In conversation with Alessandra Granata, valedictorian for the Agricultural & Environmental Sciences ‘B’ ceremony
McGill’s valedictorians are outstanding students whose strong academic performance, leadership and community involvement has earned the respect of their peers. This year’s cohort is remarkable for its diversity, each having vastly different backgrounds, experiences, passions and goals.
What they do share is ambition, curiosity, and a desire to have a positive impact on the world.
In conversation with Alex Kuijper Dickson, AES valedictorian A ceremony
McGill’s valedictorians are outstanding students whose strong academic performance, leadership and community involvement has earned the respect of their peers. This year’s cohort is remarkable for its diversity, each having vastly different backgrounds, experiences, passions and goals.
What they do share is ambition, curiosity, and a desire to have a positive impact on the world.
Newly discovered chemical is a highly targeted killer of parasitic worms
The most abundant animals on farms—and everywhere on land, in fact—are microscopic worms called nematodes. Some kinds benefit the soil, but others parasitize crops, inflicting more than $100 billion in losses worldwide each year. Although pesticides can get rid of harmful nematodes, they inflict collateral damage on other life.
Six innovations that can help feed the world
Around the world, food is grown on land of all sizes and all types, but that diversity means farmers often fail to take into account landscape complexity and soil variability, according to Chandra A. Madramootoo, a professor of Bioresource Engineering at McGill University, in Montreal, Canada.
McGill team advances in Deep Space Food Challenge
A team led by two recent McGill bioengineering graduates, Alexander Becker and Cynthia Hitti, has made it through to the final phase of the Deep Space Food Challenge (DSFC) with their system for rearing crickets as a food source for long-haul space voyages.
$3.2 million for McGill Research from the New Frontiers in Research Fund
Congratulations to two Macdonald Profs who have received funding through the New Frontiers in Research Fund Exploration stream, which supports high-risk, high-reward and interdisciplinary research: Hamid Akbarzadeh (BRE) for Origami-inspired deployable sensoriactuator soft robots and Mehran Dastmalchi (PltSci) for
Are candy-striped spiders a threat to North American ecosystems?
Research published in Ecology took a closer look into the candy-striped spider’s diet and behaviour and found that these spiders use a variety of tactics to take down prey much larger than themselves, including sleeping bees and wasps.
Joint Chair aims to leverage AI and IoT to improve animal welfare in Canadian dairy farms
McGill University and the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) announced today the creation of the Research and Innovation Chair in Animal Welfare and Artificial Intelligence (WELL-E). The five-year, $5 million Chair will carry out a major research project funded by a grant from NSERC Alliance and PROMPT, fiduciary of the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy.
$1.7M for McGill from NSERC for ‘One Health’ and quantum research
A research team led by William Dawson Scholar and Assistant Professor Jen Ronholm (AnSci/FdSci) has received $1.65 million for an NSERC CREATE in One Health Against Pathogens (OHAP). Ten co-applicants from McGill, the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Guelph, and l’Université du Québec à Montréal will collaborate.
Genome Canada invests $7.7M in McGill research
Genome Canada has invested nearly $8 million in two McGill projects as part of a total national investment of $18.1 million in genomics-based research. Through public-private partnerships, these investments will help accelerate the commercialization of genomics and increase its real-world applications.
McCall MacBain Scholarships go global
Thirty students from 10 countries will form the first global cohort of McCall MacBain Scholars at McGill University, arriving in September 2023. Hailing from 26 universities, the new scholars will pursue fully funded master’s or professional degrees in 18 departments and schools across eight McGill faculties.
Analyzing the fat of killer whales reveals what they eat
Scientists are studying the diets of the oceans’ top predators as they change in response to their environments. This is because how much and what they eat can affect how ecosystems function.
Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue grocery store will reopen this spring
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue will soon have its only grocery store back up and running. The new store, "Marché Ami," will feature locally made products as the owners aim to promote local buying. The new owners have already begun hiring staff, including former employees. They are planning to open their doors by late May.
Take virtual trip to the arctic with Dorothy Newton Swales, McGill’s “mother of botany”
Heather Rogers, a Digital Humanities student at MA, has taken her research on Dorothy Newton Swales (BSc Plant Pathology, 1921; MSc Bacteriology 1922; Ph.D. University of Manitoba, Mycology 1931) and transformed it into an interactive website so that others can follow the six decades of botanical collections made by the herbarium's first woman curator (1964-1971) and longest serving mentor to young botanists.
L’agriculture en manque de relève
Un récent rapport indique que 40 % des travailleurs agricoles partiront à la retraite d'ici 2033 et que le pays manquera de 24 000 employés d'ici là. Pascal Thériault, économiste et directeur du programme de gestion et technologies d’entreprise agricole à l’Université McGill, analyse la situation.