OAC Alumni Distinguished Researcher AwardRene Van Acker, OAC Dean; Kari Dunfield and Rocio Morales Rayas, OAC Alumni Association.

Prof. Kari Dunfield, School of Environmental Sciences, received the Distinguished Researcher Award, which recognizes outstanding research accomplishments by an OAC faculty member.Dunfield joined the School of Environmental Science at U of G in 2004. Her research focus is on examining the impact of shifting agricultural practices on soil and rhizosphere associated microbial communities. Her research group is one of the first to use next generation sequencing approaches to examine the diversity of key functional groups of organisms, such as the denitrifiers under shifting agricultural practices. This research practice has a clear impact as it is used by government agencies to develop policies around non-target impacts of GM crops, and has produced over 30 refereed publications in the last five years. Dunfield's recognitions include a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Environmental Microbiology of Agroecosystems (2012-2017) and the Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry for Innovation and Research (2011-2016). She has been 1 of the 10 Principal Investigators on the Canada First Research Excellence Fund Food from Thought: Agricultural Systems for a Healthy Planet [1] (2016-2022), which is bringing over $70M to the university over seven years.

OAC Alumni Foundation G.P. McRostie Faculty AwardRene Van Acker, Oac Dean; Bev Hale and Anna DeMarchi-Meyers, OAC Alumni Foundation.

Prof. Bev Hale, School of Environmental Sciences, received the G.P. McRostie Faculty Award, which recognizes the importance of effective advising and mentoring by faculty who play a significant role in the education of OAC students.Hale embodies the standards of a winner of the JP McRostie award – from her rise from untenured Assistant Professor at a major research university to Associate Dean (Research and Innovation) in OAC, to her numerous grants, her scholarly publications in refereed journals, her national and international collaborations across disciplinary boundaries. She is internationally known for her research focus that aims to identify mechanistic principles of trace element movement from soils to plants and humans, to support risk assessment and remediation of contaminated soils. In addition to her scholarly achievements, Bev has glowing reviews from the students she has supervised and mentored over the years.

To see the Other Award winnershttps://www.uoguelph.ca/oac/news/2017-oac-faculty-awards-presented [2]