This month the U of A alumna will get at least some of the recognition she deserves at the Salon du Livre in Paris, an international celebration of French publishing.

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Another "Rising Star" at the U of A
Gina Wheatcroft is a self-professed news junkie: Emergency, 60 Minutes, Entertainment Tonight, 20/20 - she catches them all. She knows watching too much TV is not good for a person but she can't help herself. "I love human interest stories," says Wheatcroft, who enjoys spending time watching the tube during winter months.

On-line community set to transform local government
A new virtual community is gearing up to go on-line, helping municipalities conduct their daily business and educating the public on municipal issues. Called MuniMall.net - a $1.6 million joint venture between Alberta Municipal Affairs and the University of Alberta - the Internet site will provide "life-long learning opportunities and new ways to communicate" for anyone interested in municipal issues and developments."

Pioneering research lays foundation for public policy
Fresh off the plane from an international conference in South Africa, Dr. Susan McDaniel is so jet-lagged she's not sure it all has sunk in. But the Kaplan award winner says: "It's really fun. I'm really excited about the whole thing."

Diversity the key to top researcher's success
"I try to pick things that I think are really exciting," explains Schindler, who is currently involved in five major ongoing projects in a number of ecological specialties. "I've tended to leap around a bit. Rather than specializing in one area, I have always been better off figuring out a strategic way to push the cutting edge," he says.

Canada's peatlands could crawl further north
Most gardeners worth their green thumbs are familiar with the practice of laying peat on the garden to help preserve moisture and add beneficial nutrients to the soil. But to Dr. Dennis Gignac, peat is remarkable not only for its capacity to hold water, but also for an altogether different property - its potential for predicting the future.

Challenged by the oilsands
Karl Clark once remarked of the Athabasca Oil Sands, "They have been a taunt to North America for generations. They wear a smirk which seems to say, `When are you going to do something?'" After devoting his life to tapping this elusive resource, Clark died just nine months before commercial production on the sands began in 1967.

A musical appetizer "à la Ukraine"
When asked to characterize Ukrainian classical music, Virko Baley used the term "magic realism." Magic realism, said the University of Nevada music professor, is "a cultural reaction to a politically weak culture." If politically incapable of doing anything, one uses myths to act out the possibilities of power, he added.

Reaching out with Canadian care
In a Bangkok laboratory, a lone powered wheelchair collects dust, serving as a nagging symbol of neglect for Thailand's disabled. It's the only such chair in the country of 60 million, sitting unused because of insurmountable obstacles in bringing health technology to an ailing marketplace.