staff.matters
the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences staff newsletter
June 13, 2007
The Dr. Daryl F. Kraft Endowment Fund Committee cordially invites you to attend a Plaque Unveiling Ceremony on Friday, June 15, at 10:00 am in honour of the late Dr. Daryl Kraft, professor and head in the Department of Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics. At the ceremony, the Dr. Daryl F. Kraft Endowment Fund Committee will give an update on the status of the Endowment Fund and announce future activities supported by this important Fund. The Unveiling Ceremony will take place in the courtyard on the west side of the Agriculture Building located at 66 Dafoe Road. Following the ceremony, a reception will be held in the Atrium of the Agricultural Building. Coffee and refreshments will be served. The Endowment Fund Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your generous contribution towards this very worthwhile Fund. Because of the support of our donors, the Fund is now only $60,000 away from the goal of $300,000! If you are able to attend, RSVP as soon as possible to Surinder Kamboz at 474-9384 or surinder_kamboz@umanitoba.ca.
Join us for a Special Seminar entitled "U.S. Beef: Outlook and Long Term Implications of Ethanol" by Dr. Clem Ward, Oklahoma State University, on Monday, June 18 at 2 pm in the Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building. Everyone is welcome and attendance is free. Dr. Ward will be discussing the prospects for the beef industry over the next year. Dr. Ward will also focus on the impact of ethanol demand for corn in the United States and its long term impact on the United States beef sector.
Mark your calendar for the Canadian Nutrition Congress 2007, which is being held in Winnipeg June 18-21. The congress will be a joint meeting of the Canadian Section of the American Oil Chemists' Society, the Canadian Society of Animal Science and the Canadian Society for Nutritional Sciences. It will provide great opportunities to build research connections in the Canadian nutrition community. More information, including program details, available on the website at http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/conferences/cnc2007/.
Soil Science Ph.D. Oral Examination - On Tuesday, June 19 at 2:00 pm in 344 Ellis Building, Babasola Ajiboye, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Soil Science will defend his Ph.D. thesis entitled "Molecular Speciation of Phosphorus in Organic Amendments and Amended Soils Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopies". Faculty, students, staff, and the general public are welcome to attend.
Plant Science Ph.D. Oral Examination - On Thursday, June 21 at 9:00 am in 218 Agriculture Building, Zining Wang, Ph.D. candidate in Plant Science will defend his Ph.D. thesis entitled " Marker Development and Gene Identification for Blackleg (Leptosphaeria maculans) Disease Resistance in Canola (Brassica napus)". Faculty, students, staff, and the general public are welcome to attend.
The Canadian Grain Commission (on behalf of the Barley Development Council- The 5th Canadian Barley Symposium) and the District Western Canada Master Brewers Association of the Americas are pleased to announce a joint meeting entitled The Science and Joy of Canadian Barley and Beer Conference, scheduled for June 25-29 in Winnipeg. One of the speakers at this event is Dr. Rob Hill, Plant Science. Learn more at http://www.barleybeer07.ca/.
The Manure Management 2007 conference will be held in Winnipeg June 25-27. This tri-provincial initiative is for all members of the livestock industry - producers, councillors, researchers, industry and government. The conference will feature concurrent full-day technology demonstration tours at Carman Research Station, the La Broquerie research site and the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment at Glenlea Research Station that showcase manure management and the effects on soil and water.
Staff and Student Day at the Crop Diagnostics School at the Carman Research Station will be on Monday, July 9. The School is designed to refine the diagnostic skills of agronomists, producers and people involved in field scouting and assessing crop health. Fee is only $25 for staff or students. For further information or to register call (204) 745-5663 or visit www.cropdiagnostic.ca.
The Genome Canada Applied Computational Genomics Course will be held at the University of Alberta July 25-31. The ACGC introduces biologists to some of the latest methods in bioinformatics, including DNA and protein sequence analysis, automation of data analysis using Perl scripting, web services and workflows, and high-throughput genome annotation. The course is led by Dr. Brian Fristensky, Department of Plant Science, along with other researchers from the Genome Canada Bioinformatics Platform. Both lectures and extensive hands-on tutorial sessions are included. For full details see http://www.gcbioinformatics.ca/training.
Congratulations to Tee Boon Goh, Soil Science, who was named this year's recipient of the Teaching Award of Merit from the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA). Congratulations also to Chris Willenborg, Ph.D. student in Plant Science, who received the Graduate Student Teaching Award of Merit - this is the first year we have presented this award. These awards are given annually to individuals who truly excel in teaching an agricultural discipline.
Danny Mann, Biosystems Engineering, was named this year's recipient of the Graduate Students Association's Award of Excellence in Graduate Teaching. Each year, the Graduate Students Association of the University of Manitoba selects one academic member from the university to receive this title and honor. This is the third time in four years a member of our Faculty has won the award! (Dilantha Fernando, 2006 and Digvir Jayas, 2004)
Due to the soggy weather, the University's Sneakers in Motion Day was held today in the Max Bell Centre. Congratulations to winners from the Faculty, including the Department of Plant Science for "Best Active Living Group" and Wendy Kramer, Dean's Office, for "Best 'In Motion' Hat/Head Gear". Crystal Jorgenson, Dean's Office, picked up one of the door prizes. Special thanks to Lorrie Koroscil, School of Agriculture, who served on the Sneakers in Motion Day organizing committee and Sadie Hildebrand who also volunteered at the event.
Ehsan Khafipoor, Ph.D. student in Animal Science, won the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies Award for Excellence in the Manitoba Health Research Poster Competition on June 5. His poster was titled "Characterization of the ruminal diversity and population shift in Enterobacteriaceae using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of 16S rDNA genes in cattle with subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA)."
Prabal Ghosh, a postdoctoral fellow in Biosystems Engineering, attended the Second Annual Solid-State NMR Workshop on May 26 in Winnipeg. The workshop was sponsored by National Ultrahigh-field NMR Facility for Solids, Canada. Dr. Ghosh also presented a poster on "Modeling of wheat drying using magnetic resonance imaging" at the 90th Canadian Chemistry Conference held in Winnipeg May 26-30. On June 26th, he will present another poster on "Measurement of water diffusivity in barley seed components using pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance imaging" at The Science and Joy of Canadian Barley and Beer in Winnipeg.
It's that time of year when several research/administrative leaves are drawing to a close or just about to begin. We welcome back from leave Kim Ominski (Animal Science), Neil Holliday (Entomology), Martin Scanlon (Food Science), Tee Boon Goh (Soil Science) and Wole Akinremi (Soil Science). The following will be going on leave effective July 1: Jane Froese (Plant Science) for six months, Denis Krause (Animal Science) for six months, Renee Kim (Agribusiness) for 12 months and Ranjan Sri Ranjan (Biosystems Engineering) for 12 months. Claudio Stasolla began a six-month leave on June 1.
Plant Management Network - Free access is available this summer to the Plant Management Network, "a multidisciplinary online resource for applied plant science information and communication." The network includes four journals - Applied Turfgrass Science, Crop Management, Forage and Grasslands and Plant Health Progress. Go to http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/. Click on "Subscriber Login". Username: library Password: crop55
Core Historical Literature of Agriculture - This collection of digitized books and journals from Cornell is now accessible through the UM Libraries' E-Library web pages. http://chla.library.cornell.edu/
New books - It is now possible to quickly learn about new books arriving in the library. Go to http://umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/agriculture/. Click on "New Books" in the left hand column. The list will also link you to BISON where you can request that a book be held for you. You may also subscribe to the New Books list using RSS. Better still, come to the library and browse the shelf above the photocopier. The book of the week is Farming and the Fate of Wild Nature. This is a book of essays by farmers, scientists and writers. "Wild work crew" offers tips to farmers on how to live with beavers. "A plea for bees" is about a California beekeeping almond grower who regards bees as the "canary in the mine."
Fiction shelf - Next to the New Book shelf is the modest collection of paperback fiction for those who are looking for a lighter read. Recent additions include Chinese Takeout (Arthur Nersesian) and Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen (Kate Taylor).
Web site of the week - 4th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest. http://photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/v4/index.php. Over 8,500 photographs were submitted. The images from finalists in the categories People, Americana, Altered Images, Travel and Nature are gorgeous and evocative.
Wole Akinremi, Soil Science, was interviewed on Farmscape (a radio segment that airs on CKLQ and other stations) about a new study between the departments of Soil Science and Animal Science that is funded by ARDI. This project is designed to reduce the environmental impact of swine production by formulating diets in a manner that will lower the phosphorous content of the manure. Listen to the clip at http://www.farmscape.com.
Terry Galloway and graduate student Andrea Patenaude, Entomology, has been on CBC Radio One recently talking about midges and other insects.
School Tours Galore - Fifty Grade 10 students from Fort Richmond Collegiate attended a one day work shop at Kelburn Farm on Friday, June 8th. Jane Froese and Gary Marten from Plant Science and Mario Tenuta, Soil Science, were the presenters. Jane and Gary took the students on a tour of the farm and explained the ecology of the area along with various plants that they found along the way. They looked at the canola and the alfalfa crops. The last project that the students were given was to plan an environmentally friendly farm but be sure to think outside the box. You can well imagine some of the great ideas that we got. Mario had the students do some microscope work and then assigned a group project to develop a new organism. The students' presentation included a drawing, some pertinent information and finished with a song that the group had to sing. From this exercise Mario has his fall term all planned. Thanks to Jane, Mario and Gary for sharing their expertise with the students.
Also last Friday, 50 Carman Elementary School Grade 3 students participated in an educational tour at the University of Manitoba, Carman Research Station. This is the second year that MAFRI and Plant Science staff have delivered a hands on educational exercise as part of the grade 3 school curriculum to covering Soil Formation & Erosion. Students learned about the importance of conservation in agriculture as it relates to wind, water, soil and river bank erosion.
Teacher Learning Adventure Set for 2007 - Agriculture in the Classroom-Manitoba Inc. invites you to join them for the 2007 Teacher Learning Adventure (TLA) this August 13 to 17, 2007. A professional development opportunity for all Manitoba school teachers, this interactive hands-on, upbeat, professional development week will be sure to provide you with excellent agriculture awareness learning activities, and new curricula development ideas and opportunities. Registration Fee is only $100.00 which includes accommodation, meals, tours, and classroom learning during the week. Registration Deadline - June 15, 2007. Check out their web page www.aitc.mb.ca for information on past TLAs! For further information please contact Wendy Bulloch, Project Coordinator at wendy@aitc.mb.ca or phone (204) 727-1852.
Agriculture in the Classroom Seeks Volunteers - AITC invites you to join them as an Amazing Agriculture Adventure Volunteer at their upcoming Amazing Agriculture Adventure in Winnipeg September 11-13, 2007 at Red River Exhibition Park. Over 1100 Grade 4 and 5 students and their teachers have already signed up for the three days. They will need 18 classroom hosts each day to tour the students and teachers through the eighteen interactive stations. In addition, they need volunteers to help at various stations - approximately about another 30 to 40 each day. They also need a couple of people each day to look after the volunteer area. To volunteer, please fill out a form and send it back to wendy@aitc.mb.ca or fax (204) 729-8366.
staff.matters is e-mailed bi-weekly on Wednesday afternoon to members and friends of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the University of Manitoba. The bi-weekly news deadline is Tuesdays at 4:00 pm. Email Crystal Jorgenson with your news or get in touch with your department staff.matters rep:
- Agribusiness: Judy Powell 9259
- Animal Science and Entomology: Claire Hutchinson 6125
- Biosystems Engineering: Debby Watson 6033
- Food Science: Allison Cranmer 9621
- Plant Science: Bev Godard 8563
- Soil Science: Terry Ramm 8153