Among these, conducting honour’s research allows undergraduate students to distinguish themselves from their peers by developing technical research competences as well as soft skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, time management, and written and oral communication. Overall, this experience can improve your overall marketability and help you get into graduate school.
Now a master’s student in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Aislinn Fox made the decision to undertake honour’s thesis research in the last year of her Bachelor of Science in Geology. To complete her research on the sources and cycling of particulate organic matter (POM), she analyzed samples of POM that had been collected during a research expedition in Baffin Bay, between Baffin Island in Nunavut and coastal Greenland. Under the supervision of Professor Brett Walker, Aislinn analyzed these samples for stable carbon and radiocarbon and dated the samples via Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Using this data, and other peripheral data such as temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll-a concentrations collected during the expedition, Aislinn was able to investigate the biogeochemistry of an important, yet understudied, marine carbon pool. Data from her honour's thesis has been expanded to include stable nitrogen isotopes and elemental stoichiometry (carbon-nitrogen ratios, C:N) and submitted for publication to Frontiers in Marine Science. Aislinn is first author on this manuscript.
For her ongoing master’s research, that started in Summer 2021, Aislinn embarked upon an exhilarating journey, both figuratively and literally. She had the unique opportunity to participate in a research expedition aboard the CCGS Amundsen research vessel, where she collected samples from the Northwest Passage and the Beaufort Sea. She is conducting similar analyses for these samples, measuring stable carbon and nitrogen as well as radiocarbon isotopic composition. Aislinn’s master's thesis will combine data from her honour's thesis about Baffin Bay, with new data from the Northwest Passage and Beaufort Sea, to examine the biogeochemical cycling of POM across the Canadian Arctic.
Aislinn advises undergraduate students with an interest in research to persevere and follow their goals. After her first year of university, Aislinn was on academic probation with a 3.0 CGPA. Despite this, she graduated in June 2021 'cum laude' and with a Master's admission scholarship! She came close to giving up after her first year but is thankful that she didn’t. Aislinn says: “My advice is to not be discouraged by bad results in your first year - everyone's been there, and it definitely gets better!”
