Christine Fontaine, an alumna of the Department of Psychology, has received a Vanier scholarship worth $150,000 to continue her studies in behavioural neuroscience at the University of Victoria.

Ms. Fontaine was one of 150 applications for the Canadian government’s award, which recognizes leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies, and was ranked 16th in the country out of the 56 awards granted.

“I truly wasn’t expecting to receive one,” she said. “It was really shocking. I thought I would apply and if it didn’t work out, it would be good practice for next year, but I was pleasantly surprised. To have this on my CV, knowing that not only will I have the research and the publications that are coming on there, but also this recognition for that work is really awesome.”

Ms. Fontaine’s first experience with Memorial was in 2008, during her Grade 11 year, when she applied for and was chosen to participate in the Women in Science and Engineering Newfoundland and Labrador (WISE NL) Summer Student Employment Program (SSEP).

That summer she worked in the lab of the Department of Psychology’s Dr. Christina Thorpe, a former graduate of the WISE SSEP herself, and became hooked on research, eventually coming to Memorial to work on her own degree.

“If you ask the program co-ordinator at the time, she would say she basically had to pry me away from my experiments from the very beginning,” said Ms. Fontaine. “In fact, I loved my summer so much, and wanted to be able to give that experience to other girls in the province, I volunteered with them as one of their board directors, and have done so ever since.”

She continued to work her way through her honours degree at Memorial by doing research in neuroscience labs, which resulted in being published three times, and she attended several national and international conferences prior to graduation. Ms. Fontaine later moved to the lab of Dr. Qi Yuan in the Faculty of Medicine, where she completed her honours project, which she says gave her a first-hand view of both sides of neuroscience at Memorial.

“My experience at Memorial would not have been the same without the hands-on laboratory experience that I gained through incredible mentorship in the faculties of Science and Medicine,” said Ms. Fontaine. “The time that I spent in the lab was worth more than any time in the classroom could have ever given me, though the coursework, of course, was essential to my basic understanding.”

Following graduation in the spring of 2013, she moved to the University of Victoria, under the supervision of Dr. Brian Christie, to start her master's degree, which quickly became a PhD project. She is currently studying how prenatal alcohol exposure changes antioxidant levels in the brain and how this, in turn, affects essential memory processes.