Faculty and Staff
Full-time Faculty
Erin Cameron
Associate Professor
Office: S 112/113
Email: erin.cameron@smu.ca
Dr. Cameron’s research examines effects of global change (climate change, invasive species, habitat loss) on species distributions, community composition, and ecosystem functioning. She is especially interested in earthworm invasions, aboveground-belowground interactions, and soil biodiversity. She uses a combination of field observations, experiments, citizen science, molecular approaches, data synthesis, and modelling to assess global change impacts across spatial and temporal scales.
Linda Campbell
Senior Research Fellow
Professor, Environmental Science
Office: S 227
Email: lm.campbell@smu.ca
Dr. Campbell's research interests include how contaminants cycle in aquatic food webs in Canada and around the world. Dr. Campbell is also interested in using multi-disciplinary approaches to improve our understanding of anthropogenic and natural impacts in the environment, with focus on aquatic ecosystems.
Tony Charles
Acting Chairperson, Department of Environmental Science
Director, School of the Environment
Professor, Environmental Science/Management Science
Office: SB 115
Phone: 902-420-5732
Email: tony.charles@smu.ca
Dr. Charles' role at Saint Mary's is in both Management Science (School of Business) and Environmental Science (Faculty of Science). He is a committed interdisciplinary researcher, using a range of approaches to study coastal, marine, fishery topics, with a focus on how people interact with their environment and manage their natural resources. That includes looking at ocean uses like fishing, aquaculture, tourism, offshore oil and gas, and more. It also includes conservation approaches like protected areas, ecosystem-based management and community-based natural resource management. Dr. Charles is interested as well in methods for assessing and monitoring natural resource and environmental sustainability. He works in the Canadian Maritimes, and internationally with the United Nations and with colleagues in the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Japan and elsewhere.
Cristian Suteanu
Professor
Geography and Environmental Studies/Environmental Science
Office: B 106
Phone: 902-420-5731
Email: cristian.suteanu@smu.ca
Dr. Suteanu’s main interests concern information processes and the ways in which they link humans and the environment. On one hand, he focuses on the analysis and modeling of natural systems, with applications regarding mainly environmental variability and natural hazards; examples include space-time patterns related to seismicity and volcanism, structural aspects of geosystems from small to large scale, landslide dynamics, climate variability, and renewable energy. On the other hand, he studies epistemological aspects of our interactions with the environment and their implications for cultural processes.
Aldona Wiacek
Associate Professor, Environmental Science/Astronomy and Physics
Office: AT 308
Phone: 902-491-6481
Email: aldona.wiacek@smu.ca
Dr. Wiacek is interested in remote sensing of atmospheric trace gases and aerosols (solid or liquid suspended particles) involved in air pollution and climate. Her remote sensing research includes the development of both retrieval algorithms as well as ground- and satellite-based instrumentation. She is also interested in modeling the atmospheric transport of aerosols that affect ice clouds and climate.
Part-time Faculty
Jordan Eaton
Email: jordan.eaton@smu.ca
David Foster
David Foster is a recent graduate of the Master of Resource and Environmental Management program at Dalhousie University’s School for Resource and Environmental Studies. His past studies and current research focus on urban forest management, especially how data derived from field observations and remote sensing can jointly inform practice. Recent projects involve an assessment of HRM’s urban forest, work to improve the practice of urban forest management in HRM, and studying the relationship between tree location and the provision of benefits. He has also worked extensively in non-governmental organizations, working to improve how communities are consulted and involved in urban greening initiatives.
Susan Glenn-160x197.jpeg)
Email: susan.glenn@smu.ca
- Landscape Ecology
- Plant Community Ecology
- Environmental Education
Susan Glenn is an environmental educator. She spent 20 years in the US teaching environmental science, ecology, and botany, in the field, lab, and online. She also worked on curriculum development. Susan is excited to be teaching on Canadian soil at St. Mary's. Her expertise is in plant community ecology and landscape ecology.
Hughstin Grimshaw-Surette
Office: S 220
Phone: 420-5737
Email: Hughstin.Grimshaw-Surette@smu.ca
Hughstin Grimshaw-Surette is a recent graduate of Saint Mary's University's Masters in Applied Science program. His research interests include insect pollinators, plant communities, and green roof infrastructure. During his master's degree, he studied the influence of green roof characteristics on pollinator communities and headed the construction of the pollinator garden at The Oaks. He has been a part of the Saint Mary's University community since 2012 when he started his undergraduate Environmental Science degree.
Karen Harper
Office: S 303
Phone: 902-420-5643
Email: karen.harper@smu.ca
Website: www.karenharperifern.com
Karen Harper is a plant biogeographer primarily interested in the spatial and temporal patterns of plant communities. Her research interests have expanded from a focus on forest edges in the context of fragmentation and conservation to include patterns of structural diversity. Recent projects in her research group include the relationship between vegetation structure and Atlantic Coastal Plain Flora at lakeshore edges in Nova Scotia, structural diversity in ripairan zones in Belize and edge influence on structural and taxonomic diversity at forest edges in fragments of Atlantic Forest in Brazil.
John Odenthal
Email: j.odenthal@smu.ca
Peter Oram
Office: Science 220
Phone: 420-5737
Email: peter.oram@smu.ca
Adjunct Faculty
Tony Bowron
Email: Tony.Bowron@smu.ca
A co-founder, President and Coastal Wetland Ecologist with CB Wetlands & Environmental Specialists (CBWES Inc.),Tony Bowron has been working on coastal wetland restoration and monitoring projects in Nova Scotia since 1998. Research interests include the ecology of coastal wetlands, ecological restoration design & implementation, ecosystem response to restoration, and climate change adaptation (i.e. managed realignment, living shorelines).
Emily Chapman
Research areas:
Human health risk assessment of contaminated sites
Hazardous materials assessment
Environmental risk assessment and remediation
Kevin Keys 
Email: kevin.keys@smu.ca
Kevin Keys is a professional forester and soil scientist with over 30 years of experience working with forest ecosystems and soils throughout the Maritimes and across Canada. His interests include forest soil health and site productivity, soil classification and interpretation, forest ecosystem classification, and hydric (wetland) soil assessment.
Donald McAlpine
Chair, Department of Natural History, New Brunswick Museum
Research areas:
- Biodiversity
- Ecotoxicology
- Epidemiology
Article: Notes on the natural history of Donald F. McAlpine
Andrew Medeiros 
Dalhousie University, School for Resource and Environmental Studies
Research areas:
- Climate change
- Limnology
- Arctic Ecology
- Paleoclimate reconstructions
- Ecosystem management
H. Peter White
Environmental Physicist, Research Scientist at the
Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation, Natural Resources Canada
Email: HPeter.White@Canada.ca
With continued advances in optical remote sensing technologies, spectral detail directly related to the Earth’s environment is becoming more readily available and applied. By analyzing this wealth of information, remote sensing can move towards increased accuracy in characterizing the Earth’s surface, supporting initiatives in responsible natural resource exploration, in environmental monitoring, and in site remediation. Peter’s research activities works to advance capacity and develop new methods to extract information products supporting the monitoring and management of our natural resources and environment.
Dean Emeritus
David Richardson -160x205.jpg)
Office: S 210
Phone: 902-496-8174
Email: david.richardson@smu.ca
David Richardson, Dean Emeritus has a research interest in lichens and has published widely on these plants including two books, `The Vanishing Lichens` and `Pollution Monitoring with Lichens`(which is available from the Saint Mary`s University Bookstore. He is co-chair of the Lichens and Mosses subcommittee of COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada). He is also Editor In Chief of the International journal Symbiosis which is published by Springer and has nine issues per year. He is also past President and Associate Editor of the Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science which has its 150th anniversary this year.
Staff
Ashley Campbell
Manager, Interpreting Services Faculty of Science
ASL-English Staff Interpreter
Office: S219A
Phone: 902-496-8761
Email: ashley.n.campbell@smu.ca
Web-site: Deaf Academics & Interpreters
Ashley Campbell is the manager of the SMU Faculty of Science Interpreting Services office and works as the STEM ASL-English staff interpreter for the faculty. She has considerable experience and expertise in interpreting and interpreting services coordination for diverse STEM settings ranging from classroom lectures & labs to outdoors research sites to international conferences. She has developed an in-house English-ASL/ASL-English dictionary of STEM terminology for interpreter preparation and development, produced Best Practice documents for interpreters working at SMU, maintained and updated the SMU Deaf Academics – Professional Interpreters website resource which is used by people across North America, and co-led the Atlantic Canada Sign Language Place Names project. She has served on the national ASL-English interpreting association (Canadian Association of Sign Language Interpreters [CASLI]) board in various positions (including president) and is currently the treasurer of the provincial association the Maritimes Association of Professional Sign Language Interpreters (MAPSLI).
Jess Younker
Science Technician
(On leave until October 26, 2024.)
Office: S 104
Phone: 902-496-8260
Email: jessica.younker@smu.ca
Nicole Luttrell
Administrative Assistant
Office: B 109
Phone: 902-420-5737
Email: envs@smu.ca
Research Assistants/Associates
| Name | Position (Supervisor) | |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Ian Ashpole | Research Associate (Wiacek) | ian.ashpole@smu.ca |
| Dr. Emily Chapman | Research Associate (Campbell) | |
| Dr. Helen Phillips | Research Associate (Cameron) | helen.phillips@smu.ca |
| Larissa Sweeney | Research Associate (Charles) | |
| Heidi Gavel | Research Technician (Campbell) | |
| Hailey Wigmore | Research Assistant (Wiacek) |
Students
| Name | Students (Supervisor) | |
|---|---|---|
| Maheshi Dharmasiri | PhD APSC Candidate (Cameron) | |
| David Lewis | PhD APSC Candidate (Campbell) | |
| Abdul Mussa | PhD APSC Candidate (Charles) | |
| Shahriar Nazrul | PhD APSC Candidate (Charles) | |
| Stephen Paterson | PhD APSC Candidate (Cameron) | |
| Claire Singer | PhD APSC Candidate (Cameron) | |
| Erin Franchville | MSc APSC Candidate (Campbell) | |
| Dan Jewell | MSc APSC Candidate (Campbell) | |
| Kaylee MacLeod | MSc APSC Candidate (Campbell) | |
| Cameron Power | MSc APSC Candidate (Wiacek) | cameron.power@smu.ca |
| Delbert Swinemar | MSc APSC Candidate (Campbell) | |
| Kagan Akiyama | BSc Hons Candidate ENVS (Wiacek) | |
| Jenna Campbell | BSc Hons Candidate ENVS (Campbell) | |
| Lukas Donovan | BSc Hons Candidate PHYS (Wiacek) | |
| Bradley Knockwood | BSc Hons Candidate GEOG (Campbell) | |
| Alyssa Rice | BSc Hons Candidate BIOL (Cameron) | |
| Liam Hill | BSc Candidate CHEM (Campbell) |