Congratulations to Retiree (2012) Toni Bird named an Unsung Hero as part of the #McGill200 Bicentennial Celebrations!
Over nearly four decades in a variety of roles ranging from Faculty Club Coordinator to Student Affairs professional, Toni built relationships between the Faculty and its staff and students.
A committed, dedicated, accomplished and compassionate professional, she was a trusted ally and a very well respected member of the Macdonald community who is most deserving of this award.
On December 29th, for the first time in her role as Governor General of Canada, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon announced Order of Canada appointments and promotions. Among the 135 honorees is Professor Alejandro G. Marangoni (B.Sc.(Agr)’87), the Canada Research Chair in Food, Health and Aging at the University of Guelph.
Scientists affiliated with McGill were once again well-represented in Québec Science magazine’s annual list of the top 10 scientific discoveries.
On December 13th at a ceremony hosted by the Canadian Governor General’s Office in Ottawa, Ebrahim (Eby) Noroozi, MSc'78 (Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry), was presented with The Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers in the presence of Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada.
Every institution has a number of people who become the face of that organization. But for every recognizable “star,”, there is a bevy of unsung heroes who quietly go about their work, making things happen. We call these people “the unsung heroes,”, and nobody embodies the spirit of that definition at McGill more than Nancy Lavigne.
Academic careers are built on many factors, including perseverance, thirst for new knowledge, and research papers. One of the measures of the impact of these outputs is the annual Highly Cited Researchers 2021 list from Clarivate.
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have named the winners of the first Deep Space Food Challenge, an international contest that sought novel food technologies for future astronaut missions, as well as for use in resource-scarce regions on Earth.
Celebrity chefs Martha Stewart and Lynn Crawford joined former astronauts Scott Kelly and Chris Hadfield in making the announcements in a video aired by NASA on its television channel on November 15th.
Grâce au don de Marc Bieler, l’Université McGill peut offrir un meilleur soutien à la recherche en environnement.
« La canneberge est la culture maraîchère la plus écologique qui soit, déclare Marc Bieler. D’une part parce qu’elle est cultivée sur des terres classées impropres à l’agriculture, les sols étant trop humides et acides, et d’autre part parce que la loi nous oblige à conserver à l’état naturel 35 % de la superficie de la ferme. »
Rassembler des entreprises concurrentes autour d’une même table avec des chercheurs pour innover : c’est le défi sur lequel mise, depuis 2017, le Consortium de recherche et d’innovation sur la transformation alimentaire (RITA) à l’Université McGill. Et ça marche.
On October 21, 2021, McGill conferred an honorary doctorate upon Claire Bolduc, a passionate advocate for rural affairs, agriculture and agronomy in Quebec. The honorary doctorate is McGill University’s highest honour, given in recognition of highly talented and engaged individuals who serve as an inspiration for our community of students, professors, researchers and staff.
On October 8th, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Nature et technologies (FRQNT), along with its partner the ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation (MAPAQ) announced the creation of the Réseau québécois de recherche en agriculture durable (RQRAD), a flagship measure of the Plan d’agriculture durable 2020-2030 (PAD).
During the last year and a half, the world’s attention has been focused squarely on SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. While deadly, this virus is only one of many pathogens that threaten our well-being. For many years, scientists have been warning about another microscopic menace: drug-resistant microbes.
Congrats to Elena Bennett (NRS/BSE), one of sixteen Canadian sustainability leaders (#Clean16 honourees) named to the Delta Management Group’s 2022 Clean50 list.
Ann Louise Carson BScAgr’81 immersed herself in Mac traditions. She’s now supporting them for the next generation through a legacy gift.
Read more in the August 2021 edition of Focus on Macdonald
As a young Macdonald College student, Alton McEwen, BSc(Agr)’66, had plenty of opportunities for experiential education during the summer months, working seven days a week on the family dairy farm in the Chateauguay Valley. Thanks to a generous gift from McEwen, internships will continue to play an essential part in the education experience at the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Read more in August 2021 issue of Focus on Macdonald
