Kudos

Margaret A. Somerville, the founding director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, has been chosen as the first winner of the Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science by UNESCO. Consisting of US $10,000 and financed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the prize aims to reward the work of individuals and groups in the field of ethics in science.

Pathology professor Carolyn Compton has received the 2003 Frank W. Hartman, MD, Memorial Award from the College of American Pathologists. Compton was honored for her commitment as a 10-year member and current chair of the College of American Pathologists' Cancer Committee.

Anthropology professor Bruce Trigger, an internationally recognized authority on aboriginal societies in Canada and ancient civilizations, has been has been awarded the Distinguished Research Award in the Faculty of Arts.

The Prix Galien Research Award was awarded to Mark Wainberg, director of McGill Aids Centre and research director at the Lady-Davis Institute for Medical Research at the Jewish General Hospital. Wainberg's focus is on finding ways to counter drug-resistant mutations of the human immunodeficiency virus.

Four Geography students were finalists in the European Space Agency's Aurora Student Design Competition. The McGill Arctic Geomorphology Group presented a project to detect subsurface ice and/or water on Mars, called RIGID (Resistivity Instrument for Ground Ice Detection). Team members are Jennifer Turner, Tim Haltigin, Hugues Lantuit, and Greg de Pascale. Group supervisor was Professor Wayne Pollard.