It has been a great year with the research lab, and I have very much enjoyed working with everyone. Congratulations on your scientific, personal and other achievements.

Looking forward to the year ahead.

LRG Highlights
This academic year saw the completion of three PhD Candidates' studies. Chris Jerde, Marty Krkosek and Raluca Eftimie each completed their PhD final orals with flying colours. Congratulations to each of you on this major accomplishment.

Chris' research concentrated on the arrival and establishment of non-indigenous species, Marty studied the effects of salmon aquaculture on sea lice transmission and wild salmon population dynamics, and Raluca explored modeling group formation and activity patterns in self-organizing communities of organisms.

Goings and Comings
Beginning with the three graduates. In January, Chris began a postdoctoral position with David Lodge, Notre Dame College; Marty is working as a postdoctoral intern for Mark until September when he will join Ray Hilborn, Washington, as a postdoc; and in July, Raluca began a postdoctoral appointment with David Earn, McMaster.

2007-08 has been a year of change for other LRG members as well. Chris' departure in December was followed closely by Mark Duller's move to England in January where he is working as a computer analyst for the Oxford e-Research Centre. We were very fortunate to have Darren Griffith join us in November 07 to assume Mark's part-time position as computer analyst. And since Darren is now employed full time with the Dept of Math & Stat Sciences, we will shortly be welcoming a new part-time computer analyst.

In April, Caroline commenced employment with Alberta Environment, Edmonton; in June, Frederic returned to France to work as a faculty member with Agrocampus Rennes; in July, Tomas and his family returned to Costa Rica to live while Tomas pursues postdoctoral research with Ottar Bjornstat, Penn State; and finally, in August, Frank is returning to Lisbon where he has a five-year term position with the U of Lisbon.

We wish all of you well in your new experiences and adventures, and we are sorry to see you go.

But, to quote Buddha, "Everything changes, nothing remains without change." And so, we will be welcoming several new faces to the LRG in September and we expect more new individuals to join us as the year progresses.

Welcome to Marie Auger-Methe, Meike Wittmann, Jeanette Wheeler and Jaime Ashander, all of whom will be joining the LRG in September, and to Carly Strasser who will be joining us in January.

Marie, a graduate of Dalhousie, has been accepted as a PhD Candidate enrolled through BioSci. Meike is also enrolled through BioSci for a one-year period as a Visiting Student from Munich, Germany. Jeanette, a graduate of Memorial, and Jaime, a graduate of Stanford, are both enrolled in the Math & Stat Sciences MSc Program. Meike, Jeanette and Jaime are past participants of the MathBio Summer Workshop. Carly will be working as a postdoctoral researcher, working on modelling invasive species.

Welcome as well to Jon Jacobsen, a faculty member from Harvey Mudd College, who is visiting the Centre from July 2008 to June 2009. Jon will be involved in research with the Lewis Group and will also be teaching a course in the Math Department during Winter Term. When you meet Jon, ask him about his experiences with ONE. Welcome to Edmonton, Jon. We hope you and your family enjoy your year in Canada.