Two sections are now available for registration in the Continuing Education course, “Indigenous People of Southwestern Ontario”: Thursday, April 25, and Wednesday, June 5. Both sessions take place in person at Windsor Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Developed by law professor Valerie G. Waboose, this one-day course focuses on the Anishinabe of southwestern Ontario. Participants will engage in a range of topics, including but not limited to Indigenous history, the profound impact of colonization, the vibrant culture and traditions of the Anishinabe, Indigenous knowledge systems, truth and reconciliation, and the lasting legacy of the Indian Residential School system.

It engages participants through two exercises: developing a reconciliation policy for their workplace and utilizing the Anishinabe Clan System to solve communal problems.

The first section of the course, April 25, will be led by Russell A. Evans, whose ancestral ties extend to the Temagami First Nation and Matachewan First Nation communities in northeastern Ontario. Dr. Evans, an assistant professor in the Odette School of Business, conducted his dissertation research on financial accountability dynamics within Indigenous communities and their interactions with stakeholders, including the Government of Canada. His ongoing research initiatives span Indigenous governance, economic development, research methodology, and equity, diversity, and inclusion considerations in the Indigenization of higher education.

“This course isn’t just about learning; it’s about actively contributing to the journey of reconciliation and forging meaningful connections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples,” says Evans. “It’s an opportunity to become agents of positive change in our communities and work towards a more just and equitable future for all.”

The subsequent section will take place on June 5 and will be led by Russell Nahdee, Indigenous learning specialist in the Office of Open Learning, and adjunct lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Criminology. Nahdee’s scholarly pursuits are dedicated to fostering collaborative endeavours with Indigenous communities, with a focus on facilitating cross-cultural exchanges and respectful sharing of Indigenous Knowledge.

“This course aims to highlight facts and issues about Indigenous people and to penetrate through thought-provoking perspectives,” says Nahdee. “A range of topics will be introduced, along with class discussions in the hope of creating a better understanding of contemporary Indigenous people in the local region and in Canada.”

A portion of tuition from Indigenous People of Southwestern Ontario course will benefit programs at the Can-Am Indian Friendship Centre of Windsor. Find more information on the centre’s website.

Registration is now open. For details, visit the Continuing Education website. Group rates are available for organizations who wish to send a team. UWindsor staff, students, alumni, and Hire UWindsor partners are eligible for a discount.

Recent bird rescue operations have prompted a call from the UWindsor Sustainability Office for student artists to submit designs for a bird-safe mural at the CAW Student Centre.

The project is part of the University’s continuing efforts to protect local bird populations, says sustainability officer Nadia Harduar.

“We launched our Bird-Friendly Campus initiative last spring, and the mural project is a continuation of those efforts,” she says. “It’s a chance for our community to contribute to bird conservation while adding beauty to our campus.”

Earlier this year, a collaborative effort by Student Health, Counselling and Wellness Services; the Special Constable Service; the University of Windsor Students’ Alliance; and the Organization of Part-time University Students resulted in the rescue of a female American woodcock which had suffered head trauma after colliding with a window overlooking the student centre’s second-floor balcony.

The bird, pictured above, was transported to the Wings Rehab Centre, where she received the necessary care before being released back into the wild.

“The University recognizes the importance of preventing such incidents and seeks innovative solutions to mitigate bird-window collisions,” says Harduar. “The call for artists aims to engage the campus community in creating a visually striking mural while promoting bird safety.”

The call for artists is open until April 24, with a $250 honorarium offered for up to two winning designs. Artists are encouraged to reflect the theme “Connection with nature and birds.”

Interested artists can view the submission form for more information and submission guidelines.

“We extend our gratitude to the Wings Rehab Centre for its invaluable assistance in rehabilitating and rescuing injured birds, and to everyone on campus who has helped report bird collisions through the Bird Collision Reporting Form,” Harduar says.

Graduate and undergraduate students setting out to creatively solve societal problems came together at the 10th Computer Science Demo Day at 300 Ouellette Ave. on Wednesday, April 10.

Mainly hailing from the Master of Applied Computing (MAC) program, with some computer science master’s students and undergraduates, the students shared their programming projects covering topics from how to best travel through France to simplifying Airbnb reviews.

Saran Kumar Saravanan and Dev Prajapati make up the team “AgroLens.” The MAC students want their website to help corn farmers identify crop diseases.

“We are focusing on classifying three diseases related to corn crop: blight, gray leaf spot, and common rust,” says Prajapati.

“Majorly grown in North America, we are focusing on how to classify diseases by uploading an image and help the user or farmer to get solutions to a particular disease, to help them find out what percentage of their crop is diseased.”

Saravanan says the motivation is to end hunger by the year 2030.

Alongside the UWindsor students, Victoria Korban, a Grade 12 student from Assumption College Catholic High School, set up her early stages pose estimation fitness project. She says demo day is a great opportunity for her.

“My end goal is a fitness app that helps you when you do a workout because sometimes you don’t know if you’re doing it right or wrong and you can get injuries,” says Korban, a co-op student working with Ziad Kobti, director of the School of Computer Science.

“This AI helps you do exercise right and detects if you’re doing it wrong or tells you to bend your knees a bit. It helps ensure you don’t get any injuries.”

Faculty and industry partners Rocket Innovation Studio, WeTech Alliance, Invest WindsorEssex, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, roamed the aisles judging the projects.

These projects received awards at the end of the day:

• Best Overall Innovative Project: Smart Buggy (Jayati Sakervala, Akshat Rami, Abhishek Solanki)
• Best Presentation: GoTravel (Rohan Sethi, Cibhi Basker, Vidushi Chauhan) and V-Tutor (Saravanan Chandrasekaran, Vignesh Sridhar, Rohit Raj Venkatesh)
• Best Research: EmoGraph (Alamjeet Singh, Mobin Ali Momin, Abdul Rafey Khan)
• Best Applied computing: CampusCart (Karan Mahajan, Sanjograj Athuja, Niharika Khurara)
• Special Award: Live Pose (Victoria Korban)

Lindsey Boshart is grateful for participating in the UWill Discover Conference.

“This was truly an amazing opportunity to showcase my undergraduate research and gain invaluable presentation experience,” says the biomedical sciences major.

Her presentation “Enhancement of OECT-Based Biosensors through Synthetic Manipulation of Semiconducting Polymers” was one of three selected for top honours from more than 60 student presenters, announced during an appreciation event last week.

Also honoured were Dami Babs-Olurenfemi for her nursing poster “Fecal Microbiota Transplantation as a Mental Health Intervention,” and master of education candidate Kate Hargreaves for her presentation “Trauma-Informed Practices in Ontario University Writing Centres.”

Erika Kustra, one of the four judges who selected the three winners, called the April 5 UWill Discover Day of Excellence an “inspiring and uplifting” event.

“I was so impressed with the high quality of presentations and the wide variety of intriguing questions being studied, from leadership models to feces to the chemistry behind wearable technology,” she said.

The UWill Discover Sustainable Futures project was funded in part by the Social Sciences Humanities and Research Council of Canada, the Student Success and Leadership Centre, and the Office of Research and Innovation Services.

Project lead Tim Brunet says that expanding the project — including establishing a new podcast, a Model United Nations team, and a new journal — couldn’t have happened without the enthusiastic participation of students and support from the campus community.

Learn more on the uwindsor.ca/uwilldiscover website.