Introducing NU's Research Achievement Award winners
Congratulations to the three recipients of Nipissing University’s Research Achievement Award 2016-17: Dr. Steven Arnocky, associate professor of psychology; Dr. Logan Hoehn, assistant professor of mathematics; and Dr. Michelann Parr, professor in the Schulich School of Education.
Dr. Arnocky is the director of the Human Evolution Laboratory at Nipissing. His research is broadly rooted in the fields of evolutionary psychology and biology, where he studies human mating strategies. His work is extremely important to understanding why modern humans have the physiological and behavioural attributes that we exhibit. Dr. Arnocky has earned grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund. He has published 21 peer-reviewed journal articles and four invited book chapters, and has given numerous national and international conference presentations. More importantly, his research is highly regarded in his field. Dr. Arnocky been invited to give colloquia at top-tier universities around the world, and his research frequently appears in news and popular press outlets.
Dr. Hoehn’s research focus is in continuum theory, a branch of topology, which is a foundational field of mathematics where the objects of study are geometric shapes which are subject to continuous deformations (stretching, twisting, bending). Two of his papers contain landmark results which solve two old and central open problems in continuum theory, and have changed the face of the field. His work has earned national and international recognition, in the form of a $100,000 Discovery Grant from NSERC, and the first annual Mary Ellen Rudin Young Researchers Award, which is an international prize for recent graduates in any field within topology, worth $15,000.
Dr. Parr’s research is bound by a genuine interest in the ways we conceptualize literacy and how this translates into the work we do. She focuses on opening conversations, changing mindsets, and building relationships with research participants, undergraduate and graduate students, educational communities, and colleagues. Dr. Parr is committed to ensuring that her research, as well as the research of others, is translated into practical applications that make a difference in the field. Her research has received funding through the Parent Engagement Branch of the Ministry of Education. She has also been invited to research as principal investigator with The Learning Partnership, demonstrating earned recognition as a researcher in the field of family engagement.
The Research Achievement Awards are intended to recognize meritorious research achievement and to enhance the research productivity and external reputation of full-time faculty members at Nipissing University. Recipients are selected by a committee consisting of two distinguished faculty researchers, one Nipissing University Faculty Association representative, and the provost and associate vice-president, academic and research.
The award consists of a $5,000 research grant, available to the recipient for up to five years, as long as the individual remains a full-time employee of Nipissing.