Zoology grad Ashley Kerik has ambitions of study freshwater sharks.

Biology grad takes pause in her globetrotting to study at UBC Okanagan

Ashley Kerik has always had itchy feet. Since graduating from high school, she approached the world as one big laboratory, where new discoveries were just around the bend.

Kerik spent seven years touring much of the globe on both land and water. She concluded her travels with the realization that an academic background would enhance and give meaning to her wanderings.

Just when her peers were donning caps and gowns to celebrate their convocations, Kerik traded in her flippers for textbooks and entered her first year at UBC’s Okanagan campus. Despite temptations, she stayed in Kelowna long enough to complete her studies and this week will be awarded an Honours Bachelor of Science degree with a major in zoology from the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences.

“I am a bit of an adrenaline junky, but I always knew I would continue with my education,” admits Kerik. “I feel my travels really helped me narrow-in and decide on what topics I wanted to study.”

The Manitoba native discovered a love for everything marine during her time in Australia and Asia and had her eye set on spending time at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre. For her UBC experience, the Okanagan campus was the only choice.

“I knew exactly where I wanted to go,” she says. “UBC is world-renowned for its research and at the Okanagan campus I felt I could thrive in an intimate and supportive environment.”

Kerik embraced campus life and that of the community. She was one of the UBC Okanagan Wildlife Society Club founding members and found time to be on the board of directors of the Kelowna Ultimate Players Society. Although dedicated during the school year, her wanderlust took over in the summers and Kerik spent time in Haida Gwaii and studying at the Bamfield centre.

Through perseverance and dedication, she completed an honours thesis with Biology Professor Ian Walker. During this time, she could be found on the water looking for freshwater sponges. She identified five new species living in the Okanagan.

“It was relatively easy for me to do well, because I had the passion and drive to do so,” says Kerik.

She agrees that it wasn’t always easy being a full decade older than her classmates, but for her this provided a learning opportunity. She found it enriching to listen, provide guidance and compare life experiences with her classmates.

At the same time, fieldwork and environmental issues were always common ground with her peers.

“Ashley has a real zeal for exploring the natural world,” says Laura Hooker, Kerik’s mentor and biology professor. “This was clearly evident in my “Flora and Fauna of Inland Waters” course where she was like a ninja with a dip net. Her unbridled enthusiasm, and good eye for identification, made it a joy to grade the collections she prepared.”

Kerik strongly believes that to survive and prosper, the world needs healthy water.

“If oceans die, we die,” she says.

Through her initiatives, she’d like to promote global responsibility for these bodies of water. There is a sea of possibilities open to Kerik but as a next step, she plans to attend graduate school to study and identify the presence of river sharks, using environmental DNA as a marker.

Her dream job is to bring the mystery and awe of the undersea world to individuals who have never had the opportunity to visit them. In her view, the best way to save the oceans is to educate people about what might be lost if they are destroyed.

Zoology grad Ashely Kerik has a passion for all animals.

About UBC’s Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning in the heart of British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. Ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world, UBC is home to bold thinking and discoveries that make a difference. Established in 2005, the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

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UBC experts discuss relationship between academic ability and hirability

As grade-schoolers concentrate on the three Rs, many university students are already planning their future careers. Many believe top grades are the key to landing successful jobs, but does this always hold true? UBC Okanagan researchers, including Assoc. Prof. Andis Klegeris and Heather Hurren, have published new findings that highlight the importance of problem-solving skills and how these are not always correlated with an A+.

What do you believe employers are looking for?

Assoc. Prof. Andis Klegeris: Today’s job market is highly competitive across almost all sectors. Previous research findings have shown that the most sought-after skills of new employees are the ability to work in a team environment and being able to apply meaningful problem-solving skills.

Can you explain how you define problem-solving skills?

AK: Problem-solving skills involve several interconnected tasks such as processing information, reasoning, planning and decision-making. We believe that these are learnable, with experience, but they tend to be unteachable through classical lecturing because often, there is no clear path or “right answer.”  Examples may include how to fix a broken appliance, putting furniture together and travelling abroad without knowledge of the local language.

What was your most recent research and what are the take-homes?

AK: In our latest study, we administered a generic problem-solving test to almost 1,000 university students. We compared the scores achieved in this test with the students’ academic marks and found that these two measures were not correlated. In other words, academic learning and problem-solving may represent two independent skill sets for students. This further suggests that high academic grades are not are not a predictor of problem-solving ability. And receiving great marks doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be an exemplary employee.

What can universities do to enhance a student’s employment success?

AK: Many employers already distinguish academic and job-related abilities as independent skills by placing less emphasis on grade-point-averages than students do.

We believe that different classroom approaches can be used to enhance problem-solving skills and employability. For example, some of our instructors are already using flipped classroom approaches with self-guided learning, interactive discussion and collaborative work.

A helpful approach might be to develop a problem-solving skills testing tool, with the aim of eventually developing a comprehensive student portfolio that would highlight achievements in various categories of skills. This would provide future employers with broader information about a student’s ability.

We think it would be interesting to follow up with students to see if this is something they would like.

About the authors

• Andis Klegeris is an Associate Professor of Biology in UBC Okanagan’s Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences
• Emelie Gustafsson is a sessional instructor of Statistics in UBC Okanagan’s Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences
• Heather Hurren is the Manager of Academic Development at UBC Okanagan

About UBC’s Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning in the heart of British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. Ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world, UBC is home to bold thinking and discoveries that make a difference. Established in 2005, the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world. For more visit ok.ubc.ca

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Rebecca Tyson’s research offers a new analytical tool which can provide estimates of how far bee pollen will travel. Photo credit: Bob Lalonde, associate professor of biology.

Food purists may have cause to celebrate thanks to a recent international study directed by the University of British Columbia. The study, which evaluated the spread of genetically modified (GM) organisms to non-modified crops, has implications from farm to family.

“Trying to figure out how far GM pollen will travel is really difficult,” says study co-author Rebecca Tyson, associate professor of mathematics at UBC Okanagan.

“It is important to have accurate tools to estimate this, so that unintentional cross-pollination of GM material to non-GM crops can be minimized.”

According to stastista.com, genetically modified crops in Canada are mostly located in Ontario and Quebec and consist of canola, soybeans, corn and sugar beets. More than 90 per cent of the canola grown in Canada is genetically modified.

Tyson suggests that the simplest way to minimize cross-fertilization between crops is to separate them. Up until now, the isolation distances have been somewhat haphazardly determined. Previous estimates have been based on two standard models, which either overestimate or underestimate pollen movement. The gap between these two distances makes prediction difficult and thus necessitates improved calculations, she explains.

Tyson’s research offers a new analytical tool which can provide a much-improved estimate of how far pollen will travel.

Along with colleagues from the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and Delft University (The Netherlands), she developed a mathematical model of pollen dispersal by bees, based on field experiments.

“Our results suggest that separation distances of several hundred metres, proposed by some European countries, is unnecessarily large but separation by 40 metres is not sufficient,” says Tyson. “Using our model, we can calculate and suggest separation sizes with better accuracy. For example, we have estimated that for a 0.9 per cent cross-pollination rate, the ideal distance of separation between two crops is between 51 and 88 metres, depending on crop size and type.”

These numbers are specific to particular crops and landscapes, she explains, but the predictive ability is the same.

“We believe that our model provides a more accurate assessment of GM pollen cross-pollination than previous models,” adds Tyson. “We are hopeful these findings will simplify the decision-making process for crop-growers and policy makers.”

This research was published in a recent issue of the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Rebecca Tyson is an associate professor of mathematics at UBC Okanagan.

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UBC Professor Lael Parrott.

The American black bear can rest easier thanks to conservation research conducted at UBC’s Okanagan campus. A recent study indicates that while urban sprawl results in more human-bear interactions, human education can hinder negative encounters.

“Unless steps are taken to reduce human-bear interactions, we will see an increase in bears that are habituated to humans, leading to property damage, human injuries and more dead bears,” says Lael Parrott, professor of Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences at UBC Okanagan.

“These situations are unacceptable and sustainable solutions are needed. One approach is to implement education programs that teach humans how to keep their properties attractant-free and how to behave during a bear encounter.”

Parrott, along with UBC mathematics Associate Professor Rebecca Tyson and student research assistants, developed a computer model to simulate the effectiveness of human-bear awareness education about bear movement and foraging behaviour in an urban setting. The program, based on field data, made it possible to run hundreds of scenarios and investigate the outcomes and best practices. In the model, bear awareness education included training about proper garbage disposal and deterrent use.

UBC research indicates bear management strategies need to improve to educate people and protect the bear population.

The researchers found that the biggest contributor to bear status was urban land use. A one per cent increase in urbanization resulted in a 91 per cent increase in human-bear conflict. The model also suggests that education targeting the border areas between the residential community and bear habitats will have the biggest impact on limiting bear conflict.

“Our model suggests that bear management strategies involving education programs reduce the number of ‘conflict bears,’” says Parrott. “Although this is a computer simulation, it is required since some field studies are unethical or extremely difficult to take on. Modelling provides a useful and cost-effective alternative and can be used to select promising programs for further field study.”

Parrott’s team is testing some of these solutions in Whistler, BC.

The American black bear’s habitat includes Canada, the United States, and Northern Mexico. According to Wildsafe BC, British Columbia has one of the highest populations of black bears in the world—between 120,000 and 150,000 animals. And there are some 25,000 reported sightings each year. Bears require about 20,000 calories a day to prepare for hibernation; during this time, some bears are attracted to residential areas by fruit trees and unsecured garbage.

The study, published in Ecological Modelling, was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

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