Vol. 17 No. 1 (2022)
Dear Reader,
Every year, we have the honour of witnessing the products of undergraduate research across the world and the privilege of sharing these accomplishments with the wider community. The pandemic has brought countless challenges to undergraduate researchers these past two years, yet we continue to see the dedication and passion of undergraduates at McGill and beyond in engaging with the scientific process.
The twelve articles enclosed within this issue are the culmination of these students’ hard work and perseverance. As such, we hope the 17th volume of the McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal’s presentation of their findings shines a spotlight on the diligence and research aptitude of these young researchers.
On behalf of our entire editorial board, thank you.
John Ni & Jenny Zheng
Editors-in-Chief
ON THE COVER
From the glacial colds of Winter to the blistering heat of mid-July, a bird’s eye view of Montreal’s climate paints a picture of uncompromising yearly temperature shifts. The distribution of cities’ heat islands has significant impacts on human health and well-being. On page 56, Aucoin, Briand, Duval, and Qudsi describe Montreal’s micro-urban heat islands and discuss the impacts of vegetation coverage and urbanization, while on page 36, Frie, Gilmer, Buraga, and Franceschini measure the city’s albedo, a property of the surface’s ability to diffuse or reflect solar radiation.
The digital painting on the cover depicts a stylized Island of Montreal viewed from space, emphasizing our modeling of heat from large-scale data sets.
