Getting COVID's Number
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CELINA CAESAR-CHAVANNES TIFF MACKLEM 5 TO WATCH Hear her now, steers the Bank of Canada Meet our new Canada in her own words through the pandemic Research Chairs QUEEN’S ALUMNI REVIEW THE MAGAZINE OF QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY SINCE 1927 Getting COVID’S number How Dr. Troy Day is using math to chart the course of the virus SPRING 2021 CONTENTS Spring 2021 Tiff Macklem (Artsci'83) in the front entrance hall of the Bank of Canada Features S ALUMNI REVIEW BY JENNIFER ROBERTS; (RIGHT) RÉMI THÉRIAULT; SPOT ILLUSTRATION SOL COTTI ILLUSTRATION SPOT (RIGHT) RÉMI THÉRIAULT; JENNIFER ROBERTS; REVIEW BY S ALUMNI ’ 20 24 30 A global pandemic Five women whose The Bank of Canada’s — by the numbers research leads the way Queen’s tradition How an applied mathematician Find out what they’re studying Why have so many governors is helping forecast where and how they are changing of the Bank of Canada been the COVID-19 virus will go next. the world around us. Queen’s grads? Ask Tiff Macklem. COVER SHOT EXCLUSIVELY FOR QUEEN FOR EXCLUSIVELY SHOT COVER BY TOM SPEARS BY TY BURKE BY MICHAEL ONESI QUEENSU.CA/ALUMNIREVIEW 1 CONTENTS On Campus Off Campus 07 Campus News A compendium of the latest “I found Queen’s news – and the people it can be very and things that are making it fulfilling to look outside yourself The Big Picture How do you build a and consider ventilator for the world? the people Keep it simple 12 around you and how you can affect ABOUT THE COVER their lives Dr. Troy Day, Queen’s applied in even the mathematician, was photographed by smallest way.” Jennifer Roberts My First Job — DR. IDARA EDEM, on March 17, 2021 in Tutor to P. 35 Kingston, Ontario. neurosurgeon. CELINA CAESAR-CHAVANNES TIFF MACKLEM 5 TO WATCH A trailblazer Hear her now, steers the Bank of Canada Meet our new Canada in her own words through the pandemic Research Chairs QUEEN’S ALUMNI REVIEW reflects THE MAGAZINE OF QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY SINCE 1927 35 36 Books and The Backstory Jennifer Turliuk wants to help you figure out what to do with your life Getting COVID’S number How Dr. Troy Day is using math to chart the course of the virus SPRING 2021 QAR-SP21-Cover_V2.indd 2 2021-04-01 11:41 AM 38 If These Walls Could Talk Day is surrounded Alumni reflect on their homes by symbols of 42 from home Class Notes the COVID-19 variants Where are your classmates that have changed 39 From the QUAA and housemates now? the trajectory of the pandemic. “I wanted Symbols of change retain this photograph to what’s special reflect the serious nature of the story, which has a darkness about it, but I also wanted there to be a light that reflected the hope Dr. Day’s research is bringing,” says Roberts, whose For the Record clients include Can you hear her now? the New York Times Celina Caesar-Chavannes and Rolling Stone. 14 speaks her mind “Finding that balance was key to the shoot.” 18 Work in Progress How I Got Here 52 Created at Queen’s Queen’s researchers go back Keeping score: From Two Queen’s alumni in time to unlock the mysteries math and science take a deep dive into of the natural world 40 to a top job in the NHL the world of mining O'SHANE HOWARD GALLERY/ALAMY, FINN O'HARA, ANTIQUA PRINT ROCKMASS TECHNOLOGIES, RICE, COURTESY OF LEFT) HAMIN LEE, SARAH TOP FROM (CLOCKWISE BY PHOTOGRAPH 2 SPRING 2021 FROM THE PRINCIPAL such powerful engines of personal, social, cul- tural and economic development, universities are a natural and inevitable venue in which we might expect this reappraisal to take place. At Queen’s over the last twelve months we have seen that process play out in countless different ways: shifts in the form of academic assessment, flexibility introduced in funding eligibility for graduate students, modified approaches to performance review for faculty members, radically changed assumptions about productivity and working from home, a rapidly evolving relationship to technology for teaching and learning, a new understanding of what is owed to and might be expected from international students, an evolving sense of the physical campus and of what the “Queen’s experience” is or might be in relation to that physical space, and a doubling down on ques- tions of relevance and value. Not all of this was driven by COVID-19. The advent of the pandemic happened to coincide with a planning process for the University APPREHENSION AND HOPE which as early as October 2019 had begun to ask questions about our values and purpose – questions that were amplified and invested with greater urgency by the health crisis and o much about this issue of the Queen’s Alumni Review speaks the peculiar social reset which it precipitated to the future and to the potential for positive change and and which continues today. Like every one development that attends this moment, as our university of the individual students who make up this S and communities everywhere are daring to imagine again a institution, we as a community are looking life not shaped and constrained by the COVID-19 virus. There is to our future and as we do so, pondering our certainly great hope in the moment, but undoubtedly there must agency. What do we imagine for the University also be apprehension, because one important lesson of the pan- in the coming years, and how do we negotiate demic that will stay with us for a long time is that our agency has those aims and ambitions in the context of limits: humans can dream and prepare as they wish, but nature what COVID-19 has taught us is a profoundly may have other plans. unpredictable future? I believe that heightened consciousness of this fact – which That unpredictability is cause for apprehen- many of our current students will be experiencing as a sudden sion, as I remarked at the outset, but it is also loss of youthful innocence – is a significant factor in the dramat- cause for hope, in that it leaves us no choice ically increased need for mental health supports both on campus but to embrace change, creativity, and the reli- and in society at large. The challenge is not that COVID-19 has ance on human empathy that has brought us emptied the future of promise, but rather that it has revealed the through this exceptionally challenging phase vulnerability and fragility of our longings and aspirations. It has in Queen’s history. forced us to revise what we take to be “normal” in the trajectory described by the lives of individuals, organizations, and societ- ies; and in doing so it has encouraged us to look more deeply for meaning in immediate, rather than remote, opportunities. That cooking, pet care, cycling and cross-country skiing have found new popularity during COVID-19 illustrates the point – not Sincerely, just because such things provide comfort during confinement, PRINCIPAL PATRICK DEANE but because they do not require belief in an assured future. In this way, the pandemic has required us to scrutinize and reconsider PHOTOGRAPH BY BERNARD CLARK BY PHOTOGRAPH the values that underpin our life choices. And because they are QUEENSU.CA/ALUMNIREVIEW 3 OUR NEW LOOK QUEEN’S BY THE NUMBERS Queen’s University continues to attract leading researchers, competitive funding, and awards through a number of national and international programs – in the past year alone, the university has received hundreds of grants for new projects and research infrastructure. A quick snapshot of the numbers reflects our reputation for research excellence. pring is here and change is INSIDE YOU’LL FIND in the air – not just on campus, but also at the Queen’s Alumni Review, where our first issue 47 S More stories are landmarks 3rd Queen’s is home of 2021 marks a new beginning about the of the University in research to 47 Canada and a brand-new look. incredible District (be sure income growth Research Chairs It’s a change that’s been in the research that’s to send us your (medical – a prestigious works for almost a year as we happening right stories!) category) national according honour created connected with our alumni around now at Queen’s – whether it’s well For the Record to national to promote the world, incorporated community research leading-edge established or – a Q&A that lets feedback, and took a deep dive rankings research an exciting pro- you hear the full into readership surveys to find posal about to story from the out what people wanted to see make waves source, in his or in their magazine. her own words We listened. We talked. And Greater diver- 60 million we brainstormed. sity and new Profiles – Number of dollars Queen’s received And then we worked with the perspectives people who in major sciences initiatives award-winning Studio Wyse to help to better reflect are changing (MSI) funding from the Canada us capture everything you wanted the Queen’s the world, and Foundation for Innovation in a bold design that reflects the community wearing the trico- lour with pride, Queen’s University of the future. The Big Picture whether they’re The end result is a reimagined – a new feature describing how Queen’s Alumni Review with a Seven that will take you they landed their Number of new look and, we hope, a new feel. 5th inside the lab and dream career, Queen’s in research In this, Queen’s University’s into the field to how they got research intensity 180th year, there seemed to be no unlock secrets of their start, or projects (research better time to look back with pride technology and what it took to receiving income per and embrace the change of the research that get to where funding full-time are changing the they are today from the New faculty future.