Emeriti Serving the Community - Near and Far

Graham Kelsey, Professor Emeritus of Educational Studies

Much of my work for the past twenty years has been with not-for-profit organizations chiefly in small cities and rural communities (primarily but not exclusively in arts and culture). A great many groups (clubs, societies, organizations), while passionate about what they do, say they need help in doing it.

In working with some forty different organizations, I have found that while they may give a variety of reasons for seeking help (a problem, personnel difficulties, a requirement for planning, revenue shortages or simply a feeling that they need some rethinking of their mission. I will talk about what proves to be most helpful, for both large organizations and small ones: engagement in a process that clarifies some basic organizational elements. 

Jim Zidek, Professor Emeritus of Statistics

My contributions are applications of statistics in different domains: air pollution, environmental health, engineering, movement of sea mammals, and the forecasting crop of yields on Canadian farms during this time of climate change. These are extensions of my career into new areas that are of concern to society. Specific examples; serving on a US EPA Committee that in 2015 led to changes in the US air quality standards for ozone; a Canadian program for monitoring the strength properties of lumber; service on task forces to estimate the burden of disease due to particulate air pollution (for the World Health Organization) the health effects of high air temperatures over the UK (for the UK Met Office).  These contributions to the community in turn led to several novel research discoveries and training opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students under his supervision or co-supervision.  My talk will briefly describe these contributions and the innovations to which they led.