AURORA COLLEGE
Western Arctic Research Centre Director awarded Garfield Weston Award in Northern Research

Erika Hille, Director of the Western Arctic Research Centre, a regional centre of the research division of Aurora College, was awarded the Garfield Weston Award in Northern Research, earlier this month. 

This award, which comes with a $50,000 cash prize, supports early-career scientists in Canada pursuing research in Canada's North. Recipients of the Garfield Weston Award in Northern Research must demonstrate the importance of their research in furthering understanding of northern ecosystems and biodiversity, demonstrate excellence in research and communication with both northern and scientific communities, in addition to receiving support from both northern and academic partners.

In addition to her 10 years of service with Aurora College's Aurora Research institute (ARI), Hille began her PhD in 2019 with Queens University. The goal of her PhD research project, entitled "The geochemical responses of Arctic freshwater systems to regional variability in permafrost thaw across the Canadian Arctic", is to examine how the sensitivity and response of aquatic systems to permafrost thaw varies across contrasting permafrost landscapes.  Hille's research focuses on the Beaufort Delta Region of the western Canadian Arctic, an area experiencing dramatic landscape change associated with permafrost thaw.  She also plans to compare her results to watersheds less sensitive to permafrost thaw, including the Apex River Watershed (Iqaluit) and the Meacham River Watershed (Resolute). 

Hille has also received an Alexander Graham Bell Canadian Graduate Scholarship (NSERC) and a POLAR Northern Resident Award (Polar Knowledge Canada).

"We are incredibly proud of Erika Hille and the research she leads at Aurora College.  Her research is relevant to Northerners, particularly in the Beaufort Delta where the effects of permafrost thaw on freshwater systems are not fully understood.  This research will generate applied knowledge in the North, for use by Northerners.  As Aurora College transforms into a polytechnic university, we will continue to build on our strengths in Northern applied research." - Andy Bevan, President, Aurora College

Aurora Research Institute (ARI) is the research division of Aurora College.  The mandate of ARI is to improve the quality of life for residents of the Northwest Territories by applying scientific, technological and Indigenous knowledge to solve northern problems and advance social and economic goals. To achieve this mandate ARI conducts, supports, and licenses research throughout the NWT.  ARI is headquartered in Inuvik, and has regional research centres in Inuvik, Yellowknife and Fort Smith. Website: www.nwtresearch.com