P2GS Researchers 2026
Below you will find the researchers and research projects available for the 2026 Pathway to Graduate Studies Program.
Dr. Mary Adedayo - Applied Computer Science
As a discipline of forensic science, digital forensics focuses on the process of identifying, preserving, analyzing, documenting, and presenting evidence from digital sources. Identifying the type of a file by its structure is an important aspect of digital forensics and computer security. Methods involving the analysis of a file header and trailer, and fragments of deleted files have been widely for this. More recently machine learning techniques have also been used. My research in forensic digital document examination focuses on authenticating digital documents using methods that have been explored for file type identification and other new approaches. We address questions such as, how do we identify the tool that created a document? how do we tell if documents have the same origin or source? Can we classify document creators based on their features using machine learning? Students in the P2GS program will work together with other students to identify and extract features for classification, learn about existing methods used in file type identification, and work towards identifying the tool (application) that created a specific type of document.
To learn more about Dr. Adedayo’s research, please visit her website: www.maryadedayo.com
Dr. Roman Belli - Chemistry
Main group elements (e.g. phosphorus, silicon, germanium) appear in many valuable chemicals used in society (e.g. materials, polymers, optoelectronics). On Earth these elements occur as oxides which must be processed before they are incorporated into the chemicals we need. Industrially, this involves using chlorine gas (Cl2), which apart from being a toxic and hazardous chemical, is produced via an energy-demanding process (i.e. ~9x106 metric tons/year, ~2x1010 kWh). Additionally, since some main group elements are considered endangered and/or technology critical, new sustainable methods to process them are needed. My research aims to develop Cl2-free methods to functionalize main group elements into the value-added compounds society needs. This will be achieved using efficient techniques such as photocatalysis and mechanochemistry, where light and mechanical forces promote chemical reactions, respectively. Inexpensive, easy-to-handle and abundant feedstock chemicals will be used as the functionalization partners in these new methods to make the value-added main group compounds. By obviating the need for Cl2, this research will offer more efficient, safer and less energy-intensive methods to prepare essential main group chemicals.
Students will learn synthetic inorganic and organic chemistry skills, air-free techniques (e.g. using a Schlenk line and glovebox) and spectroscopic techniques for sample analysis (e.g. NMR, X-ray).
Dr. Nora Casson - Geography
Our lab works to unravel relationships between water and nutrient cycling, to understand how patterns and processes vary across the landscape and how human activities impact the surface waters that drain forested ecosystems. We combine field work, laboratory studies and data synthesis to expand understanding of how human activities impact ecosystems, by diving deep into the mechanisms that underpin observed changes and also by looking broadly at controls on regional-scale patterns. The P2GS student will assist with building and deploying field equipment either within Winnipeg or at a forested site near Kenora and processing soil and water samples in the lab.
To learn more about Dr. Casson's research, please visit her team's website:
https://noracasson.weebly.com/
Dr. Ed Cloutis - Geography
We explore the solar system to understand our place in it and how life arose on Earth. Searching for life beyond Earth is a big part of exploring the solar system. In our lab, we study Earth rocks that do and don’t contain evidence of life. Rocks that contain evidence of life are called “biosignatures” (also commonly called fossils). We also study meteorites from the asteroid belt, the Moon, and Mars, to further our understanding of the history of the solar system. Me and my students are part of the Science Team of the NASA Perseverance rover that is exploring the surface of Mars, so the research that we do here finds it way to helping to explore Mars. Our study of meteorites helps us better explore and understand the Moon and asteroids – the building blocks of the solar system. P2GS students will analyze meteorites and Earth rock samples that are relevant to the search for life on Mars and understanding the origin and evolution of the solar system. For Mars, we focus on how the science instruments on the Perseverance rover can recognize biosignatures. The search for life is complicated and multidisciplinary, so students from a wide range of science disciplines can participate and contribute.
We are also part of the recently approved Canadian Lunar Rover Mission (LRM). This rover will go to the Moon in 2025, land in an area near the South Pole of the Moon and look for ice in shadowed regions. As part of this mission, we will explore places on Earth that have geological similarities to the Moon so that we can develop expertise for LRM.
To learn more about Dr. Cloutis' research, please read the article below:
UWinnipeg team supports search for signs of life on Mars
Dr. Jean-Pierre Desforges - Environmental Studies and Sciences
This project uses polar bear and ringed seal teeth to investigate how Arctic marine predators interact and respond to environmental change (climate change). Like growth rings in a tree, teeth accumulate annual growth layers throughout their life and the size of those growth layers can tell us a lot about the animal during the year it was grown, such as its relative nutritional status (did it eat well?) and reproductive state (did the female produce cubs?). The student will contribute to this project by analyzing growth layers in images of polar bear and ringed seal teeth taken from animals captured in Western Hudson Bay. Image analysis will be done with a designated software to measure growth layers. Students will work with a graduate student on this project and also get exposure to other related lab projects in the Desforges Lab.
Dr. Bev Fredborg - Psychology
My lab is currently examining the mental health needs of people living with HIV in Manitoba (MB) and Saskatchewan (SK), as these provinces are seeing increased rates of new HIV infections. In particular, we are planning to conduct focus groups with people in Winnipeg, Regina, and Brandon who are living with HIV or are at risk of contracting HIV as well as HIV physicians and care providers to better understand the mental health needs of this population. Many individuals living with HIV in these provinces are Indigenous, people who inject drugs, and people experiencing houselessness, and over half report mental health challenges that impede engagement and adherence to HIV care. Because MB/SK have had the highest HIV rates in Canada for the past decade, it is essential to understand the unique needs of this population to address the intersecting inequities driving poor HIV treatment outcomes. To meet this goal, we will co-develop mental health research priorities with the MB/SK HIV community, researchers, and trainees. Our multidisciplinary team includes people with lived experience (PWLE); Indigenous PWLE with experience conducting research with Indigenous individuals living with HIV; and early-, mid-, and senior-career researchers and trainees from MB/SK across medicine, clinical psychology, epidemiology, and other health disciplines. By engaging this diverse inter- and transdisciplinary team, we aim to strengthen research capacity, community engagement, and skill development across all partners. A student working on this project would support Dr. Fredborg and her team in any elements related to these focus groups, including assisting in planning and attending Winnipeg-based community focus groups, analyzing interview data, and other tasks as they arise.
To learn about another aspect of Dr. Fredborg's research, please visit the HEARTLab website:
University of Winnipeg HEART Laboratory
Dr. Joshua Hollett - Chemistry
Our research is focused on creating tools for understanding the electronic structure and using what we learn to devise more accurate and efficient models of electrons in atoms and molecules. Besides gaining a more fundamental understanding of quantum mechanics, the development of improved models of electronic structure enables the study of the chemical and physical properties of materials with unprecedented accuracy. Our current work involves the analysis of correlated electron motion within important chemical phenomena, such as bond breaking and photoexcitations. It also involves the testing of new models for electronic excited states and their comparison to near-exact quantum chemical calculations. A student project could vary from the analysis of new quantum mechanical properties of the electronic wavefunction, to benchmark excited-state calculations on a database of molecules. The research is carried out using technical computing software (e.g. Mathematica), graphical computational chemistry software, quantum chemistry software packages, and in-house software. There is an opportunity to learn how to run calculations using a supercomputing facility, perform theoretical chemistry derivations, and program in scientific computing language.
To learn more about Dr. Hollett's research, please visit their research website below:
Quantum Chemical Theory and Simulation Lab
Dr. Blair Jamieson - Physics
I am an experimental particle physicist studying the ghostliest of particles in the standard model called neutrinos. These particles only interact weakly and can only be detected when large numbers of them pass through very large detectors. A next generation neutrino detector called Hyper-Kamiokande will be a 70-m tall, 70-m diameter cylinder of water in a large, excavated cavern in the mountains of Japan. The detector is called a Water Cherenkov Detector (WCD) as its main detection mechanism is the production of Cherenkov light from relativistic charged particles produced in the neutrino interactions. It is expected to detect several thousand electron neutrinos over a 10-year period, providing the world's best data that could discover a new source of symmetry violation. With this dataset improved studies of interactions of particles in WCD are needed, and data with known charged particles are being taken at CERN.
A student working in my group would be involved in any one of a number of projects related to the CERN beam run, Hyper-Kamiokande, or its new Intermediate WCD. This could be data analysis to study interactions in WCD or geometry calibration data taken with a set of underwater cameras. There are also raytracing studies being done to measure the geometry of the Hyper-Kamiokande detector using photographs. There are also a number of hardware projects that could be done that could include measurements of leaching into ultrapure water using a spectrometer, to mechanics for installation of the cameras on the large structures, to testing the operations of an underwater drone for measurements of the large Hyper-Kamiokande detector.
To learn more about Dr. Jamieson's research, please read the article below:
UWinnipeg Collaborates with Super-Kamiokande
Dr. Evan McDonough - Physics
Dr. Evan McDonough is an Assistant Professor at the University of Winnipeg and the Director of the Winnipeg Institute of Theoretical Physics. Dr. McDonough applies cutting-edge theoretical physics, such as quantum fields and extra dimensions, to problems in cosmology and astrophysics, following in the tradition of such greats as Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. In this P2GS project, students will begin with a crash-course on topics in theoretical physics and cosmology, such as the math of curved spacetime, and how to code it into Python. P2GS students will then use equations and coding to compute the cosmic evolution of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe.
To learn more about Dr. McDonough's research, please visit their website:
Evan McDonough - Theoretical Physicist
Dr. Sheela Ramanna - Applied Computer Science
Social medial platforms are struggling to keep communities safe from offensive speech and misinformation. Currently, there are many AI (Artificial Intelligence) algorithms trained on several publicly curated English language datasets to address this problem. Our laboratory is involved in multimodal information processing using deep neural models in domains such as sentiment analysis, text summarization, offensive speech detection. This research project aims to give a peek into the workings of one typical learning algorithm to automatically detect offensive content. In this project, students will be given hands-on training in how language models are trained using a well-known dataset and how models learn content using open source libraries. Understanding high
resource language (ex: English) models is also key to building Indigenous language technologies.
To learn more about Dr. Ramanna's research, please visit the webpage below:
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning with Soft Computing
Dr. Melanie Martin - Physics
As a physicist specializing in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), I am developing a noninvasive empirical method to diagnose Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and other nervous system disorders earlier in the progression of the disease. I am also using MRI to follow the effectiveness of treatments over the course of time and to understand more about diseases. My program is multi-disciplinary. Students who work with me strengthen the skills they have and develop new skills in other disciplines. Projects include data analysis.
To learn more about Dr. Martin's research, please visit the webpage below:
Experimental Magnetic Resonance Imaging Physics Group
Dr. Yannick Molgat-Seon - Kinesiology and Applied Health
The human respiratory system is the first and last line of defence for the maintenance of arterial oxygen and carbon dioxide homeostasis. Fulfilling this critical, life-sustaining function is challenging, particularly during exercise when our metabolism is elevated well above resting levels. In our laboratory, we seek to better understand how the respiratory system responds to exercise and how this response is affected by biological factors such as aging, sex, and chronic respiratory disease. To do so, we employ an integrative approach that involves the assessment of respiratory, cardiovascular, and muscular function in humans during whole-body and isolated-muscle exercise. Students who work in my laboratory will be directly involved in one of several ongoing projects focused on exploring the intricacies of the physiology of the human respiratory system. This unique training opportunity will enable students to gain hands-on experience in human physiological research as well as learn research-related skills that will assist them in pursing graduate studies or a career outside of the academy.
To learn more about Dr. Molgat-Seon’s research, please visit PubMed for a complete list of his publications.
Dr. Natalie Richer - Kinesiology and Applied Health
Aging is accompanied by a loss of balance and an increased risk of falls, which can be debilitating, costly, and damaging to quality of life. Understanding the cause of falls is essential to preventing them. In our laboratory, we use electroencephalography (EEG) to examine which brain areas are involved in balance and how their involvement changes with age. We also aim to find new ways to improve balance in the elderly population. Students who work in our laboratory will be involved in a project that examines the effect of attentional focus on postural control in healthy aging. They will be trained to use EEG and will help in data collections and data processing. This will allow them to gain experience in neuromechanical research and learn research-related skills.
To learn more about Dr. Richer's research, please visit their ResearchGate profile:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Natalie-Richer
Dr. Lisa Sinclair - Psychology
Have you ever wondered why thinking about difficult experiences sometimes makes people feel worse, while other times it motivates people to work toward social change?
In our lab, we study how repetitive thinking (rumination) shapes people’s responses to adversity, including experiences such as discrimination and harassment. Using a social-cognitive perspective, we examine how different ways of thinking about these experiences are linked to different outcomes. We distinguish between personal rumination, which focuses on how adverse experiences affect the self and is often associated with psychological distress, and group-focused rumination, which focuses on how those experiences affect one’s social group and what they mean at a broader social level.
As a P2GS student, you will learn about psychological research methods while contributing to research that explores these questions. Current projects examine rumination in sport and rumination in relation to ambivalent sexism.
https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/arts/news/2020/02/featured-researcher-sinclair.html
Dr. Tabitha Wood - Chemistry
How do synthetic chemists put the atoms in the correct arrangement when they make molecules? The fundamental concept in Chemistry that "structure defines function" explains how the different arrangement of atoms in distinct molecules allow for the molecules to possess unique properties. In our research lab we experiment in the area of organic synthetic methodology (not a contradiction!), which is the study of how to build carbon-containing molecules. Our studies involve exploring the nature of various organic reactions in terms of their mechanisms, what kind of molecules they can accept as substrates, and what we can do to make them reliable and predictable technologies for use in the synthesis of new molecules. With this kind of information, we can investigate ways to apply the reaction to solving problems like making the production of difficult molecules easier, and accessing new molecules with interesting new properties. A student in the P2GS program may do work ranging from gaining confidence running reactions in fumehoods to running calculations on computers (and everywhere in between), depending on their interests. This project will help students reinforce concepts they learned in Organic Chemistry, or will help them get a sneak peak at what they would learn in that course!
To learn more about Dr. Wood's research, please visit their website:
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