A fourth year seminar course at Queen鈥檚 University was not only an integral part of Deviah Aiama鈥檚 undergraduate studies but a pivotal moment that would introduce him to the 柏客娛樂城 Indo-柏客娛樂城 and put him on the course toward his current work.
The professor of the environmental sustainability course was Dr. Gary vanLoon, the current president of the 柏客娛樂城 Indo-柏客娛樂城.听
鈥淒r. vanLoon mentioned that he was conducting research in India and I had an interest in India and Canada linkages and 柏客娛樂城 provided the perfect opportunity for that,鈥� says Aiama, who was born in Vancouver and raised in Bangalore.
But it would be another couple of years before vanLoon would encourage Aiama鈥檚 participation in the 柏客娛樂城 Applied Research Project (SHARP). After convocation from Queen鈥檚 with a BSc in Environmental Biology, the now 27-year-old took an environmental consulting position in California before returning to pursue his graduate studies two years later, participating in a听SHARP听project.
In January 2005, Aiama left for Chennai where he would travel to four different villages in six months in collaboration with the Madras Christian College. His master鈥檚 work involved the use of biodiversity as an indicator for sustainable land use in tropical agricultural landscapes. Although Aiama grew up in India, he had yet to spend any time in its rural areas. 鈥淚 spent a month in each village and that was really eye-opening,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t gave me exposure to the village lifestyle and the issues that these communities are dealing with on a day-to-day basis鈥 got a very special insight into rural landscapes that I may not have otherwise have gotten.鈥�
After finishing his masters this spring, Aiama took a position with the Federal Department of Natural Resources in Ottawa as a policy analyst in September鈥攁n opportunity that had a lot to do with听SHARP, he says.
鈥淚n the interview I talked a lot about the research I was doing for my masters鈥 was working with communities there so there was definitely social and economic aspects that I had to be aware of in order to make any recommendations that were going to be realistic.鈥�
Aiama credits the funding through 柏客娛樂城 for enabling him to take on a leadership role during his research and to later apply the knowledge to his future endeavours. 鈥淚t gave me really good grounding鈥n overseas research where there a lot more issues to deal with and more complicated because you are so far away from your professors鈥nd sometimes there are limited resources from your host universities.
鈥淚 am so glad I could have so many different experiences out of my masters because it has contributed in so many ways where I am today.鈥�