2006/07 Testimonials

These testimonials were published in the 2006-2007 WestGrid Annual Report. The best way to demonstrate WestGrid's role in the research community is to let the researchers tell you themselves. Below is a collection of testimonials from current WestGrid users. They describe what WestGrid has enabled them to do so far and how critical these resources are for them to continue pushing research boundaries in the future.

"Many of our publications would have been extremely difficult to prepare without WestGrid resources - almost impossible in a reasonable timeframe. The availability of WestGrid resources sped up the publication process substantially…Apart from investigating scientific hypotheses, the methods we developed also provide approximate techniques for routine analyses for use by agencies such as the Ministry of Health. Investigation of such approximate methods needs to be careful and rigorous and WestGrid has been enormously helpful in this regard."

CHARMAINE DEAN
Professor of Statistics, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science
Simon Fraser University

Charmaine Dean is Professor in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at Simon Fraser University. Her research interest lies in the development of methodology for the analysis of correlated count data common in longitudinal and spatio-temporal analyses. Much of this work has been motivated by direct applications to important practical problems in biostatistics and ecology.

"Westgrid access has allowed me to become part of the European Drakkar Consortium on Ocean Modelling, which would not have been possible without WestGrid. This collaboration has provided me with research support (including personnel) in getting the models set up, as well assistance with model development. Currently, I am the only non-European based scientist who is part of the European Drakkar consortium."

PAUL MYERS
Associate Professor, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
University of Alberta

Paul Myers is a physical oceanographer who is interested in the ocean's role in climate (past and present). The ocean plays a key role in the global system, as an important element of the climate system and as a provider for resources (from fisheries to undersea floor resources). Myers' studies of the ocean include the analysis of both ocean observational data and numerical model development and simulation.

"When I returned to Canada from my PhD studies in the US, I was concerned that I was losing access to the computational resources I was accustomed to. WestGrid completely removed my worry. After spending my PhD time fighting with other researchers for time on our small in-house computational cluster, which cost thousands for us to build and maintain, I have been overjoyed to have access to WestGrid’s resources. WestGrid has accelerated our research by a huge factor and enables us to run simulations that we would have neither the time nor the resources to perform otherwise. It also allows us to focus on research rather than maintenance of our computational infrastructure. I cannot stress enough the difference this has made in my life."

JORDAN DAWE
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Ocean Modeling and Climate
University of British Columbia

Jordan Dawe's research interests include decadal-scale climate dynamics, ocean model parameterizations and the Pacific decadal oscillation.