FGSA Newsletter August 2020
Upcoming Events & Reminders
- Please take some time to fill out the UTGSU COVID-19 Impact Survey at:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8HCY7KC. The UTGSU needs your feedback to best support graduate students as we navigate COVID-19 together - Have concerns about UofT’s reopening plan this fall? Please sign the following petition initiated by CUPE 3902:
https://www.change.org/p/meric-gertler-u-of-t-s-reopening-plan-is-not-safe-enough-we-need-to-take-fall-2020-online? - Students financially impacted by COVID-19 who are seeking tuition fee exemption for the upcoming semester(s) should fill out the following form:
https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/sites/253/2020/06/RegisterWithTuitionExemptionCOVID1920209.pdf - MFC Students- If you’d like to use your office space in the fall please contact fgsa@utoronto.ca and let us know!
Staff Profile:
Tony Ung
Tony Ung has been a familiar face around Forestry at UofT for about 20 years now. He started his tenure as a research assistant in wood products/engineering but has since adopted many other roles around the faculty. These include providing technical support and training for students and staff and coordinating laboratory management and building maintenance. He also takes an active role engaging with the MFC cohort, assisting in coordinating and chaperoning both the Haliburton and Mattawa field camps.
Currently, Tony is collaborating with other professors at UofT to commission a state-of-the-art wood drying kiln, with the eventual goal of developing further research projects for its potential uses in phytosanitary heat treatment of wood products for export, modification, fixation/stabilization of preservatives in treated wood, environmental testing and sterilization uses, among others. Furthermore, Tony has a keen interest in maintaining some industrial contract work for testing preservative pressure treated wood relating to weathering and environmental impacts.
Tree of the Month:
Ulmus glabra Huds. (Scotch Elm)
Black Cherry has a simple leaf with finely serrated teeth, best viewed with a hand lens. However, in terms of its leaf, the defining characteristic is the strip of tiny rusty-red hairs on the underside of the leaf that shoot out from the midrib of the leaf, reaching roughly half its total length. The bark is also an excellent key ID feature, as it is dark black and has a texture that is commonly described as ‘burnt cornflakes’.
