Jonathon Liedtke – ourWindsor.ca – Dec. 7, 2012
A $10,000 reward has been offered to help locate a stolen laptop that contained valuable scientific information for the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER).
Dr. Aaron Fisk, Canada Research Chair in Trophic Ecology, explained that a University PhD student was out for dinner on Wednesday night, and between 10pm and 12pm at Jade restaurant on Wyandotte his backpack – which contained his laptop – was stolen from the car, which was broken into.
The research utilized high resolution acoustic telemetry in which monitoring tags were placed into fish to track and analyze via receivers their movement and interactions.
Unfortunately, the research data hadn’t been backed up in over a month, Dr. Fisk commented that since the data was also erased from the receivers “that’s the only copy of that data. If we don’t get the computer back, or if we don’t get the data off the computer, we’ve lost all that data.”
Fisk explained that a $10,000 reward has been offered “no questions asked. The person can keep the computer. It is a Mac Book Pro [and] it’s got a dent down the back of it.”
Fisk’s team was beta testing the new equipment and were “the first people on the planet to use it.”
“This project was a total of nine weeks,” said Fisk, adding, “it started in late September and ran until a few weeks ago…which doesn’t seem like much, but it involved three separate large ponds, and about 50 tags. “
Over $50,000 was spent by the program to conduct the experiment and the research was going to be included as a part of the student’s PhD dissertation. If the laptop is not recovered, the program will have to apply for additional funding.
“The little bit of data that we do have is fantastic [and] I think it’s going to revolutionize how we look at fish interactions in aquatic systems,” stated Fisk, adding, “this kind of information has never been available to scientists.”
“I don’t want to get the person in trouble, I just want the data back.”
If you have any information regarding the stolen laptop or its whereabouts, contact Dr. Aaron Fisk: 519-253-3000 X4740; [email protected].
$10,000 Reward to Locate Stolen Laptop Containing Valuable Research (ourwindsor.ca)
Jonathon Liedtke is the Features & Opinion Editor for the University of Windsor Lance Campus/Community Newspaper and a reporter for ourWindsor.ca. As a founding member and current Co-Chair of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee, he is committed to representing, connecting, engaging with and advocating for local youth. He is also a member of Windsor’s “Punk with Horns” band The Nefidovs, and as such, is committed to enhancing and sustaining the arts community.
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