April 11, 2025
UCalgary continues to expand transdisciplinary capacity on campus
The Institutes for Transdisciplinary Scholarship (ITS), a connection point for the UCalgary community, has co-funded 13 academic faculty members to teach and engage in transdisciplinary work. These new hires will work within the five ITS Areas of Focus – Cities and Societies, Digital Worlds, Energy Futures, Health and Life, and Democracy, Justice, and Sustainability – for a five-year term.
The roles are based on a Canada Research Chair model to invest and attract the top minds doing this work. UCalgary aims to achieve teaching, learning and research excellence in transdisciplinary scholarship, leading the way for other institutions.
Dr. William Ghali, Vice-President (Research), shares, “This investment into transdisciplinary scholarship at UCalgary demonstrates how ITS is future-focused. We’ve hired these individuals to pursue work within the five Areas of Focus, on projects that specifically require a transdisciplinary approach to advance, and I am excited to see the positive community impacts that will come from it.”
These individuals were hired into a home faculty as assistant professors, and work within a minimum of two faculties. They were also hired for their existing work or interest in transdisciplinary scholarship.
Please congratulate the following new faculty hires, listed by name and research area below:
- Dr. Johnathan Burchill, PhD'03, Space/Aerospace
- Dr. Chima Justin Ezekiel, PhD, Geosystems Modeling for Energy
- Dr. Adriana Guatame-Garcia, PhD, Critical Mineral Resources
- Dr. Jason Hawkins, BSc'14, MSc'16, PhD, Transportation Planning, Travel Behavior Analysis and Modeling
- Dr. Mengguo Jing, PhD, Learning Through Emerging Digital Technologies (starting July 1, 2025)
- Dr. Lauren Kepkiewicz, PhD Mountain Research
- Dr. Marie Cecile Kotyk, DDes'24, Design Justice
- Dr. Katherine Lawless, PhD, Science Communication
- Dr. Mia Madel, PhD, Zoonotic Viral Disease (starting June 1, 2025)
- Dr. Erin Nicholls, PhD, Water Security
- Dr. Junho Park, PhD, Human Factors
- Dr. Perri Tutelman, PhD, Transdisciplinary Digital Mental Health
- Dr. Rosslynn Zulla, PhD, Transdisciplinary Child and Youth Mental Health
Expanding capacity on campus
We spoke with Dr. Steven Bryant, PhD, Inaugural Academic Lead, Transdisciplinary Scholarship, as well as three new faculty hires, Drs. Adriana Guatame-Garcia, Perri Tutelman and Rosslynn Zulla, about their work and why it’s important.
Subscribe to the ITS email bulletin to meet the other new faculty members. And three more positions will be posted this year, so stay tuned.
Get involved
Interested in the transdisciplinary community on campus? Join our Transdisciplinary online hub to engage and connect with others involved or interested in the initiative.
Transdisciplinary scholars work within many faculties, exemplifying the breadth and depth of research and expertise at the University of Calgary, including the Faculty of Arts, Cumming School of Medicine (CSM), Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS), Haskayne School of Business, Faculty of Kinesiology, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Nursing, School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape (SAPL), School of Public Policy, Schulich School of Engineering, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Social Work, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and Werklund School of Education.
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