UBCO Professor Mary Jung’s Type 2 diabetes prevention program Small Steps for Big Changes is being rolled out across Canada. The program is also available in Portugal and will soon be running in Australia.

Thousands of Canadians with prediabetes will soon be able to sign up at participating YMCAs for a diet and exercise counselling program proven to lower their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

The program, Small Steps for Big Changes, currently delivered at select YMCAs in BC, is poised to expand to more YMCAs across Canada and Australia. By the end of 2025, the program is expected to be available at more than 40 YMCA locations across eight provinces in Canada. In the same time frame, the program will grow globally beyond its current YMCA locations in Portugal to include four new locations in Queensland, Australia.

The scale-up of Small Steps for Big Changes is the result of a tried-and-tested partnership between YMCA Canada, Diabetes Canada and UBC researchers. Dr. Mary Jung and her Diabetes Prevention Research Group based at UBC’s Okanagan campus, with support from Diabetes Canada, designed the program based on evidence from close to a decade of clinical trials on behaviour change. YMCA locations in BC’s Okanagan region then offered the ideal real-world setting to pilot the program for people at risk of Type 2 diabetes.

“One in eight Canadians are at risk of Type 2 diabetes and we know that up to 80 per cent of Type 2 diabetes cases are preventable by adopting healthy behaviours,” says Dr. Jung. “The goal of Small Steps for Big Changes is to help as many Canadians as possible make this change. The YMCA, by virtue of its many locations across Canada and commitment to inclusiveness, is helping us make a giant leap forward.”

The program is offered at no cost to participants thanks to the funding of the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the Public Health Agency of Canada and Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council. Participants receive access to the YMCA for one month, plus six one-on-one sessions with a YMCA coach specifically trained to deliver the program. Each session includes a discussion on nutrition and physical activity followed by up to 30 minutes of supervised exercise. Coaches use a person-centred approach to help participants commit to their health changes.

“Small Steps for Big Changes aligns with the YMCA philosophy that we all have it in us to shine, but sometimes we just need a supportive coach and environment where we feel like we belong to take the first step, and the ones after that,” says Peter Dinsdale, President & CEO of YMCA Canada. “We are excited by this partnership because it reflects our goal to positively impact the health of individuals and families in an inclusive and sustainable manner, while reducing financial barriers.”

The cross-Canada rollout of Small Steps for Big Changes comes just as Diabetes Canada launches its new six-year research strategy, which, among other objectives, aims to maximize the real-world impacts of diabetes knowledge and solutions.

“Every three minutes someone in Canada is diagnosed with diabetes. It’s an alarming statistic that demands urgent action,” says Dr. Rachel Reeve, Executive Director of Research and Science at Diabetes Canada. “Investing in research is a priority for Diabetes Canada because we see so clearly how new knowledge and solutions can benefit people with diabetes or people at high risk of developing this complex chronic condition. Small Steps for Big Changes is an example of successful diabetes research being applied to new communities across Canada.”

Small Steps for Big Changes accords with the Government of Canada’s Framework for Diabetes in Canada released in 2022, in particular the aim of supporting improved access to Type 2 diabetes prevention, as well as the principles of addressing health equity, applying a person-centred approach, supporting innovation and promoting leadership, collaboration and information exchange.

To determine eligibility for the program and to find a participating YMCA location people can visit www.smallstepsforbigchanges.com.

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UBCO’s Visual Arts students have been working on a mural at the Landmark District all summer. This is the largest mural yet for the Public Art Project and it will be unveiled at a celebration Thursday afternoon.

What: Landmark mural unveiling
Who: UBCO Visual Arts students and faculty, local contributors and stakeholders
When: Thursday, Aug. 17, from 3 to 5 pm
Where: Landmark District Market parking lot, 1717 Harvey Ave., Kelowna

Inspired by the strength and freedom of wild horses, UBC Okanagan’s Public Art Project will unveil its largest project to date this Thursday.

This is the fourth mural painted by UBCO’s Visual Arts students who collaborated with instructors David and Jorden Doody to paint a colourful, large-scale mural. Throughout the course, students learned to plan, pitch and paint a public mural using projectors, mechanical lifts and various paint applications and techniques typical to large-scale artwork.

The mural’s scale is 38 metres wide by nine metres high (125 by 30 feet). The students were critical to making this large-scale project happen, putting significant time and energy into the painting, says David Doody.

“A mural of this size requires more than 400 hours of work,” he adds. “Our students are excited about the painting and are dedicated to working hard each day to create something they can be proud of. And, of course, to finish on time.”

The 18 students enrolled in the course have been busy painting a new mural outside the Landmark District Market throughout July and August. The mural will be celebrated on Thursday, August 17.

The theme for this year’s UBCO Public Art Project draws inspiration from wild horses of the Okanagan, explains Jorden Doody.

“Wild horses have long been a symbol of strength and freedom for many cultures. As our fourth mural in our local flora and fauna series, this mural uses the wide panorama of the architecture to illustrate a fantastical view of our picturesque region,” she says.

UBCO’s Department of Creative Studies partnered with Stober Group for the 2023 mural course, helping to secure a highly visible wall in the growing Landmark District.

“We are thrilled to be able to contribute to a growing body of public art in Kelowna while helping UBC Okanagan visual arts students grow and thrive through this wonderful experience,” says Ken Stober, Managing Director of Stober Group and President of the Stober Foundation. “We congratulate everyone involved in creating another amazing mural for us all to enjoy.”

The public is invited to the launch of the completed mural Thursday at the Landmark District Market parking lot from 3 to 5 pm.

“With the location being so close to the main highway through the city, this mural will receive thousands of daily views. It offers a moment of pause for passersby,” David Doody adds.

The students and instructors will be on hand to answer questions.

David Doody is currently a Lecturer in the Visual Arts program at UBCO and a 2008 alumnus. Jorden Doody recently completed her Master of Fine Arts and is also a UBCO BFA alumna. Together, they run Fresh West Official and coordinate the Uptown Mural Project in Rutland.

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UBCO researchers Jonathan Holzman and Alexis Guidi are exploring the potential of terahertz radiation to improve the quality of medical diagnostic imaging.

Medical imaging via X-rays, CT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds provide health-care professionals with unique perspectives and a better understanding of what’s happening inside a patient’s body. Using various forms of waves, these machines can visualize many unseen ailments and diseases.

This imaging is beneficial for health-care professionals to make correct diagnoses, but the added insight of spectroscopy provides even more detail. Spectroscopy offers a means to identify biomolecules within specimens through their characteristic signatures for absorption in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Now, researchers at UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering want to take that diagnostic imaging a step further.

By recognizing the benefits of imaging and spectroscopy, the researchers in UBCO’s Integrated Optics Laboratory (IOL) are now developing imaging systems that apply terahertz radiation. Terahertz radiation lies in the electromagnetic spectrum, with frequencies between radio and visible waves. This opens the door to fast and accurate terahertz characterizations of biological specimens—and can ultimately help with the creation of effective technologies for cancer detection.

“By working with terahertz radiation, we’re able to glean details on the underlying characteristics of biological specimens,” explains Alexis Guidi, a School of Engineering master’s student and lead author of a new study published in Nature’s Scientific Reports Journal. “This insight comes from the nature of terahertz radiation, which is intricately sensitive to the biomolecular make-up of cells.”

Nonetheless, according to Dr. Jonathan Holzman, IOL Principal Investigator and Electrical Engineering Professor, there are pressing challenges in developing these terahertz systems.

“The characteristics of terahertz radiation that make it an effective probe of biomolecules, in terms of its long wavelengths, also make it challenging to focus and resolve in images. Our recent work solved this by demonstrating terahertz spectroscopy can show a resolution approaching the cellular scale.”

The researchers plan on applying their findings in emerging areas of medical diagnoses, with a particular emphasis on carcinogenesis—the process by which healthy cells become cancerous.

The research is partially funded through support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Western Economic Diversification Canada.

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The Government of Canada is supporting initiatives that build a clean and prosperous future. That includes helping B.C companies lower their environmental footprint while creating jobs.

Today, the Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada (PacifiCan) announced $1.04 million in funding to the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus (UBCO) to help local businesses implement cutting-edge circular economy practices.

In a circular economy, nothing is waste. The circular economy retains and recovers as much value as possible from resources by reusing, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, repurposing, or recycling products and materials. It’s about using valuable resources wisely, thinking about waste as a resource instead of a cost, and finding innovative ways to better the environment and the economy.

With this PacifiCan funding, UBCO will connect local businesses with the engineering expertise needed to save industrial materials from landfill, while designing new green products from fully bio-sourced materials. UBCO will also buy new equipment and expand its advanced materials and manufacturing testing capabilities so that more companies can access this support. Technical knowledge developed through these projects will be saved in a digital repository to help current and future companies embrace the circular economy.

The combination of in-person expertise and a digital repository supporting a circular economy is the first-of-its-kind in the province and will build on B.C.’s leadership in clean technology. It will also raise the profile of local companies and innovators who are creating solutions with global impact.

Minister Sajjan made the announcement while celebrating the launch of UBCO’s Clean Tech Hub, an innovation space that received $1.9M from PacifiCan in 2021. This investment is helping UBCO catalyze academic-industry collaborations that help Canadian companies bring their technologies and products to domestic and international markets.

This morning, Minister Sajjan also announced the opening of new PacifiCan offices in Kelowna and Cranbrook. Our expanded footprint means PacifiCan will be more accessible to British Columbians. It will also support high-impact local investments and quality advice, to advance the region’s diverse economic interests.

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It’s back to school to time and many students, who will be meeting new friends, teachers and professors, may be wondering if making a good first impression really matters. New UBCO research, says yes it does.

The first day of school is just around the corner and many people—from Kindergartners to teens and first-year university students—may be feeling the pressure of that first day. That nervous feeling is not just for students—this year many teachers and university professors will be teaching in-person classes for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020.

Associate Professor Lauren Human teaches in UBC Okanagan’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. She is the Director of UBCO’s Social Interaction and Perception Lab where her team investigates interpersonal relationships. The researchers consider what psychological, social and biological factors promote accurate impressions, and the consequences if that first impression goes poorly.

Dr. Human’s most recent study, published this month in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, examined first impressions. Simply put, while many people are told to be themselves, does that work?

And is it good to be seen as one’s true self?

What is the most important thing about making a good first impression?

This likely depends on how you define a good first impression. But, in our research we often look at what predicts being liked in first impressions—as this can promote smooth interactions and friendship formation. We find there are at least two important factors. The first is pretty straightforward. If people think you have a positive, desirable personality—you are very nice, reliable and creative—people tend to like you more. So, not surprisingly, it’s good to be seen positively.

However, we also find that it is just as important to be seen accurately—in line with what makes you unique or different from others. Across several studies, we have found that seeing a new classmate’s personality more accurately is related to liking that person more immediately and over an extended time.

Being seen accurately seems to have social benefits. But is this something people can control?

This was the focus of my lab’s most recent publication. We wanted to know whether the popular advice to “be yourself” actually works. That is, can people control how much they are being themselves in a first impression and allow others to see them more accurately?

It turns out that they can. People who were asked to be themselves during a videotaped interview ended up being seen more accurately by unacquainted observers who later watched their videos.

We also wondered if these instructions would have any influence—good or bad—on being liked. In this study, we did not find that those who were trying to be themselves were liked more, but they also weren’t liked less, so there doesn’t appear to be downsides to following this advice. And given the benefits of being seen accurately in more naturalistic settings, such as among new classmates, it seems possible that trying to be oneself could help people form stronger social connections.

If you have poor self-esteem, should you really “be yourself” while making a first impression?

We did look at the role of self-esteem in the above study—both whether people with lower self-esteem had a harder time following the advice to “be themselves” and if attempting to do so had negative effects on being liked. We did not find evidence for either.

This is interesting, because people with lower self-esteem tend to be seen less accurately in first impressions. Our study was encouraging as it suggests if people with low self-esteem want to be seen more accurately, they may be able to be themselves.

Does it matter how accurately people perceive us?

It does seem to matter, both for liking and our wellbeing. Despite the exceptions noted above, being seen accurately does seem to have benefits for being liked in early relationships, as well as for quality in longer-term relationships such as romantic ones. In addition, being seen accurately is also strongly linked to wellbeing. In other words, people who tend to be seen more accurately report greater happiness.

What’s the best tip for the first day of school?

From my point of view, I think the benefits of being oneself will often outweigh the occasional downsides. I would encourage people to be themselves that first day of school, or anytime they are making a first impression. If in doubt, a safe bet is to not just be your usual self—the person you are at home alone on the couch—but to be your best self—the person you are on date night or when you are in an especially good mood.

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In partnership with many organizations and governments, a new Indigenous-led conservation initiative has helped improve a Klinse-Za caribou population.

Despite recovery efforts from federal and provincial governments, caribou populations across Canada continue to decline, largely due to human activity.

But as a new UBC Okanagan study finds, in central British Columbia there is one herd of mountain caribou, the Klinse-Za, whose numbers are going in the opposite direction—all thanks to a collaborative recovery effort led by West Moberly First Nations and Saulteau First Nations.

In partnership with many organizations and governments, the Indigenous-led conservation initiative paired short-term recovery actions such as predator reduction and caribou guardians at maternal pens, with ongoing work to secure landscape-level protection in an effort to create a self-sustaining caribou population.

Their efforts paid off.

Dr. Clayton Lamb, a Liber Ero Fellow, along with Carmen Richter, a biology master’s student, and Dr. Adam T. Ford, Canada Research Chair in Wildlife Restoration Ecology, conduct research in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science. Their latest study shows Klinse-Za caribou numbers have nearly tripled in under a decade.

“We have an Indigenous-led conservation effort to thank for averting the looming extinction of this herd,” says Dr. Lamb. “The population was declining rapidly—a West Moberly Elder once described the herd as a ‘sea of caribou,’ but by 2013 it had declined to only 38 animals.”

Today, the herd count is more than 110 and numbers continue to rise.

“This work provides an innovative, community-led, paradigm shift to conservation in Canada,” Dr. Lamb says. “While Indigenous Peoples have been actively stewarding landscapes for a long time, this approach is new in the level of collaboration among western scientists and Indigenous Peoples to create positive outcomes on the land and put an endangered species on the path to recovery.”

Richter, who is a Saulteau First Nations member, says Indigenous communities have really come together for the good of the caribou.

“We are working hard to recover these caribou. Each year, community members pick bags and bags of lichen to feed the mother caribou in the pen while other members live up at the top of the mountain with the animals. One day, we hope to return the herds to a sustainable size,” she says.

Though the partnership has yielded great success, Dr. Ford is the first to acknowledge that more time and effort will be needed to fully recover the Klinse-Za.

“This work is also an important part of decolonizing the mindset of conservation, which has historically worked to exclude the views of Indigenous Peoples,” he adds.

With caribou declines exceeding 40 per cent in recent decades across Canada, many populations have already been lost. But Dr. Ford insists there is a brighter path forward, and this study proves it.

“This is truly an unprecedented success and signals the critical role that Indigenous Peoples can play in conservation,” he says. “I hope this success opens doors to collaborative stewardship among other communities and agencies. We can accomplish so much more when working together.”

This study was co-produced by western scientists and members of West Moberly First Nations and Saulteau First Nations. The work was recently published in Ecological Applications and is supported by a companion manuscript in Ecological Applications exploring the expeditious population growth.

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UBCO’s annual graduate student competition Three Minute Thesis takes place virtually March 29.

What: Three Minute Thesis final
Who: UBCO graduate students, faculty, researchers, staff and members of the public
When: Tuesday, March 29, from noon to 1:30 pm
Venue: Hosted on Zoom

Media are invited to attend UBC Okanagan’s annual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) final. The popular competition returns March 29 in a live virtual format, hosted by former TV personality Rick Webber.

After winning previous rounds, seven graduate students will take the virtual stage to compete for their share of $6,000 in prize money. Their challenge? To captivate the audience and impress the panel of judges while explaining their master’s or doctoral research in just three minutes.

Graduate student competitors include:

• Leslie Shayer
  Shayer’s research focuses on the impact of contemplative pedagogy on math anxiety at the post-secondary level.
• Hammad Ahmad
  Ahmad’s research focuses on life cycle assessment of natural fibre-based biocomposites for sustainable construction.
• Maya Pilin
  Pilin’s research focuses on young adults’ thoughts and feelings about alcohol use.
• Jocelyn Schroeder
  Schroeder’s research involves the development of a survey to examine Canadian nursing students’ attitudes toward and willingness to participate in Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying program).
• Stef Ashton
  Ashton’s research aims to improve RCMP responses to intimate partner violence through the use of virtual reality training.
• Jacqueline Barnett
  Barnett’s research aims to understand what, if any, impact dietary levels of popular weed killer Roundup® are having on gut microbiomes and behaviour across generations.
• Shirley Yang
  Yang’s research focuses on the physiological roles of intercellular signalling molecules on glial cells, non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system, in neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Lisa Tobber with the School of Engineering will begin this year’s event with a presentation titled “Taller, greener, and stronger: Engineering resilient cities.” Her presentation will highlight some of the research conducted at UBC Okanagan to develop strong and sustainable tall buildings to enhance the resiliency of growing cities.

As audience members learn about the graduate research happening in the Okanagan, they will also be invited to vote for the winner of the people’s choice award.

Developed by The University of Queensland in 2008, 3MT competitions are now held in more than 900 universities across 80 countries worldwide.

To register or find out more about the 3MT, visit: gradstudies.ok.ubc.ca/ubco-3mt-final-2022

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During the testing process, the researchers look for unique shapes of fluorescence signals. Each unique shape indicates the presence of impurities and helps researchers determine what the impurity is and distinguish it from other compounds.

Fluorescence lighting helps detect impurities in water

Shining a beam of light into potentially contaminated water samples may hold the key to real-time detection of hydrocarbons and pesticides in water.

UBC Okanagan researchers are testing the use of fluorescence to monitor water quality. The results, they say, show great promise.

When a beam of light is shone into the water, it excites the electrons in molecules of certain compounds and causes them to emit light. The characteristics of the emitted light are like a fingerprint and can be used to identify certain contaminants, explains Nicolas Peleato, an assistant professor at UBCO’s School of Engineering.

“The challenge with using this fluorescence approach is that they are typically source-specific; meaning we have to calibrate for a particular water source and anticipate what specific contaminants we want to look for,” says Peleato. “In our latest work, we have developed a data processing technique that expands the effectiveness from one water source to others.”

This means their new technique removes a lot of the guesswork at the beginning of the process. As Peleato points out, every water source has a slightly different composition of organic compounds, which can hide the contaminant signals, so calibrating for each source is crucial for detection accuracy.

Using machine learning algorithms, Peleato and his graduate student Ziyu Li have devised an approach that addresses the challenge of source-specific models through mapping their similarities.

According to Li, it isn’t quite a one-size-fits-all method but it is close.

“By establishing a process that identifies similar patterns between water sources, the fluorescence detection becomes a viable option for real-time, accurate detection of hydrocarbons and pesticides,” explains Li.

During the testing process, the researchers look for unique shapes of fluorescence signals. Each unique shape indicates the presence of impurities and helps researchers determine what the impurity is and distinguish it from other compounds.

Water contaminated with hydrocarbons is known to be carcinogenic and can be dangerous, or toxic, to flora and fauna.

The researchers are now turning their attention to using this new approach to detect and monitor chemicals, such as the major toxic contaminants in oil sand tailings ponds that may impact surface water and groundwater.

“Building a comprehensive model that seamlessly transitions from one water source to another will speed up monitoring, and has the potential to be a game changer,” says Peleato.

This work was published in the journal Chemosphere, and funded in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

UBC researchers Nicolas Peleato and Li Ziyu examine the data after testing a water sample with a florescence spectrometer.

During the testing process, the researchers look for unique shapes of fluorescence signals. Each unique shape indicates the presence of impurities and helps researchers determine what the impurity is and distinguish it from other compounds.

Fluorescence lighting helps detect impurities in water

Shining a beam of light into potentially contaminated water samples may hold the key to real-time detection of hydrocarbons and pesticides in water.

UBC Okanagan researchers are testing the use of fluorescence to monitor water quality. The results, they say, show great promise.

When a beam of light is shone into the water, it excites the electrons in molecules of certain compounds and causes them to emit light. The characteristics of the emitted light are like a fingerprint and can be used to identify certain contaminants, explains Nicolas Peleato, an assistant professor at UBCO’s School of Engineering.

“The challenge with using this fluorescence approach is that they are typically source-specific; meaning we have to calibrate for a particular water source and anticipate what specific contaminants we want to look for,” says Peleato. “In our latest work, we have developed a data processing technique that expands the effectiveness from one water source to others.”

This means their new technique removes a lot of the guesswork at the beginning of the process. As Peleato points out, every water source has a slightly different composition of organic compounds, which can hide the contaminant signals, so calibrating for each source is crucial for detection accuracy.

Using machine learning algorithms, Peleato and his graduate student Ziyu Li have devised an approach that addresses the challenge of source-specific models through mapping their similarities.

According to Li, it isn’t quite a one-size-fits-all method but it is close.

“By establishing a process that identifies similar patterns between water sources, the fluorescence detection becomes a viable option for real-time, accurate detection of hydrocarbons and pesticides,” explains Li.

During the testing process, the researchers look for unique shapes of fluorescence signals. Each unique shape indicates the presence of impurities and helps researchers determine what the impurity is and distinguish it from other compounds.

Water contaminated with hydrocarbons is known to be carcinogenic and can be dangerous, or toxic, to flora and fauna.

The researchers are now turning their attention to using this new approach to detect and monitor chemicals, such as the major toxic contaminants in oil sand tailings ponds that may impact surface water and groundwater.

“Building a comprehensive model that seamlessly transitions from one water source to another will speed up monitoring, and has the potential to be a game changer,” says Peleato.

This work was published in the journal Chemosphere, and funded in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

UBC researchers Nicolas Peleato and Li Ziyu examine the data after testing a water sample with a florescence spectrometer.

Two UBC Okanagan programs -- Geering Up Engineering Outreach and iSTAND -- received NSERC PromoScience funding to support hands-on learning experiences aimed at building the next generation of scientists and researchers.

New funding promotes outreach to under-represented youth across the BC Interior

This year underrepresented and underserved youth in BC’s Interior will have increased access to science and engineering programming.

Last week the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) launched $12 million in PromoScience grants to support hands-on learning experiences aimed at building the next generation of scientists and research leaders.

The PromoScience program is designed to engage young Canadians and promote an understanding of science and engineering (including mathematics and technology).

At UBC Okanagan, funding will support two new opportunities to explore STEM. Adam Cornford, coordinator for Geering Up Engineering Outreach and Dr. Jennifer Jakobi, director of the integrative STEM Team Advancing Networks of Diversity (iSTAND) program, both secured funding to enhance access to existing programs.

The pair say they are looking forward to providing these new initiatives to youth — especially young girls — Indigenous learners and teachers in local and remote communities across BC.

The funding at UBC Okanagan will support programs that were developed with local Indigenous communities to ensure culturally appropriate curriculum, integrating an Indigenous knowledge approach to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

The NSERC PromoScience program funding will also be directed to girls-only programming and educator training. Girls-only programming is open to those who identify as transgendered, genderqueer and non-binary.

Cornford says the School of Engineering is excited about the expansion of the program.

“One of the things our staff is most looking forward to is connecting with elders and educators to implement land-based programming that incorporates the role of traditional knowledge into STEM education,” he says.

Dr. Jakobi and Cornford attribute the strength of their applications and programming to the ongoing collaborations with the Syilx People and the Okanagan Nation Alliance. Staff in both programs are looking forward to expanding these relationships and growing experiences for youth throughout BC.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to engage with Indigenous university students in learning hands-on STEM activities and support them to bring science experiences back home to youth in their community,” says Dr. Jakobi, professor in The School of Health and Exercise Sciences.

The expansion of both programs will happen this year, but the goal is to continue providing these programs far into the future, says School of Engineering Executive Associate Dean Rehan Sadiq.

“Nearly four per cent of UBCO engineering students are Indigenous despite the fact that more than five per cent of the Canadian population self-identify as Indigenous,” explains Sadiq. “We are collaborating with our neighbouring Indigenous communities to highlight the exciting opportunities available in engineering. We are also thrilled to increase our total number of Indigenous faculty to four as of July 1.”

To learn more about iSTAND programs, visit: istand.ok.ubc.ca

To learn more about the Geering Up Engineering Outreach programs at UBC Okanagan, visit: geeringup.apsc.ubc.ca

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in 2005 in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose territory the campus resides. As part of UBC—ranked among the world’s top 20 public universities—the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca