At ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Allison University, scientific discovery is conducted in an environment that values research, that encourages connections between teaching and research, and where our students are partners in the research process.

The Faculty of Science at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Allison shows that you do not need a massive campus or multimillion dollar laboratories to make meaningful contributions to the world — you need a place where people are engaged, tightly connected, and curious about new discoveries. I believe the small size of ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Allison’s campus and community is one of the things that makes us special. We are small enough to know each other and this facilitates collaboration across departments, programs, and faculties.

Dr. Tyson MacCormack (Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry) and Dr. Andrea Morash (Department of Biology) are frequent collaborators as they investigate the effects of climate change on fish physiology, particularly how fish adapt to environmental stressors. In recent years, with the assistance of our Aqualab technician Shelley LeBlanc, they have begun breeding brook trout for their studies in the Harold Crabtree Aqualab Centre for Aquatic Sciences, rather than solely relying on wild caught samples. This has had benefits for both of their research programs and the local community. In 2023, they produced excess fish in the breeding program and were able to release 1000 fish into Silver Lake, under the supervision of the Department of Natural Resources. This added to the biodiversity of the lake and benefited local fishing enthusiasts. ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Allison’s aquatic facilities are examples of our small (in comparison to some other institutions), but highly productive research facilities. Our Aqualab facilities currently house brook trout, shortnose sturgeons, blue tilapia, zebrafish, and goldfish that are used in teaching labs in biology.

At ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Allison, we focus on high quality teaching and instruction, while simultaneously valuing research. Because of this focus, there is a lot of cross-pollination between teaching and research in the Faculty of Science at ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Allison.

Dr. Gene Ouellette, a professor in the Department of Psychology and the 2025 winner of the Paul Paré Medal of Excellence, exemplifies this cross-pollination between teaching and research. The Paré Medal recognizes excellence in teaching, research, and learning. Ouellette’s primary research focuses on literacy acquisition — the scientific study of reading. His work has been supported by funding from multiple tri-council agencies (NSERC and SSHRC) and has been published in top-tier journals. In recent years, Ouellette has begun to advise several Canadian school systems and Departments of Education to help them integrate research findings into their curriculum development process, ensuring that the research he and others conduct is available and accessible to those designing educational programs. He designs his courses with intentionality and many of our students have been involved in his research program over the years.

These student collaborators have gone on to work in school systems across the country, at other universities, and in roles such as Speech Language Pathologist (SLP), where they continue to propagate the knowledge and skills they learned while working with Dr. Ouellette to have positive impacts on the systems around them.

At a small institution like ours, research is not reserved for graduate students. Students gain early access to hands on experiences — operating equipment, collecting data, publishing papers, and presenting at conferences long before peers at larger universities often get similar opportunities.

One of ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Allison’s biggest strengths is its commitment to student-faculty collaboration. Here, students don’t just observe research — they engage in it and help shape it. One example of this is our Independent Student Research Grants (ISRG). Our students can apply for an ISRG that provides funding for an intensive 14-week research project during the summer term. Some students work with a faculty advisor to begin their honours project, while others use the opportunity to explore the research process. These student-faculty collaborations often lead to published peer reviewed research.

Recent MtA graduate, William Chapman (BSc Honours Environmental Science, ’25), was the lead author in a per-reviewed scientific publication titled Indigenous-language communication as an opportunity for engagement in the aquatic sciences. This work represents a collaboration between William, his faculty supervisor Dr. Josh Kurek, and Mi’kmaw Language Keeper Gordon Francis, and explores how scientific knowledge is better trusted and applied when communicated in the language of affected communities. Through this project, Chapman, Francis, and Kurek were able to create new knowledge to help respond to current issues in the environment.

Whether studying environmental change, neuroscience, chemistry, computer science, or mathematics, students work directly alongside faculty on projects that carry real world weight. The result is a learning experience that is both rigorous and personally transformative.

Scientific breakthroughs often begin in small labs with big imagination. ÃÛÌÒÊÓƵ Allison’s Faculty of Science embodies this. When people are connected and encouraged to ask important questions, the size of the institution does not have to limit what is possible.