Welcome! ::. Sigma Xi McGill-Montreal Chapter .::

updated: 17 March 2007

April 2007

Our BANQUET speaker

Friday, 20 April 2007
DETAILS (to come)
at the McCord Museum

Dr. Nigel Roulet
James McGill Professor
Department of Geography
McGill University

March - April 2007

Sigma Xi participation:
March 29-30: IGSRS
April 2: . BELL Science Fair .
follow links (click) to learn more

Dr. Michael R. Smith
The Welfare State and its consequences:
The case of unemployment insurance

Monday, 2 April 2007
Otto Maass Chemistry, room 10
Public Lecture: 6:00 P.M.
_____________________________
Council Meeting: 4:30 P.M.
Ruttan Room
_____________________________
Member Reception: 5:30 P.M.
Ruttan Room

February 2007

Dr. Reghan J. Hill
Nanocomposites: how novel macroscale properties can emerge from classical microscale physics

Monday, 26 February 2007
Otto Maass Chemistry, room 10
Public Lecture: 6:00 P.M.
_____________________________
Council Meeting: 4:30 P.M.
Ruttan Room
_____________________________
Member Reception: 5:30 P.M.
Ruttan Room

January 2007

Dr. Chandra Madramootoo
Water, Water Everywhere
But not a drop to drink

Monday, 22 January 2007
Otto Maass Chemistry, room 10
Public Lecture: 6:00 P.M.
_____________________________
Council Meeting: 4:30 P.M.
Ruttan Room
_____________________________
Member Reception: 5:30 P.M.
Ruttan Room

December 2006

JOIN US FOR THE ANNUAL CHRISTMAS RECEPTION
11 December, details

Congratulations to the 14 winners of the 2006 Undergraduate Research Competion who were made associate members of Sigma Xi. read more

Dr. Chris Williams
Molecular Modeling and
Computer-Aided Drug Design:
An overview of methods with application
to tyrosine kinase inhibitors

Monday, 11 December 2006
Otto Maass Chemistry, room 10
Public Lecture: 6:00 P.M.

November 2006

Congratulations to the 14 winners of the 2006 Undergraduate Research Competion who were made associate members of Sigma Xi. read more

Dr. Ronald Stewart
Our Winter Storms:
The Science Of Their Precipitation

Monday, 27 November 2006
Otto Maass Chemistry, room 10
Public Lecture: 6:00 P.M.
_____________________________
Council Meeting: 4:30 P.M.
Ruttan Room
_____________________________
Member Reception: 5:30 P.M.
Ruttan Room

October 2006

Our Chapter has received a
Certificate of Recognition for the fiscal year 2006 from Sigma Xi

Dr. Hans Larsson
Hunting Dinosaurs and other fossils
in the Canadian High Arctic:
what ancient climate
change may tell us

Monday, 23 October 2006
Otto Maass Chemistry, room 217
Public Lecture: 6:00 P.M.
_____________________________
Council Meeting: 4:30 P.M.
Ruttan Room
_____________________________
Member Reception: 5:30 P.M.
Ruttan Room

September 2006

You are cordially invited to our Second Entin lecture:

Dr. David R. Colman
Evolution, Structure and
Assembly of the Myelin Sheath

Monday, 25 September 2006
Otto Maass Chemistry
Public Lecture: 6:00 P.M.
Ruttan Room
_____________________________
Council Meeting: 4:30 P.M.
to be announced
_____________________________
Member Reception: 5:30 P.M.
Ruthan Room

SUMMER 2006
The McGill-Montreal Chapter has a
new co-president:
Dr. Juan Vera
Professor Emeritus, Chemical Engineering

We have new secretaries:
Mr. Thomas D. Lazzara
Ms. An Thien Ngo

Pictures and information about our third Sigma Xi Excellence in Undergraduate Research Awards
are available: Click here.

You may also view our trip to the McCord Museum
in April 2006: Click here.

The McGill-Montreal Sigma Xi Chapter :: site map & links
home :: programme :: news events :: officers :: members :: photos :: about chapter :: archives :: Sigma Xi Canada
Sigma Xi international :: American Scientist magazine

April 2007

BANQUET speaker :

Dr. Nigel Roulet
James McGill Professor
Department of Geography
McGill University

Peatland ecosystems and
climate change
Download: PDF POSTER
Banquet report and pictures

Very recently some climate models have
included models of the global carbon cycle. They indicate that in the future the terrestrial biosphere and oceans will begin to take up less CO2 than do now. This means that a greater proportion of anthropogenic CO2 will remain in the atmosphere. However, the terrestrial ecosystem models used are extremely crude and do not include some potential significant `wild cards' such as changes in forest-fire regimes, the fate of large store of carbon stored in northern peatlands and what happens to the tundra when permafrost. While the more exotic and/or commercially important ecosystems such as tropical and boreal forests have received much attention, the less exotic, commercially unproductive northern ecosystems such as peatlands have all but been ignored. This is a significant since peatlands contain about 25% of carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems (~ half of this is stored in Canadian peatlands). Our research is attempting to determine the sink and source function of northern peatlands for CO2 and CH4 in present and past climate, providing a predictive basis for what might happen to this large carbon store.