Aurora

Employment & Opportunities

Mentors for Biology EDI Program - UBC, Biology Undergraduate Diversity In Research

The BUDR (Biology Undergraduate Diversity In Research) program is a newly launched project designed to provide opportunities for undergraduates belonging to underrepresented groups. This program is designed to support students from historically marginalized and disenfranchised backgrounds by providing them with mentorship and paid research opportunities.

The BUDR program is seeking mentors that are passionate about science and interested in promoting equity. Graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty members of any biology-related background are eligible to become a BUDR mentor.

BUDR mentors will aim to provide undergraduate students with guidance and insights on career and academic development. This can include providing guidance through graduate school applications, navigating career options in the biological sciences, and educating students about research opportunities (with an opportunity for mentors to promote their research). BUDR aims to promote social and professional interdepartmental connections and facilitate networking opportunities. Through training and optional workshops, mentors will gain communication skills, mentorship skills, and enhance their knowledge of issues and approaches for reducing barriers to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), in line with UBC's Inclusion Action Plan.

Mentors will typically be expected to take on two students and set aside 4 hours per month to student mentorship. EDI centered training will also be provided to mentors in the form of a 2-hour workshop.

BUDR Mentors will be an essential pillar of support for underrepresented students in our community. Become a part of a team committed to making UBC a more inclusive and welcoming academic space and apply by sending a completed application at here by September 21st.

More information can be found at here.

News & Events

PhD Thesis Defense: Mengqi Jia

Title: Reactive Transport Modeling of Greenhouse Gas Cycling and Emissions from Macroporous Agricultural Soils

Date & Time: Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 9:00 am

Location: Zoom

IOF SEMINAR - Recent tensions between productive opportunities and conservation risks: southern Patagonia - September 23, 2022

Argentina is experiencing a growing footprint of human activities on natural ecosystems. Pressure for economic growth, energy supply, and urban development has recently extended to isolated and almost pristine habitats in southern Patagonia. The main focus of this seminar is to present two study cases involving fish, fisheries, and aquaculture using personal contributions and to discuss alternatives considering the local socio-ecological context. A project to develop intensive salmonid aquaculture in the Beagle Channel (Ushuaia, Argentina) has aroused both interest and conflicts. Within the former, local government, and foreign companies highlight income and job opportunities, but marine ecosystem health is crucial for the latter. Have different profiles of people diverse perceptions about aquaculture? Does IMTA or native fish aquaculture a real alternative? What should be the role of scientists? On the other hand, an ongoing project of damming the Santa Cruz River is expected to inundate main spawning areas and disrupt native and exotic (salmonids) fish migration, among others. The predicted reduction of salmonids has reopened the management dilemma about maintaining their fisheries value as recreational targets and/or the need to protect native species. This new scenario creates tensions among different stakeholder groups, anglers, ONG and policymakers. Are the mitigation measures based on by-pass systems a possible solution, or is the problem continuity? 

Speaker: Dr. Facundo Llompart, Researcher, Austral Center for Scientific Research (CADIC) 

Date & Location: Friday, September 23 - 11:00am  - 12 noon, hybrid format: AERL Theatre / Zoom

IOF community members (students, faculty and staff) do not need to RSVP for this seminar series. UBC members, alumni, and all others, please RSVP at here.