Northern hosts U of T research team working with billion-year-old water

(Left to Right): Fred Gibbons, President and CEO of Northern College, Dr. Thomas Giunta, University of Toronto, Dr. Chris Charles, University of Toronto, Dr. Oliver Warr, University of Toronto, Dr. Allyson Brady, McMaster University, and Amy McKillip, Manager of Applied Research, Entrepreneurship and Innovation of Northern College.

(Left to Right): Fred Gibbons, President and CEO of Northern College, Dr. Thomas Giunta, University of Toronto, Dr. Chris Charles, University of Toronto, Dr. Oliver Warr, University of Toronto, Dr. Allyson Brady, McMaster University, and Amy McKillip, Manager of Applied Research, Entrepreneurship and Innovation of Northern College.

TIMMINS, ON: Northern College hosted a team of University of Toronto researchers who arrived at the Timmins Campus Monday. Their three-day visit was a continuation of the research on the 1.5 billion-year-old water, believed to be the world’s oldest water ever found, discovered at Glencore’s Kidd Operations.

The team presented an overview of the research to college staff on Monday, spending Tuesday and Wednesday underground at the 7850 level of the mine. Northern served as a lab host while the research team collected additional water samples and retrieved the bio-filters placed during a previous visit in July.

Under the direction of Amy McKillip, Manager of Applied Research, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Northern provided assistance to the research team, collecting and storing the water samples.

“This project has generated a lot of excitement and Northern is pleased to be part of the ongoing research by providing facilities for the research team to store samples and do preliminary filter testing,” said Amy McKillip, Manager of Applied Research, Entrepreneurship and Innovation of Northern College. “We hope to continue to build an ongoing relationship and carry on more applied research that involves our faculty and students.”

Northern’s Department of Applied Research, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (AREI) serves as a gateway for external partners seeking to work with the College on applied research. For more information about AREI and its projects, please visit www.northernc.on.ca/innovation or email [email protected].