SPRING 2018

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ON THE COVER TH E^ADVANCE*O F_ AI Ready or not, artificial intelligence is here. Go behind the hype with some of the world’s best (human) minds. Page 22

feature

22 Artificial^Intelligence Forget_everything you’ve learned in the movies. AI is so much less — and more.

departments

3 Your Letters 5 Notes \What’s_new and noteworthy 12 Continuing Education Column by Curtis Gillespie 15 Thesis All about^you 37 Trails Where you’ve been and where you’re going 38 \Books 42 Class^Notes 51 In Memoriam

*56 Small Talk

new trail spring 2018 1 }upfront

OFFICE OF ALUMNI RELATIONS Graduate Studies Sean Price, ’95 BCom Christopher Michell-Viret, ’83 BSc, Associate Vice-President ’84 BSc(SpecCert), ’89 MSc Greg Latham Law Director, Alumni Engagement Simon Foxcroft, ’99 LLB Tracy Salmon, ’91 BA(Hons), ’96 MSc Medicine Director, Alumni Programs Robert Agostinis, ’86 BMedSc, ’88 MD Coleen Graham, ’88 BSc(HEc), ’93 MEd Native Studies Senior Manager, Strategic Initiatives Carol Wagner, ’06 BA(NativeStuHons) Nursing ALUMNI COUNCIL EXECUTIVE Eric Martin, ’09 BSc, ’13 BScN Alumni Association President Kate Young, ’07 BScN, ’15 MBA Always Time to Give Back Ayaz Bhanji, ’91 BSc(Pharm) Pharmacy Past-President Ron Pohar, ’95 BSc(Pharm) as a real estate broker, I spend career as an engineer but who Mary Pat Barry, ’04 MA Physical Education and Recreation a lot of time in my car. As I rush grew restless as he yearned to Committee Chair: Alumni Awards Bill Werry, ’73 BA(RecAdmin) Robin Everall, ’92 BA(Spec), ’94 MEd, ’98 PhD from appointment to appointment, implement his own ideas. He Public Health Committee Chair: Alumni Benefits Salima Thawer, ’03 BSc, ’05 Dip(DentHyg), drive-thrus are my vital supply line founded two multinational Rayan Bou Farraj, ’13 BSc(Spec), ’14 MA ’06 BSc(DentHyg), ’13 MPH for food, coffee and a few moments companies: one in wireless Committee Chair: Alumni Student Council Rehabilitation Medicine to catch my breath and think. technology, the other in fuel cells. Eric Martin, ’09 BSc, ’13 BScN Grant Irwin, ’75 BSc, ’79 BSc(PT) One day, a small act shook me He taught me to take risks, to be Committee Chair: Community Relations Science Randa Kachkar, ’86 BA(Spec) Ross Lockwood, ’08 BSc(Hons), ’15 PhD out of my thoughts. As I picked a problem-solver, to be my own Committee Chairs: Corporate Alumni Relations MEMBERS AT LARGE up my coffee from the window at boss. His example led me to change Bill Werry, ’73 BA(RecAdmin) Yasmin Barre, ’09 BSc, ’12 MSc Christy Ciezki, ’02 BSc(Spec), ’09 MEd Tim Hortons, the server told me my career. I went back to school Ashlyn Bernier, ’06 BSc, ’11 PhD, ’13 MBA the driver in front of me had paid and started my own business. He Committee Chair: Student Experience Ramesh Bhambhani, ’66 BSc, ’68 MSc, ’72 PhD Tyler Hanson ’00 BSc(MechEng) Rick Dowell, ’03 BSc(MechEng), ’09 MBA also taught me that volunteering for my order. I was stunned that Task Force Chairs: Diversity and Inclusion Vivian He, ’08 BCom someone would take the time to my time, knowledge and talent to Keith King, ’04 BScN Mark Korthuis, ’07 BA(RecSpoTourism) Sandra Gawad Gad, ’12 BSc, ’15 MSc Felicia Liang, ’16 BCom, ’16Cert(Intl) make this gesture — for a person better my community brings more Andre Prefontaine, ’85 BCom, ’88 BSc(Spec) Board of Governors Representatives they didn’t know. joy than any material success. Eli Schrader, ’12 BA(RecSpoTourism) Mary Pat Barry, ’04 MA Charity Slobod, ’10 BA, ’10 Cert(Trans), ’15 MA Our generosity, big and small, Whether you’re in line for coffee Glenn Stowkowy, ’76 BSc(ElecEng) Ryan Thompson, ’03 BSc(Hons), ’13 MA can bring us closer to the kind or building your career, there Senate Representatives Phil Wong, ’85 BSc(Spec) of person we strive to be. 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International, the world’s first company to test omnichannel customer service: web, phone, chat, email and in-store.

Using social media techniques before social media existed, she built a database of 75,000 “mystery shoppers” worldwide. Clients have included Bank of America, Expedia, the Royal Bank of Canada, government departments, businesses and non-profits of all sizes.

An acclaimed international speaker and instructor (in English and French), her industry-leading research has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Globe & Mail and other business and academic publications. Her love of interviewing comes through in her Frank Reactions podcast on customer experience.

Tema lives in Edmonton, Canada, and loves to travel (especially to warm places in the winter!).

Find Tema Frank on Twitter @temafrank, LinkedIn or at http://frankreactions.com.

B has worked in customer experience, marketing, and usability testing for over three decades. In 2001 she founded Web Mystery Shoppers

est-selling author and expert, Tema(rhymes with Emma) Frank

What Computers Can’t Replace: The Secret to Success in Our Digitized World D • •

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Based on in-depth interviews with over 150 business leaders and experts, PeopleShock Promise – How to develop one that inspires staff and customers. espite huge technology investments, customer satisfaction is going down, not up. combines case studies, data and actionable advice to help organizations succeed in the Customer experience and digital marketing pioneer Tema Frank shows you how to use new economy. People – How to connect effectively with people inside and outside your organization. a new ‘3P Profit Formula’ to thrive in a hyper-competitive world: Process – What to change internally to deliver on a promise of great customer experiences externally.

“This book proves that even with the best technology and automation, you can’t guarantee success without people. Filled with stories, stats and facts, Tema Frank will show you how to leverage the digital world with the people skills needed to help take your organization to its next level of success.” Shep Hyken, New York Times bestselling author of The Amazement Revolution

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Visit peopleshock.com

TOP PHOTO BY RYAN WHITEFIELD, ’10 BA; ISTOCK

SHOCK PEOPLE PEOPLE FRANK TEMA THE PATH TO PROFITS WHEN CUSTOMERS RULE CUSTOMERS WHEN PROFITS TO PATH THE } Trail anyoneto with share who may want it. ( Tuck Shop. Idon’t the but same buns they are know if willing Iam remember for the from buns Ihave those buns. arecipe cinnamon astudent also Iwas at the U of A the CAB. in buns and the ’70s in Teri from the email Nichol, about New in Zealand, the cinnamon you Trail forThank the latest edition of New Cinnamon Buns, Anyone? letters aging Tema before her time. her Tema before aging makes me seem!” We apologize for that as old as not I’m 44], page PeopleShock book, my see to pleased I was while So, MSc. ’75 BA, ’68 was Frank Rheva mother, My confused. mother’s my and record my got if you would like acopy of Henley’s recipe.

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PeopleShock is killing many businesses. But handled well it can: • •

•

•

Based on three decades of experience and over 150 interviews with CEOs and experts, Increase customer satisfaction, omnichannel customer experience pioneer Boost employee engagement, Tema Frank uses case studies and actionable advice to show you how to implement a Decrease costs, and profitable, people focused strategy using her 3P framework of promise, people and process. Grow sales, market share and profits. CORRECTION CORRECTION Tema Frank BCom, wroteBCom, in to tell us we we us tell to in goofed. “It seems along the line you you line the along that somewhere

2016-05-10 12:42 PM [Books, [Books, , ’82 , ’82 , and overcome your unconscious biases. unconscious your overcome and Khan Candy says So abias. have you abrain, have you If Spots Your Blind Check Find these stories ONLINE MORE and more at ualberta.ca/newtrail , ’08 MEd, who offers four tips to help uncover uncover help to tips four offers who MEd, , ’08 We would like to hear your comments about Editor’s note: email New or emailto theaddresses onpage 4.Letters the magazine. Sendus your letters by post – , Winter 2017. Iread Marleen Henley,’75 BEd,Edmonton ) may beedited for lengthorclarity. gloves, of earbuds, of iPhones. recognizing this property of humans, of an organic chemist in terms of robots not chiral. These are issues that intrigue enantiomer, not having handedness, the drawing — in our jargon, not an image of the right hand that is creating chemistry, it is obviously not amirror And, for those who were taught organic no orientation, whether right or left. algorithms necessary for “a hand” with drawing amodel. The robot has the desk beside him, as would a painter is not viewing arobotic hand on the The robot is drawing his hand but he there anything wrong with this photo? that Iasked of our grandchildren: is your Winter 2017 issue is the question photo [“Self Portrait in 2045,” page 18] in What is interesting to me about the It aChemistSees How janis isaman, ’99 bcom words? Hmph. middle age without his going to have to face my are telling me that Iam adulthood … and now you New Trail inmy actual adulthood, withthe The Gateway inmy young Todd Babiak was at @MyBodyCouture: – Victor Snieckus, ’59 BSc(Hons),Kingston, Ont. change on the site. the on change for advocate to how including children, for safer internet the media companies) can make social (and parents how on Tips What Saw They trail springnew 2018 on YouTube? on

3 . UALBERTA.CA/NEWTRAIL

Supervising Editors Mary Lou Reeleder Cynthia Strawson, ’05 BA, ’13 MSc Editor-in-Chief Lisa Cook Managing Editor and Digital Editor Karen Sherlock Associate Editor Mifi Purvis, ’93 BA Art Director Marcey Andrews Senior Photographer John Ulan Staff Writer Sarah Pratt Editorial Assistant Stephanie Bailey, ’10 BA(Hons), Sharlene Clarke New Trail Digital Shane Riczu, ’12 MA; Ryan Whitefield, ’10 BA; Joyce Yu, ’07 BA, ’15 MA Copy Editor/Fact Checker Therese Kehler Proofreader Philip Mail Advisory Board Anne Bailey, ’84 BA; Jason Cobb, ’96 BA; Susan Colberg, A team of literacy experts. ’83 BFA, ’91 MVA; Rhonda Kronyk, ’04 BA, ’07 MA; Kiann McNeill, Robert Moyles, ’86 BCom; Julie Naylor, ’95 BA, Young kids left behind by reading difficulties. ’05 MA; Sean Price, ’95 BCom; Karen Unland, ’94 BA CONTACT US Email (Comments/Letters/Class Notes): See how U of A research dramatically [email protected] improved children’s reading ability. Call: 780-492-3224; 800-661-2593 Mail: Office of Advancement, University of Alberta, Third Floor, Enterprise Square, 10230 Jasper Ave., Edmonton, AB T5J 4P6 Facebook: UAlberta Alumni Association folio.ca. Get news right from the source. Twitter: @UAlbertaAlumni Address Updates: 780-492-3471; 866-492-7516 or [email protected] TO ADVERTISE Trevor Battye, Clevers Media Email: [email protected] Call: Toronto: 647-376-8090; Vancouver: 778-773-9397

This University of Alberta Alumni Association magazine is published three times a year. It is mailed to more than 160,000 alumni and friends. The views and opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Alberta or the U of A Alumni Association. All material copyright ©. New Trail cannot be held responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. of alumni ISSN: 0824-8125 Copyright 2018 Publications Mail Agreement No. 40112326 volunteer If undeliverable in Canada, return to: Office of Advancement, University of Alberta, Third Floor, Enterprise Square, 10230 Jasper Ave. Edmonton, AB T5J 4P6 Printed in Canada Get involved: uab.ca/volunteer The University of Alberta respectfully acknowledges that we are situated on Treaty 6 territory, traditional lands of First Nations and Métis people.

4 ualberta.ca/newtrail PHOTO BY ARTHUR ANKER distinctive sound the snappingmakes shrimp’s what of history evolutionary the unlock Scientists Snap Solution notes it. Tomonari Kaji, the study’s lead author, is a post-doctoral student in Palmer’s lab difference in speed between using a bow to launch an arrow versus just throwing biological sciences professor Rich Palmer, who was part of the study. It’s like the a mechanism that works like a spring and latch to release stored energy, says vacuum. When the bubble collapses, it results in apowerful snap. The claw has so quickly, in fact, that jetted water creates a cavitation bubble — a localized sophisticated super-fast claws from simpler pinching ones. The claw closes species of shrimp, a U of A team has figured out how snapping shrimp evolved it’s asnap 150 million years in the making. After two years researching 114 what’s new and noteworthy and new what’s trail springnew 2018

5 . }notes

Alumni Wall of Recognition. Taylor joined the U of A’s NUMBERS physics department as an

IN MEMORIAM adviser in 1992 and made annual visits for the next Nobel Prize Winner Dies at 88 20 years. His last visit to Richard Taylor earned the honour for his work in the U of A came when he proving the existence of quarks helped open the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary When Richard Taylor, ’50 BSc, was accepted to Stanford Science in 2011. 60The number of hours required ’52 MSc, ’91 DSc (Honorary), University, where he earned Taylor’s love of the to train as a crisis intervention won the Nobel Prize in his PhD and spent most of unknown was evident volunteer at the U of A’s Sexual Physics in 1990, the Nobel his working life. It was while whenever he spoke. During Assault Centre. committee described his work in California that Taylor his Nobel banquet speech, as finding a “new rung in the and colleagues from the he had a poignant message. ladder of creation.” Taylor, Massachusetts Institute of “I have some last words for BUDGET 88, who died at his home in Technology ran experiments the students: the quarks and 4 PER CENT CUT California in February, was that would, in 1968, prove the stars were here when the only University of Alberta the existence of quarks, the you came, and they will be FOR 2018-19 alumnus to win a Nobel Prize. subatomic particles that form here when you go. They The Board of Governors He is survived by his wife, the basis of 99 per cent of all have no sense of humour, approved a budget in March that included a four Rita Taylor, ’50 BEd, and son. matter. so if you want a world per cent overall reduction Born in Medicine Hat in Though Taylor lived much where more people smile, in expenditures, and fee 1929, Taylor said he wasn’t of his life in California, his you will have to fix things increases for international a strong student and often alma mater and Alberta were yourselves. I am confident student tuition, residence played poker in residence never far from his mind. that you will try, and hopeful rates and residence meal at the U of A. He managed In 1994, he was part of the that you will succeed.” plans for 2018-19. The budget didn’t go over well in some to graduate, however, and first cohort added to the –with files from michael brown quarters, with students protesting at a town hall held by President David Turpin. The measures were designed to address the university’s $14-million structural deficit and rising cost pressures while reducing reliance on short-term investment income, Turpin said. Neither the residences nor the meal plans receive any funding from the provincial government, he said, and both services need to be self-financing. The provincial government made it clear to the university that international students pay the full cost of their education, he added. “We have to be very careful that we aren’t taking money that is targeted for domestic student support and using it to support international students.” The board’s vote was not an easy decision, said board chair Michael Phair. “We understand the short-term impacts on students, faculty and staff alike. But we also understand the dangers of not taking action,” he said.

–with files from michael brown COMMONS WIKIMEDIA

6 ualberta.ca/newtrail Footnotes

A brief look at what’s new at the U

The Butterdome Visits California A fictional university has been caught using the University of Alberta’s vitals. California South University is fake but it has a real website that boasts locations such as the Butterdome and Timms Centre on its Irvine, Calif., “campus.” CSU’s president is listed as Justin Trudeau. The U of A’s legal department is working to have the site, which appears to support a predatory fake journal, permanently removed.

Where Fashion Meets Business As of September, the university will offer a CONFRONTING FEAR, VIRTUALLY Can augmented reality help people overcome phobias? Anna new four-year bachelor Chakravorty, who won the 2018 Images of Research contest for this illustration, asks this in her of science in fashion master’s research. The contest asks grad students to represent their research in one image. Of those business management. who suffer phobias, 60 to 80 per cent never get treatment, says the visual communication, design The program, offered student. A quarter of those who seek help either refuse exposure therapy, a common treatment, or by the Department drop out. She hypothesizes that exposing phobia sufferers to their fears in a virtual world could help. of Human Ecology and Alberta School of Business, will be the only one of its kind in HEALTH Western Canada. A PAIN IN THE NECK Bears, Pandas Surprising nobody, research shows that using smartphones can be a pain in the neck. A 2014 study in Take National Titles the journal Surgical Technology International indicates that the more we bend our necks, the heavier the strain. The human head weighs four to five kilograms, but tipping your chin down by 15 degrees The Golden Bears increases the weight on the neck to 12 kilograms. At 45 degrees, it’s 22 kilograms. Though it’s almost hockey team defeated impossible to avoid using hand-held devices and live in the 21st century, there are ways to dial back the the St. Francis Xavier chance of pain, says Judy Chepeha, professor in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. –bev betkowski X-Men in March to claim its 16th national title in the program’s LOOK UP SET A LIMIT STRETCH history. Meanwhile, both Keep your head and neck Avoid looking at your device for Try these stretches throughout the Bears and Pandas upright when using your more than 30 minutes at a time. the day. 1) Keep your head up, curling teams captured devices. Support your “Even a two- to five-minute shoulder blades back, chin the national titles and arms by propping them on change of position is enough slightly tucked, and hold for will represent Team something when sitting, or for your body to realign,” 30 seconds. 2) Tip your head Canada at the 2019 keeping them at countertop says Chepeha. “Try not to do from side to side and hold Winter Universiade in

ILLUSTRATION CHAKRAVORTY ANNA BY level when standing. everything on your phone.” to stretch neck muscles. Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

new trail spring 2018 7 }notes

NUMBERS

of the study and a family scientist in the Department of Human Ecology. Frequent sexters have a higher degree of couple conflict and are more ambivalent about the relationship continuing $1,000Cost per patient the health than non-sexters. They system could save by using fecal also report feeling less transplant capsules instead of a colonoscopy for treating secure attachment in their C. difficile in the gut, according to relationships and lower levels Dina Kao, ’94 BSc(Spec), ’99 MD, of commitment. ’08 MSc, associate professor and gastroenterologist at the University “Sexting doesn’t seem of Alberta Hospital. –global news to be a feature of a healthy relationship,” says Galovan. Letting technology take precedence over personal interaction could explain what’s contributing to the poor scores in other aspects of their romance, says Galovan. “They need to put the phone down and have a good old-fashioned conversation — spend some time together nurturing the RELATIONSHIPS relationship — instead of short-cutting with sexting Sexting Not a Sign of to try to get a quality a Healthy Relationship relationship.” SCIENCE Couples need to get real with good old-fashioned The study surveyed CELLULAR STORY conversation, suggests the study’s author nationally representative FINALLY STACKS UP groups of Canadian and Joel Dacks, ’95 BSc(Hons), sexting — sharing sexual People who sext a American adults, all in likens the Golgi bodies found messages and images romantic partner frequently committed heterosexual in our cells to a post office that electronically — can spice report greater sexual or same-sex relationships, “sorts material as it’s made and up your sex life, but it could satisfaction than non- of various ages, ethnicities, directs it to different locations.” come at the expense of other sexters. However, frequent income and education levels. Understanding the Golgi could shed light on diseases involving important aspects of your sexters are far less satisfied The study was published cell membrane systems gone relationship, says a new with many other aspects in the journal Computers in awry, such as Alzheimer’s. study led by the University of their relationship, says Human Behavior. Dacks, who holds the of Alberta. Adam Galovan, lead author –helen metella Canada Research Chair in Evolutionary Cell Biology, co- wrote a study in BMC Biology. His research challenges existing assumptions that a single gene is responsible for QUOTED the Golgi’s distinctive shape. The authors suggest, “Could you consume a gram in an hour instead, the Golgi is created by many genes and then wait an hour and drive? acting in overlapping and complementary ways. It gives a We don’t know the answer to that.” new understanding of a critical part of our cells and peers deep Scot Purdon, ’83 BA, clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry, on into our evolutionary history.

the question of how long to abstain from using marijuana before driving. –cbc –lesley young LEFT ILLUSTRATION IKON IMAGES / ALAMY; RIGHT ILLUSTRATION SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / ALAMY

8 ualberta.ca/newtrail “SCIENCE IS NOT ONLY A DISCIPLE OF REASON BUT ALSO ONE OF ROMANCE AND PASSION.” Stephen Hawking

GREAT MINDS Remembering Stephen Hawking U of A physicist reflects on his greatest influence when faculty of science professor don page remembers the late Stephen Hawking, it’s the famous physicist’s humanity he recalls even more than the science. Hawking died March 14. Over the years, Page came to understand Hawking on a deeper level as the two contemplated how to create simple laws to make sense of complex quantum cosmology. Hawking co‑supervised Page’s PhD at Caltech, and the two physicists worked together on numerous publications. Their partnership will live on for students of the universe in the famous Hawking-Page transition in black-hole thermodynamics.

How did Professor Hawking and he would dictate the influence your path as a paper to me. In those days I scientist? Stephen Hawking wrote it out in longhand and had the greatest influence a secretary would type it up. on my career in physics. He was an outstanding scientist What is your favourite and an excellent mentor. memory of working with Seeing how he got to the Professor Hawking? heart of a matter was a great Perhaps my favourite inspiration to me as well as memory was when Paul his enormous courage in the Dirac — discoverer of the face of adversity. We wrote a equation for the electron that total of eight papers together, also predicted the existence and his ideas have stimulated of antimatter — came to dozens of other papers I have visit Stephen Hawking. We written, 10 of which have sat in the garden behind “Hawking” in the title. the Hawkings’ home in Cambridge. I was with two of What was it like being the most famous physicists supervised as a graduate of the 20th century, neither of student by one of the whom was saying anything. world’s best scientific To break the ice, I asked, minds? My main PhD “Professor Dirac, what are supervisor was Kip Thorne you working on now?” He [Nobel laureate 2017], but mumbled something I did Stephen Hawking was my not understand and then co‑supervisor during the said, “Did you know that 1974-75 year that he spent Olivia Newton-John is the at Caltech. He and I would granddaughter of Max Born?” discuss the physics of a Born was a German physicist problem, I would do the and 1954 Nobel laureate.

PHIL CREAN A / ALAMY mathematical calculations, –jennifer pascoe, ’02 ba

new trail spring 2018 9 }notes

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY Remove Barriers Keep Gym-class A 2011 survey of Dropouts in the Game 3 more than 3,600 Tips to reframe what it means to be active high-school-age Canadians found that half of Become a Graduate Student Internship ah, high school gym class. A chance for some to gender and sexual minority excel, but for other children it brings nothing but youth, and 59 per cent of Program (GSIP) employer by hiring humiliation and angst. In fact, a survey shows that female sexual minority a motivated and highly skilled a bad experience can stick with you for many years. students, considered locker “It’s not just academic. It could affect someone’s rooms unsafe. Creating co-ed PhD or master’s student to meet health for the rest of their life,” says Billy Strean, teams and gender-neutral your organization’s needs. who teaches future phys-ed teachers through changing facilities can the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation. help all students feel more GSIP is a simple, flexible, matching Strean offers these tips to help parents and comfortable. For your child, funds employment initiative. educators create more positive physical activity suggest using a bathroom experiences for young people — and help them stall or wearing athletic gear become healthier, more active adults. to school that day. Or work out a plan with the school. HIRE A GRADUATE STUDENT TODAY Embrace Variety The traditional gym class curriculum tends Don’t Despair uab.ca/GSIP 1 to focus heavily on competitive sports like Even for gym‑class [email protected] soccer or track and field. Providing a wider 4 dropouts, there’s a variety of activities — including individual pursuits way back to physical like dance, yoga and personal fitness — gives young activity. “It’s a reasonably GSIP is made possible by a people a greater chance of finding an activity that common story,” Strean Government of Alberta grant. excites them and that they feel comfortable doing. says. “Someone says ‘forget about this phys-ed stuff,’ Show Empathy and then they discover Imagine what it feels like to fail and still something more fitness- 2 have to go to phys-ed class every day related.” Whether it’s yoga or with that in your head, says Strean. The weightlifting, barre class or best way to exercise empathy? Listen carefully, pickle ball, it’s never too late ask questions and avoid assuming that a child’s to make physical activity a

experiences are the same as yours were. lifelong habit. –alix kemp, ’11 ba THINKSTOCK

10 ualberta.ca/newtrail }extra credit Wear a Helmet Avoid Costly When riding off-highway vehicles, Mistakes CSA‑compliant helmets must be worn ATV injuries cost when riding on public land. Head Alberta $16 million injuries were the cause of 41 per cent of every year in direct deaths; 77 per cent of those who died health-care costs. were not wearing a helmet.

Don’t Assume It’s Safe Nearly all of the deaths were in common, seemingly easy-to-manoeuvre areas — 46 per cent in the bush or a meadow and 42 per cent on a highway or roadway ditch.

Don’t Drink and Drive 51 per cent of ATV drivers killed were over the legal blood-alcohol limit to drive.

Young and Male? Take Care Young men 20-24 had the highest rate of ATV deaths. While the ages of those killed range from one year to 86 years, 18 per cent were under 16 and 85 per cent were male.

Know Your Tipping Point The majority of deaths, 52 per cent, were from a rollover or flip. A typical ATV tips at 37 degrees. When a 291-kilogram ATV with a 660-cubic-centimetre engine was tested, it tipped when the upper wheel was at about knee‑height. Warning: This Is Not a Toy By Sarah Pratt

If you’re hitting the trails this spring, resulted from a rollover or a flip.David was not designed to absorb an impact at don’t forget about the “vehicle” part of Checkel, ’76 BSc(MechEng), professor the speed of an ATV. “If the ATV can go an “all-terrain vehicle.” They’re machines emeritus and mechanical engineer, faster than you can run, you’re in danger that need to be taken seriously. There tested the tipping points of ATVs and of serious harm,” he says. were 185 ATV-related deaths in Alberta has a few pointers on how to ride more Remember, a helmet law took effect in between 2002 and 2013. That’s an average safely. His first reminder before you even May 2017, so this spring is a good time to

ILLUSTRATION BY CLINT FORD CLINT BY ILLUSTRATION of 16 deaths per year and more than half get on one? Remember the human body review ATV safety before heading out.

new trail spring 2018 11 }continuing education

Learning doesn’t end when you accept your degree. We are all lifelong learners, whether we pursue lessons in a class or a lecture hall — or these lessons pursue us. Curtis Gillespie, ’85 BA(Spec), reflects on the continuing opportunities for education that life throws our way, sometimes when we least expect them. by Curtis Gillespie

one in action, but because I’m growing increasingly attuned to the workings of my inner volcano. That’s a metaphor, by the way, not an intestinal confession. I think it’s fair to say, I’m generally regarded as a calm and relaxed person. I don’t yell at people. I don’t pick fights. I don’t hold grudges. I conduct myself with relative maturity. (Though I refuse to test any of those statements against my behaviour as husband and parent.) This is why I’m fascinated and perplexed by my inner volcano. There is a certain amount of magma bubbling away in there, waiting for the pressure to build just enough to blow the plug off the caldera, at which point ash, smoke, steam, lava and rivers of flame will scorch everything in their path. OK, maybe that’s a bit dramatic. But I do get angry sometimes, and I wonder where that anger — substitute impatience, irritation or annoyance — comes from and whether I should plug it up or let it out. Recently, during a long cold snap, our car broke down. We have been members of a well-known automobile service off and on for many years, so I took out my membership card and dialled the number on the back. It turned out we had forgotten to renew our membership about six months earlier. No problem, I said to the friendly customer service Grant Me the Serenity to representative, just charge it to the credit card on file. Everything was fine. Until she told me there would be an extra $40 charge for a roadside use Accept My Inner Volcano fee. I politely asked what that was, and AFTER FIVE DECADES ON THE PLANET, I’M STILL SEARCHING the cheerful customer service rep said FOR THE BALANCE BETWEEN ‘LAID BACK’ AND ‘LAVA’ it was a surcharge for getting roadside assistance the same day you sign up for a here’s a commercial on a radio sports channel I listen to, and the membership. stupidity of the jingle so offends me that I literally stab at the off button Sulphurous fumes began bubbling. every time it comes on. The base idiocy of the ad not only makes me “Excuse me,” I said, “but isn’t the annual angry, it’s making me angrier every time I hear it. I mutter. I talk to the membership fee what the roadside radio. I shake my head. I question the prospects for humanity. assistance is for? Why am I being And I think about volcanoes. charged an extra $40?” Most of the volcanoes I’ve seen in person — in Hawaii, Mexico, Guatemala, “Because,” she explained, with TItaly — have been a letdown, frankly. They were scenic but dormant, meaning I had to extreme pleasantness, “at the time of use my imagination to picture spewing lava, billowing ash clouds and rivers of molten your vehicle’s breakdown you were not flame. Which, now that I think about it, is probably best left to the imagination. I a member.” suspect most ancient Pompeiians would agree. With the lava gurgling, I expressed

I’ve been thinking about volcanoes more of late, not because I’m hankering to see my extreme dissatisfaction with ILLUSTRATION BY SUTHERLAND; KELLY PHOTO BY JOHN ULAN

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this policy. She offered her deepest “So why are you charging me nearly to change the things I can, and the commiseration and asked if there was $5?” wisdom to know the difference.” Sure, I anything else I needed. I asked to be put She shrugged. “All I know is that what understand the reasoning. Don’t worry through to her manager. When I had him you asked for is a Red Eye. There’s a about inconsequential things you can’t on the line, I said the same things. He button for it on the till.” change. If someone is rude to you, or if a offered the same commiserations. I looked at the coffee sitting on bureaucrat mindlessly follows a stupid The charge stayed on my credit card. the counter between us. There was rule, or if a family member is needlessly I think I first became aware of my no containing this eruption. “That is insensitive, then the rationale is to just inner volcano a few years ago. I went into ridiculous. I’ve decided I don’t want it.” let it go. Fair enough. a national chain coffee shop near our “What?” It’s the third clause of the Niebuhr house, a place I would often go to work “I’ve changed my mind. I think that’s aphorism I question. How many of us or read. They have a row of banquettes an unfair practice.” genuinely know what we’re capable of near a fake fireplace that, during the She said fine and removed the cup. changing until we’re smack in the middle winter, can be warm and inviting. On the “But,” I said, “I’d still like a medium of it or, more commonly, it’s already over afternoon in question, however, there coffee.” and done with and we realize that we were “reserved” signs on every good She eyed me, then moved away and did, in fact, change something? table. The café was nearly empty. After came back with a medium coffee. I like to think I have become better at ordering my coffee, I asked the server if I “And,” I added, “I’d like a single recognizing what are trivial battles and could sit at a banquette because I found espresso on the side.” what are battles worth having. I’m also them conducive to working. “But you’re just going to add that to learning that a small battle is not the “They’re reserved,” she said. your coffee! It’s exactly the same thing!” same thing as an insignificant battle. A “Well, yes,” I replied. “But I guess I’m “I might add it,” I said. “I might not. I fight against a small injustice or a minor wondering for who. I mean, there’s no haven’t decided.” stupidity can still, to my mind, be worth one here.” “Fine,” she said. “But I’m going to the effort. Because who’s to say where “It’s reserved for big groups that come share this with the owner.” the line is? What if we don’t sweat the in. Like, running groups or whatever.” She went off in a semi-huff and made small stuff and it morphs into big stuff? “When do they come in?” my espresso. After I’d paid, I thanked If we don’t at least occasionally sweat She shrugged. “They don’t always her and turned around. The first thing the small stuff, if we simply accept the come in, but if they do it’s around 5:30.” I saw was the banquette section with things we think we can’t change, then I looked at my watch. It was 4 p.m. “reserved” signs on all the nice tables. nothing changes. “OK, I’ll tell you what. How about I sit What the hell, I thought, I’m already the Just because it might look like there, and if a big group comes in I’ll devil in her eyes. there isn’t much at stake doesn’t mean move right away.” I sat down right in the middle of nothing is at stake. What’s worse: getting She gave me a bored stare. “Like I said, them, moved a sign, spread out my books upset and speaking out about a minor it’s reserved.” and laptop and coffees, and delicately injustice, or not letting the world know Lava began to bubble but I decided poured my espresso into my coffee. I that what transpired wasn’t cool? to contain it. I sat somewhere else. A haven’t had as good a cup since. I’m not sure there’s a right or wrong few weeks later, I went back to the same The point of detailing my possibly answer, only that I’ve been on this planet café. Feeling like I needed a really perky juvenile but highly satisfying behaviour for more than five decades and I’m still coffee, I ordered a dark-roast coffee with is this: I am learning, for better or worse, searching for that balance. I like to think a shot of espresso. that getting older and gaining experience my inner volcano is turned down, with “Oh, right,” said the server who’d does not always bring equanimity. And just enough lava on hand in case of an refused me the banquette. “A Red Eye.” maybe it shouldn’t. Wisdom and insight outbreak of stupidity or rudeness or I’d never heard that term before. are not the same things as patience and injustice … even (or especially) if it’s my “Sure,” I said. “If that’s what you call it.” placidity. Yes, patience is a wonderful own. But I’ll keep it so the top doesn’t She made the drink and then rang thing to have, but maybe it’s a tool to be blow off, spewing lava and ash and flame in a price that was just under $5. I gave used for certain jobs rather than a coat all over the place. No one needs to see her a $10 bill and was calculating a tip of paint you put on top of everything. that. A low simmer will suffice. when something occurred to me. “Excuse A common piece of pop psychology Unless someone tries to overcharge me, but isn’t a medium coffee a couple wisdom is, “Don’t sweat the small me for coffee again. of dollars and a shot of espresso a buck stuff,” which is but an echo of the more fifty?” famous Reinhold Niebuhr aphorism, Curtis Gillespie has written five books, including the novel Crown Shyness, and has earned seven She looked at the menu board behind “God grant me the serenity to accept National Magazine Awards. He lives in Edmonton her, then turned back to me. “I guess.” the things I cannot change, the courage with his wife and their two daughters.

14 ualberta.ca/newtrail ILLUSTRATION BY WENTING LI examine “you” angle every from examine your dog really made was just formedicine you? Does does live? consciousness if Where What Is ThatYou? love you? ready Get to thesis taking you deeper on one topic one on deeper you taking different angles: your health, your relationship to tech and ponder. Ithink, therefore Iam. was noodling on it must mean that, at bare minimum, he could that even if all else around him were illusory, the fact that he students. More than 300 years ago, René Descartes postulated consume philosophers and blow the minds of first-year what makes you, you? It’s one of those questions that In this issue’s Thesis, we look at the subject of “you” from trail springnew 2018

15 }thesis

even how your dog sees done some studies trying you. But there is only one to find out if anesthetic question that can kick off the molecules bind to proteins discussion: what even is you? in microtubules — they Is our consciousness, the seat do. In the absence of of self, the thing that makes anesthetic molecules us who we are? in the microtubules, “As far as the sense of self consciousness comes back.” and consciousness, that’s He says anesthetics shift somewhat controversial the frequency of the jiggling and, to be quite honest, I proteins in microtubules, almost treat it as a hobby,” slowing them down. says physics professor Jack If, as Tuszynski believes, Tuszynski, who holds the he has found the physical seat Allard Chair in Experimental of consciousness, the place Oncology in the Faculty in each cell where you live, it of Medicine & Dentistry. makes consciousness a field In his spare time, he is of scientific inquiry rather popping the hood on human than strictly in the domain of consciousness to find out philosophy or religion. where it lies physically. “Being a physicist, I try Where his job and his to understand it at the most hobby intersect are the fundamental level. I stay polymers called microtubules away from philosophy,” that exist in each of our cells. Tuszynski says. “I’m not They provide structural trained to deal with it.” stability and act as conduits Nathan Kowalsky, ’98 among various parts of the BA(Hons), is trained to deal cell — a kind of road along with it. He is a professor which motor proteins move of philosophy and faculty cellular material. Tuszynski’s member in the Faculty of Arts team has demonstrated that multidisciplinary science, microtubules also conduct technology and society electricity. They grow or program. shrink and participate in the “It’s common to think of movement of the mighty us as removable from our mitochondria, the generators physical selves,” he says. of the cell. And microtubules Even the divide between are involved in cell division, a mental and physical health process that, run amok, is the demonstrates our inclination hallmark of cancer. to imagine our brains as On the hobby side of things apart from our bodies. things, he is looking at As if a living brain in a vat quantum behaviour, the odd could somehow still be us. behaviour of microtubules “We are always being at the atomic or subatomic in our relation to other level. “At least parts of their things,” says Kowalsky, who interaction could be at the specializes in environmental quantum level,” he says. philosophy. “To understand He points to anesthesia as our humanity we must You and evidence. understand ourselves as Despite 150 years of situated in a place. Cut off, we using anesthesia, we don’t lose part of ourselves. We are Your Dog have a good understanding a composite and we cannot Does your dog really love you of how it flips the switch divorce ourselves from our that much, or is he just hungry? that turns us off. Tuszynski actions and interactions.” might be getting there. “We’ve –mifi purvis, ’93 ba

16 ualberta.ca/newtrail we love to look at our dogs. They’ve emeritus of psychology at the U of A. Dogs the animal-human bond, says petting a been present in our art from cave paintings who live in shelters surrounded by other dog causes its brain to release oxytocin through to GIFs. Harder to find in the canines become less stressed if they spend and other feel-good chemicals, just as our annals of culture — presumably because time with a human. brains do when we pet them. / ALAMY / ) writing or painting with paws is hard — is “After even 15 minutes, dogs show lower Does that mean Fido gets excited when RF ( what our dogs see when they look at us. cortisol levels in their blood, their saliva you come home because he loves you and That’s why it’s exciting that modern animal and their urine,” Varnhagen says. In other not just because he knows it’s dinnertime? science is at last giving us a glimpse of how words, their stress decreases and they get Varnhagen isn’t sure. “But does that really Canis lupus familiaris views Homo sapiens. something out of human interaction that matter?” she asks. “If dogs have learned The research shows that dogs don’t see they don’t get with dogs. that humans are associated with food and themselves as human, nor do they consider Several somethings, in fact. Varnhagen, love and protection … isn’t that how we

CULTURA CREATIVE us dogs, says Connie Varnhagen, professor who teaches a course about researching come to love other humans?” –lewis kelley

new trail spring 2018 17 }thesis

When Medicine Is Designed Just for You Research into metabolism could design your optimal diet or offer years of advance warning on disease

your doctor calls. The bad news? You’re at risk of diabetes. The good news? Blood tests have caught it 10 years before you develop the disease. With changes in diet and lifestyle, you’ll probably be able to avoid it altogether. At the heart of this scenario is a science called metabolomics. You might have already heard the term in connection with that promising health‑care field called predictive medicine. Metabolomics is one key to detecting disease earlier — sometimes long before it occurs — and tailoring care for each patient based on that person’s makeup at a molecular level. “There’s a huge impact in terms of lives saved and quality of life, not to mention dollars,” says researcher David Wishart, ’83 BSc(Hons). He tells us a little more about what this science is and what it will mean for health care.

It’s basically the study of metabolism „ Metabolism is more than just how quickly your body processes food. It includes all the chemical processes inside our bodies. Metabolomics is the study of metabolites, tiny molecular compounds Metabolites can predict diseases. One pilot study There is even a urine test produced by, or involved diseases before they start is working to detect early- to detect colon cancer in, metabolism. Think of „ Some metabolites are stage diabetes, says Wishart. „ The test, not yet available eating an apple. Your body biomarkers, molecules that “In many cases, we can in Canada, will catch colon breaks the apple down into can indicate disease. So, predict the disease up to cancer at the polyp stage, its chemical components when researchers analyze 10 years before it actually without a colonoscopy. through digestion and a sample of blood or urine, develops. If you can make This early detection could rebuilds them into whatever they can look for biomarkers an intervention before the improve cure rates from 50 it needs, such as the proteins to see if a person has — or disease develops, that can to 95 per cent — with no need

needed to create DNA. is at risk for — developing save thousands of lives.” for invasive testing. It could CHOW ERIC BY ILLUSTRATION

18 ualberta.ca/newtrail WHAT IS PRECISION HEALTH? YOUR HEALTH, „ Rather than treating the “average patient,” precision health looks PERSONALIZED at factors that affect an individual’s health, such as If we knew more about our genetics and how genetics and environment, to deliver care based on each person’s body works differently, could we each person’s unique make better decisions about health care? Four characteristics. The goal experts addressed this question at a recent is to diagnose and treat people more accurately panel on precision health — the study of and effectively — and factors such as genetics and the environment even predict and to better understand a patient’s unique prevent disease — by combining data from health conditions. The panellists shared their large populations with thoughts with nearly 250 attendees as part information about a of the Alumni Association’s Calgary lecture Are body weight patient’s physical and series. Below are a few highlights. social characteristics. and body mass index (BMI) still the best ways to also reduce health‑care costs measure health? by about $2 billion annually, People can have the same says Wishart. weight, the same BMI, but their proportion of muscle What else can and fat can be different. We metabolomics do? are studying the relationship „ Potential applications of of low muscle to health. When you don’t have enough metabolomics research go How can artificial How does precision muscle, you can have a variety far beyond disease. There’s intelligence help? medicine help in of health problems. In an personalized nutrition, My colleagues around the cancer care? effort to advance precision understanding how and health, we have opened our world who are interested in Every cancer is as unique as unit to the public. You can why foods affect people precision health want to turn every patient and unique in use specialized equipment in different ways. There data into wellness. I’m one every patient. Rather than to measure your body are implications for of the people who disrupts treat on the one-size-fits-all composition and your energy things by saying, ‘Well, maybe philosophy like we usually agriculture, understanding metabolism. Our plan is to our hospitals don’t need to do, we now say, ‘You should the nutritional content work with stakeholders and grow; maybe we need to use have this treatment and you of different strains and offer it free to people with data to shrink the number of have a much better chance certain diseases. species of plants and customers we create.’ to have a response if I use the , ’09 PhD, assistant animals. Research can also Randy Goebel, ’77 MSc, professor information we understand Carla Prado be applied to veterinary in the Department of Computing from the genetics.’ professor in the Faculty of Science (More on Goebel’s work Agricultural, Life & Environmental science as well as to ecology. , ’90 MD, professor on page 33.) John Mackey Sciences, and director of the in the Department of Oncology Human Nutrition Research Unit And they share what they’ve learned „ Wishart’s lab makes its Is there a role precision health data freely available to can play in opioid addiction? anyone in the world. The People metabolize drugs differently based on genetics. We put a lot of Human Metabolome Project’s people on opioids hoping to improve their lives, and we made people database is accessed by addicts. Maybe we could figure out before we give you a drug that you millions of users each shouldn’t have that drug. We think we can come up with a genetic test year. “Making ideas available that will be able to figure out if you have pain because your nerves are for other scientists moves our firing incorrectly or differently or whether you could go on a small dose of whole field forward faster,” he morphine that could be quite safe. We’re calling it precision analgesia. says. “We’re helping patients, Patrick Mayo, ’82 BSc(Pharm), ’00 PhD, clinical associate professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences we’re treating people and we’re changing lives for the better.” –katie willis, ’13 ba To learn about upcoming lectures, visit ualberta.ca/alumni/events or watch for Alumni Insider in your inbox.

new trail spring 2018 19 }thesis

Why You Remember the Things You Do We forget almost everything, so what sticks and why?

a gust of cold wind. Perfume in an elevator. Where you parked your car. We forget most of it. 1. Repeated Experiences But that time you almost cut your finger off while slicing your bagel — that stays with you. Why? What did you do this Only a small portion of our experience is captured in long-term memory, says psychology morning? Most people professor Norman R. Brown. And most of those memories are formed for one of three reasons. have a general memory of getting out of bed, getting dressed — but do you remember the specifics of this particular morning? “In a certain sense, memory for specific events is secondary and a lot less accurate than our memory of a generic understanding of the past,” says Brown.

2. Distinctiveness Your daily bus commutes blend into one another through repetition to produce general memories, but that process makes it difficult to recall the ride you took last Wednesday. You may well remember, though, the trip that involved a particularly long detour, a near accident or the commentary of an overly talkative stranger.

3. Blood and Emotion In experiments, Brown gave people words like “tree” or “automobile,” then asked them to recall something specific. For such generic ideas, detailed memories are rare and exceptional. But when Brown suggested the word “cut,” everyone in the study could recall a time when, for example, they stepped on a piece of glass or were sliced while cutting bread. “A little bit of blood and a little bit of emotion and you’ll remember it for the rest of your life,” says

Brown. –sarah pratt THINKSTOCK

20 ualberta.ca/newtrail YOUR TECH, YOUR SELF in february, Netflix launched its words, it was a property crime to latest spectacle, Altered Carbon, knock down your neighbour’s fence, based on Richard Morgan’s but wreck a weaving machine? You novel — produced and written in could find yourself sentenced to part by Steve Blackman, ’97 LLB. death or shipped to the colonies. A cyberpunk manifesto, the show Busting up a loom as an act takes place 500 years from now of high rebellion might seem when all your life’s experiences are charmingly anachronistic, but recorded on a piece of technology there are modern parallels. “Most that is implanted in your neck. industrial countries have laws When your body dies, the device preventing attacks against the can be moved into another body internet or communications Why You Feel Like Your or even be reanimated in a virtual networks,” Ede says. And the space. It’s as though the essence of penalties can be serious. Friends Are Having More you lived on a thumb drive. You realize that we are Fun on Social Media But if it’s a storage device for inseparable from our tech once if you’ve had a social with Quiet Quinn your consciousness, would that you realize all tools are technology. media account for simply because Greg tech really be you? In other words, Where would we be without clay more than five minutes, has more friendships are we inching nearer a time when pots or urban infrastructure? you have no doubt than Quinn. While this people are tied to their technology? “Technology is a system, and we looked at your friends’ isn’t a phenomenon “That’s an interesting question,” couldn’t survive without it,” Ede posts and thought, that was birthed by the “Wow, they have a lot internet, Brake points says Andrew Ede, a historian in the says, including education as a more friends than I do.” to 2016 research in the Faculty of Arts and director of the technology. “Education is probably Well, there’s a reason journal PLOS One that science, technology and society the most powerful technology for that. shows the friendship program. He points to 1811 England we’ve ever developed.” They really are more paradox has found new when the Luddites, weavers who Our technology is a hallmark of popular than you. life on social media. saw their livelihood threatened our humanity. And maybe it really But don’t feel bad, It is exacerbated, of by increased automation, began is what makes us … us. So when it’s not your fault — it’s course, by the kinds of just sociology. This photos people choose breaking looms in protest. This we rail against these things — a all comes down to to post. “People became known as frame-breaking thumb drive, an education something called the tend not to share a and soon new laws made it a capital system, a computer network, a friendship paradox: complete view of their crime. It put the crime on the same loom — maybe we rail against the counterintuitive lives,” says Brake. While level as killing a person. In other ourselves. –mifi purvis, ’93 ba idea that most people the choice to not share are less popular than one’s toenail clippings their friends. The online makes perfect phenomenon was sense, in aggregate first observed by these choices can sociologist Scott Feld paint a picture that in 1991, a very pre- looks far more exciting Instagram time. and positive than the David Brake, a genuine article. And, communications of course, the social researcher and platforms contribute to instructor in the feelings of anxiety and Faculty of Extension, inferiority thanks to our breaks down the tendency to compare phenomenon like this. ourselves with others. The friendship paradox All of this can leave you starts with a truism: with a fear of missing popular people have out, or as they put it more friends. So then, online: #FOMO. it follows that more- The best way out popular people are of this social media more likely to be your quagmire lies in friends than less- evolving a more mature popular people. measure of what others In other words, your post, says Brake. odds of being friends “Social norms change with Gregarious Greg more slowly than are better than your technology,” he points

BOTTOM PHOTO CHRONICLE / ALAMY; TOP RIGHT ILLUSTRATION BY ERIC CHOW odds of being friends out. –lewis kelley

new trail spring 2018 21 V(s_t)\leftarrow V(s_t)+\alpha[r_{t+1}+\gamma

V(s_t)\leftarrow V(s_t)+\alpha[r_{t+1}+\gamma V(s_{t+1})-V(s_t)] sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+2} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right

V(s_t)\leftarrow V(s_t)+\alpha[r_{t+1}+\gamma V(s_{t+1})-V(s_t)] V(s_t)\leftarrow V(s_t)+\alpha[r_{t+1}+\gamma V(s_{t+1})-V(s_t)] V(s_t)\leftarrow V(s_t)+\alpha[r_{t+1}+\gamma V(s_{t+1})

E_\pi\left \{r_{t+1} + \gamma \sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+2} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\

\ARTIFICIAL_INTELLIGENCE^ \begin{align*} V^\pi(s) = & E_\pi\left\{R_t \mid s_t=s\right\}\\ = & E_\pi\left \{\sum_{k=0}^\Forget \Everything gamma^k\You’ve \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ = & E_\pi\left \{r_{t+1} + \ \sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k in r_the {t+k+2} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ = & E_\pi\bigg\{t+1}+ \gamma V^\pi (s_{t+1})Learned \in Bigm\the s_t=\Movies\} \end{align*}

V(s_t)\AI aisrrow V(so_t)+\much[r_{less}+\gamma V(s_{t+k+2} \begin{align*} V^\pi(s) = & E_\pi\left\{R_t \mid s_t=s\right\}\\ = & E_\pi\left \{\sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t k+1} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ = & E_\pi\left \{r_{t+1} + \gamma \sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+2} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ = & E_\pi\bigg\{r_{t+1} + \gamma V^\pi (s_{t+1}) \Bigm\vert s_t=s\bigg\} \end{align*}

22 ualberta.ca/newtrail {\sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t k+1} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\

= & E_\pi\bigg\{r_{t+1} + \gamma V^\pi (s_{t+1}) \Bigm\vert s_t=s\bigg\}

^k r_{t+k+2} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\

V(s_t)\leftarrow V(s_t)+\alpha[r_{t+1}+\gamma V(s_{t+1})-V(s_t)] V(s_t)\leftarrow V(s_t)+\alpha[r_{t+1}+\gamma V(s_{t+1})-V(s_t)] V(s_t)\leftarrow V(s_t)+\alpha[r_{t+1}+\gamma V(s_{t+1})

\begin{align*} V^\pi(s) = & E_\pi\left\{R_t \mid s_t=s\right\}\\ E_\pi\left \{r_{t+1} + \gamma \sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+2} \Bigm\vert = & E_\pi\left \{\sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t k+1} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ s_t=s \right \}\\ = & E_\pi\left \{r_{t+1} + \gamma \sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+2} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ = & E_\pi\bigg\{r_{t+1} + \gamma V^\pi (s_{t+1}) \Bigm\vert s_t=s\bigg\} \end{align*} \ARTIFICIAL_INTELLIGENCE^ \begin{align*} V^\pi(s) = & E_\pi\left\{R_t \mid s_t=s\right\}\\ = & E_\pi\left \{\sum_{k=0}^\Forget \Everything gamma^k\You’ve \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ = & E_\pi\left \{r_{t+1} + \ \sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k in r_the {t+k+2} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ = & E_\pi\bigg\{t+1}+ \gamma V^\pi (s_{t+1})Learned \in Bigm\the s_t=\Movies\} \end{align*}

V(s_t)\AI aisrrow V(so_t)+\much[r_{less}+\gamma V(s_{t+k+2} \gamma (And_{so})-V(s_t)much]+more_\pi\left \{r_{t+1} + \gamma \sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r \begin new trail spring 2018 23 \begin{align*} V^\pi(s) = & E_\pi\left\{R_t \mid s_t=s\right\}\\ = & E_\pi\left \{\sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t k+1} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ = & E_\pi\left \{r_{t+1} + \gamma \sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+2} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ = & E_\pi\bigg\{r_{t+1} + \gamma V^\pi (s_{t+1}) \Bigm\vert s_t=s\bigg\} \end{align*} 4 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT AI Almost daily, we read Walking into a lab at the Alberta Machine about how AI is changing Intelligence Institute on North Campus, it’s our lives. It’s learning to hard to believe it’s home to some of the latest do our jobs. It’s finding research in artificial intelligence. planets that human Humanoid robots? Nope. One battered-looking eyes can’t. It’s driving Roomba roams a fenced‑off quadrant barely bigger our vehicles, invading our privacy, disrupting than a dining room table. In another corner, a financial markets and robotic hand is poised on a table but it just helping us shop. In sits there, unmoving. short, it’s either making It turns out that the really interesting (CSRankings.org) and are home to the our lives better or work in this lab — and many others Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute. threatening our place on in the Faculty of Science — is going on Last July, one of the world’s foremost the planet. Maybe both. at a bank of unremarkable-looking AI research and development firms, Help make sense computers, where human beings are DeepMind, announced it was setting up of it all with this quick writing, rewriting and testing algorithms. its first research lab outside the United explainer on the what, While most of us think of robots Kingdom in Edmonton. The reason? It why and when of when we think of AI, the reality is that wanted to work with Richard Sutton and artificial intelligence. the leading edge of research resides in other U of A researchers. That’s a big deal computers and hieroglyphic algorithms. in the AI world. And the humans sitting in front of the So, suffice it to say, if you have computers at the U of A are some of the questions about AI, you’ve come to the 3 THINGS AI best minds in AI. right place. What is AI? What isn’t? CAN DO FOR US For decades, the computing science (Page 25) How will AI affect our lives AI is not about replacing department has been quietly knocking and our very selves ? (Page 26) How will humans, says researcher and down one artificial intelligence it change our day-to-day lives? (Page 28) computing science professor barrier after another, often in the We call on U of A experts to help you Mike Bowling. It’s a tool to form of beating humans at their own distinguish the hyperbole from the make us better. Here’s what it games. U of A researchers and alumni truly cool. can do for us, he says. have been part of AI’s triumph over Speaking of cool — that Roomba „ Things humans aren’t very human experts in checkers, chess, wandering around in its pen? It’s busy good at but do anyway poker and Go, teaching computers learning how to avoid the walls before it because nobody else can or is doing them. to play mind-bending games to runs into them. Actually learning on its „ Things we just don’t replicate the way humans learn. own about the world around it. It turns want to do. We rank second in the world in a out that AI doesn’t need to look as if it was „ Things we aren’t able

branch of AI called machine learning designed in Hollywood to be amazing. to do at all. DepartmentSources: Alberta and Institute Intelligence Computing Machine Science of

24 ualberta.ca/newtrail FROM R2-D2 TO ROSIE How close are we to these sci-fi classics? \from_A(I)^to+Z*} Let’s rank 6 of pop culture’s favourite robots *terms you should know By Jaden Travnik

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REINFORCEMENT NOT EVEN CLOSE Even the experts don’t agree LEARNING (check back in a future far, far away) on exactly what is and isn’t An area of machine learning AI. But in general terms, it’s inspired by behavioural a computer system capable psychology that uses R2-D2 of performing tasks that reward or punishment to Star Wars normally require human reinforce the machine’s We have welding robots that intelligence, such as solving predictions or actions, work in factories following problems, making decisions, much like humans learn programmed directions but processing language and from trial and error. Take none yet that can repair a recognizing images. a game of checkers: if the T-1000 spaceship in the middle of computer makes a move Terminator 2 battle while cracking wise. ALGORITHM that costs it a checker, A lab at RMIT University A step-by-step process it learns to avoid that in Australia has made a or set of rules that guide scenario next time. conductive liquid metal a computer to make that can move and change calculations or solve DEEP LEARNING shape based on what is problems. In computers, Also called deep or around it, but the T-1000 is these are written in a artificial neural networks, still a long way off. programming language; deep learning is built on in everyday life, a recipe the idea that high-level ROSIE or assembly instructions abstract concepts can The Jetsons are algorithms. be learned from low-level The price tag on robot maids ones. Simple computing is well beyond most cars, NATURAL LANGUAGE nodes are layered and and they only work in certain PROCESSING (NLP) interconnected much like kitchens, so don’t expect your A branch of AI focused a human brain, with each household chore list to get on helping computers layer’s output serving as WALL-E shorter any time soon. understand and use human input for the next. WALL-E language. Although his shovel MACHINE INTELLIGENCE hands, all-terrain MACHINE LEARNING Artificial intelligence and treads and solar-power A branch of AI aimed at machine learning are technology are all readily creating systems that together often referred to as available today, the can learn from and adapt machine intelligence. They robot’s curiosity is still to a complex, uncertain enable machines to interact science fiction — partly environment without being with their environments in because there is no explicitly programmed. intelligent ways. agreed-upon way to mathematically define curiosity.

BAYMAX ROBOT OVERLORDS? NOT REALLY Big Hero 6 How close are we to creating robots that could take over the world? Robots have an exciting Most AI researchers agree it’s a long way off — if it ever happens role in health care, from at all. Here’s why. helping with surgery to being used as prosthetic devices to delivering GENERAL AI NARROW AI medication. Given these When we think of artificial Most artificial intelligence advances, some of the intelligence, most of us think systems around us today are medical functions Baymax of the pop culture version, à la narrow or “weak” artificial has at its disposal will soon Ex Machina’s Ava or Star Wars’ intelligence. That means the HAL 9000 be carried out by robots at R2-D2. Most researchers agree system can do one specialized 2001: A Space Odyssey a hospital near you. artificial intelligence is many task but can’t yet be trained to HAL 9000 is basically a decades away from being able reason its way past that specific personal assistant attached to match this breadth and goal. For example, a chess to a spaceship. It’s easy to complexity of human ability. program will only play chess. imagine going from, “Siri, call home” to “OK Google, , ’15 BSc(Spec) open the pod bay doors.” Jaden Travnik is a researcher in the Bionic To create general AI — in other words, for computers to be able to But so far, our digital do what humans can do — a wealth of narrow AI “problems” have to Limbs for Improved Natural assistants are neither Control (BLINC) Lab at the be solved. Even the most advanced research today is focused on sentient nor homicidal. University of Alberta. narrow fields, such as training computers to reason, plan, understand language, recognize and respond to visual cues, and learn through trial and error. BUY ONE TODAY

ILLUSTRATIONS BY CLINT FORD new trail spring 2018 25

V(s_t)\leftarrow V(s_t)+\alpha[r_{t+1}+\gamma V(s_{t+1})-V(s_t)] \{\sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t k+1} \Bigm

term “The Transition” for the moment when machines finally outsmart us and we hand over power. The only question is whether this god will treat us as pets or livestock. OUR^ The Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom ups the ante. Let’s say you program machines to produce paper TRANSHUMAN clips. Off they merrily go, mining minerals until they deplete the Earth. Then they turn to us. “The AI does not hate you, nor does it love you,” *FUTURE} Yudkowsky said of this thought experiment. “But you are made of atoms, With artificial intelligence, we are creating a which it can use for something else.” new being — one that’s ‘a billion times smarter’ The rest of us could dismiss all this than humans. Should we be worried? talk as loopy dorm-room catastrophizing if it weren’t for some of the names in By Bruce Grierson, ’86 BA(Spec) the conversation. Bill Gates, Elon Musk and the late Stephen Hawking have said Last spring, Anthony Levandowski, former U of A post-doctoral fellow Aja they’re worried. Should we be? a Silicon Valley engineer, filed Huang) made a move that flummoxed Last year, dozens of high-impact papers with the U.S. Internal Revenue all the analysts. It made no sense. social visionaries — physicists, Service to register his new non-profit. Its Yet it broke the back of the human roboticists, philosophers, tech CEOs mission: “the realization, acceptance and champion and sent murmurs through and the odd Nobel laureate economist worship of a Godhead based on Artificial the culture that a kind of tipping-point among them — gathered on California’s Intelligence developed through moment may finally be close: a machine Monterey Peninsula to put some rules computer hardware and software.” The can think in moves that people don’t in place while humans still have the IRS granted Levandowski’s brainchild, understand. It smacked of the cognitive upper hand. They aimed to create a called “The Way of the Future,” tax- jump that AI enthusiasts have been kind of founding document of guiding exempt status. And just like that, the waiting for — what AI theorist Eliezer principles, a road map to Friendly AI. first church of AI, with its own “dean,” Yudkowsky calls the “intelligence Ferocious debates erupted around disciples and holy book (called “the explosion.” When machines can learn the ethical dimensions of AI research. manual”) was born — and set to from their own mistakes and then go Strategies to foster AI’s best pro-social commence communion with the new wide, creatively connecting dots as we self. Worst-case scenarios. Big questions: god on Earth, when she comes. do — but astronomically faster — it’s how to prevent an arms race of AI- “Not a god in the sense that it makes a whole new ball game. We’re talking, enabled weapons? How to steer this lightning or hurricanes,” Levandowski according to “explosionists” like thing without unduly constraining it? told Wired magazine not long ago. “But Yudkowsky and cryptologist I.J. Good, Few would disagree that we need to if there is something a billion times about an evolutionary leap at least as big inject into AI the ability for a human smarter than the smartest human, what as the one from water to land, or from referee to step in and intervene, to else are you going to call it?” Earth to interplanetary life. prevent a program from improvising Now, we’ve heard this kind of talk for That’s a good thing if you think the on the instructions we whisper in its at least a half-century. A balky machine new intelligence we’re uncorking is ear and charging off to pursue its own called the Perceptron was supposed to friendly. That we’re heading for a happy agenda. But how? be poised to take our lunch money in synergy of human and machine, in “Stop button,” says Mike Bowling, 1958. The device, which ran on an IBM which our messes will be cleaned up by U of A professor of computing science. mainframe, could “reproduce itself a higher level of thinking than the one “You wouldn’t build an escalator and be conscious of its own existence,” that created them in the first place. “The without a stop button. You don’t bugled the New York Times. Singularity,” as it has been hailed. (Or build a robot without a stop button. But a recent event has many “Rapture of the Nerds,” in the coinage If something unpredictable were observers believing we’ve finally cracked of the movement’s chief pitchman, the to happen — just as with any other the nut. In the second game of its match futurist Ray Kurzweil.) tool — we’d stop using it, turn it off, with the legendary world Go champion For his part, Levandowski, a pioneer investigate, fix, and return it to working Lee Se-dol, the computer program of self-driving cars, envisions our order.” (This reasoning applies to an AlphaGo (developed by Google’s AI relationship with AI as more like a New AI system we might deploy in the near project DeepMind, led by University of Testament God. Equal partners in this future, Bowling says. Beyond that, Alberta grad David Silver, ’09 PhD, and arrangement we are not. He favours the things get pretty speculative — which

ILLUSTRATION BY DANIEL HERTZBERG new trail spring 2018 27 1A$=”[up][down][left][right] ”:PRINTMID$(A$,RND(.5)*4+1,1)” *[left]”;:FORI=1TO30:NEXT:PRINT”[rvs on][space][left]”;:GOTO1

isn’t to say we shouldn’t be speculating.) After one too many viewings of The Terminator, a conversation with Bowling WHAT CAN IT DO? is guaranteed to bring your blood pressure back down. What does artificial intelligence research “The level of existential fear look like in the lab? And what will AI look in the machine-learning like as it becomes more prevalent in our community is quite a bit less day-to-day lives? These eight examples than among the public,” says offer a pretty good idea. Bowling, whose research focus is machine learning, games and robotics. (Machine learning being an area in which U of A researchers are considered at the forefront.) Bowling is untroubled by reports that have made some people turn pale and draw the shades. Like the news two years Bowling worries about bad human ago about Microsoft’s self-learning bot, habits so engrained that we pass them Tay. The company equipped Tay with a on to machines without even realizing sunny disposition and parachuted it into it. For instance, “the gender bias baked the Twitterverse. Within 24 hours, Tay into the language manifests as sexism turned into a jackleg neo-Nazi, churning or racism.” Then we proudly teach AI out poisonously racist tweets. But Tay everything we know. “What if [that wasn’t revealing some innate germ programming] is then used to process of malevolence. It was learning how university admissions or mortgage people talk on the internet. “When your applications?” But as far as a hostile children start parroting things they hear takeover by robots in our lifetime, these on the playground,” Bowling notes, “it two don’t buy it. just looks foolish.” “I think the true believers in the Plenty of AI’s foremost researchers Singularity kind of misunderstand openly doubt computers will assume how different the human mind is from apex-predator status any time soon, computers,” Ede says. “[Futurist, Ray] (including Richard Sutton, profiled Kurzweil, in particular, thinks that once \create_sur prising^worlds*} on page 34). Then again, we’ve seen we’ve mapped out all the connections this movie before. When there’s a big in the brain we can just download technological disruption, the Cassandras ourselves onto some kind of software Inside a lab at the U of A, line up against the skeptics who insist or hardware. But our brains don’t work there is an artificial world the unimaginable can’t possibly happen on a binary system — ones and zeros. where digital rabbits and … until it does and the whole culture They work on a much more complicated wolves are born, live, reproduce and die. It’s nothing fancy, just heaves. Is this revolution different? electrochemical system.” 2D shapes made of pixels to “Well, it’s different in the sense At present, the fanciest computer create a predator-prey that computers are the first machines in the world is roughly as bright as a environment, but those rabbits designed to control other machines,” cockroach. No one has yet made a robot and wolves have artificial says Andrew Ede, a professor who that can successfully fold laundry neural networks — or brains. lectures on the history of technology. and cook an egg. AlphaGo’s victory, It’s an experiment that seems part sci-fi, part “In earlier technological shifts, more jobs while remarkable, was a triumph in Hollywood. Researchers, were created than were lost. This one’s an extremely narrow space. We’re still students and a powerful going to take jobs without replacing a long way from creating a kind of monitoring computer are them, and that’s a valid worry.” Indeed, intelligence that mimics even the worst analyzing every move in the Ede says, there’s lots to be troubled by of us on our worst day. colony, watching its evolution as computing power accelerates. At the “Neil Postman argued that and looking for evidence of novel behaviour. top of the list is the disappearance of information isn’t knowledge — and I’d add For Vadim Bulitko, lead privacy. The “algorithms that keep such that knowledge isn’t wisdom,” says Ede. researcher and computing close tabs on us,” as he puts it, AI will put “That’s something people who are waiting all of that into overdrive. for the Singularity don’t seem to grasp.”

28 ualberta.ca/newtrail 1A$=”[up][down][left][right] ”:PRINTMID$(A$,RND(.5)*4+1,1)” *[left]”;:FORI=1TO30:NEXT:PRINT”[rvs on][space][left]”;:GOTO1 +\alpha[r_{t+1}+\gamma V(s_{t+1})-V(s_t)]

HEALTH & WELLNESS DIAGNOSE AND SOMEDAY PREDICT MENTAL ILLNESS

THE PROBLEM For people with psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia, autism, ADHD and depression, arriving at correct diagnosis and treatment can take months. It’s gruelling for patients and their families and costly for the health system.

THE AI SOLUTION Russ Greiner, computing science professor and researcher, and his colleagues are testing machine learning- based software that analyzes brain scans to see if it can help doctors determine the correct diagnosis.

HOW DOES IT WORK? Greiner and his team use supervised machine learning would automatically eat and, to analyze the data of many therefore, survive. When the hundreds of anonymized \create_sur prising^worlds*} leaders were removed, the patients who have information followers stopped eating about their diagnoses. and died. Algorithms seek patterns in the science professor, this “petri for anomalies that may be The researchers did information from patients’ fMRI dish” could provide clues to missed by humans. not expect the leader and scans (functional magnetic how artificial beings learn The project looks for follower rabbits to emerge, it resonance imaging) that can through interaction. Will they surprises, and researchers got just happened. “Who knows help determine whether a develop language, ethics or one when the rabbits, which what’s going to happen next?” person has a disease. desires? Artistic creativity? were programmed identically, asks Bulitko. Personalities? separated into distinct groups Eventually, variables will HIGHLY ACCURATE The research team cuts of leaders and followers. be added to the environment, The team has shown that across a swath of arts, Each rabbit was such as utterances that the an algorithm can learn to science and humanities, programmed to automatically rabbits or wolves could use to predict whether a person including fine arts professor eat when it came across create a language. has schizophrenia with Marilène Oliver, Marcia a patch of grass. As new “What will be the role an accuracy rate of 74 per Spetch, a psychologist rabbits were born into the of these things? If they do cent. Other alogrithms have with an expertise in animal environment, however, develop their own desires produced similar accuracy cognition, and computational researchers found that some are they going to be hostile rates for ADHD and autism. philosopher John Simpson. actively sought out the grass, to us? Friendly to us? Invaluable, as well, is a while others didn’t — in fact, Ignoring us? These are WHAT’S NEXT? second computer, also built they would avoid it. some important questions. The technology is still in with deep neural networks, Yet this second group We can’t solve them by research stages but could which monitors the colony would follow the leaders onto pretending that they don’t eventually help doctors and is being trained to look the grass, where the followers exist.” –therese kehler diagnose, predict and even treat patients more effectively. –wendy glauser

ILLUSTRATION BY NICHOLAS LITTLE new trail spring 2018 29 perl -MPOSIX -le’@now = localtime; $now[0] -= 7; $now[4] -= 14; $now[7] -= 9; print scalar localtime mktime @now’

UNCOVER THE SECRETS OF AN ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT^ Researchers are hoping to help unlock the tantalizing The pair created a computer program that’s capable of secrets of a 15th-century document that has bewildered recognizing 380 languages, with 97.1 per cent accuracy, by cryptographers for decades. finding patterns using symbol frequency. Of the languages The 240-page Voynich Manuscript, which has been tested, Hebrew was closest to the one in the manuscript. radiocarbon dated to 1404-1438, is handwritten on parchment But there was another hurdle. The symbols seem to in an unknown language. Greg Kondrak, ’94 MSc, a be anagrams — letters of a word rearranged to form new computing science expert in natural language processing and words — so even if the letters are a form of Hebrew, the words computational cryptography at the U of A, became intrigued aren’t. (It would be like translating something into the English by the manuscript after hearing about it at a conference. He alphabet and coming up with “tsprie.”) So they created two enlisted the help of graduate student Bradley Hauer to try to more algorithms to map the text and decode the resulting crack the code. anagrams into something readable.

30 ualberta.ca/newtrail PHOTO COURTESY BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY, YALE UNIVERSITY perl -MPOSIX -le’@now = localtime; $now[0] -= 7; $now[4] -= 14; $now[7] -= 9; print scalar localtime mktime @now’

sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+2} \Bigm\vert

PROSTHETICS CREATE HUMAN LIMBS MORE LIKE THE REAL THING For most of us, reaching for a cup of coffee is a natural motion performed without thought. For a person with a prosthetic limb, it involves a complex sequence of motions. Researchers at the BLINC Lab — Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control — are using AI to help create “smart” bionic limbs that operate more naturally with a person’s body. THE PROBLEM settings and the results Modern robotic have been promising. prosthetics are Pilarski hopes to be able sophisticated yet to share the open‑source frustratingly difficult for code with the world for people to use in daily life. free within 12 months. “They have a robot for an “Our goal is to take arm, but it’s really hard technology that has for them to tell it what to shown success in a do,” says Patrick Pilarski, research setting and ’09 PhD, an AI researcher put it in a form that and Canada Research companies, developers Chair in the department and designers can use of medicine. Intelligent as a foundation for technology could building the prosthetic increase the success rate technologies of of prosthetics and help tomorrow.” people live fuller lives. BEYOND HUMAN THE AI SOLUTION ABILITY Using a branch of AI While the current called reinforcement research is focused learning, the research on building better team is training prosthetics to replace the prosthetics to track abilities people have lost patterns in a person’s through injury or illness, movements and the “big grand slam,” as ANCIENT MANUSCRIPT^ Pilarksi calls it, would eventually predict the Unable to find a medieval Hebrew expert and cryptologist motions. Called adaptive be to use technology on campus, Kondrak fed the first line into Google Translate as switching technology, to help people become a test. The line read, “She made recommendations to the priest, it allows a person to “super-abled” — to do communicate with the more than they could man of the house and me and people.” device. “That’s the bit before. “The seamless While critics have since questioned the use of Google where AI can help. It’s the communication, the Translate, Kondrak says that step had little to do with the focus ‘brains’ of the operation, interaction between of the research. It was just an interesting aside. so to speak,” says Pilarski, humans and machines to The project is complete for now but Kondrak hopes others who also works with the solve problems together, might pick up the quest and build on the findings. “If we are U of A’s Alberta Machine to make the world a Intelligence Institute. better place — this presented with new clues and information, we would definitely is one of the biggest consider revisiting the manuscript.” –sarah pratt WHAT’S NEXT? challenges remaining to Amputees have tested our species.” –alex zabjek the technology in lab and therese kehler

new trail spring 2018 31 How Does It Work? Blueberry is a machine-learning dialogue system inspired by AI research and fed a diet of a \make‘e m { laugh*} hundred years of movie scripts. Blueberry runs software called A.L.Ex. or Artificial Language When Kory terms of the words we’re the human condition that Experiment, made in collaboration Mathewson, ’10 actually consuming. I wasn’t able to frame with Piotr Mirowski with BSc(ElecEng), ’14 MSc, takes before — about what our HumanMachine in London, the stage with Blueberry, Beyond performing, does interaction as humans is England. Here, in a nutshell, is how the improv comic robot, he improv actually help with these technologies. Blueberry maps language. starts by telling the your research? Robots are I’m building a system „ It reads a database of movie audience, “It looks really really good at doing precise, that I’d love to walk into scripts to map what sentences fancy, so take a deep breath constrained actions. And a dinner party and talk to look like. and lower your that’s exactly what improv one day. And wouldn’t that „ It tries to make its own expectations.” isn’t. Improv is an art form be the greatest tragedy? sentence, word by word, that So why combine AI and that is judged with a long If I walked into a dinner looks like sentences from the database. improv? Because Kory leash. The audience wants party and didn’t talk to Mathewson, improv comic, to watch the performers you but talked with the „ If the new sentence reads as is also Kory Mathewson, AI flounder and then succeed robot that was sitting in though it could come directly from the database, the system researcher. Neither improv in the end. I think that the corner? So, it’s really increases the probability of nor AI research really dialogue — improvised made me understand and making similar sentences. works without embracing dialogue — is the best way appreciate the moments „ Over several guesses and repeated failures. The risk for us to watch humans and where I am connected corrections, the system that a scene might go off machines interact. and disconnected. improves its language map. the rails makes watching –shane riczu, ’12 ma „ When you ask a question, improv such a fun ride. So working with it groups words that occur Likewise, the secret sauce Blueberry has given you together, like “hospital, doctor, behind training a robot to a different perspective? needle,” into topics. do improv is that it tries, Blueberry allows me to „ It uses these perceived topics it fails, it learns, it tries tell certain stories about to create responses that stay again. And, as Mathewson within the same topic, mimicking recounts, there have been a a sentence from the database. lot of failures to work with.

How was your first show with Blueberry? It was awful! It was mostly watching someone debug a computer on stage. It said something pretty racy — I had thought I’d filtered for that but I didn’t. The audience was like “Whoa! We didn’t know it could say that.”

Wait — you mean Blueberry has a foul mouth? [Blueberry’s software] uses a database of hundreds of thousands of movie scripts from the last hundred years of cinema. There’s a lot of really, really blue content in old movie scripts, so we try to do a lot of filtering in \begin{align*} V^\pi(s) = & E_\pi\left\{R_t \mid s_t=s\right\}\\32 ualberta.ca/newtrail = & E_\pi\left \{\sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+1} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right& E_\pi\left \{r_ {t+1} + \gamma \sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+2} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ = & E_\pi\bigg\{r_{t+1} + \gamma V^\pi (s_{t+1}) \Bigm\vert s_t=s\bigg\} \end{align*} 10 PRINT CHR$(14):FOR A=1TO40*23:PRINT”,V”;:NEXT

LAW & ORDER SAFETY FIGHT FIRE MAKE^THE*LAW WITH DATA MORE_ACCESSIBLE} When a wildfire starts, it Researchers behind an AI program that scored 72 per cent on a can take less than an bar exam see huge potential to help lawyers and speed up justice hour to grow into an out-of- control burn. What if we could Legal professionals often that tests AI law programs ask a question about a legal predict the likelihood of have to comb through against each other. That’s big. problem and get some results wildfires before they started hundreds of precedents and “Artificial intelligence back.” so we could get crews on the legal statutes to prepare for a could democratize access Using AI to more quickly ground faster or minimize the single case. Could AI help? to law,” says Goebel, a sort through huge amounts danger with a controlled burn? Researcher Randy Goebel, computing science professor of legal data could also Wildfire expert Mike ’77 MSc, thinks so. Last year, who works with the U of A’s cut down on lawyers’ Flannigan is working on a his team scored 72 per cent Alberta Machine Intelligence billable hours, making legal machine learning system that in a law school bar exam at Institute. “[With AI] mere representation cheaper. helps predict extreme weather an international competition mortals like you and me could Faster turnaround could conditions associated reduce backlogs, ensuring with wildfires. Flannigan, a that the accused aren’t professor in the Department waiting unnecessarily for trial of Renewable Resources and and that victims see swifter director of Canada Wildfire, justice, says Goebel. and research partner Ryan For four of the last five Lagerquist, ’14 BSc(Hons), a years, a U of A team headed PhD student at the University by Goebel and Mi-Young of Oklahoma’s School of Kim, assistant science Meteorology, hope the system professor at Augustana, will be ready within five years. has won the AI bar exam competition in Japan. Using TAKE HISTORICAL natural language processing, WEATHER INFO teams create algorithms The two have created a that can respond to yes-or- computer program that no statements in a typical can sort through historical Japanese bar exam. meteorological data linked to Goebel and Kim are now wildfires, then use it to predict organizing a competition that where extreme weather is would require programs to most likely to create the interpret precedent-setting right — or wrong — conditions. cases, a more complicated task than analyzing ADD SOME statutes. –wendy glauser PRESSURE DATA Fire weather is traditionally forecast using precipitation, but this new algorithm uses Fayek says. With her team, the professor in pressure data for greater accuracy. For example, high construction engineering and management is pressure is associated with creating decision-support systems that warm, dry weather and low ENERGY SYSTEMS incorporate fuzzy logic — a way of integrating pressure means cooler, wet subjective information into solutions. conditions. The team uses a custom-built taxonomy to describe steps common to large construction THE RESULT IS PLAN PROJECTS MORE ACCURATE projects, regardless of the type. They feed “Artificial intelligence can that information to an AI program equipped help us better predict MORE EFFICIENTLY with the taxonomy, which takes into wildfire weather based on account variables such as cost, scheduling, pressure levels, which is “When it comes to energy infrastructure, safety, environmental impact, efficiency more accurate than using planning is everything,” says Aminah and stakeholder interactions. The team will precipitation patterns alone,” Robinson Fayek. But how do you plan a eventually be able to provide processes and says Flannigan. “AI enhances existing systems and can completely novel project when the data are software tools for project managers to make predict this weather further in limited or non-existent? “You don’t need exact good decisions despite limited data. advance.” –sarah pratt information to make excellent decisions,” –mifi purvis, ’93 ba

PHOTO BY JOHN ULAN; ILLUSTRATION BY DANIEL HERTZBERG new trail spring 2018 33 \begin{align*} V^\pi(s) = & E_\pi\left\{R_t \mid s_t=s\right\}\\ = & E_\pi\left \{\sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+1} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right& E_\pi\left \{r_

1}+\gamma V(s_{t+1})-V(s_t)] {t+1} + \gamma \sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+2} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ 34 ualberta.ca/newtrail = & E_\pi\bigg\{r_{t+1} + \gamma V^\pi (s_{t+1}) \Bigm\vert s_t=s\bigg\} \end{align*} {\sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t k+1} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\ +\alpha[r_{t+1}+\gamma V(s_{t+1})-V(s_t)]

\T H E DEEP*MIND ^OF RICHARD SUTTON} If computing science superstars were like rock stars, Richard Sutton would be all four of The Beatles. The icon shares what he has learned about AI, and himself, over his groundbreaking career

By Scot Morison, ’80 BSc(Spec)

When Richard Sutton stood in front of his first class at Sutton is considered a founding father of reinforcement the U of A in 2003, he told the students he might not be learning — a key methodology in artificial intelligence research. around to finish the course. But he would try. Twenty years ago, he co-wrote Reinforcement Learning: An Sutton’s cancer had returned. He had endured four major Introduction, which is still considered the definitive book on surgeries, chemotherapy and immunotherapy after aggressive the subject. melanoma spread to major organs, including his brain, years Despite his already significant renown in the field of earlier. The cancer was in remission when he arrived in Canada artificial intelligence, at the time Sutton’s health issues made it to start his new position, but now the tumours were back. a bit of a gamble to bring him to the university, says Jonathan “My odds were never very good, but we just kept fighting,” Schaeffer, U of A dean of science. Sutton says of his years of treatment. “And it was a brilliant one.” Doctors at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton treated Sutton is now one of the top dozen or two computing Sutton with temozolomide, a powerful\begin{align*} oral chemotherapy science superstars in the world, says Schaeffer. “If we had a V^\pi(s) = & E_\pi\left\{R_tdrug. His tumours \mid were last seens_t=s\right\}\\ in 2004, and he stopped all Nobel Prize in computing science, his is the kind of name that = & E_\pi\left \{\sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+1} \Bigm\vert s_t=streatment \right& in 2005. “Twelve yearsE_\pi\left clear — it looks like I survived,”\{r_ people behind the scenes would be whispering about.” he said in an interview last fall. Sutton’s field, reinforcement learning, is the computation {t+1} + \gamma \sum_{k=0}^\infty \gamma^k r_{t+k+2} \Bigm\vert s_t=s \right \}\\

= & E_\pi\bigg\{r_{t+1} + \gamma V^\pi (s_{t+1})PHOTO BY JOHN\Bigm\vert ULAN s_t=s\bigg\} new trail spring 2018 35 \end{align*} 10 POKE 1024+RND(1)*1000,78: GOTO 10

IT’S*THE DESIRE TO^ AT THE UNDERSTAND THE_WORLD Richard Sutton, the man who literally wrote the book on reinforcement FOREFRONT OF learning, shares some of his thoughts about artificial intelligence REINFORCEMENT It’s Not Really Artificial We’ve been scared of our technology since „ It’s really too bad we have this name the ’60s, and the Industrial Revolution long LEARNING “artificial intelligence.” Let’s just call it before that. In the end, they [newcomers and intelligence. It’s not really so much making an new technology] take the jobs we didn’t want The announcement by alternative to humanity; it’s understanding to do anyway, and we end up having plenty of DeepMind last July that it humanity. It’s the desire to understand things to do. It’s true that some people have was opening a research lab in the world, the desire to make tools to to change their jobs, but that’s just change Edmonton — its first make ourselves better. It’s really totally and it’s improvement. international research base human — the natural continuation of what outside the United humans are. How AI Could Change Us Kingdom — was seen in the AI „ It’s very hard to say, even in outline, how world as clear recognition of The Appeal of AI things will change when we understand this. the U of A’s strength in the AI „ I think of it as a great scientific objective, Even what we want to do will be different, our field of reinforcement learning. a scientific prize, if you will, and maybe goals and objectives. What if we can digitize The university’s the greatest scientific prize of all time. We people? Then life and death are different. You connections to DeepMind will understand how a mind works. We will don’t have to die if you can have a backup run deep, with roughly a understand ourselves, in outline, not in the and be restored from the backup. Then you dozen U of A alumni already specifics of ourselves; the important parts of have to decide, ‘Well, if I die and I’m restored working at the company. ourselves; the ability to achieve goals and to from my backup, am I the same person Some (including David Silver, understand the world. ... And that’s a really or am I a new person? And would that be ’09 PhD, and Aja Huang, big deal. You can compare it to Darwin’s satisfactory?’ Suppose you are digitized and who did his post-doc at the discovery of how evolution works. could be brought back from a backup. You U of A) played important could also be brought back twice; your digital roles in DeepMind’s signature Why We’re Afraid mind would have to be instantiated in a advances in reinforcement „ The source of the fear, I think, is that we are hardware body but you could do it. And if you learning: the creation of the creating a new kind of being, and people have could do it once, why couldn’t you do it twice, AlphaGo program that bested a long history of being scared of newcomers. or 1,000 times? the world’s best Go player and a program that taught itself how to play and win at 49 different Atari titles. version of how an animal or in downtown Edmonton, who know him are struck Richard Sutton, a U of A researcher and one of the person learns, he explains. marking the first time by his essential modesty. world’s most renowned “You try something and if DeepMind set up a research “He is one of the truly great computing scientists, was it works you get positive lab outside London. The computing scientists working DeepMind’s first adviser when feedback. And if it doesn’t, move made serious waves in the world today, but I don’t the company was established you get negative feedback. through the world of AI. think he’s at all interested in 2010. Eventually, you learn what “Would DeepMind be in in fame or fortune. I admire “I first met with Rich seven years ago when DeepMind is good behaviour and what Edmonton without Rich that,” says Martin Müller, a was just a handful of people is bad.” The field has links Sutton? Probably not,” says longtime colleague in the with a big idea. He saw our to behavioural psychology, Schaeffer. “They could have U of A’s computing science potential and encouraged us Sutton’s first area of study as set up at Stanford or Carnegie department. Müller calls from day one,” says Demis an undergraduate at Stanford Mellon — anywhere they Sutton a “pure researcher and Hassabis, CEO and co-founder in the 1970s. wanted — but their first place a deep thinker.” of DeepMind. “I look forward Most recently, Sutton was ‘the Subarctic of Canada,’ As to his own future, to us making many more scientific breakthroughs was asked to serve as as one of my colleagues likes Sutton sounds like many together in the years ahead.” distinguished research to call this place.” people who have faced Sutton and a team that scientist for DeepMind, DeepMind’s arrival here life‑threatening illness. includes professors Michael Alphabet’s artificial has opened the eyes of “The first thing it does is Bowling, Patrick Pilarski and intelligence research many other tech companies make you realize that life is seven other U of A researchers and development firm. to Alberta’s potential, adds very valuable and not infinite, will focus on fundamental AI research. They’ll also continue (Alphabet is the parent Schaeffer. “The knock-on and so you should figure out teaching and supervising company of Google, among effect is enormous.” what you want to do and students to further foster the other companies.) In July, For all Sutton’s global work on what you want to AI talent pipeline. DeepMind opened an office influence and renown, those work on.” –jennifer pascoe, ’02 ba

36 ualberta.ca/newtrail \end{align Source [28, 30, 33, 36]: 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10 trailswhere you’ve been and where you’re going

Alysia Rissling, ’11 BSc(Kinesiology), front, and Heather Moyse greet the crowd after a run in the women’s bobsleigh final at the Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea. The pair finished sixth. More U of A

PHOTO / DANIEL BY EPA KOPATSCH Olympic news on page 48.

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Books

U of A alumni of all vintages have been and hows of skipping your Xinhui Liu, ’10 PhD, World baby’s puréed food stage. Affairs Press, available at busy penning books that reach from moosewanderer.com Canadian history to kids’ lit, and popular € science to parenting. FICTION This bilingual collection of nine Compiled by Kate Black, ’16 BA When Pete Was a Kid short stories explores themes by Dennis Perrier, ’72 BPE, ’73 of isolation, loneliness, loss and Dip(Ed), ’83 MEd, One Thousand redemption. It takes place in € developments, highlighting Trees, ottbookstore.com settings that bend reality. POETRY moral challenges facing nurses This Wound is a World in current care settings. Inspired by Perrier’s own € by Billy-Ray Belcourt, childhood in a village of PEDAGOGY ’16 BA(Hons), Frontenac House, € 120 inhabitants, the story Contemplative and Artful frontenachouse.com SCIENCE follows Pete’s coming of age in Openings: Researching The Vaccination Picture rural Saskatchewan. Women and Teaching In his debut collection, this by Timothy Caulfield, by Susan Casey Walsh, ’79 BEd, recent Rhodes Scholar draws ’87 BSc, ’90 LLB, Penguin € ’90 MEd, ’03 PhD, Routledge, together memoir, manifesto Random House, HOW-TO routledge.com and poetry to explore queer penguinrandomhouse.com Social Citizens: A Positive Indigeneity and imagine Approach to Social Media & Walsh, a Mount Saint Vincent decolonial futures. Caulfield uses original art and Parenting in a Digital World University professor, explores essays to explore common by Nancy Smith, ’02 BA the difficulties faced by female € beliefs and debunk myths (RecAdmin), Self‑published, teachers. She invokes feminism HISTORY surrounding vaccine safety. socialcitizens.ca/book and Buddhist-inspired Starving Ukraine: practices as a way forward. The Holodomor and € Social media instructor Nancy Canada’s Response FICTION Smith helps parents look € by Serge Cipko, ’95 PhD, The Amoeba-Ox Continuum beyond attention-grabbing CHILDREN’S LITERATURE University of Regina Press, by Trent Portigal, ’12 headlines and negative stories Ten Cents a Pound uofrpress.ca MA, Roundfire Books, to responsibly navigate social by Nhung N. Tran‑Davies, ’96 roundfire‑books.com media with their families. BSc(Spec), ’02 MD, Second Story Cipko analyzes Canada’s Press, secondstorypress.ca response to the devastating A series of deaths within a € Ukrainian famine of the workers’ utopia prompts an YOUNG ADULT A loving exchange between 1930s, highlighting the role of investigator to question what Blades Against the Dark a young girl and her mother journalists and activists. lengths she’d go to in order to by Juliet Fazan McMaster, illustrates the lengths to which save the community’s tenuous ’63 MA, ’65 PhD, ’09 DLitt a parent will go for the sake of € artistic brilliance. (Honorary), FriesenPress, her child’s future. HEALTH friesenpress.com The Moral Work of Nursing: € € Asking and Living With the HOW-TO Young outlaws band together HISTORY Questions (Second Edition) The Parents’ Guide to to stand against a corrupt Trust Not in Princes: The by Hazel J. Magnussen Baby-Led Weaning military coup and liberate their New Holland Settlers and (Schattschneider), ’64 Dip(Nu), by Jennifer House, ’03 imprisoned parents. the Last Best West ’72 BSc(Nu), Promontory Press, BSc(EnvSci), Robert Rose Inc., by Robert Westra,’75 MSc, promontorypress.com robertrose.ca € ’78 PhD, Word Alive Press, SHORT FICTION wordalivepress.ca Magnussen reflects on her The author, a registered Clouds and Shadows 35-year nursing career, studies dietitian for more than 14 years, by Glenn W. Arnold, Westra tells the story of the in health-care ethics and leads you through the whys ’88 BCom, translated by Dutch Twenty — the first

38 ualberta.ca/newtrail € € FICTION SHORT FICTION Project Compass You Can’t Stay Here by Matthew Stepanic, ’12 BA, by Jasmina Odor, ’03 BA(Hons), Lizzie Derksen, Robert Strong, ’06 MA, Thistledown Press, Kristina Vyskocil, ’16 MA, thistledownpress.com Monto Books, montobooks.ca Odor, a finalist in the CBC This novel is written from the Short Story Prize competition, perspectives of four people explores the meanings of home on the longest day of the and belonging as she illustrates year. The stories — written the trauma and triumph of independently — are set immigrants, travellers and in different quadrants of refugees. Edmonton. € € HOW-TO FICTION Practical Perpetual Art Lessons Calendars: Innovative, by Katherine Koller, Convenient and Green ’78 BA(Hons), ’87 MA, Great James R. Saltvold, ’64 BScEng, Plains, greatplains.mb.ca iUniverse, iuniverse.com

20 Dutch settlers in Medicine In an Edmonton coming‑of‑age Saltvold offers a Hat, Alta., who leaned on their story, Cassie draws on her comprehensive how-to manual faith while trying to farm the grandmother’s wisdom to on making perpetual calendars arid region. realize the transformative for office and home use. power of visual art. € € CHILDREN’S LITERATURE € FICTION Opie the Octopus FICTION Papa Luna and by Aaron A. Lehman, Jasper Wild Searching for Papa Luna ’83 MEd, Self-published, by George Mercer, ’94 by Gordon K. Greene, ’54 BA, aaronalehman.wordpress.com BSc(Hons), Self‑published, ’55 BEd, ’58 MA, FriesenPress, georgemercer.com friesenpress.com Opie learns to love his eight legs after meeting a friend who In the third of the Dyed in Papa Luna offers a retelling of has 100. the Green series, Ben and the life of antipope Benedict Kate uncover a plot to build XIII (a.k.a. el Papa Luna), € a backcountry lodge in suggesting that he was the POETRY Jasper’s wilderness, leaving legitimate pope of his time. Wild Heart, Gypsy Soul no stone unturned to stop an Its companion novel follows a by E.D. Woodford, ’08 BEd, international mining giant music historian as he stumbles Self‑published, amazon.com from carving off a piece of the upon a clue that may lead to park for himself. Papa Luna’s hidden journals. Imagine never settling for bad coffee again: this collection of poetry details this and other lessons of a life lived authentically. € FICTION E-BOOK The Sand Trap by Dave Marshall, ’78 MEd, ’80 PhD, Talon Lake Press, amazon.ca

Two former golf proteges join forces to face down hidden secrets, Mexican cartels and the professional golf world.

Tell us about your recent publication. Mail your write-up and book to New Trail Books, Office of Advancement, Third Floor, Enterprise Square, 3-501, 10230 Jasper Ave. NW, Edmonton, AB, T5J 4P6. Or email a write-up with a high-resolution cover image to [email protected]. Inclusion on this list does not denote

PHOTO BY JOHN ULAN BY PHOTO endorsement by New Trail.

new trail spring 2018 39 }trails

Five Things I’ve Learned About … By Craille Maguire Gillies PERSEVERANCE Natalie Shanahan, ’06 BSc(Kinesiology), ’09 MSc, ultramarathoner and physical therapist

40 ualberta.ca/newtrail YOU CAN ALWAYS which includes her new GO FURTHER husband, Liam Shanahan, ’99 “It’s about setting a goal BSc, ’99 BSc(SpecCert), ’05 and working toward it BSc(CivEng). During the one step at a time,” says world championships, he Shanahan. “When I ran my camped out in the crew tent first relay, I had such a sense for the entire 24 hours. “His of accomplishment. It job was to check on me every seemed impossible, but it lap, hand me water bottles turned out to be totally and food, and provide moral possible. I began to excel at support.” running and then I started racing. With amazing people EMBRACE ADVERSITY surrounding me, I set a goal Shanahan takes to make Canada’s national inspiration from her team, and when I made the paraplegic father, as well as team I knew I had to work her physical therapy patients harder.” at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute. “They’re my TURN WEAKNESS heroes. They have overcome INTO STRENGTH incredible health challenges Extreme sports make and have to work so hard just Shanahan confront her to be able to walk, breathe own Achilles heel: a history of and live. When I’m struggling eating disorders. Running in a race, I think of them and forces her to eat properly to how hard they had to push to achieve peak performance. overcome.” “I’ve found a positive way to fuel that challenge,” she says. FACE YOUR FEARS, “Sometimes, I’ll ‘bonk’ [feel THEN BANISH THEM lightheaded or weak] in a race Though new challenges and have to withdraw. But can be scary, you never the more I eat and train know what you’re capable of properly, the further I can go.” until you try, says Shanahan. natalie shanahan’s childhood dream was to play For many years, her fear of Olympic soccer with Team Canada. While that never FIND YOUR TRIBE gaining weight was so strong came to be, she did find her athletic calling in Teamwork, even in the that she couldn’t eat. “During ultramarathons, including representing the country at an solitary sport of that time, my sports international event last summer in Belfast, Northern Ireland. long-distance running, is performance plateaued. But Shanahan ran almost 210 kilometres in one race — the essential. “A good friend told as I learned to deal with my equivalent of five traditional marathons in a row — and placed me, ‘I’ll train you and crew fear of food, I was able to 36th out of 130 women competitors at the International you during [the national excel in my sports.” Shanahan Association of Ultrarunners 24-Hour World Championships. team’s qualifying race].’ If it gets butterflies before a race “[Ultramarathoners] don’t have an Olympic sport because wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be but once the starter pistol is I don’t think people want to see us run in circles for 24 hours,” on this journey,” Shanahan fired and she begins running, she jokes. says. Staying accountable and the fear disappears. “I have Here’s what Shanahan has learned about strength, stamina pushing through is easier proven time and time again

PHOTO BY JOHN ULAN BY PHOTO and stepping outside her comfort zone. with a support network, that I can succeed.”

new trail spring 2018 41 }trails

Dean Befus Class Notes

inducted annually to provide unbiased, expert opinion to the federal government on pressing health topics. Sadly, Majumdar died in January 2018.

’75 Michael Owen, DipEd, ’76 1950s DipEd, ’79 Med, has been appointed dean of the Faculty of Education at Brock ’59 Eric Schloss, BA, ’63 MD, has been invested into the Order of Canada in recognition of his international medical service and philanthropy, which includes his donation of more than 40,000 books to the Canadian Literature Centre at the University of Alberta.

1970s

’70 Dean Befus, BSc, a Department of Medicine professor emeritus, and professor Sumit (Me2) Majumdar, ’92 MD, were elected to the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Election to the academy is a prestigious honour for health sciences scholars, who are Diana Anderson

42 ualberta.ca/newtrail Sumit (Me2) Majumdar

IN THE NEWS Clare Drake Honoured University in St. Catharines, Ont. He previously served Ask anyone in Canadian hockey circles about the induction of coach seven years at the University Clare Drake, ’58 BEd, ’95 LLD (Honorary), 89, into the Hockey Hall of Fame of Ontario Institute of and they’ll say: “About time.” At the time of his retirement, he was the Technology as the vice- winningest university hockey coach ever, but it was his influence on the president of research, game — his “genius,” according to nominator Ken Hitchcock, head coach innovation and international, of the Dallas Stars — that was honoured. “[Drake’s] influence is as big, or and as dean of its education bigger, than any instructor has ever had in our sport.” –toronto sun faculty.

’77 Josh Miller, BA, has been named the inaugural CEO of the Edmonton ’78 Diana Anderson, and Art Gallery for 30 years economy, and as an adjunct Screen Industries Office, BA(Spec), was honoured and writes that she is just professor at the University of where he will lead the new by the Red Deer & District beginning her eighth year as Toronto’s Rotman School of organization in its mission Community Foundation with co-ordinator of the Red Deer Management. to establish Edmonton as a a 2017 Women of Excellence Arts Council. national and international Award in recognition of centre for media production. her nearly 40-year career ’78 Don Tapscott, MEd, ’01 promoting central Alberta LLD (Honorary), was named artists. Anderson acted as the world’s most influential the exhibits co-ordinator leader in digital thinking at the Red Deer Museum and the second-most influential management

, ’07 BDES, TOP RIGHT PHOTO BY JOHN LUCAS / EDMONTON JOURNAL thinker overall at the 2017 DID YOU KNOW? Thinkers50 awards ceremony, 1980s In 1911, the U of A allowed considered the “Oscars of

JEFF KULAKJEFF students to hold black-tie social Management Thinking.” nights called Conversaziones but, Tapscott was recognized ’80 Paul Godel, BEd, founded to the chagrin of then-president for his work as CEO of the a grassroots emergency Henry Marshall Tory, students think-tank Tapscott Group, medical services training preferred dancing to chatting. as the author of more than system in Kampala, Uganda,

ILLUSTRATION BY BY ILLUSTRATION 15 books on the digital enlisting the expertise of

new trail spring 2018 43 }trails class notes

The Faculty of Science has honoured Ruby the Science Dog with an honorary dog-ree. Students Nicole Davidson-Quibell (left) and Jessica Hagel After countless hours socializing and studying with science students, she is now officially enjoy Augustana’s Hot Chocolate Day in February. Alumni retired as the faculty’s pet therapy dog. Ruby is pictured here with Bob McDonald, host of volunteers also gave out hot chocolate at North Campus and CBC’s Quirks & Quarks, who received an honorary doctor of science this past fall. Campus Saint-Jean this winter.

Margaret Omand, ’13 BSc. care. Godel says he was ’83 David Wishart, BSc, 1990s, Wishart discovered Godel, a paramedic, and inspired to start the Ugandan and Sean Caulfield, ’92 methods to help determine Omand, a registered nurse EMS pilot project to honour BFA, ’96 MFA, were elected protein structures. In the and emergency medical his late father, John Godel, ’53 to the Royal Society of mid-2000s, he directed the responder, trained 40 local BSc, ’55 MD, and his lifetime Canada, the country’s most Human Metabolome Project, medical clinic workers in the of medical service across the prestigious accolade for which led to the founding basics of emergency medical African continent. artists and scholars. In the of the field of metabolomics. (More on page 18.) Caulfield, a Centennial Professor at the U of A’s Department of Art Syrian Mission a ‘Profound Experience’ & Design, creates sculpture , ‘03 BA In November 2017, Emma Treadwell, ’02 BScN, ’16 MPH, completed a one-week medical and prints exploring the mission trip with the Syrian American Medical Society, a non-political, non-profit organization impact of technology on the providing medical relief in Syria and neighbouring countries. Treadwell joined a team of environment and human 60 volunteers at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, home to 80,000 Syrian refugees. She had previously completed her master’s of public health field practicum at a clinic in bodies.

Edmonton providing health care for newly resettled refugees, many of whom were Syrian. HARRISON TRINA “Now that I have seen first-hand the conditions in the Zaatari refugee camp, their resilience ’85 Leslie Bland, BFA, passed is so much more tangible,” she says. along some news about his A profound experience has stuck with documentary Gone South: Treadwell. Every day, a clinic volunteer would How Canada Invented try to buy falafel from a seller in the camp, but Hollywood. The comedic the seller would not accept money. One of the American doctors, Treadwell reflects, said it feature-length film — which best: “I am a cardiologist from Florida. He is a examines the history and Syrian refugee living in a refugee camp, and he influence Canadians have is feeding me.” had on the development of While the camp and the remote clinics were Hollywood and American full of patients with stories of trauma, loss and popular culture — premièred suffering, Treadwell recalls the smiles of the patients in the camp. “People who have fled in January on the specialty their homes and experienced so much loss can movie channel Hollywood find reasons to smile,” she writes. “Despite so Suite. The lighthearted many stories of loss, of trauma and of war, the SAMS volunteers in Zaatari: Rahaf Al Balkhi, film has already had a best of humanity shone through.” Aileen Byrne, Emma Treadwell theatrical run and toured 22

film festivals, winning Best TOP LEFT PHOTO BY RICHARD SIEMENS; TOP RIGHT PHOTO BY

44 ualberta.ca/newtrail DID YOU KNOW? In the 1950s, Jerry’s Barber Shop was located in SUB and offered patrons all of four styles to choose from: “We specialize in brushcuts, boogy- cuts, collegecuts and ducktails.”

Documentary at the Glendale (Calif.) International Film Festival. The documentary was also featured on Air Canada flights and was recently acquired by Discovery Networks.

’85 Valerie Henitiuk, BA, ’88 MA, ’00 MA, ’05 PhD, has been appointed vice-president IN THE NEWS academic and provost at Concordia University of Edmonton. Henitiuk’s work In the Service of Justice focuses primarily on world literature and translation. Growing up in rural southern Alberta, Beverley McLachlin, ’65 BA, She reports that she is in ’68 LLB, ’68 MA, ’91 LLD (Honorary), wanted a vocation, she says. “I didn’t the latter stages of a Social know what it was, but I knew, as a teenager, I would try to find it.” In Sciences and Humanities 28 years on the Supreme Court of Canada — 17 as chief justice — she Research Council grant helped interpret legislation on issues from assisted death to Indigenous related to translation and rights. Says McLachlin, who retired in December, “It’s the humanity in circulation of Inuit literature every case that is so important to me.” –the globe and mail in English and French.

From the ‘It’s a Small World’ Files

, ’07 BDES; PHOTO BY FRED LUM / THE GLOBE AND MAIL Daniel Cammaert, ’11 BSc(MechEng), shares a story from attending a Calgary alumni lecture series: “I approached an older gentleman who was standing by himself. We introduced ourselves and examined each other’s name tags. I was excited to see that Don was an s engineering alumnus from several decades before me. I hoped he might give me some golden

JEFF KULAKJEFF 1990 career tips or timeless wisdom. Before I could get far, Don asked about my family as he had seen my last name on my name tag. He not only knew my grandparents but used to visit my family’s ’93 Todd Cherniawsky, BFA, farm near Rockyford, Alta. I thought it might be fun to reunite Don and my grandmother for who helped the film Avatar coffee. Unfortunately, I wasn’t present during the reunion but Don was grateful we were able to take home the Academy arrange this. It was really heartwarming that Don had remembered after all these years.”

ILLUSTRATION BY BY ILLUSTRATION Award for Best Art Direction

new trail spring 2018 45 }trails class notes

Alison Clarke (left) with her mom, Jean

the Gulf Islands National enables users to donate to Park Reserve in 2012. Fat specific projects and track Cats, the fourth book in the their progress. series, is due for release in the summer. “Through my ’95 Alison Clarke, BA, fiction writing, I hope to attended the international attract readers who might Chapter.Con book not otherwise be interested convention in London, in stories about our national England, in August to parks, and do it in a way that promote Racine, the latest is both entertaining and novel in her fantasy fiction educational,” Mercer writes. series The Sisterhood. (See page 39 for more.) Clarke also appeared on a Chapter.Con panel to discuss ’94 Robert Opp, BA, was the importance of diversity named the first director of in young adult literature. It the Innovation and Change was not the first time Clarke Management division was recognized for her stance for the United Nations’ on highlighting marginalized World Food Programme voices; she was named Writer in 2015. As director, Opp of the Year by Diversity in 2010, recently served as ’94 George Mercer, BSc(Hons), leads the division in Magazine in 2016. art director of Star Wars: The began writing a fiction series improving humanitarian Last Jedi and as production about Canada’s national aid with technologies ’96 Todd Cooper, MA, has designer on five episodes of parks once he retired as the like ShareTheMeal, a taken a post as associate Star Trek: Discovery. monitoring ecologist for crowdfunding app that professor at the National

Learn more at uab.ca/MACE

46 ualberta.ca/newtrail ILLUSTRATION BY JEANNIE PHAN ’11 ’07 ’06 Alberta. In this new position, Toyama College in Imizu credits his wife, Janice, for Institute of Technology, and eats, beer-hall joins Box’s Little Brick and Burrow. District Cafe and Bakery, arising from the office’s and has started a job as a Peters will provide counsel Hall Law School in Toronto LLM in tax law at Osgoode wedding. work while planning their existing eateries Elm Cafe, supporting his graduate mental illness activist financial statement and (Honorary), is a longtime made Bavarian-style brews regarding legal matters performance audits. Peters recently completed his City, Japan. latest Edmonton restaurant legislative audit legal adviser Salz, which serves up locally for the Auditor General of in October. The eight-seat Austin Mardon , LLD Nate Box, BSc, opened his PhillipPeters, LLB, 2010 2000 s s The kind of energy you get from rubbing your wool socks on the carpet, on carpet, the you your rubbing wool get socks from of energy kind The Imagine Main Street (every town has a Main Street). Now imagine they they Now Street). imagine aMain has town (every Street Main Imagine shops and schools. houses its and people. Imagine of atown 700 Imagine Pembina.” Well, I’m Ellen, I said. Isaid. I’mPembina.” Well, Ellen, was Lister Hall. Hall. Lister was waiting for her roommate. I could feel her presence before she walked in. in. for before she her presence feel walked her Icould roommate. waiting IN LISTER TOWNIN with hernew roommate, TinaMatiisen, ’67 BA. Submityour own memoryat [email protected]. This pieceof flash fiction wasinspired byEllenOgilvy , ’67 BA, ’84Dip(Ed), whoremembers herfirst meeting flash first thing ever done there. We were the first to flush the toilets, liethe on ever toilets, flush the todone first there. the thing We were first mattresses, slam the doors, mark up the walls. I sat in my room, the first first the in satroom, I my mark the walls. the up doors, slam mattresses, to arrive and therefore the first to choose my side. The inaugural resident inaugural The side.choose my to first the therefore and to arrive built this town all at once, over just one summer — furnished every house, house, every at one once, over just summer — furnished all town this built the room before she did. “I never wanted to live here. I wanted to live in in Iwanted to never here. wanted to live “I live before she room the did. entered Her opinions Tina. was That beforespark. the anticipation the poured every foundation, laid every pipe and stocked all the shops. That shops. the That all pipe stocked and every foundation, laid every poured she still reminds me she never wanted aroommate. even reminds she still They built us a town and we built a friendship. Fifty-three years later, years Fifty-three afriendship. we built and atown us built They We were the first citizens of Lister Hall and everything we did was the was did we andeverything Hall Lister of citizens We first the were back AUTHOR CAMPUS MEMORY INTO AWORK OFFLASH FICTION. JASON LEENORMAN,’06BA, TRANSFORMSA trail springnew 2018

47 }trails class notes

Physiotherapists Tyson Plesuk and Lauren Vickery at Pyeongchang, South Korea Alysia Rissling

who was invested into the Pontifical Order of Pope Saint Sylvester, one of the five rare Orders of Knighthood awarded by the Pope. Mardon is a tireless advocate in Alberta and beyond, writing and speaking about faith and schizophrenia. He also serves as an assistant adjunct professor in the University of Alberta’s Department of Psychiatry.

’13 Qasim Rasi, MBA, developed an app called Nelo with U of A students Pavlo Malynin and Hammad Jutt. Nelo has been licensed by Universal Studios as an official partner app to the GREEN AND GOLD movie Pitch Perfect 3. With Nelo, fans can shop outfits and products worn by TV MEET RED AND WHITE and movie characters, create the canadian curling 2-man event, Alysia Rissling, as a mental skills coach for lookbooks and request teams didn’t do as well as ’11 BSc(Kinesiology), in the the Canadian men’s curling personal style consultations expected at the 2018 Winter women’s 2-man, and Neville team, while Marcel Rocque, from Hollywood costume Olympics in Pyeongchang, Wright, ’07 BPE, in the open ’96 BEd, coached the Chinese designers. South Korea. But perhaps 4-man competition. men’s curling team. Erika it’s a sign the world is Alongside the athletes, Persson, ’99 BSc(MedLabSci), ’14 Yuan Shi, BSc, has taken finally catching on to the you could find coaches and ’05 MD, an assistant clinical on a new role as venture great Canadian pastime. support staff with a U of A professor of pediatric sport manager at the Creative Representing Canada connection. Professor in and exercise medicine, was a Destruction Lab in Vancouver. and the U of A, Joanne the Faculty of Kinesiology, physician for the Canadian The lab, which has five offices Courtney, ’11 BScN, joined Sport, and Recreation, John figure skating team. On the across Canada, supports student Rachel Homan on Dunn, ’92 MA, ’98 PhD, served icy track, Tyson Plesuk, ’08 science and technology the women’s curling team. startup companies in early The Homan rink went 4-5 at stages of growth. the Games after not losing a single game at the 2017 ’17 Marnie Colborne, world championships. The BScN, and U of A nursing men’s curling team, which professor Sherry Dahlke lost the bronze-medal match, published an article titled included Marc Kennedy, ’05 “Nurses’ Perceptions and BCom, and Scott Pfeifer, ’00 Management of Urinary BSc(Spec), ’04 MBA. Incontinence in Hospitalized A number of bobsleigh Older Adults: An Integrative athletes are also members Review.” It appeared in the of the U of A community. Journal of Gerontological Students Christine de Nursing, one of the field’s top Bruin and Melissa Lotholz Happier days for Team Koe at the 2017 Roar of the Rings: (left to right) Kevin academic journals. competed in the women’s Koe, Marc Kennedy, Brent Laing, Ben Hebert and Scott Pfeifer

48 ualberta.ca/newtrail MSc, was a physiotherapist for the bobsleigh and skeleton teams, and Lauren Vickery, ’06 BSc(Kinesiology), ’10 MSc, was a physiotherapist for luge athletes. Three-time Olympic gold medal winner Melody Davidson, ’86 BPE, was general manager of the silver medal-winning women’s hockey team. A lovely Olympics tale IN THE NEWS came to us about two Pi Beta Phi sorority sisters whose grandsons competed in Exploring the Art of a Landfill the Games. Jean (Hunter) Bolger, ’53 BSc, and Robin Leanne Olson, ’03 BA, is fascinated by society’s drive for consumption (Williams) Harvie, ’53 and the garbage it produces. For six months, the photo artist will BCom, were roommates in explore those themes, camera in hand, as the first artist-in-residence the Alberta Alpha house in at Edmonton’s landfill. “I think it’s kind of this forgotten part of society,” 1952 and ’53. They’ve kept says Olson, who will take thousands of photos at the 233-hectare waste in touch and live about 30 management facility. An exhibition of her work is set for after the kilometres apart in Calgary residency ends in August. –cbc edmonton and Cochrane, Alta., still

, ’07 BDES; PHOTO BY CITY OF EDMONTON meeting monthly for lunch. Bolger’s grandson, Tristan Walker, won a silver medal for

JEFF KULAKJEFF Canada in the luge team relay. Harvie’s grandson, Mason DID YOU KNOW? Raymond, played and scored In 1980, punk bands were banned from playing in SUB for the Canadian hockey Theatre, RATT and Dinwoodie Lounge because of an incident in which police were called in to break up a fight. team during its journey to a

ILLUSTRATION BY BY ILLUSTRATION bronze medal. –sarah pratt

new trail spring 2018 49 }trails class notes

ALUMNI ADVICE

HOW TO ROCK YOUR LOOK Forget the fads. Three grads help you create a style that’s all your own By Elizabeth Withey

It’s spring, which means spring fashions are already out of style. Ready to hop off the merry‑go‑round that is seasonal trends? We asked three alumni designers how you can sidestep fast fashion and create your own look.

Be yourself Fashion is about who we are, how we want to be seen and how we feel about our bodies, says Kathleen Todoruk, ’92 BSc(HEc). For 25 years, Todoruk has been designing IN THE NEWS custom‑made garments for women from all walks of life with Todoruk Designs. Bespoke Sanctuary for the Future design is an opportunity to create an original and enduring Teeming with songbirds, waterfowl and wildlife, there is a parcel of look that reflects you, she says. undisturbed wetlands west of Edmonton known as the region’s best for birding. Thanks to wildlife biologist Lu Carbyn, ’67 MSc, it will stay that Think longevity way. Carbyn bought the 62 hectares in 2014 to use with his family and It’s easy to fall prey to the students. In 2017, he donated it to the Edmonton and Area Land Trust to consumption machine that protect its biodiversity. The Lu Carbyn Nature Sanctuary is set to open this spring. –cbc edmonton

Alumni Achieve Excellence The Alberta Order of Excellence has inducted three alumni: Steve Hrudey, ’70 BSc(MechEng), ’12 DSc (Honorary), professor emeritus in laboratory medicine and pathology, led life-saving initiatives to improve drinking water around the world; Marie Gordon, ’79 LLB, is a writer, reformer and activist in family law whose work has improved the lives of women and families in Canada; Vivian Manasc, ’82 MBA, with her innovative architectural approach and sensitivity to Indigenous ways of knowing, has spearheaded a new creativity in Canadian architecture. A look from designer Jessica

Kennedy’s Vera Véro collection LEFT PHOTO BY CARBYN LU / EDMONTON AND AREA LAND TRUST; RIGHT PHOTO COURTESY JESSICA KENNEDY

50 ualberta.ca/newtrail The Alumni Association notes with sorrow ’50 Roy Leonard the passing of the following graduates Millar, BSc(Ag), ’52 is the fashion industry, (based on information received between MSc, of Prairie Village, says Jessica Kennedy, ’04 October 2017 and January 2018). KS, in August 2017 BSc(HEcol). Exercise caution ’50 E. Ruth Miller when it comes to the latest (Gauld), Dip(Ed), ’52 fad, says the co-creator of the BEd, of Calgary, AB, Vera Véro capsule collection. in October 2017 Look for pieces designed to ’50 Marguerite Ora be worn regardless of season, Olson (Burnfield), “Whether it’s to work or a social Dip(Nu), of Calgary, AB, event or taking your kid to the in November 2017 playground,” Kennedy says. ’50 Gordon Phil Peterson, Which also allows you to … In Memoriam BA, ’51 LLB, of Edmonton, AB, in November 2017 ’47 Ines Antonie of Calgary, AB, in Get comfortable ’51 David Macindoo Farmer, Dip(Ed), ’48 December 2017 For Kennedy, fashion is about Fawcett, BSc, ’59 MD, BEd, of Calgary, AB, wearing what you love and 1930S of Edmonton, AB, in in October 2017 ’49 Samuel R. Rogers, what makes you comfortable. ’36 Dorothy Muriel Ross, BSc(Pharm), of December 2017 BSc(HEc), of Edmonton, ’48 Helen Dolores Edmonton, AB, in Think beyond the latest styles. ’51 Robina Letitia Hood, AB, in September 2017 Causgrove (Turcotte), December 2017 “It’s about how you feel. If BSc(HEc), of Coquitlam, Dip(Nu), of Edmonton, you’re not comfortable, it’s ’37 Kathleen Gertrude BC, in December 2017 AB, in November 2017 ’49 Clifford Paul Ronden, not working,” agrees Derek Hutton, BA, of Toronto, BSc(ChemEng), of ’51 Gerald Douglas Jagodzinsky, ’10 BDes, creator ON, in May 2016 ’48 Van Evangelos Edmonton, AB, in Johnston, BCom, of Christou, DDS, of November 2017 of Luxx. Edmonton, AB, in Lethbridge, AB, in December 2017 September 2017 ’49 Donald John L. Shep, BSc, of Spruce Grove, Dress up, not down 1940S ’51 Walter Leroy McNary, ’48 Elizabeth J. Graham, AB, in December 2017 But while there’s a time and ’40 Jean Elizabeth BSc(Ag), of Camrose, BA, ’64 BEd, ’66 MEd, Robertson, BSc(HEc), AB, in September 2017 place for ultra-casual, in of Edmonton, AB, in situations where it could go ’44 BEd, ’60 MEd, ’66 PhD, of Sherwood Park, December 2017 ’51 Kenneth Arthur either way, designers say a little 1950S Millions, BSc(CivEng), AB, in January 2018 ’48 James Stanley overdressed is best. “You want ’59 MSc, of Timmins, Harris, BSc(CivEng), ’50 Felix Waldemar to feel good about yourself,” ’40 Phyllis Dorothy ON, in December 2017 of Vancouver, BC, Appelt, BSc(CivEng), says Kennedy. “It’s about that M. Steinbach, BA, ’42 of Edmonton, AB, Dip(Ed), of Trochu, AB, in January 2018 ’52 Margaret Anne Bell confidence.” in January 2018 (Hansen), BSc(HEc), in September 2017 ’48 Norma Adelaide of Chandler, AZ, in Robertson (Smith), ’50 Frank Morgan ’42 Sidney Bernard October 2017 Colour is the new black BSc(HEc), of Edmonton, Brock, BSc(ElecEng), Slen, BA, ’43 BSc(Ag), of Pennington, NJ, Black is inoffensive, flattering of Lethbridge, AB, in AB, in December 2017 ’52 John K. Church, in January 2018 BSc(Ag), of Calgary, and a safe bet. But don’t be December 2017 ’49 Evelyn Mae Brown, AB, in October 2017 afraid to try something exciting. BSc, of Calgary, AB, ’50 Evison Ives Todoruk’s clients will often look ’43 James Charles Nichol, Carefoot, BSc(CivEng), BSc, ’45 MSc, of Island in October 2017 ’52 Joan Elizabeth at textile swatches and get of Edmonton, AB, Gibson (Hannah), Lake, AB, in June 2017 ’49 Thomas excited. Go with that instinct, in October 2017 BSc, of Victoria, BC, Alan Campbell, she says. ’44 Audrey Jeanne ’50 James Edward in August 2017 Barton (Appleton), BSc(MiningEng), of Calgary, AB, in Greenaway, BSc, ’60 ’52 Vera Lenore Dip(Nu), of Bellingham, DDS, of Edmonton, AB, Accessories: less is more WA, in October 2017 December 2017 Henderson, Dip(Ed), ’76 in November 2017 BEd, of Medicine Hat, People tend to over- ’49 William Philip ’44 Frances Eleanor ’50 Albert E. Hohol, BEd, AB, in October 2017 accessorize, says Jagodzinsky, L. Kohn (Holdom), Campbell, BSc(Ag), and that’s where they run into of Nepean, ON, in ’54 MEd, of Edmonton, ’52 Nestor Ludwick, BSc(HEc), of Delta, BC, AB, in November 2017 trouble. “Less is more.” His in December 2017 December 2017 BSc(PetEng), of Calgary, favourite accessory? Earrings. ’50 Arthur Kowalchuk, AB, in December 2017 ’44 Zella Eileen Norem ’49 Michael Gudzowaty, “It’s something really simple, a Dip(Ed), ’50 Dip(Ed), BSc(MiningEng), of ’52 Vera Ponich (Hoar), BSc, ’46 MD, Athabasca, AB, in little shine.” of Nanaimo, BC ’51 BEd, of Olds, AB, (Chumer), Dip(Nu), ’53 in January 2018 November 2017 BSc(Nu), of Edmonton, ’44 Verna Elizabeth ’50 Lyonel Wesley AB, in January 2018 Make the right statement Siga (Bowen), Dip(Nu), ’49 Ronald Webster Jones, BSc(CivEng), Kruger, BEd, ’77 MEd, ’53 Patricia Jean Duggan, The most important thing to of Jasper, AB, in of Edmonton, AB, consider when it comes to September 2017 of Kelowna, BC, in BSc(HEc), of Atlanta, December 2017 in October 2017 GA, in April 2017 getting dressed? Ask yourself ’45 Murray L. Jacques, ’50 Douglas Burrows what message you’re conveying BCom, of Calgary, AB, ’49 Leonard Albert ’53 Oryst Dan Gorgichuk, Motiuk, BSc, of Calgary, Leitch, BSc, of Calgary, BSc, of Calgary, AB, with your wardrobe. “Fashion in December 2017 AB, in November 2017 is an instant language. It AB, in October 2017 in October 2017 ’47 John Stuart Blackie, says who you are in the first ’49 Doreen Ruth ’50 John Donald Lind, ’53 William Muir Graham, BSc(Ag), of St. Albert, BSc, ’52 DDS, of Calgary, 10 seconds you see someone,” AB, in November 2017 Newby (Hill), Dip(Nu), BSc, of Kelowna, BC, says Jagodzinsky. AB, in September 2017 in August 2017

new trail spring 2018 51 }trails in memoriam

’53 John Markovich, ’56 Delores Frances of Vancouver, BC, ’62 Terrence Allan of Riverview, NB, in Stony Plain, AB, in BSc(Ag), of Edmonton, Harrison (Roose), in January 2018 Cockrall, BCom, ’65 November 2017 December 2017 AB, in November 2017 Dip(Ed), of Kelowna, LLB, of Edmonton, AB, BC, in November 2017 ’59 David Eli Grossman, in December 2017 ’66 Linda Louella ’69 Gwendolyn ’53 Delores M. Tymos, BCom, ’62 LLB, of Calgary, Westcott, BA, of Stephens Newsham, Dip(Ed), ’58 Dip(Ed), of ’56 Robert Vincent AB, in November 2017 ’62 John Edwin Law, Saskatoon, SK, in MEd, of Montreal, QC, Surrey, BC, in June 2017 Kubicek, BEd, ’58 BEd, of Edmonton, December 2017 in January 2018 MA, of Vancouver, ’59 Donald Bruce AB, in October 2017 ’53 Norah Wilton BC, in October 2017 Harrison, BSc(ElecEng), ’66 Ronald Wilfred ’69 Linda M. Todd, (Day), Dip(Nu), ’54 ’63 BEd, ’67 PhD, of ’63 Alonso Manuel Ziebart, BEd, ’72 LLB, BSc(OT), of Edmonton, BSc(Nu), of Olds, AB, ’56 Constance Calgary, AB, in Tascon, MSc, of Encino, of Edmonton, AB, in AB, in November 2017 in November 2017 Marguerite Nixon, December 2017 CA, in October 2017 December 2017 BPE, of Calgary, AB, ’54 Katherine Ann Carey, in December 2017 ’59 Brian Maldwyn ’64 Thomas Andrew ’67 Alan David Bleviss, BEd, of Vermilion, AB, Jones, BEd, ’66 MEd, Casey, BEd, of Toronto, BA, of New York, NY, 1970S in September 2017 ’56 Don Edward Ruskin, of Edmonton, AB, in ON, in October 2017 in December 2017 BSc(ChemEng), of December 2017 ’70 Raymond Bosch, ’54 Harry Vernon Burlington, ON, in ’64 Paul Ajibe Chalifoux, ’67 John Edward Blott, BCom, of Calgary, AB, Donaldson, BSc, ’56 January 2017 ’59 Daryl Goodwin BEd, ’72 BA, of St. Albert, BSc(MiningEng), of in December 2017 MD, of Calgary, AB, Lunder, BSc(CivEng), AB, in November 2017 Centennial, CO, in in December 2017 ’56 Sheila Anne of Okotoks, AB, in December 2017 ’70 Dennis Frederick Schlesinger, BA, of September 2017 ’64 Ronald Mitchell Buckle, BCom, of ’54 C. Ronald Hill, DDS, Edmonton, AB, in Kachman, BSc(ElecEng), ’67 Frank Harrikson Edmonton, AB, in of Qualicum Beach, BC, October 2017 ’59 Luella Yvonne ’70 MSc, of Spruce Grove, P. Boodram, November 2017 in November 2017 M. Yakymyshyn AB, in January 2018 BSc(ChemEng), of ’56 Theodore Strang (Nykiforuk), BSc, ’76 Edmonton, AB, in ’70 Elton R. Dunk, ’54 James Andrew Lore, Sorensen, BSc, of MSc, of Edmonton, ’64 James D.L. Ross, October 2017 BSc(Ag), of Edmonton, BSc(Ag), of Carstairs, Calgary, AB, in AB, in October 2017 BEd, of Victoria, BC, AB, in April 2017 AB, in December 2017 October 2017 in December 2017 ’67 James Robert Boylan, BSc, ’68 BSc(Pharm), ’70 Russell Glenn ’54 Archie Durward ’57 David Archibald Boag, ’64 Leonard Roy of Medicine Hat, AB, Good, BSc(ElecEng), Marzolf, BEd, ’61 BSc, ’58 MSc, of Calgary, Shymoniak, BEd, ’68 in October 2017 of Edmonton, AB, in MEd, of Edmonton, 1960S MEd, of Citrus Heights, AB, in December 2017 December 2017 AB, in October 2017 ’60 Edward Robert CA, in November 2017 ’67 Lloyd Carswell, ’57 Robert William Blasken, BCom, of BCom, of Parksville, ’70 Francis Ivan A. Hall, ’54 Clifford Odell ’64 Guy Roger West, Cromarty, BSc(Ag), Calgary, AB, in BC, in October 2008 LLB, of Edmonton, AB, Paulson, BSc(PetEng), MD, ’70 MSc, of Calgary, ’60 MSc, of Richland, November 2017 in September 2017 of Calgary, AB, in WA, in October 2017 AB, in December 2017 ’67 Ronald Clyde Krause, December 2017 ’60 Patrick Barry BSc(Ag), of Calgary, ’70 Phillip Richard ’65 Margaret Elizabeth ’57 George Donald Dawson, BSc(Pharm), AB, in October 2017 Nelson, BSc(CivEng), ’54 Robert John Plotkins, Andrews (Steele), Enns, DDS, ’66 MD, ’66 BEd, ’74 Dip(Ed), of St. Albert, AB, in BSc(PetEng), of Calgary, BEd, of Edmonton, ’67 Emily Tekla of Chilliwack, BC, in of Comox, BC, in October 2017 AB, in November 2017 AB, in January 2018 Kruchowski, BSc, ’95 September 2017 October 2017 MLIS, of Edmonton, ’70 George Edward ’54 Stephen George ’65 Marylynne Dianne ’57 Lilly Therese Gervais, ’60 Maryetta Harper AB, in October 2017 Parrott, BEd(VocEd), of Sorokan, BSc, ’63 BEd, Howard, BEd, of Calgary, Dip(Ed), ’66 BEd, of (Thornton), BSc(HEc), St. Paul, AB, in June 2017 ’67 MD, of Calgary, AB, AB, in October 2017 ’67 Leonard Gene Sturgeon County, AB, of Edmonton, AB, in October 2017 Rodwell, BSc(MechEng), ’70 Douglas Bruce in October 2017 in October 2017 ’65 Hans George of Spruce Grove, AB, Patterson, BSc(Ag), ’54 Orman Ann Van, Kratz, BEd, ’77 MEd, of ’57 Bernard Henri ’60 William in September 2017 of Calgary, AB, in Dip(Ed), of Penticton, Qualicum Beach, BC, Lemay, BCom, ’63 Donald Swanson, January 2018 BC, in October 2017 in November 2017 ’67 Stephen Gordon BEd, of Edmonton, BSc(MiningEng), ’63 MSc, D. Thompson, BCom, ’70 Harry Andrew AB, in January 2018 ’70 DDS, of Edmonton, ’54 Jean Marion Watt, ’65 Norman Thomas of St. Albert, AB, in Pichonsky, BEd(IndArts), AB, in November 2017 BSc, of Edmonton, ’57 Sheila Isobel Markert, BEd(VocEd), of December 2017 of Thorsby, AB, in AB, in October 2017 Calgary, AB, in July 2017 Nikiforuk, BSc(Nu), ’61 Gerald Ernest December 2017 ’67 Eimar Virkus, of Edmonton, AB, in Dahms, BEd, ’74 BA, of ’55 Calvin Cecil Cibart, ’65 John Michael BSc(CivEng), of Houston, ’70 Pauline Romanchuk, September 2017 Ponoka, AB, in July 2017 BSc(Ag), of Regina, Rehman, BSc(Pharm), TX, in November 2017 BEd, of Barrhead, AB, SK, in August 2017 of Calgary, AB, in ’57 Alfred V. Widholm, ’61 Anthea Lynne M. in September 2017 September 2017 ’68 Clifford Ryerson BSc(CivEng), of Windsor, Lee, BA, ’74 Dip(Ed), ’81 ’55 David Bruce Driver, Dip(Ed), of ’70 Frieda Wahl, BEd, ON, in November 2017 Dip(Ed), of Victoria, MacDougall, BEd, of ’65 John Charles Strick, Edmonton, AB, in of Calgary, AB, in BC, in July 2017 Edmonton, AB, in ’58 Richard Herbert PhD, of Windsor, ON, September 2017 October 2017 November 2017 in September 2017 M. Anthony, BA, ’61 ’61 Thomas Frederick ’68 David Lawson, MD, ’70 Dacrison D. Worrell, LLB, of Duncan, BC, Mowat, BSc, ’68 BEd, ’75 ’55 Brendan Edward ’66 Edwin Joseph Batiuk, ’86 BSc, of Calgary, AB, BSc, of Gibbons, AB, in November 2017 Dip(Ed), of Stony Plain, Quirin, BA, ’58 BEd, of Edmonton, AB, in October 2017 in October 2017 AB, in December 2017 BSc(MiningEng), of ’58 Kenneth Edward in December 2017 Barrington, IL, in ’68 Rodney Howard ’71 Donald Cheung, Glover, BSc, ’62 DDS, ’61 Walter Muir, BEd, ’65 December 2017 ’66 Robert Lloyd McKay, Moore, BSc, of MSc, of Edmonton, of Edmonton, AB, in MEd, ’71 PhD, of Victoria, BSc(CivEng), of Surrey, Edmonton, AB, in AB, in October 2017 December 2017 BC, in October 2017 ’55 Thelma Joyce BC, in November 2017 October 2017 Raines (Tandberg), ’71 Elmer Philemon ’58 Alexander Sadesky, ’61 Allan Lee Pollock, Dip(Nu), of Calgary, AB, ’66 Haukur Melax, ’69 Forrest Hugh R. Bard, Derrick, BEd, of Terrace, BSc(ElecEng), of Salmon BSc(ChemEng), of in December 2017 MSc, of Red Deer, AB, BA, of Edmonton, AB, BC, in September 2017 Arm, BC, in August 2017 Lakeland, FL, in May 2017 in November 2017 in September 2017 ’56 James Taylor Gilfillan, ’71 Ida Marie Jardine, ’59 Frederick Arthur ’61 Mary Anne Schreiner, BPE, of Edmonton, ’66 Myer Rabin, BA, ’67 ’69 Julia Mary Holt BMus, of Slave Lake, Alexander, BSc(MetEng), Dip(Nu), of Edmonton, AB, in January 2018 LLB, ’83 PostgradDip, (Sweryda), BEd, of AB, in December 2017 AB, in November 2017

52 ualberta.ca/newtrail ’71 Dominic Man S. ’74 Robert Charles of Calgary, AB, in ’81 James John Gerwing, PhD, of Athabasca, AB, BEd, of Cadotte Lake, Leung, BSc(ChemEng), Guest, BEd, of Nanaimo, November 2017 MEd, of Victoria, in November 2017 AB, in January 2018 ’75 MD, of Edmonton, BC, in June 2017 BC, in April 2017 ’77 Leonard Owen AB, in November 2017 ’88 Jeffery Allen Strong, ’74 Patricia Hayes, Nelson, BCom, of ’81 Sylvia Florence BEd, of Red Deer, AB, ’71 Evelyn June Shapka, MHSA, of Edmonton, Calgary, AB, in Lange (Newman), in December 2017 2010S BEd, of Edmonton, AB, AB, in October 2017 November 2017 BA, of Edmonton, AB, in December 2017 in November 2017 ’88 Douglas Murray ’10 Robert George ’74 Tudor Williams, BEd, ’78 Therese Germaine Stuve, BA, of Calgary, Glashoerster, ’71 Kenneth Ross of Surrey, BC, in May 2017 Beaudoin (Laplante), ’81 Martin Kelly AB, in November 2017 BSc(MiningEng), of Valens, BEd(VocEd), BSc(HEc), of Edmonton, Long, BSc, ’85 DDS, Fort McMurray, AB, ’75 Barbara Brown, ’88 Marianne Szabo, of Edmonton, AB, in AB, in September 2017 of Edmonton, AB, in in November 2017 September 2017 BSc(Pharm), of Red Deer, December 2017 BEd, of Edmonton, AB, in November 2016 ’78 Kenneth Gregory AB, in October 2017 ’17 Luke Murray Jansen, ’72 Vonna Mary A. Bowen, BA, of Cochrane, ’82 Diana Rosemary BA(Hons), of Edmonton, ’75 Thora Eva G. Burgess ’89 David Stephen Arsenault (Siga), BEd, of AB, in November 2017 Kary (Brookwell), AB, in October 2017 Jasper, AB, in April 2017 (Oddan), BSc(Nu), BEd, of Calgary, AB, Heathcote, BEd(VocEd), of St. Albert, AB, in ’78 Carol Anne Daniels, in October 2017 of St. Albert, AB, in ’72 Dick Arie De Klerk, November 2017 BEd, of Cranbrook, October 2017 BEd(VocEd), of Leduc, BC, in October 2017 ’83 Laurette Therese AB, in September 2017 ’75 Shirley Pearl Gorman, Brooker (Legault), BEd, ’89 Blaine Robert Dip(Ed), of Edmonton, ’78 Allyson Embury, BA, of Fort Saskatchewan, McIntyre, ’72 Lis Densmore, AB, in September 2017 ’81 BEd, of Edmonton, AB, in September 2017 BSc(ChemEng), of BSc(Med), ’74 MD, of AB, in January 2018 Cochrane, AB, in Whitehorse, YT, in ’75 Robert Allan Lanman, ’83 Richard Peter September 2017 ’78 James Donald Gray, January 2018 BEd, of Sherwood Park, Newton, LLB, of AB, in September 2017 BEd, of Edmonton, Edmonton, AB, in ’72 Barbara Florence AB, in October 2017 September 2017 Hansen (Bell), BSc(HEc), ’75 Wayne Lyle Lord, BA(Spec), of Orleans, ’78 Clinton John 1990S ’97 MBA, of Edmonton, ’83 Kevyn Noble, BSc(Nu), MacPhail, BSc, ’82 AB, in October 2017 ON, in November 2017 ’89 MNu, of Edmonton, ’92 Darlene Bartkowski, BCom, of Vancouver, BSc(HEc), of Edmonton, ’75 Lois Allison AB, in December 2017 ’72 Dianna Mah-Jones, BC, in May 2017 AB, in January 2018 Dip(RM), ’79 BSc(OT), Soderstrom, Dip(Ed), ’82 ’84 Sylvia Betts, BA, ’78 Martin Keli of Vancouver, BC, in Dip(Ed), of Edmonton, of Vancouver, BC, in ’92 Sumit Ranjan McNicholl, PhD, September 2017 AB, in December 2017 November 2016 Majumdar, MD, of of Burnaby, BC, in Edmonton, AB, in ’76 Vernon Bruce ’72 Shirley June December 2017 ’84 Bernadette Janine January 2018 Sefton (Hodgins), Gabriel, Dip(Ed), ’93 M. Finestone, BEd, ’79 John Corbett Bilsland, BLS, of Regina, SK, BEd, of Kingston, ON, of Calgary, AB, in ’93 Joshua Christopher BA, ’83 LLB, of Edmonton, in November 2017 in December 2017 October 2017 Stebbins, BSc(MechEng), AB, in January 2018 of Asheville, NC, ’76 Douglas Ernest Hall, ’72 Donald Robert ’84 Brinda Isings, in June 2017 ’79 Gordon Evan Evans, Shaw, BEd(IndArts), ’99 BEd, of Edmonton, AB, BSc(ChemEng), of BA, of Edmonton, AB, MEd, of Edmonton, AB, in September 2017 Switzerland, in June 2017 ’93 Brenda Jean in November 2017 Zacharuk, in November 2017 ’76 Wendy Mae Lien, ’85 Simone Annette BA(Criminology), BPE, of Brooks, AB, ’79 Clinton William ’72 Gerald Brian Wolfe, Schroeder (Lebel), of Surrey, BC, in in January 2017 Ford, BA, of Calgary, BCom, of Danville, CA, BCom, of Calgary, AB, December 2017 AB, in December 2017 in November 2016 ’76 Vernon Roy Oberg, in December 2017 ’97 Bernice Muriel BSc(MechEng), of ’79 Joyce Vera ’73 Myrna Ann Andruko ’86 Justino Gozum Roque, Prather (Nipshank), Edmonton, AB, in Townsend (Waddell), (Prodaniuk), BEd, ’80 Dip(Ed), of Edmonton, BEd, of St. Albert, AB, November 2017 BEd, of Aurora, ON, MEd, of Edmonton, AB, AB, in September 2017 in November 2017 in August 2017 in September 2017 ’76 Chester Alan Perry, ’87 Thomas B. Banks, ’98 Cory Paul Womacks, BSc(ElecEng), of Calgary, ’73 James Warren Carr, LLD (Honorary), of BSc, of Sherwood Park, AB, in January 2018 BA, ’78 LLB, of Edmonton, Edmonton, AB, in AB, in December 2017 AB, in October 2017 ’76 Thomas Frank 1980S January 2018 ’87 June Pontin, LLB, of Millet, ’80 Donald Gordon Anne Buchanan, PhD, of ’73 Johnnie Clifford Middle Musquodoboit, Johnston, BSc(ElecEng), AB, in October 2017 Kneller, BSc, of Seattle, WA, in September 2017 NS, in October 2017 2000S of Gibsons, BC, in ’76 Gloria Jean Tremblay, ’03 Jennifer Rachelle October 2017 BA, of Edmonton, AB, ’80 Anne Kathleen ’87 Anne Mary Hodgson Bodner, BA, of Edson, in December 2017 Spelliscy, BCom, (Hutchinson), MSc, ’73 Bonnie Gail Massing, AB, in September 2017 of Kelowna, BC, in of Maple Bay, BC, in BSc(MedLabSci), ’77 ’77 Ralph Gordon Brown, November 2017 November 2017 MD, of Vancouver, BC, BEd, of Calgary, AB, ’07 Ewing Hunter Harrison, LLD in September 2017 in November 2017 ’81 Joost Bernard De ’87 Daniel Curtis (Honorary), of Calgary, Bruijn, BEd, of 108 Orydzuk, BSc(ElecEng), ’73 Larry James Olexiuk, ’77 Bhagwan Dass Dua, AB, in December 2017 Mile Ranch, BC, in of Calgary, AB, in BCom, of St. Albert, AB, PhD, of Lethbridge, September 2017 September 2017 in December 2017 AB, in January 2018 ’08 Felix Blache Fraser, DLitt (Honorary), of ’81 Barbara Dawn ’88 Frederic James If you’ve lost a loved ’74 Alexander ’77 Eileen Rose Iwaniuk, Edmonton, AB, in Fanning, MSc, of Johnson, BSc(CivEng), one who is a University Watson Carmichael, BEd, of Edmonton, December 2017 Oakville, ON, in ’93 MEng, of Edmonton, of Alberta alumnus, BSc(MechEng), of AB, in October 2017 AB, in December 2017 St. Brieux, SK, in September 2017 ’09 Sana Ayesha contact alumni records December 2017 ’77 Karen Dale Louie ’88 Sharon Marie M. Ghani, BA, ’11 MA, ’15 at [email protected], (Mimura), BSc(HEc), McGuire (McCool), 780-492-3471 or 1-866-492-7516.

new trail spring 2018 53 }trails Alumni Events

Reunite, reminisce and make new friends. With events and activities including performances, tours, speakers and more, there’s something for everyone. Whether you’re celebrating a reunion or just want to see what’s new at the U of A, come and join the fun.

uab.ca/aw2018

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

GROCERY RUN ASSISTANT EDMONTON | ONGOING Help distribute food to refugee and immigrant families in need at the Edmonton Intercultural Centre on Thursday mornings.

DINO LAB EDMONTON | ONGOING Channel your inner paleontologist by helping to clean and prepare new fossils for research.

UPCOMING EVENTS PRAIRIE URBAN FARM: SUMMER HARVESTING EDMONTON | JULY 15 Tour the South Campus farm, learn about urban Stay involved with the U of A through one of the more than gardening and help harvest fruits and vegetables. 50 active alumni chapters around the world. Check online for information about events near you. ROOT FOR TREES CALGARY | MAY 10 EDMONTON | MAY 29 EDMONTON | JULY 21 Lecture: Truth and Law Alumni & Friends Spring Help grow Edmonton’s urban forest. Join us for a Reconciliation Reception and Silent Auction family-friendly tree planting activity and volunteer appreciation barbecue. CALGARY | MAY 12 LETHBRIDGE | MAY 31 Journey to Blackfoot Crossing Alumni Reception: The Future of PRAIRIE URBAN FARM: SUMMER HARVESTING Historical Park Wildfires EDMONTON | AUG. 15 Tour the South Campus farm, learn about urban EDMONTON | MAY 23 CALGARY | JUNE 7 gardening and help harvest fruits and vegetables. Educated Lifestyle: Meaningful 23rd Annual Alumni Dinner at Leisure Time Spruce Meadows More at ualberta.ca/alumni/volunteer

Dates are subject to change; events are added daily. For more or to register, visit ualberta.ca/alumni/events. THINKSTOCK

54 ualberta.ca/newtrail Sign Up for Alumni Insider Get the most current alumni-exclusive event invitations, discounts and benefits delivered straight to your inbox. Learn uab.ca/insider Travel Explore ••••••••••••

Explore the world A team of U of A health and fitness experts. with U of A friends. An aging, heavier generation. Keep the joy of Here’s how baby boomers can beat learning alive. the belly bulge. uab.ca/AlumniTravel

folio.ca. Get news right from the source.

new trail spring 2018 55 smalltalk

Modern Campus Life Laptops! Facebook! The new SUB space! We asked, “What modern convenience do you wish you’d had as a student?” Many of you also reminisced about the challenges from your own days at the U of A. Read more or share your own at facebook.com/UAlbertaAlumni.

Memorizing my student number, then using a ruler to figure out my etting to university was a I wish I bell curve score on a giant piece great chore. Three to four would have of paper full of numbers with buses and we were jammed had a deeper scratched-across pen lines on the G relationship wall outside my professor’s office. in like sardines. Several times I with the –Verena Hoskins, ’97 BEd was inside the bus but my books river valley. It barely were hanging outside of it. … And registered Google, the internet and a computer! I people complain about the LRT. that it was remember searching through rows and rows –Cosima Vicente, ’75 BEd a few steps of card catalogues, falling asleep in the library away. because it was so quiet, wishing I could have –Donna McKinnon, a coffee to stay awake. Now everything is at The courage to take the courses I wanted, ’87 BFA your fingertips; you can do your research at even if viewed as unnecessary by peers home, with coffee when you want and in your and family. Looking back, I should have pyjamas if you want! just gone and taken them. I remember the –Tracy Innes, ’94 BEd –Jennifer York, ’97 BSc, ’01 BCom, ’14 MBA lonnnnnnng lines! And buying all the texts at the bookstore A place to get coffee and then trying to walk home that wasn’t a machine. with them. –Terry Donovan, ’88 BA, ’03 MLIS –Janice Epp,’92 BScN

Back in school now and loving the ease of online periodicals. In the 1990s, I spent hours in the stacks, narrowing down the ones to take home on overnight loan. Many a night on the LRT with a 50-pound-plus backpack.

–Elizabeth Gleason, ’00 BA SIMARD RÉMY BY ILLUSTRATIONS

56 ualberta.ca/newtrail

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If you are 65 years or older, would like a steady cash flow, and want to make a gift to the University of Alberta, you may wish to consider a charitable gift annuity. A charitable gift annuity allows residents of Canada to make a gift now, receive immediate tax savings, and earn a guaranteed income for the rest of your life.

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For general inquires about New Trail or the Alumni Association, please contact us: 780-492-3224 | [email protected].