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SPRING 2008

2 From the Dean’s Desk

3 Piglet Clones a Canadian First

4 Macdonald’s Living Laboratories

6 International Hands-on Learning

8 Putting Learning into Practice

9 Around the Faculty

10 Development and Alumni Relations

T H I S I S S U E

AGRICULTURAL ANDENVIRONMENTAL

SCIENCES

The hands-on experience

edition

macspring2008 version3.qxp 4/15/2008 1:34 PM

FACULTY OF AGRICULTURAL

AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Spring 2008

Office of the Dean

Macdonald Campus

McGill University

21,111 Lakeshore

Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue

Quebec, Canada H9X 3V9

Tel.: 514-398-7707

Fax: 514-398-7766

www.mcgill.ca/macdonald/

Dean of the Faculty

Chandra A. Madramootoo

Editorial Team

Helen Cohen Rimmer, BA’76, MSc’79

Kathy MacLean, BSc(Agr)’81

Editorial Consultants

Mark Ordonselli Communications Officer,Development and Alumni Relations

Susan Murley Director of Strategic Communications, Development and Alumni Relations

Contributors

Helen Cohen RimmerKathy MacLeanSusan MahonMark Reynolds

ProofreadingGary FrancoeurEditorial Project ManagerDevelopment and Alumni Relations

Design and LayoutHelen Cohen Rimmer HCR Photo

AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 2

Dear Graduates and Friends,

At this year’s Founder’s Day celebrations on February 10, MaudeBarlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians, gavean impassioned talk on the preservation of Canada’s waterresources, sparking the interest of our students and once againconfirming that Macdonald is tackling one of the world’s mostimportant issues – the protection and preservation of our waterresources. We also presented Gold Key Awards to two deservingstudents, and the second-ever Macdonald Campus Award ofExcellence for Administrative and Support Staff to RoslynJames, a valuable member of the Plant Science Department since1984 and a tireless worker who epitomizes the Macdonaldmotto: Mastery for Service.

Research and teaching programs at Macdonald continue to evolve to address some of the majorproblems affecting our society.

A research team led by Vilceu Bordignon, a professor in the Department of Animal Science, hasmade international headlines by producing Canada’s first cloned pigs. The discovery opens thedoor for groundbreaking research into the development of new treatments for diabetes andcardiovascular disease. Professor Bordignon’s work highlights two very important facts: first, weneed to continually modernize our research and teaching infrastructure, and second, our studentswork alongside some true academic stars.

In my own experience as a Macdonald student, I found that the practical, hands-on training thataccompanied my classroom lectures allowed me to gain a better understanding of my professionand empowered me to tackle a range of practical problems in the field. I strongly believe that thisis one of Macdonald’s greatest assets. Our students learn by doing and by interacting withprofessors in the lab and in the field.

Macdonald’s 650 hectares of fields, forests and waterfront constitute the largest privately ownedgreen space on the island of Montreal. From laboratories and field stations to woodlots andwetlands, the Campus is a knowledge centre that offers a “living laboratory” for research andlearning, not only for our faculty and students, but for the larger community. An added advantageis that our facilities are easily accessible – literally on our doorstep. In this issue of In Focus, we takea look at our outdoor teaching and research infrastructure – facilities that foster unique hands-ontraining for our students. Both here and abroad, our researchers and students are working oninnovative solutions to ensure that resources are conserved for future generations.

Your support for the continual improvement of Macdonald’s teaching and research infrastructureensures that our students receive the same high-quality, hands-on education that you and Ireceived.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to Macdonald.

Chandra A. Madramootoo, BSc(AgrEng)’77, MSc’81, PhD’85 Dean, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Dean Chandra Madramootoo

From the Dean’s Desk

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ON THE COVER: Students in microbiology gainhands-on laboratory experience.


The announcement that Professor Vilceu Bordignon hadsuccessfully cloned the pig at Macdonald Campus wasjustly hailed as a first for Canada. The event marks not

only a major turning point for the researcher, but also for the LargeAnimal Research Unit that he heads.

“The pig is really of biomedical interest,” says Bordignon. “It sharesmany similarities with humans.” The 17 pigs born in the threeinitial litters could provide the framework on which an enormousnumber of medical advances for human health might be built.

Bordignon and his team used much the same methods that Scottishresearchers used in 1996 to create Dolly the sheep. Chromatin,containing the genetic information from the female pig, wasremoved from a mature egg cell and replaced by genetic materialtaken from the tissue of a male pig. The new zygote was thendeveloped in the lab, before being implanted in a sow.

Such dramatic interventions require the latest biomedicalamenities. The 8,000-square-foot Large Animal Research Unitbuilding (LARU) is such a facility, thanks to a series of renovations

completed two years ago. Professor Leroy Phillip, BSc(Agr)’74,MSc’76, the former LARU director and current chair of theMacdonald Campus Animal Care Committee, explains that thebuilding has “evolved” along with its research mission over the lastfour decades.

Built in 1967 to house sheep used in nutrition research, the LARUhas come to host research on parasitology, embryo transfer and nowanimal cloning. Each of these themes has required substantialupgrades in biosecurity, laboratory and surgical facilities, animalhousing and lately, the installation of a sophisticated climatecontrol system. Without these upgrades, this work would not havebeen possible.

“The LARU itself has become an important instrument forfacilitating this work on cloning, but it has to be continuallyimproved,” explains Phillip.

Bordignon’s high-tech hogs are going to be in high demand forfuture research. Cloning pigs allows researchers to manipulate theanimals’ genetic code, to mimic human disease. Given their sizeand lifespan, pigs are ideally suited to this purpose, even more thanlaboratory favourites like rats and mice. He is already making themost of these advantages with his cloned animals, targeting a genethat regulates how cholesterol attaches to blood vessels.

“Once you generate the animal model, you have the specificphenotype you’re looking for,” he says. “If the model is forcholesterol, we can use it for studyingarteriosclerosis, cardiovascular problemsor therapeutics.”

3 AGRICULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

PIGLET CLONES A CANADIAN FIRSTMARK REYNOLDS

Members of the Bordignon team: Karene Gillespie (undergraduate student, AnimalBiology), Daryn Collis (undergraduate student, Animal Biology), Marcelo Albornoz(MSc student), Vilceu Bordignon, Denyse Laurin, BSc(Agr)’88, (Animal ScienceTechnician), Mario Martinez Diaz (postdoctoral fellow) and Tarun Bhattacharjya(postdoctoral fellow).

Research and Innovation

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Macdonald—Learning in the field

Usually, campus infrastructure tends to bedescribed in terms of classrooms,high-tech laboratories and well-

stocked libraries. Greenery is anafterthought. At Macdonald, the reverseis true; here, biomass beats buildings.Eighteen times larger than theUniversity’s downtown campus,Macdonald is at the heart of a greennetwork and stewards some of the mostimportant ecological resources in theregion. What may not be apparent to thecasual passerby is the extent and richness ofthese resources, and their importance to theadvancement of knowledge, the training of our studentsand the health of our ecosystem.

Morgan Arboretum

Originally founded as a study centre for woodlot management, the245-hectare Morgan Arboretum is a living laboratory, allowingstudents and researchers to participate in a variety of teaching,research and conservation programs, and providing a naturalenvironment for recreation. The Arboretum not only contains thelast remnants of native woodlands on the island of Montreal, butalso hundreds of species of shrubs and trees that were collected andplanted for their educational value. But the Arboretum is more

than just trees — it is also one ofMontreal’s richest habitats forflowers, mammals, birds,reptiles and amphibians.

In the last year alone, studentsfrom at least 20 McGill courses,

representing 5000 studentcontact-hours, visited the Arboretum; inparticular, those enrolled in the

“Engineering for Land Development” and“Environmental Research” courses undertook

senior-year projects aimed at improvingdrainage and waste management.

Researchers from various universities andcentres in the Montreal area use theArboretum to study disease prevention,plant and insect diversity, soil fertility,habitats and the effects of climate change.

The Arboretum also receives about 40,000visitors each year, a figure that includes the

next generation of science students –Montreal-area school children – and locals

seeking the therapeutic benefits of the naturalenvironment. “It’s priceless. There’s just nothing that

compares to it,” says Christina Idziak, BSc(Agr)’96, curator andinterim director of the Morgan Arboretum.

Molson Nature Reserve

Jim Fyles (pictured above), the Tomlinson-Fowler Chair in ForestEcology, has charge over the remarkable 51-hectare Molson NatureReserve. Located just minutes from the campus on the northern tipof Île-Perrot, it includes a maple-beech forest, woodland marshes,swamps and wetlands. The reserve has one of the most significantherpetofauna and plant biodiversities in the St. Lawrence RiverWatershed, and serves as a corridor for migrating birds. It is usedextensively as a teaching and research tool in the Faculty.

Thanks to a recent donation from the Dr. Louis G. JohnsonFoundation, the Faculty was able to purchase state-of-the-art fieldinstruments to measure soil moisture content, crop water uptakeand algal blooms, as well as field instrumentation kits to supportfield course labs for undergraduates and summer field research forgraduate students. These tools give students hands-on experienceusing real-time data, and aid researchers in the collection of long-term data which will guide conservation and preservation practices.

Above: Professor Jim Fyles explains how to determine forest soil conditions.Left: Mycology students can study naturally growing mushrooms in the Arboretum.Photos courtesy C. IDZIAK.

Macdonald’s

L i v i n gLaboratories


“The miniaturization and robustness allows us to use instruments in the field that beforewe were only able to use in the lab,” says Fyles.

Fyles becomes quite animated when talking about the value of Macdonald Campus’ greenresources to the West Island area. He envisions a network of expertise, with MacdonaldCampus at its heart, that could monitor the region’s green spaces, consulting withmunicipalities, community groups and developers on everything from preserving wildlifehabitats to conserving the water table. “If these things were all tied together, there wouldbe a great opportunity,” says Fyles. “We have a lot of very bright people here.”

Emile A. Lods Agronomy Research Centre

The 49-hectare Emile A. Lods Agronomy Research Centre (a.k.a. the “Seed Farm”), hasbeen the training ground for some of Canada’s most brilliant plant breeders. In all, over40 varieties of plants have been developed at Macdonald over the last century. PlantScience professor and Macdonald alumnus Philippe Seguin, BSc(Agr)’95, MSc’97,(pictured below with graduate student Evan Sivesind, MSc’05) is studying theproduction potential in Eastern Canada of grain amaranth, known for its high protein,lysine and fibre properties. Seguin is also working to increase the concentration ofisoflavones in both red clover and soybean to produce phytoestrogen. On thesustainability front, Professor Alan Watson has developed a new organic product toeliminate broadleaf weeds in lawns. The product, which contains Sclerotinia minor, afungus that is a natural enemy of weeds, can completely eliminate dandelions withoutharming surrounding grass. The product, currently under the name Sarritor, provides anorganic alternative to chemical herbicides that have been banned by many municipalgovernments and will be available in limited distribution this spring.

Both Watson and Seguin have conducted their field trials at the Lods and havecontributed to the complete redevelopment of the facility into a high-tech regionalresearch centre. Continuing on the path of excellence set by Macdonald’s early plantbreeders and geneticists, today’s researchers and students are at the forefront of the bio-economy, carrying on our long tradition of cutting edge research aimed at sustainability,mitigating climate change and the development of novel crops.


Macdonald—Learning in the field

Two principal questions posed by irrigators are when toirrigate and how much water to apply. In large-scale irrigatedagriculture, irrigators are interested in advanced technologiesthat simplify farm operations and decision-making.Bioresource Engineering MSc candidate Sajjad Ali (picturedabove left with two summer students) is investigating the useof automated soil water sensor technologies and computer-based irrigation scheduling models, with the overall goal ofimproving water use efficiency. Sensors were set up at foursites with different soils, topography and environmentalconditions and monitored soil moisture irrigation.

Growers embraced the new technologies, as real-time web-based data allowed them to irrigate more efficiently. “Thisresearch really changed me,” says Sajjad. “In large-scalegrowing operations, there is huge scope for efficiency. We cansave a lot of water, just by giving growers the right tools.”

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Graduate student Evan Sivesind and Professor Philippe Seguin examine young emerging seedlings at the Lods.


Every year, Macdonald students board flights to return toMontreal for school. A few dozen, though, are bound for thewarmer climes of Africa, Central America, the Caribbean.

McGill’s field studies overseas provide a broad-based,interdisciplinary learning experience for participants. They balancecoursework in both the social and biological sciences withindependent research, often conducted with local institutions andnon-profit organizations.

Barbados Field Study Semester

The 17-week Barbados Field Study Semester (BFSS), coordinatedand led by the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences,runs each fall at McGill’s Bellairs Research Institute. The hands-onprogram addresses global issues related to the sustainable use anddevelopment of natural resources, with an emphasis onenvironment and food security. Resource conservation, watermanagement and food production are significant concerns in theCaribbean.

The highlight of the semester for many students is the projectcourse, which takes them directly into partner NGOs andgovernment agencies, to work on projects aimed at solving real-lifeproblems. The partners in this year’s program included the FutureCentre, Native Sun NRG, New Water Inc., the University of theWest Indies, the Caribbean Water Initiative (CARIWIN), the

Environmental Protection Department of the Government ofBarbados, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation onAgriculture and the Organic Growers and Consumers Associationof Barbados.

Prior to undertaking their projects, students take three courses tofamiliarize themselves with the cultural, technical, social andeconomic realities of the Caribbean. Students are also taught aboutthe environmental challenges related to water resourcemanagement, land-use planning and infrastructure constraints,with particular emphasis on Barbados.

At the Future Centre in Barbados, an innovative scientific andeducational facility developed by an NGO called CounterpartCaribbean, Bioresource Engineering student Vincent Martineauand Civil Engineering student Jessica Worley designed abiodigestor to produce the energy needed for a biodieselproduction system.

Students Christian Saad, Pénéloppe Thériault and ThomasFortin-Chevalier, also Bioresource Engineering students, workedwith New Water (Caribbean) Inc., a leader in wastewatertreatment, on a project of national importance—the GreenlandLandfill, which remains unopened due to environmental concernsabout how the resulting leachate will be captured and treated. Ourstudents worked on a design to create a wetland from the leachate.

International Hands-On Learning

Macdonald—Learning abroad


Vincent Martineau signed up for the BFSS knowing that he wanted to build abiodigestor — he just needed to find interested partners. Enter Handel Callender ofthe Future Centre. Callender’s company, Native Sun NRG, produces biodiesel fuelfrom used vegetable oil, collected from restaurants, hotels and households. Workingin an area that has many small farm operations, Martineau and project partner JessicaWorley designed and constructed a biodigestor that uses manure to produce andcapture methane gas, which is then used to power the biodiesel production process.Their small-scale system will save Callender’s biodiesel production company $500(Canadian) per year. “School teaches you to design, but there is nothing like fieldwork to learn implementation,” says Martineau. “Not only can I now plan a projectto scale, but I know how to implement my design.”

Martineau raves about his experience in Barbados. “I learned so much —determination, teamwork, leadership and communication.” He already has plans todesign other environmentally sound integrated systems that can be used in smallvillages or on a larger scale.

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Vincent Martineau explains the workings of biodigestors to a group local school children.


Panama Field Studies Semester

Another program that offers students unique hands-on experienceis the Panama Field Study Semester, a joint venture between McGillUniversity and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute inPanama that specifically addresses issues relevant to understandingLatin America’s tropical environment.

Fourth-year environmental sciences student Erika Yates (picturedat right) spent four months in Panama last year, living on a formerU.S. military base near the Panama Canal. While there, she tookcourses on environmental research, neotropical environments andsocial change.

“Instead of it being ‘Now turn to page 36 in your text book’ it was‘Now let’s go look at this factory,’” she says.

Yates and her cohorts were not just observers—the field semester inPanama includes a research component. In Yates’ case, shecompleted an internship with the Peregrine Fund, for which sheproduced a report on deforestation in Aguas Claras, a tinycommunity on the border of Soberania National Park, in thePanama Canal watershed, near where the non-profit organizationwas working to reintroduce the endangered harpy eagle, Panama’snational bird.

“From an outsider’s point of view, it’s easy to say ‘well, they [thepeople] should stop cutting down trees,’ but when you’re there inthe village, you feel like the people should have access to the wholeforest,” says Yates.

Her report, which will form the basis of the Peregrine Fund’sapproach in Aguas Claras and similar locales, recommendedcreating an education program that takes into account villagers’needs and gives them the tools to become custodians of theirenvironment. The Fund has targeted Panamanian children andstudents as principal messengers to communicate the harpy eagle’srole in a healthy ecosystem. Educational tools include instruction,tours, presentations, games, videos and learning materials.

“It was extremely eye-opening,” says Yates. “It really changed myperspective. I’m much more likely to think of more components[human, ecological] when looking at environmental problems.”

Macdonald—Learning abroad


“The educational program we developed (a presentation & quiz) was to teachabout the importance of intact forest for ecosystem service maintenance (i.e. theforest helps keep the land from flooding in the wet season and drying out in thedry season, provides shade, shelters from wind, erosion control, etc.), and tosuggest ways in which the villagers could go about their daily activities in a way thatreduces the impact on the jungle but still allows them to fulfill their needs. We hadconducted a survey on wood use and where they get it from to see what sort ofstress was being placed on the jungle. The primary use of wood was firewood forcooking, and secondarily for construction material. Not a lot of land in the area isbeing converted to agriculture because the village is bordered by a national park onone side, and foreign-owned teak plantations on the other. The suggestions wecame up with were planting live fences to border their crops, planting fruit trees ontheir land to help with subsistence and provide the services of trees as well as small-scale agroforestry, which requires very little investment and can provide a goodsource of wood. The reason intact forests are important to the Fondo Peregrino isthat the particular national park (Parque Soberania) that borders Aguas Claras is thelocation of release of their captively bred Harpies, which require a big, healthyforest for habitat (since they're top predators the forest has to be big enough tosupport all the animals they need to eat).”

ERIKA YATES

Erika’s report is available on line at: www.mcgill.ca/pfss/student_internship_reports/2007/

It was extremely eye-opening. It reallychanged my perspective. I’m much morelikely to think of more components[human, ecological] when looking atenvironmental problems.ERIKA YATES

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Erika Yates goes through the educational brochure with some of the children.


Macdonald—Developing entrepreneurs


With a mission of training the agriculturalists oftomorrow in science, entrepreneurship andmanagement, there is no endeavour that carries on the

original vision of founder Sir William Macdonald as much as theFarm Management and Technology (FMT) program. PeterEnright, BSc(AgrEng)’86, MSc’89, director of the program,explains that as agricultural producers, the students will likelyrequire expertise in areas that would leave a Silicon Valley CEOweeping. “They will need to manage money, labour issues, industryregulations and environmental constraints,” he says.

In keeping with the breadth of the FMT mandate, its students —probably more than any other group at Macdonald — make fulluse of the campus resources. “There’s an animal handling andphysiology course, so students use the animal facilities,” saysEnright. “There’s a soil tillage course, so they’re often up at the LodsAgronomy Research Centre learning to use the equipment there.”Students also take courses in the Morgan Arboretum, where curatorChristina Idziak teaches a course on silviculture, including a sectionon maple sugar production.

That Macdonald’s FMT program has such resources on its doorstepis a major boon, according to Enright. “The students can be rightout there, using the equipment,” he says. “To have a working farmon our doorstep is a godsend.”

FMT student Simon Lamy (pictured at right) wholeheartedlyagrees. Growing up in Montreal, he didn’t have access to farms, butwas able to conduct his farm project research — raising sheep in anapple orchard — using campus resources. “The experience, even ifit was on a small scale,” says Lamy, “gave me real insight into theeveryday reality of being an agricultural producer, which is that

things will sometimes go wrong, and you just have to learn how tomanage it.”

Lamy is now using the skills he acquired at Macdonald to start hisown farm. “I took advantage of all the environmental diversity thatsurrounds us on this campus and tried to get as much experience aspossible,” he says. He learned about greenhouse and phytotronoperations while working in the Plant Science Department, andabout engineering and mechanics while completing a project in theEngineering Shop. At the Horticulture Research Centre, Lamylearned about the use of plastic mulches in growing crops. SaysLamy: “I learned so much more from actually doing instead of justbook learning.”

Putting learning into practice

The Value of Practising What We Preach

The student-led Sustainable McGill Project has high hopes that the University will authorize the creation of a Sustainability Centre,which would give students academic credit for research and work-study programs. And what better place to live and teach that modelthan the Macdonald Campus? Effectively a “municipality” in its own right, the campus supplies power, heat and water to its buildings,oversees housing for its residents, maintains a 12-kilometre road network, coordinates shuttle services for commuting students, carefullywatches over the 40,000 cars that enter and exit the campus weekly, and oversees acres and acres of wide open spaces, all with an eyeto creating an accessible but sustainable campus. For his senior project, Louis-Martin Dion, currently a second-year student inBioresource Engineering, aims to study Macdonald’s 75-year-old stream heating system to see how it can be made moreenvironmentally friendly. “I have had difficulty organizing the project because there is no protocol in place for this kind ofenvironmental collaboration between students and the University,” says Dion. “The project would let me go beyond theory and let mereally participate in the campus.”

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Simon Lamy used the Campus apple orchards to raise sheep.


Around the Faculty

Martin Chénier, PhD’05, has been appointed to both the Department of Animal Science and the Department of FoodScience & Agricultural Chemistry. Chénier comes aboard just three years after completing his Microbiology PhD atMcGill, where he studied antibiotic resistance in the micro-organisms that inhabit biofilms – the slimy substance on riverrocks. In the classroom, Chénier will be teaching undergraduate food microbiology. In the lab, he’ll be developingmicrobiological methods for detecting pathogens and antibiotic resistance in biofilms and food, with a focus on dairyproducts.

Gordon Hickey joins the Department of Natural Resource Sciences from Australia. He completed his BSc at theUniversity of Melbourne, followed by a Masters and PhD in Forest Resource Management at the University of BritishColumbia. Professor Hickey has won numerous awards, including the Young Scientist Publication Award. His researchinterests focus on the sustainability of the natural environment, in particular, natural resource policy, regulation andassessment, and associated international development programs. He has an extensive background in forestry as well as abroad expertise in environmental sciences, and is especially well-suited to contribute significantly to the McGill School ofEnvironment and the Environmental Assessment Program.

Natural Resource Sciences professor DavidBird, MSc’76, PhD’78, and co-editor, KeithBildstein, of Pennsylvania’s Hawk Mountainsanctuary, have released Raptor Research andManagement Techniques (Hancock PublishingHouseLtd., 2007), which promises to be highlyuseful to raptor biologists the world over.

David Wees, BSc(Agr)’84, MSc’87, a facultylecturer in the Farm Management andTechnology Program and the Plant ScienceDepartment, also has a new publication:La culture en serre des fines herbes.

Institute of Parasitology professor Florence Dzierszinski wasawarded the 2008 Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Awardby the March of Dimes. She will be conducting research into theimmunobiology of host-parasite relationships during acutetoxoplasmosis. She received one of the few international awardsgiven by the U.S.-based foundation.

School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition professor KatherineGray-Donald, BSc’69, PhD’84, has been elected president of theCanadian Society for Nutritional Sciences. She will begin hertenure in June.

The Woodsmen traveled to Truro, Nova Scotia to compete in thelast of the Canadian Intercollegiate Lumberjacking Association(CILA) events. The women’s team secured second place in boththe competition and the final CILA standings for the 2007-08season by winning the Axe Throw (Marie-Anne Hardy), WaterBoil (Jeanne Bédard), Underhand Chop (Emma Loosigian andBeth Grant) and the Swede Saw (team) events. The secondwomen’s team also had a great day, finishing fourth overall. ChloéNadeau-Perrier finished third in Dry Land Log Burling, an eventthat requires tremendous concentration, speed and balance. Themen’s A-team experienced a slow but steady day, earning a third-place finish. Éric Breault won Water Boil while the men’s B-teamcaptain Matt Dandy finished a strong third in the grueling SingleBuck event. Special congratulations to both A-team captainsChris Allen and Emma Loosigian for coming in first and second,respectively, in the STIHL Timbersport Canadian CollegiateSeries. The wins gives them both the opportunity to compete inthe STIHL professional qualifying tour this summer.


K U D O S . . .

Face-to-FaceMacdonald Campus is pleased to welcome two new professors to the Faculty.


A Permanent Tribute to Sir William C. Macdonald

Sir William ChristopherMacdonald (1831-1917), wasone of Canada’s foremost

educational philanthropists, playing apivotal role in the evolution ofMcGill University into the world-renowned institution it is today.

Two landmark projects wereimplemented to commemorate the centennial of the College’sfounding. These were the Macdonald Library and Learning Centreand the landscaping of the entrances to the Macdonald-StewartComplex. We would now like to put the final touch on theseprojects by honouring our Founder with a statue to be erected at thesouthern entrance to the Macdonald Stewart Complex.

We invite you to share in the rich history and legacy of Sir WilliamC. Macdonald by helping to fund of the creation of his statue. Thetotal cost of the project is $100,000, and we hope to unveil thestatue at Homecoming 2008.

For more information, please contact: Anna Duff, Macdonald Development Office514-398-7852 or [email protected].

9th Annual OrmstownLuncheon

On January 29, more than 75Châteauguay Valley area gradsbraved the freezing rain to attendthe 9th Annual OrmstownLuncheon. Ably organized byRoland Greenbank,BSc(Agr)’47, DipEd’56, Peter(BSc(Agr)’63) and EleanorFinlayson, George Eades,BSc(Agr)’73, and Kelly McNamara, the Luncheon provided anopportunity for grads to gather and exchange news.

Joe Schwarcz, BSc’69, PhD’74, (pictured above), Director ofMcGill’s Office for Science and Society, performed his usual magicand entertained the audience with an informative talk about thescience of food. Elizabeth Roy, Class of ’33, received specialrecognition as the most venerable grad to attend the Luncheon.


Development & Alumni Relations News

CAMPAIGN McGILL: HISTORY IN THE MAKING

Since Campaign McGill: History in the Making began on June 1, 2004, the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences hasraised $8,618,417 towards its Campaign priorities. As part of these goals, the Faculty will establish endowed chairs in Nutrition andHealth Promotion, Water Resources Management, Sustainable Ecosystem Management and Food Toxicology, as well as increasingsupport for graduate and undergraduate students and strengthening academic infrastructure and community outreach.

To learn more about the Faculty’s Campaign priorities or to download a copy of Macdonald’s Case for Support, please visit www.mcgill.ca/campaign/goalsandpriorities/facultypriorities/agri-enviro/

To obtain a copy of Macdonald’s Case for Support, please contact Anna Duff at 514-398-7852 or at [email protected].

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Antonio (Toni) DiTommaso,BSc(Agr)’86, PhD’95, received theOutstanding Teaching Award from theWeed Science Society of America at itsannual meeting in January. DiTommasojoined Cornell University’s Department ofCrop and Soil Sciences in August 1999 andis an Associate Professor in Weed Science.His research interests are in the areas ofweed biology/ecology, invasive plantecology, biological weed control andintegrated weed management.

In late 2007, Gale Elliot, BSc’61, receivedrecognition from the Dietitians of Canadafor her outstanding contributions to thedietetics profession, and for promotingpublic health and well-being in NorthernOntario. She was instrumental in theestablishment of the first daycare and thefirst Diabetes Education Centre and out-patient nutrition counselling centre inSudbury, Ontario. Her passion hasinfluenced and fostered many students’enthusiasm for public health.

In August 2007, Bob Bonnell,BSc(AgrEng)’83, MSc’85, PhD’93,(pictured above) and his wife DanielleLacasse climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, theworld's tallest volcano and tallest free-standing mountain (5,895 metres). Theapproach took six days; they entered thepark on the west side and traversed theShira plateau to the east side of themountain before the reaching the top.There were 40 porters for six hikers, andeverything packed-in was, in turn, packed-out.


ark your calendars

Here are some of our upcoming events.We hope that you will be able to join us!

April 30, 2008Alumni Event, Ottawa, Ontario

May 21, 2008McGill Alumni Association Awards

June 2, 2008Convocation at Macdonald

September 2008Bob Pugh Golf Tournament, details TBA

October 16-19, 2008Homecoming at Macdonald

More info: Macdonald Development Office

[email protected]

F R O M O U R A L U M N I . . .`̀

The Sir William Macdonald Consecutive Giving Circle

The Sir William Macdonald Consecutive Giving Circlewill be launched at the 2008 Homecoming celebrations

at McGill's Macdonald Campus.

The Giving Circle will recognize donors who have madeAnnual Fund gifts for five or more consecutive years.

More information on the Circle will be available soon.

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Please return undeliverable mail to / Retour des envois non-livrés à:

In Focus Editor, Development OfficeFaculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Macdonald Campus, McGill University21,111 Lakeshore Road

Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec H9X 3V9

Founder’s Day ...

On February 7, 2008 more than 500 students, faculty, staff, alumni andfriends of Macdonald came together to celebrate Sir William Macdonald’s177th birthday.

RIGHT: Roslyn James (centre) of the Plant Science Department received thesecond Macdonald Campus Award of Excellence for Administrative andSupport Staff. Gold Key awards were presented to Emma Loosigian (left)and Amanda Daluiso.

BELOW: Special guest speaker Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of theCouncil of Canadians, spoke on water use and conservation.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Founder’s Day guests included (L-R) Bruce Bolton,BSc’72, Executive Director, The Macdonald Stewart Foundation, and McGillChancellor Richard Pound, seen here with Dean Chandra Madramootoo.

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Woodsmen A-team captainsChris Allen (left) and EmmaLoosigian came in first andsecond place, respectively, inthe STIHL TimbersportCanadian Collegiate Series.Both now have theopportunity to compete in theSTIHL professional qualifyingtour this summer.

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Woodsmen ....

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the hands-on this issue experience · future research. cloning pigs allows researchers to...

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