AG e-news April 23, 2019
News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
UPCOMING EVENTS
Wednesday, April 24 – There will be a free American Oil Chemists Society webinar on “Defining the Quality of Plant-Based Proteins: Challenges and Opportunities for Pulses” presented by Jim House, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences. Register at https://www.aocs.org/store/shop-aocs/shop-aocs?productId=230548936.
Friday, April 26 – There will be a NCLE Special Seminar “Sustainability as (re)organizing principle and moving target: Considering the past, present, and future of industrial livestock systems” presented by Nathan Pelletier, NSERC/Egg Farmers of Canada Industrial Research Chair in Sustainability and Endowed Chair in Bio-economy Sustainability Management, University of British Columbia – Okanagan, at 10:00 am in 219 Animal Science/Entomology Building. Read more at https://eventscalendar.umanitoba.ca/site/fafs/event/ncle-special-seminar-sustainability-as-reorganizing-principle-and-moving-target-considering/.
April 29 to May 2 – This is the week of the safety seminars and orientations! The Department of Soil Science Annual Orientation and Safety Session happens 8:45 am, Monday April 29, in Room 346 Ellis Building. The Plant Science Safety Seminar takes place Monday, April 29 in Room 172 Agriculture Building at 9:00 am. The Carman Safety Orientation Session will be held Tuesday, April 30, at the Ian N. Morrison Research Farm in Carman, at 10:00 am. The Greenhouse Orientation will take place Thursday, May 2, in the Plant Science headerhouse area at 10:30 am. Check in with your departments for more information about who should attend.
Friday, May 3 – The 2019 Diploma Convocation will be held at 3:30 pm in the Investors Group Athletic Centre. All are welcome to attend!
Saturday, May 4 – The 30th Annual Traditional Graduation Pow Wow will take place at the Investors Group Athletic Centre. Please join us in celebrating the achievements of the 2019 University of Manitoba’s Indigenous graduates. Details at http://umanitoba.ca/student/indigenous/events/traditional_graduation_pow_wow.html.
Tuesday, May 7 – The Manitoba Materials Conference 2019 will showcase the work of students and researchers in the area of materials research. The event runs 8:30 am to 7:00 pm in the EITC Atrium and adjacent lecture rooms. Poster competition finalists will give a 3-minute presentation as they compete for a grand prize. More details and registration at http://umanitoba.ca/interdisciplinary/research/mim/conference/797.html.
Friday, May 10 – The Department of Statistics is offering the workshop “Introduction to R” 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm, Friday, May 10, 311 Machray Hall. $30 course fee. Space is limited to 35 seats. Registration deadline: May 6. To register for this workshop, please email consulting [at] stats [dot] umanitoba [dot] ca.
Saturday, May 11 – Science Rendezvous 2019, a nation-wide science open house, will once again be held at the University of Manitoba campus. Bring your family down and check out the Faculty booth between 11 am and 4 pm. There are also lots of other exhibits planned, from a Chemistry Potions Class to the musical staircase to the all-new glow wall Get your geek on and come visit! See the complete list of activities at http://www.sci.umanitoba.ca/science-rendezvous/.
May 24-25 – At the upcoming Science Writers of Canada national conference being held in Winnipeg, there will be a panel presentation featuring Michel Aliani, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, on the topic “How to break through to consumers with truth vs myth on science and health.” Learn more at https://sciencewriters.ca/2019program.
May 29-31 – Bridge2Food is hosting the 12th Plant Protein Ingredients Summit 2019 in Saskatoon, SK, and Jim House, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, will be one of the speakers on the topic “Protein Nutrition: What is a ‘good protein’? Challenges of Brands to use Proteins”. Learn more at https://bridge2food.com/summits/plant-protein-ingredients-summit/.
June 11-14 – The Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) 2019 Conference will be hosted by the University of Manitoba, Red River College and Universite de Saint-Boniface at the RBC Convention Centre with the theme “Guiding the Journey: Learner-Teacher-Learner.” Complete details and registration at https://stlhe2019sapes.ca/.
STAFF AND STUDENT NEWS
Rob Currie and the Department of Entomology have partnered with the City of Winnipeg and the Living Prairie Museum in the creation of a new website that launched as part of Earth Day. Bee Better Manitoba is a group of like-minded organizations who have come together with a common goal – to inspire and empower Manitobans to protect, conserve and create pollinator-friendly habitat at home and in their communities. Check out the website for great resources on pollinators at http://beebettermb.ca/. They also encourage people to share their habitat and pollinator encounters with the hashtag #beebetterchallenge on Instagram.
Carla Taylor and Peter Zahradka (cross-appointed), Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, both accepted a three-year renewal as team leaders for the Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine (CCARM). Read more at http://www.sbrc.ca/2019/04/drs-taylor-and-zahradka-team-leaders-for-another-term/
Congratulations to the student winners of this year’s Rapid-Fire Research Symposium 2, hosted by CCARM on March 29. The event is designed to challenge trainees to present their research in 7 minutes. Among the Faculty student winners were Chelsey Walchuk (Ph.D. student supervised by Miyoung Suh) who placed 2nd; and Anne Marques-Mendonca (M.Sc. student, supervised by Harold Aukema) who placed 3rd. Judges were Drs. Natalie Riediger, Sijo Joseph and Heather Blewett. See photos at http://www.sbrc.ca/2019/04/rapid-fire-research-symposium-2-winners/
Kristen Matwychuk, Farm and Food Discovery Centre, provided a webinar for Manitoba Health Food in Schools on the topic “The Real Dirt on Farming” on April 15. You can watch the hour-long webinar online by registering at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7452500104897704705.
And the Faculty’s early March seminar featuring Drs. Pat MacKay and Robert Lamb entitled “Exploring Population Dynamics: 20 Years of Data on a Manitoba Insect” is now posted on the Faculty Seminar page – www.umanitoba.ca/afs/seminars/.
IN THE NEWS
Rob Currie, Entomology, was interviewed by CityTV (April 22) about encouraging bees – https://winnipeg.citynews.ca/video/2019/04/22/entomologists-say-dont-rake-the-leaves-too-early/
Brian Amiro, Soil Science, was quoted in the article “Parts of Prairies see more frost-free days” in the Western Producer (April 18) – https://www.producer.com/2019/04/parts-of-prairies-see-more-frost-free-days/
Martin Entz, Plant Science, was quoted in the article “The science behind intercropping” in Grainews (April 17) – https://www.grainews.ca/2019/04/17/the-science-behind-intercropping/
David Lobb, Soil Science, was interviewed in the Manitoba Co-operator (April 15) article “The vertical-tillage question defies pat answers” – https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/crops/the-vertical-tillage-question-defies-pat-answers/
GENERAL NEWS
Show your appreciation of a support staff member or team by nominating them for the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences Support Staff Awards. Deadline is May 1 – details and nomination form is at http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/afs/staff/supportstaffawards.html.
Call for Abstracts – On June 26, graduate students across departments and faculties (arts, agricultural and food sciences, biological sciences, environment, engineering) – in conjunction with the Food Systems Research Group – are putting on the second annual Food Systems and Sustainability Symposium. Graduate students from ANY department at the University of Manitoba wanting to share their research towards understanding and improving our shared food system are invited to submit an abstract. Student Presentation Abstracts deadline has been extended to May 24.. More information at www.uomfssc.wordpress.com.
The University of Manitoba Employees Scholarship (UMES) is a scholarship that is available to the spouse or dependent children of University of Manitoba employees or retired former employees. The deadline to submit applications for the UMES scholarship is May 31, 2019. Applications can be found online at http://umanitoba.ca/student/fin_awards/scholarships/1720.html.