Technician
Advanced Research Complex
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario

Cole MacDonald is a technician in the Advanced Research Complex at the University of Ottawa working with Dr. Jack Cornett. His role in the project has been to calibrate the new gamma spectrometer and to run the spectroscopy analysis of all the current citizen science samples monitoring the BC coast. Cole hopes that the public will learn about the study of radioactivity in the environment and that better understanding of these monitoring efforts will assauge some fears and spark an interest in the methods employed. He is excited to be a part of the project to learn from the network of InFORM scientists and other MEOPAR researchers.

Cole believes that everyone is born a scientist asking questions of the world around them at a very young age. In particular, he remembers putting sandwiches in the VCR and deli meats in the DVD player and wondering what would happen. At some point he out grew those methods, but he still had questions about the world around him that required more refined methods. When not in the lab, Cole can be found playing volleyball, board, and video games, running, and enjoying family and friends.