UNews - Dr. Joe Rasmussen

Three U of L professors elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada

caroline.zentner — Wed, 07 Sep 2016 16:03:02 +0000

A renowned neuroscientist, an accomplished anthropologist and a leading biologist from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge have been elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC). Their election acknowledges the remarkable accomplishments of Drs. Louise Barrett, Bruce McNaughton and Joe Rasmussen in advancing knowledge and scholarship.

Barrett, a U of L psychology professor, has been elected by her peers in the Anglophone division of the Academy of Social Sciences. Her innovative approaches to evolutionary anthropology and psychology have contributed to an exciting and fruitful interdisciplinary research program. Her training in ecology and anthropology led her to accept a Canada Research Chair in Evolution, Cognition, and Behaviour as well as the publication of influential books and articles on the social nature of cognition. Her research is firmly grounded in world-class empirical field study of social interaction in primate populations.

Dr. Louise Barrett poses with one of her research subjects.

“It is an enormous honour to be elected, and a great thrill to be recognized in this way by my adopted country, but I would never have been able to achieve it without the support and hard work of my collaborator, Peter Henzi, our students and our other research collaborators, so much of the credit must also go to them,” says Barrett. “It also meant a great deal to me to be nominated by Linda Fedigan, as she is without doubt Canada’s leading biological anthropologist, and someone whose work I have long admired.”

“I nominated Dr. Louise Barrett for membership in the FRSC because she is a recognized leader in the field of social cognition. She focuses mainly on social dynamics in wild, non-human primates, specifically baboons and vervets, as models of how animals conceptualize and interact adaptively in their social worlds,” says Dr. Linda Fedigan, FRSC, C.M., ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary professor emerita.

Rasmussen, a biology professor, joins the Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences division of the Academy of Science. He has contributed significantly to the development of tracer approaches to modelling energy flow in food webs, based on fractionation and kinetics of naturally occurring isotopes. These approaches have yielded fresh insights and technical inroads into important ecological problems such as the biomagnification of persistent contaminants and the impacts of heavy metals and mining practices. Rasmussen’s research has important applications to conservation problems, including invasive species, habitat modelling and fragmentation.

Dr. Joe Rasmussen's research has implications for important ecological problems.

“It feels very special to be honoured in this way by colleagues for all these years of doing something that is so much fun. I’m a lucky guy,” says Rasmussen.

“Joe is most deserving of being elected to the Royal Society of Canada. I nominated him because he is a scientist with a broad interdisciplinary scope and strong quantitative skills. He knows the potential that exists in applying theory, tools and modelling approaches from physical sciences to ecology and he’s brave enough to venture into uncharted waters,” says U of L President Mike Mahon.

McNaughton, a neuroscience professor, has been elected to the Life Sciences division of the Academy of Science. His ground-breaking discoveries in systems neuroscience have been the basis for thousands of studies and publications focused on how the world thinks about synaptic plasticity, spatial cognition and long-term memory. His research has dramatically impacted neuroscience theory and his experimental and conceptual work contributed significantly to the work upon which the shared 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was awarded.

Dr. Bruce McNaughton is a world leader in systems neuroscience.

“Generals get medals for battles won through the courage and sacrifices of their troops. Senior scientists get elected to prestigious societies for much the same reason,” says McNaughton. “It is a pleasure and honour to have been nominated and elected, but the main credit goes to the many talented trainees and research staff who have made any achievement I have made possible.”

“Bruce is truly a world leader in systems neuroscience and he’s made major advances in several areas and pioneered new technologies and new conceptual approaches. He continues to have a huge impact on neuroscience theory, research and methods. I was pleased to nominate him and his election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society recognizes his many accomplishments,” says Mahon.

Distinguished scholars and artists are elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada every year based on their exceptional contributions to Canadian intellectual life. The Society was established through an Act of Parliament in 1883 as Canada’s National Academy for senior scholars, artists and scientists.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge welcomes new Research Chair in Potato Science

caroline.zentner — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 17:17:15 +0000

Funded by a consortium of association and industry partners, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has appointed Dr. Dmytro Yevtushenko as Research Chair in Potato Science.

The local potato industry is poised to benefit from Yevtushenko’s experience as a plant biologist and from his expertise in potatoes, a plant he has studied for more than 25 years.

“This is a dream job, tailored for me,” says Yevtushenko, who assumed the position on Jan. 4. “Thanks to the Potato Growers of Alberta (PGA) and the remarkable people at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ who have the vision for the potato and agriculture in Alberta, I can start this program in a relatively short time.”

The PGA, McCain Foods, Lamb Weston and Cavendish Farms made a $1 million investment over five years to establish the Chair in Potato Science. Western Canada has few researchers dedicated to the potato industry and the new Chair will enhance and expand the current capacity.

“Dmytro’s arrival in southern Alberta is a result of unprecedented collaboration between the potato industry and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ,” says David Hill, Director of Development, Southern Alberta Agriculture Program. “For the potato growers and processors to have had the long-term vision, insight and dedication to work with the U of L to enable a potato research program focused on the needs of the industry is significant. This initiative is a key element of the renewed focus on agriculture and agri-business that is being pursued by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and its partners. It is an exciting time for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and the students who will benefit from participation in this program.”

The PGA is a non-profit potato grower organization working to increase the success of the Alberta potato growing industry, currently worth $1 billion annually.

“Local growers and processors welcome Dr. Yevtushenko and we are eager to start working with him,” says Terence Hochstein, the PGA’s executive director. “Our membership identified a need for university-level research and education in the potato industry and we are excited to have Dr. Yevtushenko and his expertise available to us.”

“Potatoes are a very large part of the economy here in southern Alberta and it’s very important for the people involved in the potato industry to have a feeling that the problems involved are being addressed by research,” says Dr. Joe Rasmussen, a U of L biology professor and Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Ecosystems. “It’s also important for the potato growers to have access to trained people who are ready to work in their industry. Students will gain higher education in an area they would not have had before and in a field that has potential employment for them in this region.”

Yevtushenko plans to co-ordinate his research programs with the needs of the local industry. His major research interests are in the areas of plant biotechnology and breeding, with focus on crop improvement and food safety using modern techniques that involve molecular biology, plant tissue culture, and genetics. While he has researched many plant species, he prefers working with potatoes. His experience working in the plant biotechnology industry has given him an appreciation for the concerns of producers. He has a broad range of research expertise, including development of potato genotypes with wide-spectrum disease resistance and large-scale production of virus-free seed potatoes in vitro. Among other projects, his research plans include improvement of tuber yields through epigenetic enhancement of current potato cultivars and speeding up the potato breeding process using innovative methods.

Yevtushenko is eager to get started and he’ll be visiting local potato farms and facilities in the next few weeks. His lab is being retrofitted in a construction trailer near Hepler Hall, where he will conduct research until lab space becomes available through the Destination Project construction. After it opens this summer, he’ll be starting his research projects. In September, Yevtushenko will teach a course in plant breeding and genetics with a component specific to potato agriculture. He also plans to have students working in his lab and, in the future, he hopes to develop co-operative opportunities for students.

“Potato growers are interested in a new generation of young people who will graduate from university and come to farms with knowledge of potato science,” says Yevtushenko. “Surprisingly, there is a shortage of qualified people in potato agriculture and when they need to hire someone, they hire people from the United States and from Europe.”

Yevtushenko was born in central Ukraine and attended Kiev State ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, as it was then called. He’d wanted to be a scientist ever since he was in middle school and he arrived at university wanting to study nature and the environment. He discovered a passion for plant biology and completed a PhD at the Institute of Cell Biology and Genetic Engineering in Kiev. He came to Canada for a post-doctoral fellowship at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Guelph. Since then, he’s worked at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Victoria and held various positions in private industry, gaining a broad range of experience in business and research in the process.

UNews - Dr. Joe Rasmussen

Three U of L professors elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada

Related Topics

��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge welcomes new Research Chair in Potato Science

Related Content

Potato Growers of Alberta, partners, create new research Chair

Thriving potato industry needs access to research

Shining New Light on Potato Research

Related Topics

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge welcomes new Research Chair in Potato Science