The Graduate@Carleton newsletter is typically distributed every Thursday morning. The next newsletter will be available on January 14. If you have any questions, please email us at: fgpa_newsletter@carleton.ca.

To access FAQs about how Carleton is coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, click here. For questions concerning current graduate students, click here. To view FAQs for prospective graduate students, click here. International graduate students, please check out FAQs on the ISSO website. Check out this message about the province-wide shutdown.

The Winter 2021 term will begin on Monday, January 11. All courses will be offered online or through other methods of distance learning. A small number of pilot projects involving some on-campus learning activities may be allowed but you would require special permission to come on campus.

Are you a new graduate student or teaching assistant at Carleton this winter? If so, you can register for the virtual Winter Orientation here. Orientation materials will be made available to registrants today, January 7.

Are you a new TA this term? If so, here are several things you need to know.

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs has launched a new website for current graduate students. The design incorporates feedback from grad students. A new feature called Researcher of the Month showcases newer faculty members and their graduate students. And there is now a direct link to academic dates and deadlines listed on the Registrar’s website. Let us know what you think.

Check It Out →

A pilot project that called for a dedicated Graduate Student Counsellor was such a success that the university decided to create a permanent position. The new counsellor, Magda Georgescu, has the inside scoop of being a graduate student at Carleton as she graduated with her Master of Social Work degree from Carleton in 2016.

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This term kicks off with a whole new slate of professional development opportunities for graduate students. You can view upcoming events by clicking here.

If you are eligible to receive a scholarship balance, you can request your balance through Carleton Central by clicking on “Refund or Scholarship Balance Request”. Depending on the amount of your scholarship balance, you will have up to four options: campus card transfer, e-transfer, cheque, or donate to Carleton. Although you can submit your request prior to the financial drop date, it will not be processed until after Jan. 31, 2021. If you have any questions, please contact Student Accounts by phone at 613-520-2600 ext. 3626 or by emailing student_accounts@carleton.ca.

International students studying in Canada must have health insurance. Given the unique circumstances of this academic year, however, you may be wondering if you can use, extend, or even opt out of the University Health Insurance Plan. Students studying outside of Canada, students completing their studies in Fall 2020, and new students for the Winter 2021 term are encouraged to learn about the options available to them.

Are you looking to have your textbooks shipped outside of Canada? Students can order their textbooks now from the Carleton Bookstore website and have them delivered anywhere around the world. Click here for more info.

You can register now for the Navigating the Canadian Workplace workshop series. Here are some other upcoming events.

As of today, January 7, 2021 all international air travellers will be required to demonstrate a negative test result for COVID-19 prior to boarding their flights. Students planning to arrive in Canada over the Winter term are encouraged to consult the ISSO’s news post on entry and travel requirements to effectively prepare for travel. Read more here.

Finally, if you have not already done so, you can subscribe to the ISSO’s newsletter by clicking here.

Carleton is accepting applications for the R. James Travers Foreign Corresponding Fellowship for a project to be completed in 2021. The application deadline is Monday, March 1, 2021 at Noon EST.  Details can be found by clicking here.

CIHR and NSERC are holding an additional competition for Canada Graduate Scholarships – Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements to support high calibre Canadian grad students in building global linkages and international networks through the pursuit of exceptional research experiences at research institutions abroad. For details, click here.  Application deadline is January 27.

The Maple Leaf Centre for Action on Food Security has launched a 2021 call for scholarship applications from master’s and PhD students who are conducting research on determinants, impacts and possible interventions into food insecurity in Canada. The scholarships are $15,000 and the application deadline is February 12, 2021. If you are interested in learning more or applying, please click here or you can contact merryn.maynard@mapleleaf.com.

Check our other awards on our special awards website

The Carleton University Board of Governors is seeking Expressions of Interest from two graduate students to serve a one year term for the 2021/2022 Board year. Interested students must attend a virtual Board 101 information session on January 12 or January 14 from 12 – 1 p.m. The deadline for submitting Expressions of Interests is January 15 at 4 p.m. For eligibility criteria and additional information, please click here.

Carleton University’s commitment to environmental sustainability has earned top marks in the UI GreenMetric World University Rankings 2020. Carleton was ranked number one in Ontario and second in Canada in the worldwide rankings, which assessed nearly 1,000 universities and were released on Dec. 7, 2020. Globally, Carleton ranked an impressive 57^th worldwide for its efforts to reduce its environmental footprint.

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How much knowledge can students absorb in an online class with all the distractions of home life bubbling in the background? Religion and human rights scholar Melanie Adrian decided to focus her efforts not on what interactive software to use but on how to create ah-ha moments online.

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Carleton bioinformatics researchers are using artificial intelligence to identify the protein interactions that could be responsible for COVID-19’s most severe symptoms, and are working to develop peptide-based anti-viral treatments that prevent them from occurring in the first place.

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Carleton Research Fellow Nick Falvo recently completed a report entitled, The Long-term Impact of the COVID-19 Recession on Homelessness in Canada: What to Expect, What to Track, What to do, for Employment and Social Development Canada. Falvo’s report argues the COVID-19 recession’s contribution to rising Canadian homelessness is complicated by a lag effect of up to five years, many unknowns and differences from one community to another.

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Neuroscience Professor Kim Hellemans and Cognitive Science Professor Jim Davies host an award-winning podcast, Minding the Brain, which explores cognitive and brain science, covering subjects such as sleep, climate change psychology and emotional expression.

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Carleton University’s Argel Aguilar-Valles and Nahum Sonenberg from McGill University’s Department of Biochemistry and Goodman Cancer Centre have published new research in Nature. The paper, Antidepressant Ketamine Actions Engage Cell-Specific Translation Via elF4E, discovered a mechanism mediating the neuronal and behavioral responses to ketamine when used as a treatment for major depression disorder.

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In the late 1980s, Robert Clarke was a leader in founding the Ottawa Medical Physics Institute and he drove the creation of Carleton’s graduate programs in medical physics. Clarke was also a builder of the international medical physics community. He was the founding Secretary General of the International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine, and this year, IUPESM recognized his contribution by posthumously naming him an inaugural Fellow.

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PhD student Angela Garcia’s job at the Brazilian Civil Aviation Agency, which is the governmental authority that is responsible for testing the language proficiency of pilots, is what initially got her interested in her thesis topic. She hopes her research will help language test developers to design tests and create test tasks that reflect the real language needs of pilots.

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For a complete list of all official academic and financial dates and deadlines, please go to the Registrar’s website. For all financial matters, go to Student Accounts.

There are no updates to report.