Our Team

Meet our Board of Directors

John Dupuis (2014-present)
John Dupuis has been a science and engineering librarian at the Steacie Science and Engineering Library at York University in Toronto since August 2000. John received a B. Comp. Sci. from Concordia University in 1986, after which he worked as a software developer for 12 years before leaving to get his Master of Library and Information Studies degree from McGill University (2000). He blogs at Confessions of a Science Librarian and keeps track of issues in Canadian science policy on Tumblr. His research and professional interests include the future of academic libraries, open access advocacy, scholarly communications in computer science, and Canadian science policy.

Elizabeth Kosters (2020-present)

Dr Elisabeth Kosters was born in the Netherlands. She completed her BSc in geology at Groningen University and MSc in physical geography at the University of Amsterdam. She then moved to the US where she worked for the Louisiana and Texas Geological Surveys and completed her PhD on the peat deposits of the Mississippi Delta at Louisiana State University. She also worked on strategic gas reserves of the Gulf of Mexico basin.

In 1988 she moved back to the Netherlands to join the faculty of the Institute of Earth Sciences at Utrecht University. A few years later she became Dean of Research and Graduate Studies at the International Institute of Geinformation Science and Earth Observation in Enschede.

In 2002 she moved to Wolfville, Nova Scotia. For the next 12 years she worked as an independent. She taught at the earth science departments of Acadia and Dalhousie University, was executive director of the Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences and ran field schools for early career oil and gas geoscientists.

She served (geo)science and community organizations in the Netherlands, the US and Canada
and continues to do so.

Taylor Reidlinger (2020-present)

Taylor is a Master of Environment and Management student. She is researching innovations in marine food systems in coastal communities. She also works with Ecotrust Canada on West Coast fisheries policy and collaborates on coastal community resilience with the Coastal Routes network out of the University of Guelph. Taylor has worked in marine systems since graduating with her BSc in biology from the University of Victoria in 2013. Living and working on Coast Salish territory she has learned the importance of relating human systems to the ecosystems that they are part of. She has started to explore how writing can be an impactful tool to inspire, inform, and connect people; she was recently published with her peers in the Spring 2021 issue of Planning West (a magazine for professional planners) and is starting to draft her first children’s book on teamwork and environmental stewardship.

Meet our Core Team

Core Management Team:

  • Jennifer Collard (Secretary to the Board of Directors)
  • Alice Fleerackers (New Science Communicator Program Manager)
  • Theresa Liao (Co-founder, Technology Lead)
  • Tanya Samman (Treasurer)
  • Mahdokht Sobhanipoor (Administration Assistant)
  • Mike Spear (Co-founder, Genome Alberta sponsor representative, and Business Development and Strategy Lead)
  • Taelor Speciale (Volunteer Human Resources Manager)

Outreach Team: The outreach team engages our #cdnsci #scicomm #sciart #SciBorNetwork community through various online channels, including Twitter, Facebook, our Mailchimp newsletter, and beyond. For more information or to inquire about joining the outreach team, email outreach@scienceborealis.ca.

Editorial Team: Science Borealis is more than an aggregator. Our editorial team carefully curates and crafts features and posts on the Science Borealis blog. For more information or to inquire about joining the editorial team, email: editors@scienceborealis.ca.

  • Managing Editor: Catherine Dale 
  • Blog Editors: Kira Feighan, Diane Fisher, Jagpreet Kaur, Zoya Konoff, Kim Morris
  • Current Subject Editors
    • Biology & Life Sciences: Jenna Finlay & Qiaochu Liang
    • Chemistry: Zahra Nasser
    • Communication, Education & Outreach: Ishara Yahampath
    • Environmental & Earth Sciences: Sonja Soo
    • Health, Medicine & Veterinary Science: Michael Limmena & Dorottya Harangi
    • Mathematics & Statistics: recruiting
    • Multimedia: recruiting
    • Physics & AstronomyNada Salem & Eloise Chakour
    • Policy & Politics: recruiting
    • Science in Society: Mary Anne Shoenhardt & Amanda Scanga
    • Technology & Engineering: Naeema Bhyat

Additional members of our founding team:

  • Maryse de la Giroday
  • Mary Seligy

Former BoD members

Hannah Hoag (2014-2020)
Hannah Hoag is a freelance journalist based in Toronto. She has Master’s degree in Biology from McGill University and graduated from Boston University with a Master’s in Science and Medical Journalism in 2002. Her writing has appeared in many publications including Nature, New Scientist, Discover, Seed, Wired, Canadian Geographic, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Montreal Gazette, and the Canadian Medical Association Journal. She has also written for YES Magazine (a kids’ science magazine) and contributed to Free Radicals, a weekly radio program broadcast on CKUT in Montreal. Hannah served on the board of the Canadian Science Writers’ Association from 2007 to 2012, and has mentored students in science writing at McGill University. She delivers talks on careers in science writing and on better science communication. Hannah blogs at hannahhoag.net and the Science Writer’s Handbook http://pitchpublishprosper.com/

Chris Buddle (2014-2016)
Chris Buddle is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean at McGill University’s Macdonald Campus. His research program is centered on understanding patterns of insect and spider biodiversity, with a focus on Arctic ecosystems. He teaches environmental biology students about field biology, ecology and entomology. Chris is an enthusiastic and devoted science communicator and blogs frequently on McGillâ’s teaching and learning blog and on his own blog, Expiscor, on SciLogs. He is devoted to science outreach activities, and is always happy to share his passion for science whether it be on the radio, in elementary schools or at an entomology conference.

Sarah Boon (2016-2020)

Sarah Boon is a science writer and editor based on Vancouver Island. She has a PhD in Earth & Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Alberta. She spent seven years as an environmental science professor before returning to her writing and editing roots. She writes about academic culture, women in science, nature, and the environment. She has been published in print at Outpost, BC Forest Professional, and iPolitics, and online at Canadian Science Publishing, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and the Canadian Science Writers’ Association. She has forthcoming work at CBC’s The Nature of Things, Terrain.org, and the University of Alberta’s Science Contours. Sarah is a co-founder of Science Borealis and was formerly the Editorial Manager (2013-2015) and Earth & Environmental Science Editor (2013-2016). You can find her at Watershed Moments or on Twitter (@SnowHydro).


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