Madeline is a PhD candidate at Wilfrid Laurier University pursuing a degree in Biological and Chemical Sciences. She is supervised by Dr. Derek Gray (Wilfrid Laurier University) and Dr. Mike Palmer (Aurora Research Institute). Through her undergraduate and master’s research, she developed a strong foundation in northern aquatic ecology, publishing in Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research.
Her doctoral research focuses on the factors influencing the remobilization of legacy contaminants in northern lakes, particularly the rehabilitation of Frame Lake in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Frame Lake is impacted by the deposition of over 60 years of arsenic-bearing mining emissions and, more recently, eutrophication. In an effort to rehabilitate the lake, a hypolimnetic aerator was recently installed. To evaluate hypolimnetic aeration as a tool for mitigating arsenic remobilization and algal blooms, Madeline applies an interdisciplinary approach, integrating methods from biology, geochemistry, and limnology.
During an internship with the Aurora Research Institute, Madeline supported the fieldwork for numerous northern research projects, gaining an interdisciplinary perspective on environmental interactions. As such, she joined the NSERC CREATE LEAP program to gain foundational knowledge of permafrost and other physical landscape processes, deepening her understanding of how northern environments function as interconnected systems.
