Dr. Jayne Kalmar

50th Alumni Profiles
B.A. '94 - Dr. Jayne Kalmar
Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University
Career History Since Graduation Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology, Wilfrid Laurier University
Postdoctoral Fellowship (NSERC), Spinal Cord Research Centre, University of Manitoba (2005-2008)
PhD in Biology from York University in 2005
MSc in Kinesiology from York University in 1998.
Most Memorable York University Experience It's hard to pick the single most memorable experience at York.  I was there from 1989 as an undergraduate until 2005 when I finished my PhD.  If I had to pick the most memorable moment, it might have been the day I left.  I had finished my PhD and was packing up my office to travel to Winnipeg to start a postdoc.  I felt like I was leaving my home and my family.  I have wonderful memories of late nights studying in Bethune classrooms as an undergraduate, working hard with other Athletic Therapy students to prepare for CATA exams, long but very happy days in Dr. Enzo Cafarelli's neuromuscular physiology lab, going to the Cock N' Bull with grad students and faculty after the graduate seminar each week, and walking across campus with my children to drop them off at the York Cooperative Daycare.  It was all memorable!
York University Anecdote or Highlight I had the best possible mentor for my doctoral studies - Dr. Enzo Cafarelli.  I learned so much from him, but the refrain I heard the most was, "If it was easy, everybody would do it."  It might have been his way of telling me to stop complaining and get it done, but they are words to live by!
Highlight(s) of Professional Career

Having the opportunity to work in Dr. Phil Gardiner's lab at the University of Manitoba Spinal Cord Research Centre was definitely a highlight (although it did mean that I had to live in "Winterpeg" for nearly 3 years).  In Dr. Gardiner's lab, I studied motor neuron adaptations to activity, injury, and ageing. My success in obtaining an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship to fund this period of postdoctoral study was due in large part to the excellent graduate training I received at York and an exceptional PhD advisor.
Community Involvements/Contributions (Local to International)

Here at Laurier, I am part of the newly formed Centre for Physically Active Communities which provides physical activity programming to children and youth in the community and advances community health and movement related research.
 
At a national level, I am an academic member of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP), Chair the CSEP Member Services Committee and act as an Associate Editor for the CSEP journal, Applied Physiology Nutrition, and Metabolism.   I joined CSEP back in the early 1990's when I was an undergraduate student at York taking fitness assessment courses and writing CSEP certification exams.
Honours and Awards

2014 Merit Recipient, Wilfrid Laurier University
NSERC Discovery Grant, 2015-2017
NSERC Discovery Grant, 2010-2015
NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2005-2007
Departmental Nominee for Governor General’s Gold Medal, Faculty of Graduate Studies, York University
Dissertation Prize, Faculty of Graduate Studies, York University, 2006
R.H. Haynes Scholarship, York University, Department of Biology, 2004
Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2003-2004 
NSERC PGS-B Scholarship, 2000-2002
Dean’s Academic Excellence Scholarship, York University, Faculty of Graduate Studies, 2000
Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 1999-2000
Alumni Silver Jubilee Scholarship, York University, 1992
Bryce M. Taylor Memorial Scholarship, York University, Department of Physical Education, 1991