago during the Archeanand Proterozoic geologic eras. Th ere’s the methodology of exploration, determining which techniques and tools can off er the greatest accuracy with the most effi ciency, including making detailed 3-D models of the subsurface from data collected from the surface. As Canada grows into the third-largest diamond producer on the planet, understanding the kimberlite pipes that bring diamonds closer to the surface is essential. Knowing which minerals occur along with diamonds and how they’re distributed are crucial, too. Finally, there’s work being

done on sustainability and containing greenhouse gases using waste rock and mine tailings.

Tosdal is on top of all of it: “I am a voyeur in the sense that I am interested in everything and involved in everything.” He says he doesn’t have the time he’d like toget intimately involved with the nuts and bolts of each research initiative, because the demands of running MDRU mean he has to be aware of everything the unit does. “We’re running over $2 million of research funds annually. Somebody has to monitorit and make sure all the reports go out and make sure that it’s all done at a high level of academic excellence. And then, at the same time, we have to be looking one or two years down the road at the next opportunity, the next project.” As active research projectsare completed, fresh, highly-trained graduate students become available to the marketfor employment: the majority of these are employed in B.C. and in Canada. In doing so, MDRU will help maintain the long-term feasibility of the exploration and mining culture that is intrinsic to our economy.

“VERY FEW OF THE METALEXPLORATION COMPANIES DO THEIR OWN RESEARCH TODAY.”

THE MINERAL DEPOSIT RESEARCH UNIT’S FINDINGSTRANSLATE INTO MORE EFFECTIVE MINING — ANDA NEW GENERATION OF SCIENCE-SAVVY MINERS

18 May 2006

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19May 2006

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Trying to observe the fungi in their habitats is diffi cult. To meet this challenge, Jones and her colleagues have created what she describes as a window on the underground world: “Soil is very diffi cult to study — as soon as you put a shovel in it to dig it up, you’ve disturbed it. So we’ve installed Plexi-glas root windows into the soil. Th ey start at the soil surface and go down vertically about a metre, with a small trap door that allows us access to the soil. Within a year or two, roots grow against the window and we can study their physiology in situ. Th at’s the in-novative part of what we’re doing: studying the function of roots and hyphae in intact soil in the fi eld. Th is is essential for under-standing what mycorrhizal fungi do for trees. You can culture some of these fungi in the lab but microorganisms turn on diff erent genes depending on their environment. Th at means that their physiology in a Petrie dish in the lab may be very diff erent from their physiology on a root in the soil.”

Using the windows allows Jones to create precise experiments to measure the interac-tion between the soil and the fungi. Her particular research focus is a process in which the fungi excrete hydrolytic enzymes, which break down the organic material in the soil and release nutrients for the rootsof plants, including trees.

In one type of experiment, research associate Shufu Dong places special chromatography paper between the Plexiglas and the soil. Th e chemicals embedded inthe paper change colour when they come into contact with soil enzymes, and the results have confounded some expectations: some of the enzyme activities are higher

around non-mycorrhizal roots than mycorrhizal roots. In order to determine why enzyme activity in one tiny patch of soil diff ers from another patch, graduate student Denise Brooks is taking samples of soil smaller than one cubic centimetre from locations on the soil face that show lots of enzyme activity as well as from locations that look the same but show no enzyme activity. She will extract fungal DNA to fi gure out whether the activity

is associated with specifi c mycorrhizal or decomposer hyphae.

Th rough her work on the fungi and the soil, Jones hopes to further our understand-ing of how forests function. Her goal is supporting the long-term sustainability ofthe forest, whether it’s in terms of silviculture, recovery after wildfi re or climate change.

Durall is particularly focused on learning how the fungi benefi t the establishment of plants after disturbances, either natural ones such as forest fi res or anthropogenic ones such as clear-cuts. His research is of great interest to the forestry industry, which wants to get a clear-cut site back to a stage called “free to grow,” defi ned as the fi rst stage of growth establishment when trees are about chest height. But Durall’s interests run well past the free to grow stage; in one study, graduate student Brendan Twieg compares sites fi ve years after clear-cutting to sites 25

years after clear-cutting. His studies also show that, as far as mycorrhizal fungi are concerned, it appears there’s not much diff erence between clear-cuts and fi res —although he’s quick to point out thatthe mycorrhiza fungi are only part of thewhole picture.

Two years ago, a CFI grant of $2.2 million led to the creation of the Species at Risk and Habitat Studies Centre, which was offi cially opened at UBC Okanagan in March 2006.

Th ere, Durall, Jones and their colleagues can pursue their research goals using state-of-the-art equipment. Th is has enabled Durall to investigate the genetics of the fungi.“I’m interested in comparing the fungi that are on the roots of neighbouring plants and asking whether the fungi are the same individual. And if they are the same individual there’sa high likelihood that the root systems are connected by a shared mycelium. The molecular approach is the only practicalway of determining this because we can’t trace the fi laments through the soil.”

Th e work of Durall, Jones, their students and collaborators has the potential to revolutionize our notion of the forest and the trees. Th e result is a better picture of the forest community and a greater understanding of our impact upon it. As Durall says, “Above ground, the trees appear to be separate; you need to get your below-ground glasses on.”

IT’S ESTIMATED THAT THERE ARE 10,000DISTINCT SPECIES OF MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI.

Walk in the forests of British Columbia and the trees loom large. It can be hard, as they say, to see the forest for the trees, each of which appears to be a separate entity. But Melanie Jones and Daniel Durall, associate professors of biology at UBC Okanagan, have a diff erent view of the forest. To them, the trees are joined together in a functional community. Th ey get this picture because they’re not looking up at the treetops —they’re looking down, underneath the ground. What they see has been describedas the “wood wide web,” in which treesare connected to each other through the soil by the fungi that live on their roots.

Durall and Jones have been studying the role that fungi play in the forest for over a decade. Back in 1997, they collaborated on an article that was published in the journal Nature that was based on the Ph.D. thesis research of Suzanne Simard, who is now a professor at UBC Vancouver. Th e article has since been cited more than 250 times. And their work on the extraordinary collaboration between trees and fungi continues today.

Th ese fungi, known as mycorrhizal fungi, are not parasites on the trees’ roots; rather, they are mutualistic, providing the tree

with nutrients while taking in the carbon produced by the trees’ photosynthesis. Tracing the carbon makes it possible totrack the movement of the fungi themselves. As Durall describes it, “We use radioactivity as a tracer to look at the movement of carbon compounds from one plant to another plant … and there are indications that the mycorrhizal fungi are facilitating this movement. We don’t know if the fungi transport the carbon entirely within their hyphae from one root system to the next,or whether some travels through the soil.So some of the work we’re doing today is getting at exactly how the fungi mediatethe movement of carbon from one plantto another plant.”

It’s estimated that there are 10,000 distinct species of mycorrhizal fungi. By researching which kinds of fungi appear in a forest after it has been clear-cut, and comparing that to the fungi present in an uncut forest, it’s possible to determine how this vast group of fungi changes and then recovers after logging. For example, research shows that if a mix of trees are planted, there will be diff erent kinds of fungi than if just one kind of tree were planted.

MELANIE JONES AND DAN DURALL PEER DEEP INTO THE SOIL FOR CLUES ON HOW FUNGIARE ESSENTIAL TO RENEWING OUR FORESTS

Durall and Jones have received supportfor their work from CFI, NSERC and the BCForest Science Program.

WoodWideWeb

18 May 2006

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19May 2006

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Trying to observe the fungi in their habitats is diffi cult. To meet this challenge, Jones and her colleagues have created what she describes as a window on the underground world: “Soil is very diffi cult to study — as soon as you put a shovel in it to dig it up, you’ve disturbed it. So we’ve installed Plexi-glas root windows into the soil. Th ey start at the soil surface and go down vertically about a metre, with a small trap door that allows us access to the soil. Within a year or two, roots grow against the window and we can study their physiology in situ. Th at’s the in-novative part of what we’re doing: studying the function of roots and hyphae in intact soil in the fi eld. Th is is essential for under-standing what mycorrhizal fungi do for trees. You can culture some of these fungi in the lab but microorganisms turn on diff erent genes depending on their environment. Th at means that their physiology in a Petrie dish in the lab may be very diff erent from their physiology on a root in the soil.”

Using the windows allows Jones to create precise experiments to measure the interac-tion between the soil and the fungi. Her particular research focus is a process in which the fungi excrete hydrolytic enzymes, which break down the organic material in the soil and release nutrients for the rootsof plants, including trees.

In one type of experiment, research associate Shufu Dong places special chromatography paper between the Plexiglas and the soil. Th e chemicals embedded inthe paper change colour when they come into contact with soil enzymes, and the results have confounded some expectations: some of the enzyme activities are higher

around non-mycorrhizal roots than mycorrhizal roots. In order to determine why enzyme activity in one tiny patch of soil diff ers from another patch, graduate student Denise Brooks is taking samples of soil smaller than one cubic centimetre from locations on the soil face that show lots of enzyme activity as well as from locations that look the same but show no enzyme activity. She will extract fungal DNA to fi gure out whether the activity

is associated with specifi c mycorrhizal or decomposer hyphae.

Th rough her work on the fungi and the soil, Jones hopes to further our understand-ing of how forests function. Her goal is supporting the long-term sustainability ofthe forest, whether it’s in terms of silviculture, recovery after wildfi re or climate change.

Durall is particularly focused on learning how the fungi benefi t the establishment of plants after disturbances, either natural ones such as forest fi res or anthropogenic ones such as clear-cuts. His research is of great interest to the forestry industry, which wants to get a clear-cut site back to a stage called “free to grow,” defi ned as the fi rst stage of growth establishment when trees are about chest height. But Durall’s interests run well past the free to grow stage; in one study, graduate student Brendan Twieg compares sites fi ve years after clear-cutting to sites 25

years after clear-cutting. His studies also show that, as far as mycorrhizal fungi are concerned, it appears there’s not much diff erence between clear-cuts and fi res —although he’s quick to point out thatthe mycorrhiza fungi are only part of thewhole picture.

Two years ago, a CFI grant of $2.2 million led to the creation of the Species at Risk and Habitat Studies Centre, which was offi cially opened at UBC Okanagan in March 2006.

Th ere, Durall, Jones and their colleagues can pursue their research goals using state-of-the-art equipment. Th is has enabled Durall to investigate the genetics of the fungi.“I’m interested in comparing the fungi that are on the roots of neighbouring plants and asking whether the fungi are the same individual. And if they are the same individual there’sa high likelihood that the root systems are connected by a shared mycelium. The molecular approach is the only practicalway of determining this because we can’t trace the fi laments through the soil.”

Th e work of Durall, Jones, their students and collaborators has the potential to revolutionize our notion of the forest and the trees. Th e result is a better picture of the forest community and a greater understanding of our impact upon it. As Durall says, “Above ground, the trees appear to be separate; you need to get your below-ground glasses on.”

IT’S ESTIMATED THAT THERE ARE 10,000DISTINCT SPECIES OF MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI.

Walk in the forests of British Columbia and the trees loom large. It can be hard, as they say, to see the forest for the trees, each of which appears to be a separate entity. But Melanie Jones and Daniel Durall, associate professors of biology at UBC Okanagan, have a diff erent view of the forest. To them, the trees are joined together in a functional community. Th ey get this picture because they’re not looking up at the treetops —they’re looking down, underneath the ground. What they see has been describedas the “wood wide web,” in which treesare connected to each other through the soil by the fungi that live on their roots.

Durall and Jones have been studying the role that fungi play in the forest for over a decade. Back in 1997, they collaborated on an article that was published in the journal Nature that was based on the Ph.D. thesis research of Suzanne Simard, who is now a professor at UBC Vancouver. Th e article has since been cited more than 250 times. And their work on the extraordinary collaboration between trees and fungi continues today.

Th ese fungi, known as mycorrhizal fungi, are not parasites on the trees’ roots; rather, they are mutualistic, providing the tree

with nutrients while taking in the carbon produced by the trees’ photosynthesis. Tracing the carbon makes it possible totrack the movement of the fungi themselves. As Durall describes it, “We use radioactivity as a tracer to look at the movement of carbon compounds from one plant to another plant … and there are indications that the mycorrhizal fungi are facilitating this movement. We don’t know if the fungi transport the carbon entirely within their hyphae from one root system to the next,or whether some travels through the soil.So some of the work we’re doing today is getting at exactly how the fungi mediatethe movement of carbon from one plantto another plant.”

It’s estimated that there are 10,000 distinct species of mycorrhizal fungi. By researching which kinds of fungi appear in a forest after it has been clear-cut, and comparing that to the fungi present in an uncut forest, it’s possible to determine how this vast group of fungi changes and then recovers after logging. For example, research shows that if a mix of trees are planted, there will be diff erent kinds of fungi than if just one kind of tree were planted.

MELANIE JONES AND DAN DURALL PEER DEEP INTO THE SOIL FOR CLUES ON HOW FUNGIARE ESSENTIAL TO RENEWING OUR FORESTS

Durall and Jones have received supportfor their work from CFI, NSERC and the BCForest Science Program.

WoodWideWeb

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21May 2006

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STEPHEN CHATMAN’S

When Stephen Chatman was a student of composition at theUniversity of Michigan, he was devoted to exploring the boundaries of contemporary music — a pursuit his teachers and peers encour-aged. And he was really good at it; he won three consecutive BMI awards for student composers, the only North American to do this. He created atonal, virtuosic compositions that require technical excellence to perform and demand a lot of the listener as well. In 1976, he became a professor at UBC’s School of Music and continued his experimental work.

But in his spare time, Chatman began to develop another interest, one that he kept quiet: “At a certain point in the early 1980s, I started writing these very traditional choral works. And at fi rst I was ashamed that I was writing these pieces and certainly didn’t want to show them to my colleagues, or other composers. But I didn’t mind showingthem to choir directors. And with each choral work, there seemed to be some kind of spinoff . Two choir directors in Vancouver, James Fankhauser and Jon Washburn, kept asking for more pieces, so I’ddo one or two a year. I had my two styles — I had my very traditional, tonal choral style, and I had my more experimental, instrumental style, virtuosic and complicated.”

As music publishers and choir directors came calling, he embraced his success as a composer of choral work. Th e demand for his choral compositions grew, especially in the United States. While Canadian choirs are familiar with his repertoire, the US became the biggest market for his work — about half of his commissions come from there. Now, American choir directors recognize him as a Canadian composer, with no awareness of his early origins. Th is is something that Chatman fi nds a bit ironic: “I’m an American immigrant, but I’ve become a Canadian composer and am considered a Canadian composer by Americans. My publisher in Boston thinks of me asa Canadian composer.”

Chatman moves easily between the two cultures and enjoys his role in bringing Canadian music to American audiences: “We are always complaining about importing American culture, but I’m exporting Canadian culture in a big way, and I’m proud of that. Th ere aren’t many classical composers who are doing this, and they tend to be choral composers.”

Chatman has tapped into an area of growth and opportunityfor his work; he says the appetite for choral music is growing across North America, including Canada. Over the past 10 or 15 years,a lot of amateur choirs have been formed. He points out that in Vancouver there used to be only two or three choirs, but now there are at least 10. And similar growth can be seen across the continent.

One part experimental composer, one part choralcraftsman, Stephen Chatman reveals the uniqueharmony of his musical double-life

Photo> Paul Joseph

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21May 2006

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STEPHEN CHATMAN’S

When Stephen Chatman was a student of composition at theUniversity of Michigan, he was devoted to exploring the boundaries of contemporary music — a pursuit his teachers and peers encour-aged. And he was really good at it; he won three consecutive BMI awards for student composers, the only North American to do this. He created atonal, virtuosic compositions that require technical excellence to perform and demand a lot of the listener as well. In 1976, he became a professor at UBC’s School of Music and continued his experimental work.

But in his spare time, Chatman began to develop another interest, one that he kept quiet: “At a certain point in the early 1980s, I started writing these very traditional choral works. And at fi rst I was ashamed that I was writing these pieces and certainly didn’t want to show them to my colleagues, or other composers. But I didn’t mind showingthem to choir directors. And with each choral work, there seemed to be some kind of spinoff . Two choir directors in Vancouver, James Fankhauser and Jon Washburn, kept asking for more pieces, so I’ddo one or two a year. I had my two styles — I had my very traditional, tonal choral style, and I had my more experimental, instrumental style, virtuosic and complicated.”

As music publishers and choir directors came calling, he embraced his success as a composer of choral work. Th e demand for his choral compositions grew, especially in the United States. While Canadian choirs are familiar with his repertoire, the US became the biggest market for his work — about half of his commissions come from there. Now, American choir directors recognize him as a Canadian composer, with no awareness of his early origins. Th is is something that Chatman fi nds a bit ironic: “I’m an American immigrant, but I’ve become a Canadian composer and am considered a Canadian composer by Americans. My publisher in Boston thinks of me asa Canadian composer.”

Chatman moves easily between the two cultures and enjoys his role in bringing Canadian music to American audiences: “We are always complaining about importing American culture, but I’m exporting Canadian culture in a big way, and I’m proud of that. Th ere aren’t many classical composers who are doing this, and they tend to be choral composers.”

Chatman has tapped into an area of growth and opportunityfor his work; he says the appetite for choral music is growing across North America, including Canada. Over the past 10 or 15 years,a lot of amateur choirs have been formed. He points out that in Vancouver there used to be only two or three choirs, but now there are at least 10. And similar growth can be seen across the continent.

One part experimental composer, one part choralcraftsman, Stephen Chatman reveals the uniqueharmony of his musical double-life

Photo> Paul Joseph

22 May 2006

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Happily for Chatman, the choral music scene has blossomed, and choirs are commissioning and performing contempo-rary music. It’s not likely to be highly experimental music; as Chatman explains, choir directors tend to choose music they think will appeal to their choir and totheir audience. It’s likely to be tonal and more accessible.

But all of his success in the world of choral composition has not eclipsed his more experimental work; he continues to compose instrumental pieces that meet with acclaim. One recent composition, “From Pent-Up Aching Rivers,” was created on commission for well-known Vancouver violinist Gwen Th ompson. She premiered the piece in December 2004, at a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Th e work is challenging; it’s written for an unusual duo of violin and cello. And its fi rst performance faced challenges of its own; just before the premiere, the cellist backed out of the concert. While this could have been a disaster, Chatman says the change was lucky: “It turned out for the better, because the substitute was a young, up-and-coming cellist, Clancey Newman, who won the Naumberg Award last year. He was fantastic and learned it in six or seven days. Th e performance was sold out, they turned people away … and the audience just loved it.” Chatman now plans to bring Newman to Vancouver in May to record the piece.

Chatman has created four CDs of his work; the latest, Vancouver Visions, was released in January 2006. It features recordings of his instrumental work and, with one exception, the performances were recorded in the UBC recital hall. One ofthe tracks, “Lawren S. Harris Suite for Piano Quintet,” was inspired by the famous Canadian artist who lived just outside the gates of UBC for 30 years. Another CD, Proud Music of the Storm, was a particular success. One track, “Tara’s Dream,” was short-

listed for the BBC Masterprize in 2001; Chatman is the fi rst Canadian to be a fi nalist for this award. Th e title track, “Proud Music of the Storm,” was given the 2005 Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Classical Composition. One reason Chatman is so thrilled by the success of this work is the recognition it brings to UBC: “It was broadcast nationally 12 or 13 times on CBC radio last year and every time it played, the UBC orchestra and UBC singers were credited. It’s a real accomplish-ment for everyone, and a milestone, and a fi rst.” Th is achievement is rare. Only a few Canadian orchestral recordings are made each year. Chatman says McGill is the only other university in Canada to release an orchestral recording.

Chatman considers his music to be a form of art, and he points out that it’s often diffi cult to categorize art as research. But, he says, UBC has a long tradition of including the creative arts within the scope of academic research, an attitude Chatman describes as “enlightened.” In fact, the UBC Hampton Fund off ered support for the creation of Proud Music of the Storm as a major creative research project. He hopes its success will encourage other composers also to seek support from the Hampton Fund.

After two decades of leading a musical double life, producing both virtuosic instrumental compositions and traditional choral music, Chatman’s biggest challenge now is meeting the demand for his work. But whatever he’s focused on, his inspiration arises from his sense of his audience: “I’m just following my instincts — trying to produce something I fi nd attractive, that other people might fi nd attractive too. It’s true of other artists, also — you want tobe excited about what you’re making. Just like Lawren Harris, it has everything to do with feeling this joyous reaction on thepart of the viewer. Th at’s the excitement.”

“WE AREALWAYSCOMPLAININGABOUTIMPORTINGAMERICANCULTURE,BUT I’MEXPORTINGCANADIANCULTUREIN A BIGWAY, ANDI’M PROUDOF THAT ...”Stephen Chatman hasreceived support fromThe Hampton Fund.

CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR EARNS CANADA’S TOP SCIENCE AWARDUBC’s Dr. David Dolphin is the winner of the 2005 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Metal for Science and Engineering. He is responsible for the creation of Visudyne™, the world’s most widely used ophthalmic drug ever, which has saved the vision of approximately 500,000 people since 2000.

Dr. Dolphin teamed up with UBC microbiologist Dr. Julia Levy in the 1980s to create Visudyne™, a light-activated porphyrin molecule used to treat age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness. Together, they founded QLT Inc.,a biopharmaceutical company specializing in treatments of eye diseases as well as dermatological and urological conditions.

Canada’s most prestigious science award comes with a guarantee of $1 million in research funding over the next fi ve years from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

Dr. David Dolphin. Photo> Paul Joseph

NOBEL LAUREATE JOINS UBCUBC is pleased to announce that a Nobel laureate renowned for his leadership in science education is the latest addition to an already strong faculty.

Professor Carl E. Wieman was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics and named United States Professor of the Year in 2004. Currently working at the University of Colorado (CU),he is the only faculty member to hold both the highest research (Distinguished Professor) and teaching (Presidential Teaching Scholar) awards.

Wieman advocates an evidence-based approach to science education and suggests that similar approaches will be helpful in other educational areas.

Although offi cially joining UBC’s Department of Physics and Astronomy in January 2007, Wieman will immediately begin developing a science education project at UBC that emphasizes student experience, stimulates inquiry and encourages measurement of educational outcomes. UBChas committed $12 million over the next fi ve years towards this initiative.

“I am joining UBC because I am excited to be a part of this initiative and hope that my expertise can help realize it,” Wieman says.

Wieman will be only the second Nobel laureate working at a Canadian university (John C. Polyani is at the University of Toronto).

UBC RESEARCHERS NAMED STEACIE FELLOWSDr. Joerg Bohlmann (Michael Smith Laboratories) and Dr. Gail Murphy (associate professor, Department of Computer Science) were named among the six 2006 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Steacie Fellows.

Dr. Bohlmann’s work laid the foundations for Canada’s fi rst large-scale initiative dedicated to forestry genomics, Treenomix, and a new Conifer Forest Health genomics program focusing on the defence and resistance of conifers against insect pests.

Dr. Murphy’s team assembled repositories of information for software developers that can be mined for practical recommendations, such as fi xing bugs or adding new features when writing software.

Dr. Michael Doebeli was one of six Steacie Fellow winners in 2005. His work confronted the question, “What drives the origin of new species and diversity of life we see on earth?” and focused on sympatric speciation, whereby two species can emerge from a single ancestor.

NSERC awards fellowships annually to outstanding Canadian university scientistsor engineers who have obtained their doctorate within the last 12 years, andwhose research has already earned theman international reputation.

NEWS

Professor Carl E. Wieman. Photo> Paul Joseph

22 May 2006

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All trapping is the responsibility of the printer/pre-press company outputting fi nal fi lm/plates. K C





Happily for Chatman, the choral music scene has blossomed, and choirs are commissioning and performing contempo-rary music. It’s not likely to be highly experimental music; as Chatman explains, choir directors tend to choose music they think will appeal to their choir and totheir audience. It’s likely to be tonal and more accessible.

But all of his success in the world of choral composition has not eclipsed his more experimental work; he continues to compose instrumental pieces that meet with acclaim. One recent composition, “From Pent-Up Aching Rivers,” was created on commission for well-known Vancouver violinist Gwen Th ompson. She premiered the piece in December 2004, at a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Th e work is challenging; it’s written for an unusual duo of violin and cello. And its fi rst performance faced challenges of its own; just before the premiere, the cellist backed out of the concert. While this could have been a disaster, Chatman says the change was lucky: “It turned out for the better, because the substitute was a young, up-and-coming cellist, Clancey Newman, who won the Naumberg Award last year. He was fantastic and learned it in six or seven days. Th e performance was sold out, they turned people away … and the audience just loved it.” Chatman now plans to bring Newman to Vancouver in May to record the piece.

Chatman has created four CDs of his work; the latest, Vancouver Visions, was released in January 2006. It features recordings of his instrumental work and, with one exception, the performances were recorded in the UBC recital hall. One ofthe tracks, “Lawren S. Harris Suite for Piano Quintet,” was inspired by the famous Canadian artist who lived just outside the gates of UBC for 30 years. Another CD, Proud Music of the Storm, was a particular success. One track, “Tara’s Dream,” was short-

listed for the BBC Masterprize in 2001; Chatman is the fi rst Canadian to be a fi nalist for this award. Th e title track, “Proud Music of the Storm,” was given the 2005 Western Canadian Music Award for Outstanding Classical Composition. One reason Chatman is so thrilled by the success of this work is the recognition it brings to UBC: “It was broadcast nationally 12 or 13 times on CBC radio last year and every time it played, the UBC orchestra and UBC singers were credited. It’s a real accomplish-ment for everyone, and a milestone, and a fi rst.” Th is achievement is rare. Only a few Canadian orchestral recordings are made each year. Chatman says McGill is the only other university in Canada to release an orchestral recording.

Chatman considers his music to be a form of art, and he points out that it’s often diffi cult to categorize art as research. But, he says, UBC has a long tradition of including the creative arts within the scope of academic research, an attitude Chatman describes as “enlightened.” In fact, the UBC Hampton Fund off ered support for the creation of Proud Music of the Storm as a major creative research project. He hopes its success will encourage other composers also to seek support from the Hampton Fund.

After two decades of leading a musical double life, producing both virtuosic instrumental compositions and traditional choral music, Chatman’s biggest challenge now is meeting the demand for his work. But whatever he’s focused on, his inspiration arises from his sense of his audience: “I’m just following my instincts — trying to produce something I fi nd attractive, that other people might fi nd attractive too. It’s true of other artists, also — you want tobe excited about what you’re making. Just like Lawren Harris, it has everything to do with feeling this joyous reaction on thepart of the viewer. Th at’s the excitement.”

“WE AREALWAYSCOMPLAININGABOUTIMPORTINGAMERICANCULTURE,BUT I’MEXPORTINGCANADIANCULTUREIN A BIGWAY, ANDI’M PROUDOF THAT ...”Stephen Chatman hasreceived support fromThe Hampton Fund.

CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR EARNS CANADA’S TOP SCIENCE AWARDUBC’s Dr. David Dolphin is the winner of the 2005 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Metal for Science and Engineering. He is responsible for the creation of Visudyne™, the world’s most widely used ophthalmic drug ever, which has saved the vision of approximately 500,000 people since 2000.

Dr. Dolphin teamed up with UBC microbiologist Dr. Julia Levy in the 1980s to create Visudyne™, a light-activated porphyrin molecule used to treat age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness. Together, they founded QLT Inc.,a biopharmaceutical company specializing in treatments of eye diseases as well as dermatological and urological conditions.

Canada’s most prestigious science award comes with a guarantee of $1 million in research funding over the next fi ve years from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

Dr. David Dolphin. Photo> Paul Joseph

NOBEL LAUREATE JOINS UBCUBC is pleased to announce that a Nobel laureate renowned for his leadership in science education is the latest addition to an already strong faculty.

Professor Carl E. Wieman was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics and named United States Professor of the Year in 2004. Currently working at the University of Colorado (CU),he is the only faculty member to hold both the highest research (Distinguished Professor) and teaching (Presidential Teaching Scholar) awards.

Wieman advocates an evidence-based approach to science education and suggests that similar approaches will be helpful in other educational areas.

Although offi cially joining UBC’s Department of Physics and Astronomy in January 2007, Wieman will immediately begin developing a science education project at UBC that emphasizes student experience, stimulates inquiry and encourages measurement of educational outcomes. UBChas committed $12 million over the next fi ve years towards this initiative.

“I am joining UBC because I am excited to be a part of this initiative and hope that my expertise can help realize it,” Wieman says.

Wieman will be only the second Nobel laureate working at a Canadian university (John C. Polyani is at the University of Toronto).

UBC RESEARCHERS NAMED STEACIE FELLOWSDr. Joerg Bohlmann (Michael Smith Laboratories) and Dr. Gail Murphy (associate professor, Department of Computer Science) were named among the six 2006 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Steacie Fellows.

Dr. Bohlmann’s work laid the foundations for Canada’s fi rst large-scale initiative dedicated to forestry genomics, Treenomix, and a new Conifer Forest Health genomics program focusing on the defence and resistance of conifers against insect pests.

Dr. Murphy’s team assembled repositories of information for software developers that can be mined for practical recommendations, such as fi xing bugs or adding new features when writing software.

Dr. Michael Doebeli was one of six Steacie Fellow winners in 2005. His work confronted the question, “What drives the origin of new species and diversity of life we see on earth?” and focused on sympatric speciation, whereby two species can emerge from a single ancestor.

NSERC awards fellowships annually to outstanding Canadian university scientistsor engineers who have obtained their doctorate within the last 12 years, andwhose research has already earned theman international reputation.

NEWS

Professor Carl E. Wieman. Photo> Paul Joseph

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Documents

Frontier Issue 1 May 2006