Guelph The Portico Magazine, Winter 2011

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W I N T E R 2 0 11

Nature’s perfect food gets better

Guelph researchers explore your inner ecosystem

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contents the portico • winter 2010

HEAL HEALTH TH & DENTAL DENT TAL A INSURANCE I

When John fell into the boards, here’s what it cost:

3 — president’s page • grad news — 30 • passages — 37

in and a ro u n d the university

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Guelph chemist discovers a way to reduce the environmental impact of aluminum mining, OVC opens a new building for research and diagnostic services, and environmental science professors show that planting trees to offset carbon emissions won’t affect global warming.

— 16 — cover story

alumni matters

MAKING HEALTHY FOOD EVEN BETTER

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Foods of the future will be more specialized for the health needs of the individual consumer, says U of G food scientist Milena Corredig.

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he School of Engineering launches a new awards program as the University of Guelph Alumni Association applauds its annual alumni award winners. Alumniin-Action volunteers host their annual dinner for international students, and arts graduate Andrea Lindsay celebrates a Juno.

John’s provincial health plan paid for none of it.

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His Alumni Health & Dental Plan paid for most of it.

Disc Discover over ho how Alumni w the A lumni Health & Dental Plan can help yyou ou save save on both rroutine outine and une unexpected xpected health car caree expenses. expenses.

-866-842-5757 ffor or a fr free personalized information Call 11-866-842-5757 Call ee per sonalized inf ormation package, or to get mor www.manulife.com/uofguelphmag e.com/uofguelphmag moree inf infoo no now w visit: www.manulif Underwritten by:

on the cover U of G food scientist Milena Corredig PHOTO BY DEAN PALMER

Portico online More U of G news at uoguelph.ca/theportico

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Expense amounts are for illustrative purposes only.

HOW GUT BACTERIA AFFECT YOUR HEALTH Prof. Emma Allen-Vercoe’s made-in-Guelph “robo-gut” is a unique research tool for studying the causes of inflammatory bowel disease, gum disease and even autism.

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— 19 — ALUMNI PROFILES Guelph grad Claudia Harvey entered the Dragon’s Den and came out a winner. Software developer Barry Billings designs health-care tools for the Canadian market.

And physics alumni Derek and Michelle Brown are modifying medical equipment for use in developing countries.

building a better planet

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U of G celebrates major donations that will support student learning, promote environmental governance and fund research to improve the health of horses.

Leaders for a Sustainable World:

UNIVERSITY SUMMIT TO FIGHT HUNGER

Unique MBA and MA programs.

The College of Management and Economics at the University of Guelph has a profound commitment to community well-being, sustainable commerce and global competitiveness.

Personal Growth

Winter 2011 • Volume 43 Issue 1

Leadership

International Competitiveness

A BETTER YOU, A BETTER PLANET.

A unique MBA:

A transformational MA (Leadership):

• Community, ethics and sustainability as integral to competitive strategy • Hybrid of residential and interactive online learning • A focus on industries that reflect Guelph’s historic strengths (food, agribusiness, hospitality, and tourism)

• Learning about leadership, thinking, communicating, diversity • Influence that begins with understanding yourself, and then others • Leaders from corporate, government, professional, military and not-for-profit sectors learning from each other

Contact Patti Lago: toll free at 1-888-622-2474 • plago@uoguelph.ca www.mba.uoguelph.ca • www.leadership.uoguelph.ca

You Remember U of G So Do Your Future Customers

Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderson 519-827-9169 Direct all other correspondence to: Communications and Public Affairs University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 E-mail m.dickieson@exec.uoguelph.ca www.uoguelph.ca/theportico/ The Portico magazine is published three times a year by Communications and Public Affairs at the University of Guelph. Its mission is to enhance the relationship between the University and its alumni and friends and promote pride and commitment within the University community. All material is copyright 2011. Ideas and opinions expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of the University or the editors.

Publications Mail Agreement # 40064673 Printed in Canada — ISSN 1714-8731 To update your alumni record, contact: Alumni Affairs and Development Phone 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550 Fax 519-822-2670 E-mail alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

• Promote your business in The Portico • Reach more than 93,000 educated consumers • Three issues per year, insert opportunities

2 The Portico

For advertising inquiries: www.uoguelph.ca/adguide/ Scott Anderson Tel: 519-827-9169 Fax: 519-827-9174 Email: theandersondifference@rogers.com

e ’ r e i n v i t i n g t h e wo r l d to Guelph. And we’re issuing a challenge.

People from all walks of life and from all over the world will converge upon the University of Guelph in February to attend the sixth annual Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit. It’s the first time this international event has been held in Canada.We expect to see more than 400 people, including university students, faculty members, government and aid workers, politicians and social activists.

Day in and day out, hunger is a fact of life for one of every seven people on Earth. Nearly one billion people in the world don’t get enough to eat. Hunger kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Faced with such a huge problem, it’s difficult to know how to solve it. But it’s a challenge we can’t ignore.

Universities Fighting World Hunger works with the United Nations World Food Program and aims to prompt university administrators and students to make the fight against hunger a core value of their institutions. U of G was the first Canadian university to join the group, but a few others are now coming on board.

Along with my co-host – Gavin Armstrong, a fourthyear commerce student and a member of the U of G Board of Governors – I’m inviting all Canadian universities to attend the summit and join us in the battle against hunger and malnutrition. We believe universities are perfectly positioned to play an important role in this effort, drawing on two of their most vital resources: students and researchers.

University students have the energy and enthusiasm needed to tackle this challenge. Guelph students already donate money from their meal cards every semester and canvass the city each fall for donations for local food banks. Many of our students also volunteer in disadvantaged areas in Canada and around the world.

University professors and researchers also bring particular skills and knowledge to bear on finding solutions to hunger and malnutrition. Guelph scientists and scholars from varied disciplines already collaborate to address environmental degradation, climate change, disease, social and economic disorder, political conflicts and numerous other issues that cause or worsen hunger and its soulmate, poverty. Improving the quality of life for people around the world is the goal of The BetterPlanet Project, which is intended to increase the capacity for research and innovation at the University of Guelph.

PHOTO BY ROSS DAVIDSON-PILON

Become part of the solution.

Editor Mary Dickieson Director Charles Cunningham Art Direction Peter Enneson Design Inc. Contributors Susan Bubak Deirdre Healey Lori Bona Hunt Wendy Jespersen Rebecca Kendall, BA ’99 Teresa Pitman SPARK Program Writers Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. ’84

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Supporting The BetterPlanet Project will further strengthen U of G expertise in food, health, environment and community – all critical parts of the solution to hunger and malnutrition.

In fact, fighting hunger and malnutrition is one priority under the BetterPlanet initiative to fund a global network in sustainable food production.This collaboration of experts will lead changes in food production systems through education, research and outreach. For Canadians, that means a sustainable production system and plenty of healthful food choices. For much of the developing world, we aim to improve nutrition and food security. Ideally, we will find solutions no matter where they arise.

“Hunger Has No Boundaries” is the theme of this year’s Universities Fighting World Hunger summit. The event will encourage collaboration among governments, companies, schools, media and not-for-profit agencies.

I look forward to a special president’s dialogue and panel discussions on the roles of these groups in harnessing intellectual discovery and social responsibility toward a sustainable world. U of G will be represented by our students, faculty and several alumni experts.

I invite you to follow the Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit Feb. 25 to 27 on the University of Guelph website (www.uoguelph.ca/worldhunger/). And read several stories in this issue of The Portico to learn how other Guelph grads and faculty are looking out for the welfare of others and helping to make this a better planet.

Alastair Summerlee, President

the president’s page

Sustainable Commerce

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Ian Newby-Clark

Everybody has a bad habit

“I

’v e y e t t o m e e t someone who doesn’t have at least one bad habit,” says psychology professor Ian Newby-Clark.

Whether it’s biting your nails or blurting out comments at inappropriate times, we all seem to have some foible. And there’s a reason for that.

“A habit is a behaviour that you do on a regular basis in a less than deliberate manner.You’re almost on automatic pilot. Many habits are good, and once they become a habit it’s helpful because they make lower demands on our brains,” says Newby-Clark.

“We do them almost without thinking.”

But while good habits make our lives easier, bad ones can be tough to eradicate.

“Bad habits have a short-term benefit but a long-term cost. So if you snack on junk

PHOTO BY MARTIN SCHWALBE

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in around

university WHY DO WE WORRY ABOUT WHAT WE EAT?

food while watching TV, you enjoy the short-term benefit of the taste and relaxation, but there will be a long-term cost.”

To help people who want to get rid of their bad habits, Newby-Clark started a “Bad Habits” blog three years ago. “It’s a unique, scientifically based perspective,” he says, but written in accessible language people can understand.

The blog’s been so popular — he has more than 70,000 readers — that he was asked to start blogging for Psychology Today in 2009.

Although two blogs keep him busy, Newby-Clark says it’s valuable to receive comments, and “I’ve realized that more people have read my blogs than will ever read my scientific research.” www.my-bad-habits.blogspot.com/

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A man in Devecser, Hungary, begins to clean up after the Oct. 5 flood of red toxic mud from the sludge reservoir of the Ajka aluminum works.

U OF G OPENS ADVANCED PUBLIC, ANIMAL HEALTH FACILITY

Could Guelph research dry up red mud reservoirs from aluminum mining?

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agri-food industry,” said Carol Mitchell, minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, at the Oct. 7 opening.

As a partner with OMAFRA in the Ontario Animal Health Surveillance Network, the Animal Health Laboratory helps maintain healthy animals and safe food by providing specialized diagnostic services for veterinari-

ans and public- and private-sector agencies, said OVC dean Elizabeth Stone. The openconcept space around the new labs encourages cross-training and improves facilities for better control of pathogenic organisms.

The new building also fulfils a key component of OVC’s strategic vision as the college approaches its 150th birthday in 2012.

PHOTO BY TOMAS BENEDIKOVIC/ISIFA/GETTY IMAGES

h e o p e n i n g of a new research and diagnostic centre at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) has strengthened Canada’s capacity to solve health problems that occur where people meet animals.

The Pathobiology and Animal Health Laboratory will support the growing role of veterinarians in research and teaching in public health, infectious diseases, pathology and immunology. Researchers will diagnose and study a range of animal diseases and pathogenic organisms, from bird flu and SARS to E. coli and West Nile virus.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada committed $37 million to the project; the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), $25 million.

“Our government is pleased to provide funding to the University of Guelph to help support ongoing research activities that preserve consumer confidence, protect against animal disease and demonstrate our commitment to a competitive and sustainable

h i l e s e a rc h i n g f o r a way to produce higher-grade heating fuel from agricultural and forestry biomass, U of G chemist Marcel Schlaf discovered a technique that might also eliminate huge reservoirs of red mud like the one that collapsed in western Hungary in October, flooding three villages and killing several people.

Red mud is an alkaline waste byproduct of the aluminum industry.

About 70 million tonnes of it are produced each year worldwide.

“We think we have found a way in which we can use this aluminum mining by-product to process by-products from agriculture and forestry to create fuel,” says Schlaf.

He’s looking for ways to use oil from biological sources to replace crude oil.

Schlaf says the high acidity of “bio oil” makes it unstable, corrosive and impos-

sible to store. “We needed to find a chemical process to transform the acid components into something non-acidic.

This upgraded state would then make the oil compatible with existing technology.”

Investigating the metals he could use as catalysts to upgrade bio oil led him to red mud. “The list of these metals is very short, and it just so happens that red mud is composed of those metals.”

Tests by Schlaf and post-doc Elham Karimi were successful in lowering the acid level of the organic liquid and producing higher-grade oil. The same process changes red mud itself into a neutral magnetic material that is no longer caustic and toxic but that could be used as a building material.

Read more about this research in The Portico online: www.uoguelph.ca/ theportico.

Catherine Carstairs

PHOTO COURTESY CATHERINE CARSTAIRS

PHOTO BY BARRY GUNN

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or many people, a plateful of food can be more worrying than appetizing. Are there pesticides on the vegetables? Too much fat in the sauce? Too little fibre?

History professor Catherine Carstairs says that questioning the health aspects of our diet has been increasingly common since the 1970s, but the roots of these concerns go back at least a few more decades. She’s currently a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California’s (UC) Davis campus, where she’s exploring the lives of two American writers who made the idea of “health food” popular in the mid-1900s.

Gaylord Hauser published his best-known book, Look Younger, Live Longer, in 1950.

“Hauser’s book was aimed at women in what he called ‘the second half of life’ and was all about how to keep your beauty after you turned 40,” explains Carstairs. His was an optimistic view that pushed relaxation and healthy eating.

Adelle Davis wrote books full of warnings about subclinical deficiencies, pesticide-soaked fruits and vegetables, and depleted soils in farmers’ fields. “She sold fear,” says Carstairs.

The Guelph professor is re-examining the work of these writers and others whose roots grew into the health-food movement.

Winter 2011 5

in & around the university

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nnovative ideas are wrapping together two of Ontario’s largest agricultural sectors: soybeans and meat processing. Guelph researchers in the Department of Food Science are using the byproducts of harvested soybeans to develop bio-

based packaging materials and edible films to streamline meat processing techniques.

Using sausages as a model system, they are creating an edible soy-film casing made simultaneously with the sausage, using a process

known as co-extrusion. Prof. Loong-Tak Lim says these films could replace preformed sausage casings, which are usually made from animal intestines.

The co-extruded sausage casing provides many advantages over existing preformed materials by overcoming limitations associated with natural animal casings, such as inconsistent size and thickness, variable material properties, and size limitations. And the co-extruded technique is continuous, allowing the casing material to feed automatically without the need to interrupt the sausagestuffing process to reload the preformed casing.

“We could change the casing formulation more easily and add different ingredients, spices or even antimicrobial agents to give the product a longer shelf life,” says Lim. “By using soy-based casing, we can potentially open up some new possibilities for sausage product development.”

Lim and his collaborators are also developing soy-based packaging materials to replace those made from non-renewable resources such as petroleum.This research is funded by the OMAFRA-U of G partnership.

Planting Trees to Offset Carbon Emissions Won’t Work

Guelph research redefines dinner Heather Keller

PHOTO BY MARTIN SCHWALBE

Prof. Loong-Tak Lim, right, with collaborators Profs. Massimo Marcone, left, and Shai Barbut.

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G uelph-based research team wants to engineer more nutritional foods for older adults living in long-term care facilities.

Prof. Heather Keller, Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, has been interviewing and observing older adults so she can determine where their diets

n d e r t h e K yo t o P r o t o c o l , countries are encouraged to use forests to sequester carbon and help meet targets for emissions of global-warming gases, but two separate U of G studies suggest this plan is flawed.

They also found no evidence that higher atmospheric CO2 enables trees to use water more efficiently, contrary to claims that climate change will allow forests to extend into dry areas.

Gedalof and Berg analyzed data from about 2,300 forest sites on six continents and covered 86 species of trees.

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PHOTO BY RICHARD BAIN

PHOTO BY MARTIN SCHWALBE

Food scientists find new uses for soybeans

Read U of G daily news at www.uoguelph.ca

Guelph geography professors Ze’ev Gedalof and Aaron Berg say their research results will surprise people on both sides of the debate on carbon-sequestration. “Trees will play a role in assimilating atmospheric CO2, but it’s much smaller than most people expect,” says Gedalof. “Our results suggest that looking to forests to grow more quickly and thereby offset emissions is not going to work.”

Studying archived tree-ring measurements held by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States, they found CO2 fertilization spurred faster tree growth at only about 20 per cent of sites worldwide, despite the fact that the

6 The Portico

gas typically accelerates growth in plants.

“Eighty per cent of the world’s forests don’t care,” said Gedalof.

The researchers found that those faster

growth rates could not be traced to climatic change, nitrogen deposition, changing sensitivity to climate, elevation or latitude, all of which may influence growth rates of trees.

Contrary to expectations, tree growth has declined over the past century despite rising amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere, says Prof. Madhur Anand, School of Environmental Sciences. Along with PhD students Lucas Silva and Mark Leithead, she co-authored a paper that challenges predictions that more atmospheric carbon will effectively “fertilize” forests.

The researchers say the predicted benefits of CO2 fertilization may be overestimated. They found that warming has caused a growth decline in temperate and boreal forests during the past century and especially since the 1950s.

are least nutritious. She’s found that many menu items, particularly meat and vegetable purees, are plagued by unappealing tastes and textures.

Older adults need foods with fewer calories but more vitamins and nutrients.

Keller has teamed up with food science and human nutrition researchers to develop nutritionally enhanced foods and purees fortified with omega-3 and protein. She and her team are also running sensory trials to dramatically improve the foods’ taste, texture and quality.

Keller believes better food could help delay the onset of debilitating neurological diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s by several years.

Keller is working with Guelph professors Alison Duncan, Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, and Lisa Duizer, Department of Food Science; and Ken Stark from the University of Waterloo.

Under warming-related stress, some trees use water more efficiently but grow more slowly.That means trees are storing less atmospheric CO2 than expected, said Anand, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Ecological Change.

“We need to entirely rethink impacts of climate change. We need to consider multiple stressors and interactions with disturbances. More research is needed in these areas to better predict implications for forest productivity, management and even restoration.”

The U of G team studied red oaks, red maples, red pine and black spruce at five sites from Long Point in southern Ontario to Moosonee near James Bay. They measured tree growth rings and studied carbon isotopes in those rings to gauge trees’ water-use efficiency and to distinguish climatic effects from other factors.They focused on Ontario forests after they discovered tree-growth declines in Brazil and then in other parts of the world.

NOTEWORTHY • Graham Walker, one of the world’s most esteemed microbiologists and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, received an honorary degree from the University of Guelph during fall convocation Oct. 16. Walker’s studies of DNA damage, repair and replication have applications in understanding cancer and bacterial infections.

• Fine art professor Sandra Rechico created a giant multimedia art exhibit as a focal point of Nuit Blanche, Toronto’s annual sunsetto-sunrise celebration of contemporary art held Oct. 1. She marked the 1850 line where Lake Ontario once met the city with a wide glowing wall of blue light. The project required 12- by 24-foot scaffolding, hundreds of LED lights and a team of technicians.

• Patrick Case, director of U of G’s Human Rights and Equity Office, has been appointed chair of the board of directors of Ontario’s Human Rights Legal Support Centre. Opened in 2008, the provincial centre offers legal services to people who believe they have experienced discrimination.

• Prof. John Fryxell, Integrative Biology, and PhD student Andrew Kittle are featured in a seven-part National Geographic television series called Great Migrations. The series, which was filmed on all seven continents, looks at how millions of animals, from monarch butterflies to the African wildebeest that Fryxell studies, undertake epic journeys involving great distances and extreme climates.

• An internal review by U of G’s Office of Resource Planning and Analysis estimates the University’s economic impact on the City of Guelph is $750 million a year in direct and indirect spending. Students alone spend an estimated $105 million a year.

Winter 2011 7

The Better Planet Project Guelph Alumni Pledge to Student Success

GOSLING FOUNDATION BUILDS A LIVING LEGACY

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Aisha Yorke, left, Laura Jewell and Nathan Lachowsky.

PHOTO BY DAVE LANDRY

A BETTER WORLD BEGINS WITH STUDENTS

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PHOTO BY JASON JONES

E.P. Taylor Gift Ensures Win for Racehorses

T T h e U n i v e r s i ty o f G u e l p h Alumni Association (UGAA) board has pledged $1 million over the next 10 years to help the University reintroduce its first-year seminar program.

“We’re making an investment in both students and future alumni,” says UGAA president Brad Rooney, ADA ’93 and B.Sc.(Agr.) ’97. “Students enrolled in seminar courses become more engaged in learning and citizenship and are more apt to stay connected with the University after they graduate.”

U of G offered the small, discussion-based courses for five years but suspended them in 2008 due to funding constraints. The UGAA gift will help to revive these highly interactive classes that Rooney says are proven to build communication, research and leadership skills in students.

“What better way to improve the University experience and the quality of education?

We’re supporting professors, staff and the University curriculum, and we also get to help students become better people.”

He adds that this alumni gift supports the global outlook of The BetterPlanet Project and the University’s mandate to change lives and improve life. “We’re accomplishing both by helping students who will graduate and go on to be great leaders in their chosen field, but while they are still at U of G, we can show them how to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of people around them.”

The $1-million pledge will be funded by alumni participation in UGAA partnership programs that provide life insurance, home and auto insurance, credit cards and mortgage services.

he University of Guelph has received $2 million from the E.P. Taylor Equine Research Fund to support clinical research in the health and performance of racehorses.

“The E.P. Taylor Equine Research Fund was established to honour the enormous contributions of E.P.Taylor to the horseracing industry in Canada and, indeed, worldwide,” says long-time trustee Robert McMartin. “This donation marks our belief in Guelph and its vision to build a centre of excellence for equine performance and reproduction.

We believe clinical research is an essential part of this vision.”

The E.P. Taylor Equine Research Fund has supported graduate student and faculty research conducted through the University, the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) and Equine Guelph (a partnership between U of G and the equine

industry) since the mid-1970s.

“We take this latest gift as a vote of confidence that we are on the right track with our plans to support and improve the health and performance of Ontario’s racehorses,” says OVC dean Elizabeth Stone.

“This donation will help fund unprecedented new research and allow our equine experts to advance and improve equine medicine, surgery and husbandry.”

Results of the University’s equine performance research will be put into practice at a new Equine Sports Medicine and Reproduction Centre being planned for the U of G campus. The centre will apply discoveries, offer direct access to equine specialists, and attract top students and veterinarians interested in equine research.

The new centre is part of the University’s multi-year plan to enhance existing OVC facilities and services.

Philip and Susan Gosling

PHOTO BY GRANT MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHY

Guelph native Sophia Oke knew about U of G health research before she came to campus as a Chancellor’s Scholar. She consulted Guelph faculty for a science project on reducing the side effects of chemotherapy; the project earned an innovation award at the Canada Wide Science Fair. Sophia is a First Response Team member at U of G and a community volunteer with Red Cross, Canadian Blood Services and a local hospital. She was named one of Youth in Motion’s Top 20 Under 20 for 2010.

Hear Sophia’s BetterPlanet message by scanning this QR code with your cellphone.

There are more than one million horses in Canada, with nearly half of them in racing and breeding.

dedication ceremony was held Sept. 27 to name a new greenhouse in memory of one of the Arboretum’s best-known horticulturalists, Henry Kock, who died in 2005. Philip and Susan Gosling of the Gosling Foundation donated $250,000 to help establish the Henry Kock Propagation Centre.

“I am truly pleased that this much-needed and long-awaited greenhouse is now built and ready for growing,” said Philip Gosling. “The naming of the greenhouse gave the foundation the opportunity to remember Henry, and particularly, the important role he played in preserving native species.”

Kock graduated from U of G in 1977 and joined the Arboretum in 1982 as a plant propagator, later becoming an interpretive horticulturalist. He also launched the Elm Recovery Project to create a seed orchard and cultivate disease-resistant trees.

“The greenhouse is the heart of the Arboretum,” says director Alan Watson. The 3,600square-foot facility will provide educational,

research and outreach opportunities for students, staff and faculty.

Previously, the Goslings established the Arboretum’s popular Gosling Wildlife Gardens to teach people how to transform their own backyards into wildlife habitats.

Winter 2011 9

The BetterPlanet Project

THE ART OF DECONSTRUCTION

SCHOLARSHIP FUND HONOURS KEN KNOX

U of G president Alastair Summerlee, left, and Kinross CEO Tye Burt.

Kinross, U of G Promote Sustainability

DONOR NODS TO AGRI-FOOD SECTOR

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ndy Wilder, B.Sc.(Agr) ’84, has pledged $250,000 to U of G’s proposed Institute for the Advanced Study of Food and Agriculture Policy. The institute is an important initiative of the Department of Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics. Its members will provide independent, credible and timely analysis of food and agricultural issues with the goal of improving the lives and

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competitiveness of Canadian farmers, producers and food processors.

Wilder is well-versed on issues affecting the agri-food sector. He is a grain merchant for Horizon Milling in Burlington, Ont., a branch of Cargill Foods that refines flour products under the Robin Hood brand. He is also a member of The BetterPlanet Project campaign cabinet and has been a donor to the University’s annual fund almost since the day he graduated.

Ken Knox

deputy minister, Knox is now president and CEO of the Innovation Institute of Ontario. And he is still involved in a 300-acre family farm north of Oshawa that supports educational agriculture programs. The Kenneth W. Knox Scholarships will provide experiential learning and travel opportunities for OAC students. The first grants, ranging from $1,000 to $3,500, will be awarded this fall.

PHILANTHROPIST SUPPORTS ATHLETES

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sports enthusiast and philanthropist at heart, John Embry’s decision to establish a scholarship endowment at U of G is a boost for varsity athletes. “Having been an impoverished athlete in college myself many years ago, I thought it would be a great opportunity to help out some deserving student athletes,” said Embry, who is chief investment strategist at Sprott Asset Management Inc. in Toronto.

His endowment provides two annual scholarships — one created with matching funding through the Ontario Trust for Student Support program. The awards recognize athletes who excel in the classroom and on the sports field.

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any people think of art as painting a canvas, but for MFA student Dawn Johnston, stripping paint from a cannon is just another form of artistic expression. Much as an archaeologist chips away rock to uncover an ancient relic, she chipped away countless layers of paint that had entombed the cannon for years.

Johnston became a campus celebrity on Sept. 25 when she began her week-long paint-stripping project.

But it was clear from the beginning that this wasn’t a publicity stunt. In fact, she built a wooden enclosure around the cannon to give herself some privacy. “I don’t want people to look at me like I’m a monkey,” she said.

But that’s exactly what happened when the wooden structure came down later in the week. Students would stop by the cannon on their way to class and take photos with their cellphone cameras as Johnston toiled away. Some rolled up their sleeves and pitched in while others took home paint chips as souvenirs.

This wasn’t Johnston’s first foray into deconstructive art. “A lot of my work in the past has dealt with historical objects,” she said. “I was taking apart objects that have some kind of social or cultural significance to understand them in a contemporary context.”

She deconstructed a man’s suit by removing every horizontal thread, transforming the status symbol into a ghostly fringe. She did the same to a cloth-covered

loveseat, leaving nothing but the vertical threads, springs and wood frame.

Painting the cannon started decades ago; some say the first painters were anti-war protesters who turned weaponry into comedy.“It’s an object of expression, but at the same time, it’s an object of joke,” said Johnston. Mostly the George III-era cannon has been used as a student message board.

It has worn many colourful coats, displayed greetings from birthday announcements to marriage proposals and been reincarnated into enough animals to fill a zoo.

According to campus lore, painting can begin after sundown and must be completed by sunrise. In one night, the cannon can get more makeovers than a runway fashion model.

When Johnston completed her work, there was no dramatic “reveal.” She simply packed up her supplies, dismantled the wooden enclosure and shoveled the leftover paint into garbage bins for disposal. Rumour has it that the bare cannon was guarded against would-be Picassos over the weekend, so that it could make its paint-free debut on Monday.

But the paint inevitably reappeared. Johnston said she would keep some of the paint chips and possibly use them in a future art exhibit. Perhaps the paint that once covered the cannon will grace the same wall as a painted canvas.

on campus

Promoting environmental and governance practices that support sustainability is the aim of a new chair at the University of Guelph funded by a $1-million gift from Kinross Gold Corp.

Unlike traditional research chairs, the Kinross Chair in Environmental Governance will be held by a succession of high-profile experts in the field rather than by a single academic scholar. Spending one or two semesters in U of G’s College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS), each chair will bring governance expertise developed through their professional experience and link it with the scientific and policy expertise of the University community.

The ultimate goal, says CSAHS dean Kerry Daly, is to develop new governance models for achieving solutions to environmental problems. “There is a growing consensus that many of the problems contributing to environmental degradation relate to political, economic, institutional and behavioural considerations rather than to a lack of scientific knowledge or adequate technology.”

Kinross president and CEO Tye Burt adds: “Addressing the world’s challenges requires new forms of collaboration and leadership that build new global connections among citizens, government and industry. The work we are teaming up to do is vital at a time when people around the world struggle to cope with the effects of environmental changes.”

Dawn Johnston

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SUSAN BUBAK AND RICHARD BAIN

PHOTO COURTESY KINROSS GOLD CORP.

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olleagues and friends of Ken Knox, K.Dip ’61 and B.Sc.(Agr.) ’72, have established a scholarship endowment in his honour to benefit diploma, undergrad and graduate students of the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC). The endowment was initiated by Bruce Archibald, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’79, M.Sc. ’84 and PhD ’93, who acknowledges Knox as his mentor.

More than $80,000 in donations has been received and will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the provincial government’s Ontario Trust for Student Support program.

After retiring from a 27-year career in the Ontario government, including six years as a

BY SUSAN BUBAK

Winter 2011 11

There’s a complex ecosystem Story by Andrew Vowles

Photos by Martin Schwalbe

The Poopy Lab does have a distinctive smell, but you get used to it, say these U of G researchers, from left: Eric Brown, Kathleen Schroeter, Jackie Strauss, Emma Allen-Vercoe, Chris Ambrose, Julie McDonald, Mike Toh and Michelle Daigneault.

inside your gut

Microbiologist Emma Allen-Vercoe studies the 1,000 bacterial species

that inhabit your “inner ecosystem” — from mouth to bowel

Jackie Strauss got sick at age 15.

It took seven years of inconclusive tests before she ended up in surgery and was finally diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. By then, she was doing undergrad studies at her hometown University of Calgary. That degree took six years to complete. Referring to flare-ups that might be triggered by certain foods, stress or even a cold, Strauss

research is important to me because I have a connection with it.”

Plans would soon change for both of them.When Allen-Vercoe moved to Guelph as a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) in late 2007, Strauss and others came with her.

“Research has brought meaning to my suffering. I can live with this horrible disease

12 The Portico

says: “Most of my undergrad was spent struggling, trying to cope with the symptoms and not able to understand.”

That was the bad news. The good news came when she started an undergrad research project in a class taught by microbiologist Emma Allen-Vercoe. By then, Allen-Vercoe had spent four years in Calgary as a post-doc, following her own stud-

ies in England. As a newly minted faculty member at U of C, she was launching a research program to learn about gut bacteria and, specifically, how those bugs contribute to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Referring both to her supervisor’s research topic and to her research acumen, Strauss says: “Emma’s the main reason I decided to go into grad school. IBD

and still accomplish things.You can still live your life,” says Strauss.

Just inside the door

of AllenVercoe’s lab in the science complex is a whiteboard where someone has written this line: “The Poopy Lab, where lab stools are not what you expect.”

It’s true. Researchers here are studying

surprisingly varied aspects of gut microflora.Those studies take the team from one end of the gastrointestinal tract to the other, and beyond. A primary focus, of course, is learning about IBD. Covering both Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis, IBD affects about 200,000 Canadians, has no cure, and costs this country an estimated $1.8 billion a year in medical and indirect costs.

Winter 2011 13

But the Guelph scientists’ studies also take them into gum and other mouth diseases, probiotics and even autism, all using a suite of research tools, including a made-inGuelph “robo-gut,” that is nearly unrivalled in Canada.

More bacteria live inside your gut than there are people living on Earth. Up to 1,000 different bacterial species inhabit your GI tract, and your own microbial melange — Allen-Vercoe calls it a “poo print” — remains with you throughout life. Says Eric Brown, a fourth-year microbiology student working in her lab: “We’re like a big ecosystem of bacterial and human cells.”

Call it an inner ecosystem, says Allen Vercoe, one whose workings are as complicated as those of any rainforest on the planet. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that our gut microflora are key to our overall health, yet very little is known of the ecology and physiology of these organisms and their interactions with host cells.” She believes those bugs are also a key to understanding disease.

“If it’s a healthy rainforest, and you throw in some perturbation, the ecosystem adapts. But if you start stripping out species and throw stress in, the ecosystem collapses.”

Take ulcerative colitis, known to be associated with lower bacterial diversity in the colon. Researchers don’t know what causes the disease. But they know that stress can trigger or worsen inflammation and ulcers in the lining of the colon and rectum. AllenVercoe is studying the role of the stress hormone norepinephrine on intestinal bugs.

Learning which bacterial species trigger IBD might help in finding new treatments.

Although antibiotics are available, the drugs may wipe out good and bad bugs indis-

don’t have a cure for the disease.”

Besides the Poopy Lab, the real guts of the enterprise are housed in a separate lab one floor up (placed there to keep the odour farther away from neighbours). PhD student Julie McDonald, B.Sc. ’09, and lab technicians Chris Ambrose and two-time Guelph graduate Michelle Daigneault, B.Sc. ’06 and M.Sc. ’09, have spent the past year assembling and testing the robo-gut, technically called a chemostat. All stainless steel, glassware and plastic tubing under computer control, the assembly mimics the airless environment of the large intestine, like human innards on a lab bench.

It’s actually a collection of robo-guts whose six glass flasks each hold about two cups of liquid distilled from stool samples.

Having mastered flow rates, retention time and other parameters, the researchers can run cultures under precise conditions during eight-week cycles to compare, say, samples containing norepinephrine against untreated controls. Eyeing the brown liquid churning away one morning last fall, AllenVercoe says: “It seems obvious, but it’s very difficult to do. Everyone’s gut is different.”

McDonald studied biochemistry and microbiology at Guelph before starting grad work. “I find it so fascinating that something people don’t think about — bacteria in your gut — has a major impact on our daily lives.”

She tries to emphasize the science rather than what she calls the “uck factor” of her studies. “I try not to say I work with poop; it turns people off.”

Kathleen Schroeter remembers her own childhood fascination with a different kind of bug. She used to suffer from ear infections as a child and recalls hearing her dad

form biofilms, she says, and we might use them to retain good bugs longer, like the probiotic organisms in yogourt. “We’ve all seen the Activia commercials,” says Schroeter.

Back up the gut far enough, of course, and you arrive at the mouth. There, a bug called Fusobacterium nucleatum can cause periodontitis, gingivitis and plaque — all inflammatory processes similar to IBD reactions.

“Many Crohn’s patients have mouth problems,” says Allen-Vercoe. The U of G researchers will compare strains of “Fuso” from the mouth and the gut. Early genetics studies show that those bugs differ.

The team has also found evidence that IBD patients have more F. nucleatum growing in their GI tracts and more virulent strains of the bug than do control patients without the disease. They hope to find bacterial genes that might serve as markers to provide clues about what causes the disease.

Allen-Vercoe aims to obtain samples from dental patients through faculty members at the University of Toronto.That’s a new kind of partnership for both sides. “Dentists don’t speak to gastroenterologists.”

Even less likely might be the notion of GI doctors talking to neurologists. But in what Allen-Vercoe calls a bizarre turn for her studies, she’s now looking at possible connections between gut microbes and nervous disorders, specifically autism. Other researchers have found that gut bacteria in children with autism differ from those in healthy kids. It’s also known that autistic kids often require unusual amounts of antibiotics early in life for ear infections and other problems, often while their GI tract is still assembling that individual “poo print.”

Bacteria produce all kinds of toxic prod-

In a bizarre turn, Allen-Vercoe is now looking at possible connections criminately, eventually causing more trouble.

Although she has used only samples from healthy people so far — she brought samples from Calgary, and she’s now receiving more from the British Columbia Cancer Agency — Allen-Vercoe plans to team up with a Guelph gastroenterologist to obtain stool samples from his patients. Adds Dr. Naoki Chiba: “We’re trying to understand the disease better so that hopefully we can target treatment for it down the road. We

14 The Portico

ask the doctor about antibiotic resistance.

After her B.Sc. here at Guelph, she began her master’s degree, studying gut biofilms.

Those mats of clumped-up bacteria can be a nuisance when cleaning the chemostat after a run — or a potential health hazard if pathogenic bacteria use biofilms to hide out from antibiotics. But in a project also involving MCB professor Cezar Khursigara, she is looking to see whether biofilms might help improve health. Learn about how bacteria

ucts, says PhD student Mike Toh. “Maybe something from the bug is affecting the brain.” He’s using zebra fish to study how products secreted by gut microbes might affect development. His co-supervisor, MCB professor Terry Van Raay, normally uses the small, fast-growing and transparent fish to study how malfunctions in cell signaling pathways can lead to diseases such as cancer.

Toh also expects to employ the robo-gut to model the GI tract of autism patients and

the effects of adding, say, hormones or antibiotics. For this project, Allen-Vercoe is investigating diet-disease connections with autism researchers at the University of Western Ontario and with microbiologists at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It’s a meeting of minds between developmental biology and microbiology,” she says.

In another meeting of minds, she’s one of only a few Canadian researchers working on the international human microbiome project, intended to catalogue the genomes of all microbes found in or on the human body.

Funded by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), she’s growing and shipping DNA from bacterial strains to the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass. There, researchers sequence the material to gain clues about how those strains affect health and disease, and to apply genomics to medicine.

In a 2010 paper published in the prestigious journal Science, the research team reported finding novel kinds of bacterial proteins and said they expected to find many more. “It is our ultimate goal to sample the human microbiome as completely as possible,” says Allen-Vercoe, who is using NIH funding to develop techniques for sifting out and growing rare bacterial species from fecal samples — effectively “culturing the unculturable,” as she describes it.

Growing up in England, Allen-Vercoe had planned to become an astrophysicist, but her math wasn’t good enough. She was studying biochemistry at the University of London when she discovered a new world living on Petri plates. “I view a microscope as a very small telescope looking in the other direction,” she says. After a PhD at the U.K.’s Open University and the Centre for Applied and

More bacteria live inside your gut than there are people living on Earth, say grad student Kathleen Schroeter, left, and Prof. Emma Allen-Vercoe.

between gut microbes and nervous disorders, specifically autism Microbiological Research (now the Health Protection Agency), she came to Canada.

With her came her husband and lab technician, Chris Ambrose, and their oldest daughter, Phoebe; another daughter, Zoë, was born in Canada. “We often talk about poop over dinner,” she says. But there is a limit: “I can talk about the science all I like but not any of the day-to-day administrative stuff.”

She’s also encouraged by the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada (CCFC) to

discuss her work; the area chapter calls her up for occasional public lectures. Last fall, she spoke to two patient groups in southern Ontario. “They make it real,” says AllenVercoe, who also receives CCFC funding for her research.

As both a patient and a researcher, Jackie Strauss knows about making it real. After she finishes her doctorate in 2011, she hopes to continue her studies, perhaps by completing medical school and combining clin-

ical and research work.That route might take her back to Calgary, where her husband teaches public school. Over the phone one day last fall, he told her about two students in his class with Crohn’s disease. One mom had shared her worries about her daughter’s prospects. Strauss smiles as she recalls her husband’s words: “‘I told them about you doing your PhD.’” That’s the kind of thing that motivates her research, she says, “to bring hope to other kids with this disease.” ■

Winter 2011 15

HOW DO YOU MAKE THE “PERFECT FOOD” EVEN MORE PERFECT? Improving milk is a bit more complicated than just tossing in a few tasty ingredients.

PHOTO BY DEAN PALMER

BY TERESA PITMAN

16 The Portico

Imagine a world where a glass of milk can make you feel fuller so it is easier to eat and lose weight. Or a world where a tub of yogourt not only tastes good but also boosts your immune system. Or a world where you

feel happier thanks to mood-boosting ingredients in the butter on your toast. Or a world where children in Africa are protected from some of the effects of hiv simply by eating a specially prepared freeze-dried ice cream.

It’s an exciting new world that just might be closer than you think. Food scientist Milena Corredig and her Guelph colleagues are developing functional food products with ingredients that will take healthy eating to a whole new level. She also predicts that these foods of the future will be far more specialized for the needs of the individual consumer.

We all like choice. Right now, for example, you can choose between skim, two-percent and whole cow’s milk, depending on your tastes and diet. But Corredig thinks we’ve barely scratched the surface of individualization and options.

“In the near future, I predict we’ll all have scanning codes on our key chains that we take with us into the grocery store.” Shoppers will check their codes against the items on the shelf to learn which products are appropriate for them and which are likely to be harmful to their health. The information will be based on their genes, their participation in sports, their age, or specific conditions such as diabetes or depression.

Does all this sound like science fiction?

Not in U of G’s Department of Food Science. Corredig says: “Our department has a common vision. We’re looking ahead to the future of food and finding ways to make

food better – not just cheaper or tastier, but with more functionality to promote health.”

Historically, she points out, food science researchers focused on food safety and costs.

They developed new ways of processing to keep food from spoiling and to increase shelf life, and found approaches that increased farm productivity to reduce costs. Those accomplishments continue to be important, she says, but today’s consumers expect even more. Now it’s time to create the next generation of food.

Corredig holds the Canada Research Chair in Food Nanostructures and the Ontario Dairy Council Research Chair in Dairy Technology. Her research focuses on developing new ways to incorporate healthenhancing ingredients into food products.

Corredig’s passion for understanding food and milk products in particular started early in life — perhaps from birth, since she describes herself as “born in dairy land.” By that, she means she grew up in Italy and was, in her words, “raised on Parmesan cheese. I think I was given cheese before I was given formula.”

She wanted to expand her knowledge of the dairy industry and food production, even though her grandfather teased her about “all those years of study just to make cheese.”

She earned an undergraduate degree in

Winter 2011 17

NEW FOODS THROUGH INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION U of G food scientists will host an international symposium in August where researchers from diverse backgrounds — food technology, physics, chemistry, polymer science and nanotechnology, to name a few — will share expertise on the application of basic science principles in the design and fabrication of “healthy and sustainable” new foods.

The Aug. 21 to 24 meeting is the fourth in a series of symposia — Delivery of Functionality in Complex Food Systems — initiated to build connections between scientists working on the design of complex foods. The first three symposia were organized by the Polymer Group of Switzerland and the Nestlé Research Cente in Lausanne, the University of Massachussets, and Wageningen University in The Netherlands.

Speakers for the Guelph meeting include U of G researchers Rickey Yada and Amanda Wright, Food Science, and Gopinath Paliyath, Plant Agriculture. Prof.

Alejandro Marangoni, Food Science, is conference chair.

of providing us with healthy and tasty things to eat, but processing can make them more convenient. In many instances, processed foods are also safer, longer-lasting and healthier. Omega-3 milk and heat-treated tomato juice are good examples of processed foods that are actually better for you than the non-processed version,” she says. “And because they’re well-conserved, you have the sense of freshness for a longer time.”

None of this is done alone. “Food scientists are doing research at the interface between nutritionists, engineers, chemists, physicists and animal scientists. I have some really outstanding colleagues.”

Corredig adds that U of G provides a unique environment that contributes significantly to their success: “My research and work is stronger because I am part of the U of G community.”

“Other places do not have the mix of experts in animal nutrition and health, production, and human nutrition that we have here. There is no other place where a student can take a sample of milk directly from a cow that has been treated according to what we want to do and then go to the pilot plant to process that milk, make a super cheese and test it for all the sensorial properties and health benefits.

“Only in Guelph can you do all this seamlessly. And that means our research projects are always a step above the others.”

Corredig says taking advantage of those opportunities to collaborate with others requires discipline of a different kind: you have to stop thinking of conversations with others as wasting time. “I try to schedule in a morning just to knock on my colleagues’ doors and talk to them about what they’re doing,” she says. “That’s where the best ideas come from. You have to make time to sit down with people and have a cup of coffee — or a glass of milk.”

Ten years from now, when you are walking through your neighbourhood grocery store and decide to buy a bottle of strawberry-flavoured milk that will protect you from that season’s strain of the flu and choose a granola bar that helps you maintain your blood sugar at a healthy balance, Corredig wants you to remember that you heard it from her first — and that U of G was a big part of the changes. “We are bringing food to the next level.” ■

SHE WANTS HER GREEN THUMB MANICURED

S

he’s been inside the Dragon’s Den – and came out a winner.

The Dragon’s Den is a popular CBC TV show in which contestants pitch products or services hoping to persuade the judges – known as the Dragons – to invest in their businesses. Living up to their name, the Dragons don’t hold back when they find something to criticize.

In Claudia Harvey’s case, they found something to love. The business she had started with friend Wendy Johannson won favour with Dragon Kevin O’Leary, who provided a $50,000 line of credit on the November 2009 show. In addition, he mentioned their product on the CBC business news show, the Lang & O’Leary Exchange.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Kevin,” Harvey says. “The whole experience was a bit nerve-wracking, but we had prepared and prepared and prepared.

We knew our numbers, and we weren’t too greedy. All that helped.”

It also helped that they had an unusual yet practical product: Dig It Handwear. These unique gloves, made from recycled materials, were originally designed for gardeners who wanted to protect their nails and manicures, but Harvey says their customers are also using them for sports and other activities. “I wear them while I’m kayaking.” A small pillow inside each glove finger fits over the fingernail. A snug fit (the gloves come in five sizes) makes sure the pillows stay in place, and the wearer can still pick up a quarter or write with a pen.

Pitching a business on national TV is not where Harvey expected to end up when she started her studies at U of G. “I have an honours BA in psychology with a child studies minor,” she says. “I was working a co-op semester in a daycare when I realized that this was not the place for me.” At that point, she added more business courses as electives and shifted her focus.

After graduation, Harvey was delighted to get a position as a marketing assistant. “It was in the heart of where business is, on Bay Street,” she says. From that, she moved to a junior sales position and “learned sales from the ground up. By the end, I was presenting to CEOs and CFOs.” After the birth of her first child, she took a position with Citibank selling credit internationally. “It was fun but involved a lot of travel, and after I had two more children I wanted to cut back on that. I took a junior position in client relations that didn’t involve travel, but it turned out to be very stressful.”

She opted to take a break from working to spend time with her family and think about what she wanted to do next. That was when her friend, Wendy, dropped

claudia harvey

Claudia Harvey’s new business grew from her love of gardening and her expertise in sales.

by for a barbecue; they chatted about gardening and manicures and starting a business together. They both liked outdoor activities but hated what happened to their nails in the process. With their combined experience in sales and operations, Harvey says they knew what to expect with a start-up business and took their time to make sure they had a high-quality product.

“We created five prototypes and organized focus groups to get feedback,” Harvey says. “Originally we only had two sizes, but the focus groups showed us that we needed to expand the range to get a better fit.”

Their Dig It gardening gloves remain the signature product in a lineup of protective goods sold through their website and by more than 200 retailers in Canada, including the Home Hardware chain. Canadian Tire will launch the product line this spring. Harvey and Johannson have also patented their unique glove throughout North America and Europe and plan to enter the U.S. market this year.

Read more about their success at digithandwear.com and watch for a follow-up appearance on Dragon’s Den.

great guelph grad

18 The Portico

process. Once this by-product is processed, the nutritional properties are diminished, so the team is trying to find a way to process cream and butter that would preserve the quality of the phospholipids in buttermilk.

Other research — completed at U of G before her arrival — discovered that a cow’s diet can be adjusted to change the amount of omega-3 fatty acids. Now she’s looking at how fat globules break down and release important components with high efficacy in the intestines. “The matrix to deliver the nutrients is as important as the nutrient itself,” she says.

Corredig is interested in dairy foods, but other Guelph food scientists are exploring ways to enhance the health benefits of cereals and grains, fruits and vegetables, meat and eggs, and myriad processed foods that combine these essential food groups.

“People want more and more from their food,” she says. “Nature has done a good job

PHOTO COURTESY DIG IT HANDWEAR

food biochemistry at the University of Milan and then came to Guelph to complete master’s and PhD degrees in food science. After five years of work in the United States, Corredig returned to U of G as a faculty member.

Besides holding research chairs that demonstrate government and industry confidence, Corredig has attracted the attention of consumer and professional groups. Her research has been featured on the website of Canadians for Health Research, a non-profit organization committed to encouraging public dialogue and promoting the quality of Canadian health research. In 2008, the American Dairy Science Association recognized Corredig as a “young dairy foods scholar who shows potential research and educational leadership.” A year later, she received the Distinguished Research Award from the OAC Alumni Association.

While she is confident that more functional foods will be hitting grocery stores in the future, she admits there is a lot of work to do to turn great ideas into reality. “It’s not so easy just to add things to food.You have to study how they interact, how things degrade or break down over time. And let’s not forget that it still has to taste good.”

To accomplish that, Corredig’s work involves what she describes as “intense science.” It’s not a matter of tossing a few ingredients into a cup of milk; some of the food particles she works with are measured in nanometres (one-billionth of a metre). She’s looking for ways to encapsulate health-promoting compounds in minute structures that can be added to foods without affecting taste, smell, texture or appearance. “The way we process milk — and other foods — 10 years from now is likely to be very different from what we do today.”

Right now, Corredig has 30 studies under way with graduate students. These include studying the polysaccharides produced by the bacteria that turn milk into yogourt and looking at techniques for introducing soy protein into cow’s milk to provide consumers with the benefits of both.

She and other Guelph food scientists form one of the few research groups in the world studying butter’s by-product, called buttermilk — not fermented buttermilk, but the watery substance that’s separated from the butter during the butter-making

BY TERESA PITMAN

Winter 2011 19

HE PUTS HEALTH CARE IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND

20 The Portico

and now one of Guelph’s regional campuses. “They had a faculty spot that required engineering and involved teaching computing. It was a good fit,” he says. “I was about two years older than most of my students.”

Billings also rewrote the college’s data program used to track student information, including scheduling, grades and reports. After two years, he was “kicked upstairs” to work as an information technology manager. “We were the IT department for the entire ministry, everything outside of Queen’s Park: 54 county offices, five colleges and three research stations, and a staff of 1,100. We built all sorts of networks and hardware devices.”

In the mid-1980s, computers were still a novelty, and many people had a big case of what Billings called the “FUD” factor: fear, uncertainty and doubt. He once showed employees how to use a disc to transfer a document between computers. “I remember one woman said, ‘It’s black magic.’ That’s what they thought I was doing, bringing black magic into their lives.”

He hit a turning point in 1989 when a workshop facilitator “told me I was too innovative to be a government employee and that I should go into business for myself.”Three months later, he bought a new car and refinanced his mortgage.“I thought, once I’m self-employed, I might never have the money to buy a car or get a loan.”

His new company was called Orbex Computer Systems. Among its first clients was Sentex Canada, which needed a complex computer system to handle dairy cattle genetics for breeding. That program has been translated into many languages and is used in 70 countries.

After a disagreement with his partners over where computing was headed, Billings sold his shares in the company. “I saw the industry evolving and felt the next generation of application platform was this thing called the Internet.”

His second company, Active Web Corp., designed membership management systems for large organizations such as businesses, associations and health-care agencies. While working on a system for American military hospitals in Europe, Billings came across a medical software-sharing portal server called MedShare. “I thought that was catchy.” After a bit of domain searching — “I ended up paying a woman in Hawaii $500 to buy the name” — he secured the rights, and MedShare was born.

Billings was the lone staff member when he started in 2005.Today MedShare has more than two dozen employees. Its clients include the largest private and non-profit home health-care providers in Canada. Government grants have allowed MedShare to upgrade its medical software

barry billings

PHOTO BY MARTIN SCHWALBE

great guelph grad

B

arry Billings has always loved to build and create things, and he’s always loved agriculture. So he came to U of G to study engineering, figuring that one day he’d wind up designing combine harvesters or other large automated farm equipment.

When he enrolled at Guelph, he sold his motocross bike, believing he’d have neither the time nor the inclination to indulge in his childhood hobby. Of course, life doesn’t always turn out exactly as one expects at age 18.

Billings did go on to design and build things — but not exactly the big machines he’d imagined. In fact, his latest creation was for something so small that it can fit in the palm of your hand. And that “childhood” hobby? Let’s just say it didn’t stay parked forever.

Billings is the founder and president of MedShare Inc., a Cambridge, Ont.-based company that designs software systems for home health-care providers and their clients.

MedShare creates electronic scheduling and recordkeeping tools to manage and enhance care and improve health outcomes. Designed for handheld devices such as the BlackBerry, the systems allow health-care providers to review client information — schedules, medication records, care plans — without carrying around bulky paper files.

Those providers typically look after many clients of varying ages and with differing health-care needs, often dispersed over large areas. Providers also spend large chunks of time — paid and unpaid — filling out required paperwork. MedShare’s software has made things quicker and more efficient.

“Essentially we’ve eliminated all the pens and paper from their lives,” Billings says, adding that, by saving time and money, his software enables providers to make more home visits. It’s also improved recordkeeping, he adds.

There are more than one million home health-care workers in North America, making it the fastest-growing sector of health care. In Canada, the industry (public and private) generates about $15 billion a year and is expected to invest up to $2.4 billion a year in technology enhancements. In November, MedShare's multi-lingual BlackBerry application became available to clients in Quebec.

“We made a conscious decision to get really good at designing products for one market and to make our services market-driven, and we decided to focus on home health care exclusively.”

It’s not the first time in the past 20 years that Billings has used IT to turn around a pen-and-paper system.

After completing an engineering degree at U of G in 1983, he worked at Kemptville College, then run by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Barry Billings says his business makes it easier for health-care providers to keep their fingers on the pulse of client information.

and to engage university students on projects.

Billings and his wife, Kathy, live north of Cambridge and have a combined family of five children ages 13 to 28 and two grandchildren. When not working, he plays hockey on the U of G campus, practices windsurfing and, yes, races motorcycles. He dusted off that childhood hobby at around age 45, when his kids were old enough to take an interest in the sport. Soon after, someone suggested he try competitive racing.

This year, he was named the Canadian Enduro Veteran Champion. He’s endured his share of crashes and injuries, notably dislocated shoulders, banged-up knees and one finger sliced open mid-race. “I had 20 minutes between laps to stitch it up; I had to do it with my left hand, too.”

But he’s hooked. “I absolutely love the adventure, the adrenaline, the thrill of it. I’m competitive in racing, competitive in business.”

BY LORI BONA HUNT

Winter 2011 21

GRADS ADAPT MEDICAL EQUIPMENT FOR THE WORLD’S POOR

PHOTO BY LISA MACDONALD

great guelph grad

derek and michelle brown

Derek and Michelle Brown say they’ve developed a better tool for diagnosing anemia in rural areas without power.

I

t affects one in four people around the world.

In Africa and Southeast Asia, it afflicts two out of three preschool children and about half of women, especially pregnant women. It’s anemia, and now a husband-andwife team of Guelph grads say they’ve come up with a simple test to diagnose people in developing countries.

But Derek Brown and Michelle Grandin Brown now face a new problem: How to get their idea out of their

22 The Portico

Calgary basement and into helping hands abroad?

Around the world and especially in sub-Saharan Africa, anemia often accompanies malaria, which affects millions of people and kills hundreds of thousands of children each year. “In the developing world, anemia is one of the most common preventable causes of death in children under five and in pregnant women,” says Michelle, who grew up in Calgary and studied chemical physics at Guelph.

She graduated from U of G in 1999, the same year that Derek completed his biophysics degree. They met during a final-year physics project on the fractional quantum Hall effect. “It’s very romantic,” she quips.

Combining their science smarts, they’ve developed what they believe is a better tool for pinpointing anemia and other health problems that are often misdiagnosed and left untreated. “Diagnostics for people who can’t afford it” might be the mantra for their after-hours pursuit, which has become a non-profit humanitarian organization called Diagnostics for Development (www.diagnosticsfordevelopment.org).

Today, clinicians in parts of Africa and Asia use a litmus paper test developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Drop a blood sample onto specially treated paper and compare the paper’s colour change against a standard chart. That test has numerous problems, says Derek. It’s invasive, generates hazardous chemical waste and is not reusable. And because it relies on subjective eyeballing, it’s often inaccurate and unreliable.

Looking for a non-invasive, accurate and easier-touse alternative, he and Michelle have designed a tissue box-sized device containing a light source and powered by a hand crank and a battery. Attach a clip with lightemitting diodes to a patient’s finger and you get a number on the computer readout. Says Derek: “Below that number, you’ve got anemia. If it’s above that number, you don’t.” He says the simpler and more portable the technology the better, particularly for a nurse or aid worker using the device in a rural clinic.

The Browns began to assemble a prototype at home but lacked enough money.Too, they faced a long process involving patent and regulatory approval from agencies such as the United States Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada. “This is a major endeavour,” says Derek. Now they’ve switched tacks. They hope to attract a partner company to make their version of this device and find someone, perhaps the WHO or other agencies, to distribute it.

Derek stresses that Diagnostics for Development is not making brand-new technology but is repackaging existing ideas and materials. “Our focus is to take that technology and make it usable for the developing world,” he says. “We’re confident that with enough seed funding, we can make it work.”

He first read about problems in diagnosing anemia while doing his post-doc in near-infrared spectroscopy, measuring blood flow in patients using longer wave-

lengths than those of visible light. He completed a PhD in medical biophysics at the University of Western Ontario and is now a medical physicist at the cancer centre located at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary. He’s also an adjunct professor at the University of Calgary and belongs to the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine.

Michelle attended Western for her doctorate in chemistry and did a post-doc in materials and bio-surfaces at ETH Zurich, one of the world’s top universities. She’s a part-time editor, science writer and consultant, and a stay-at-home mom to two toddlers, Jackson and Carter. She figures their diagnostic idea might be adapted not only for other health problems but also for water-testing kits or biosensors.

Also on the board of Diagnostics for Development is Jeremy Brown, a financial analyst with Breville Group Ltd. in Montreal and a two-time Guelph grad who roomed with Derek during their undergrad years. Jeremy says U of G is where he “discovered a passion for development issues.” After his B.Comm. in 2000, he pursued environmental economics for a master’s degree here before doing his economics PhD at the University of Arizona.

“I’m hoping Diagnostics for Development can make a difference in the lives of children in developing parts of the world,” says Jeremy, who is also a certified management accountant. “Malarial anemia is treatable if diagnosed properly.” Other board members include a Calgary lawyer and a Vancouver medical doctor. The board recently applied for charitable status.

The Guelph grads hope to get their idea into the right hands to make a difference overseas. They say U of G gave them not only a solid science education but also social awareness. Michelle spent her first year living in International House and remembers what she calls Guelph’s community feel. “It’s a down-to-earth university, conscious of what other people are doing in the world.”

What keeps them going with their after-hours pursuit? “It’s an interesting challenge,” says Derek.“That attracts both of us to it. It would have a major impact, and there’s no serious impediment other than money or time.” Referring to anemia, he adds:“It’s such a preventable and treatable condition.That’s very much in contrast to the palliative nature of many cancer treatments.You can diagnose and treat cancer, but you can’t always save lives.”

BY ANDREW VOWLES

Winter 2011 23

u of guelph

alumni matters

Singing career combines two loves

O

n Sept. 23, University of Guelph family, friends and community celebrated the public unveiling of The BetterPlanet Project, a $200-million campaign that will build on the University’s key strengths and improve quality of life for people around the world.

While there was no ribbon-cutting or fireworks display, the electronic and media launch of The BetterPlanet Project was far more powerful, creating a connected virtual community — a gathering of Guelph graduates, students and supporters around the world.

It is the strong sense of community that fuels The BetterPlanet Project. At the core of this campaign is the University’s long history of supporting and nurturing students who will become leaders in communities around the world, caring for neighbours and creating a sustainable future.

A community approach is vital to our BetterPlanet project. Just as alumni are an integral part of the U of G story, so are the students who follow in your footsteps. Our

SOE Applauds Grads, Employers

PHOTO COURTESY ANDREA LINDSAY

M

24 The Portico

important to her. “I wanted to have something in my back pocket while I continue to do something I love. I’m happy to say that my Plan A and my Plan B both worked out.”

The School of Languages and Literatures gave her some of her first paid singing gigs by hiring her to perform at a couple of faculty wine-and-cheese events. Since then, she has been performing in Canada and Europe.

Her debut album, La Bell Etoile, was released in 2006 and earned her a nomination for the Félix Leclerc Award at the FrancoFolies in Montreal.The next year she received the Trille Or Award, which recognizes artistic excellence in the Franco-Ontarian music industry.

Lindsay’s second album, Les sentinelles dorment, garnered an impressive seven nominations at the 2009 Gala Trille Or, and was named Francophone Album of the Year at the 2010 Juno Awards.

She says working as an Englishspeaking French songwriter was difficult in the early days because she wasn’t sure how her thoughts and ideas would translate into French. She also wondered how Quebec audiences would respond to her work.

“I thought the worst-case scenario was that I’d fall on my face, but I’d know that at least I’d tried,” says Lindsay, who now divides her time between Ontario and Quebec.

Like most musicians, she writes about familiar things, including snapshots of her life and situations she encounters.

“I also like ’60s pop references, so sometimes I throw that in, too. I feel like it’s authentically me. It’s in French, but it’s the vocabulary I use to describe my world around me.”

Although she was raised in Guelph, Lindsay’s singing voice tricks audiences in both Quebec and in France. One reviewer says they hear a slight accent but think it comes from a regional dialect.The songstress admits, however, that people recognize her as an anglophone when she talks to her audience.

Quebec audiences think she learned the language in Europe. But in France, they think she speaks like a Québécoise.

To listen to a selection of clips from Lindsay’s albums, go to www.andrea lindsay.com. Her music is also available for download on iTunes.

BY REBECCA KENDALL

Front row, left to right: award recipients John Burnside and Nicole Detlor. Row 2: recipient Terry Rothwell, Tony Florio of RIM’s university relations team, and College of Physical and Engineering Science dean Anthony Vannelli. Row 3: U of G provost Maureen Mancuso and Dave Dietz, RIM’s director of government and university relations. Back row: recipients Eric Monteith, Keith Driver and Wolf Haessler, and U of G engineering director Hussein Abdullah.

T

he School of Engineering launched a new awards program at a presentation dinner Oct. 30 attended by grads, friends, faculty, staff and students.

Award recipients were honoured for their commitment, advocacy, outstanding achievements and community involvement. The inaugural recipients are: MEDAL OF ACHIEVEMENT — Wolf Haessler, B.Sc.(Eng.) ’66 AWARD OF EXCELLENCE — Research In Motion (RIM) MID-CAREER AWARD — Keith Driver and Eric Monteith, both B.Sc.(Eng.) ’97 YOUNG ALUMNUS OF HONOUR — Nicole Detlor, B.Sc.(Eng.) ’01 and M.Sc. ’04 ALUMNI VOLUNTEER AWARD — John Burnside, M.Sc. ’97, and Terry Rothwell, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’72, B.Sc.(Eng.) ’75 and M.Sc. ’96.

Nomination forms for the 2011 School of Engineering awards are available at www.uoguelph.ca/engineering, or email engaward@uoguelph.ca; the deadline for applications is May 1.

PHOTO BY DEAN PALMER

usic is said to be a universal language, and Andrea Lindsay, BA ’01, is proving this is true. Lindsay transferred to Guelph’s language program after spending a year studying classical music at Laurentian University. Her goal was to earn a degree in French language and translation with the hopes of one day becoming a translator.

As her appreciation and understanding of French grew, her love of music was further ignited when she joined the U of G choir. She couldn’t imagine not pursuing either professionally and thought it would be great to find a way to bring those interests together.

With a soft yet strong voice, thoughtful lyrics and emotionally charged musical arrangements, Lindsay is navigating her way through the world of music as an anglophone who writes and performs music in French.

Not bad for someone who dropped French midway through high school because she thought she “wasn’t any good at it.”

That was a decision she came to regret. After high school, she spent a year in France working as an au pair and immersing herself in French language and culture.

“Sometimes you don’t expect to find a passion,” says Lindsay. “I found I had a love for the language. There’s romanticism in it and a vocabulary that I like. The more time I spent at it, the more I understood. I was excited about it, and it became a hobby of sorts that I kept gravitating towards. The only other thing I’d had the same experience with was singing.”

She says earning a degree was

PHOTO BY MARTIN SCHWALBE

great guelph grad

Andrea Lindsay

U of G Family Has Strong Sense of Community

students are doing some amazing things to make this a better world. They participate in Habitat for Humanity, Peace Week, Haiti Relief, Trick or Eat, Five Days for the Homeless, Global Vets and Engineers without Borders, and these are just a few examples.

We encourage you to remain connected with your alma mater and to be an active and supportive member of the U of G community.

Please visit www.thebetterplanetproject.ca.

Joanne Shoveller Vice-President Alumni Affairs and Development

Winter 2011 25

u of g

alumni matters

Alumni Gift Will Engage Future Grads

PHOTOS

BY WENDY JESPERSEN PHOTO BY ANDERSON-COATS PHOTOGRAPHY

I

n this issue of The Portico, I am pleased to announce a $1-million pledge to The BetterPlanet Project from the University of Guelph Alumni Association (UGAA). Over the next 10 years, revenue from our affinity programs will support small, discussionbased seminar courses for first-year students in all academic disciplines.

The UGAA board believes that investing in U of G’s first-year curriculum will engage students, producing graduates who will become leaders in our society and will stay connected with the University.

Strong alumni connections are important to future UGAA endeavours. Our mandate as an association is to support and sustain U of G — not just through fundraising but through advocating publicly for our alma mater, raising awareness among university applicants and engaging new graduates.

I encourage you to look at the various insurance and credit card programs offered

International Students Receive an Alumni Welcome

E

ach year the University of Guelph Alumni Association honours distinguished alumni for excellence and achievement. Meet the 2010 recipients:

ALUMNUS OF HONOUR Stan Eby, ADA ’64, is an agribusiness expert, farmer and volunteer who has been a leader locally, provincially, nationally and internationally.

He was president of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association during the Walkerton water crisis in 2000 and worked diligently to unite the livestock industry and uphold the reputation of the local farming community. He was involved in another crisis — a case of bovine spongiform encephalitis in Alberta — while serving as vice-president and then as president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. As borders closed to Canadian cattle and beef products, Eby worked closely with government ministries to help lessen the impact on farmers across Canada. He continues to advocate for Canadian agriculture and the livestock industry.

ALUMNI VOLUNTEER Shirley Surgeoner, B.A.Sc. ’72, is an advocate of both the University of Guelph and the Mac-FACS-FRAN Alumni Association. She has served on the association’s executive and on the U of G Senate.

She was an alumni advisor to the dean during restructuring that created the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences in 1998 and co-chaired the Macdonald Institute centenary celebrations.

The celebration helped launch the

Macdonald Institute restoration project that has generated more than $500,000.

Surgeoner ran her own business for many years and taught entrepreneurship courses for women. She has also received the Lincoln Alexander Medal of Distinguished Service.

Alumni-in-Action volunteers held their annual dinner for U of G international students Oct 6. The group includes U of G grads and staff who offer their time and experience to University programs that help international students adapt to life in Canada. From left: students Akeil Morgan and Anna Manore, alumnus Murray Woods, BSA ’56, and students Holly Clark and Maria Gonsalves.

THE BETTERPLANET PROJECT DEBUTS AT THE ROYAL

ALUMNI MEDAL OF ACHIEVEMENT Karen Dupont, DVM ’98, began practising at the Owen Sound Veterinary Clinic in 2003, and is an active volunteer at the U of G and within her community.

Five years ago, she began offering veterinary assistance to the northern Ontario First Nations community of Cat Lake and recruited colleagues for a week of surgeries, vaccinations, parasite control and school presentations on pet care and animal welfare.

Through the Rural Area Veterinary Service, she travels with other veterinary grads to remote areas for surgeries and student mentoring. Dupont also volunteers on campus in the undergraduate DVM program’s communication labs.

COMING EVENTS

HOMECOMING A SELLOUT Game tickets for the Sept. 25 Homecoming football game against the Western Mustangs were sold out two days ahead; almost 9,000 people attended the game, and 300 grads bought tickets for the alumni entertainment tent.

After a hard-fought battle, the Mustangs downed the Gryphons 15-8. Guelph ended the 2010 season play 4-4.

VETERAN GRYPHONS PLAY SHINNY An all-ages shinny game was the highlight of Guelph’s third annual Hockey Day in Gryphonville Nov. 13. More than 100 former

Alumni Affairs and Development interns Amanda Taylor, right, and Aaron Massecar represented the University of Guelph’s BetterPlanet Project at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair Nov. 5 to 14. The booth attracted many visitors, who learned more about the University’s fundraising campaign. Visiting with Taylor and Massecar is Andrea MacLean, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’00.

Gryphons met current coach Shawn Camp and watched as the current varsity squad defeated Brock University in overtime. Players from the 1960s were honoured at a banquet.

PHOTOS COURTESY ALUMNI AFFAIRS AND DEVELOPMENT

26 The Portico

UGAA Honours Excellence

PHOTOS COURTESY ALUMNI AFFAIRS AND DEVELOPMENT

by UGAA's affinity partners. Our new partnership with National Group Mortgage offers competitive mortgage rates to help meet your financial needs.

Your participation in our affinity programs will not only provide you with better rates and services, it will also generate revenue for UGAA and, in turn, support our pledge to The BetterPlanet Project and the students who are following our lead.

C. Bradley Rooney, ADA ’93 and B.Sc.(Agr.) ’97 UGAA President

Find more U of G alumni news and events at www.alumni.uoguelph.ca

Jan. 25 • In Florida, an alumni excursion to Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, 9:3011:30 a.m. The cost is $7 and includes the tour and lunch. After lunch, visit the Circus Museum and Ringling Museum of Art, $20 admission. To register, call Bert Mitchell at 941-921-6426 or email him at bro@tenell.net, or contact Mary-Anne Moroz at mamoroz@uoguelph.ca.

Jan. 25 • CBS and HAFA/HTM grads: Share your career experience with students at career and networking events. For details, call Jennifer Battler at 519-8244120, Ext. 54703, or email jbattler@uoguelph.ca.

Jan. 27 • OVCAA annual Watering Hole in the new Primary Healthcare Centre. Call Kim Robinson at 519-824-4120, Ext. 54454, or email krobin01@uoguelph.ca.

Feb. 22 to 25 • Winter Convocation.

March 2 • Annual Florida Reunion at Maple Leaf Golf and Country Club in Port Charlotte, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., $20 per person includes lunch, dessert and wine. To register, call Lyle Rea at 941-505-0183 or email WLRea@comcast.net. For information, contact Mary-Anne Moroz at 519-824-4120, Ext. 53170, or mamoroz@uoguelph.ca.

March 22 • College of Arts grads: Meet with students and share your expertise. To volunteer, contact Kate Cooper at kgille01@ uoguelph.ca or 519-824-4120, Ext. 52965.

April 1 and 2 • OVC Alumni Challenge Cup hockey tournament; for details, contact Kim Robinson at krobin01@uoguelph.ca.

June 17 and 18 • Alumni Weekend 2011, details at www.alumni.uoguelph.ca. If you are organizing a class reunion, contact Helen McCairley at 519-8244120, Ext. 56691, or hmccairl@ uoguelph.ca.

Winter 2011 27

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university of guelph

grad profile

The community is the expert

grad news

Emma Cohlmeyer, right, says her new Mexican friends were excited to help redesign a local park.

PHOTO COURTESY EMMA COHLMEYER

N

obody knows a city better than the people who live, work and play there.

That’s the first thing Emma Cohlmeyer, BA ’07, told people in the Mexican city of Colima as she invited residents to help design a local park.

The participatory planning process she introduced last February has turned out to be a big success. More than 200 people got involved in redesigning the park, construction is now complete, the mayor and other officials have decided to apply the planning process to other city projects, and Cohlmeyer was

1950 Clark Adams, BSA ’56, practised law in Orangeville, Ont., for 35 years before being appointed a deputy judge in small claims court. After retiring in 2008, he wrote a book called Your Turn to Judge that ■

30 The Portico

hired to help implement those plans.

Colima is a forward-thinking city, says Cohlmeyer, who completed a sociology degree at Guelph and hopes to enter a master’s program in urban planning later this year. She initially spent a six-month internship in Colima funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and organized by the Vancouver-based International Centre for Sustainable Cities.The latter is part of a global network of city planners who share best practices in urban sustainability and planning.

“Following my internship, I was

details 40 interesting cases and invites the reader to decide the outcome. Adams’s decisions are also included. For more information on the book, write to Adams at hcjf@sympatico.ca or call 519-941-6031.

■ Bertram Stewart, ADA ’54,

She led visioning workshops in Colima that sparked a new interest in sustainable planning practices.

offered a position by the city to continue my work related to public and community participation in the planning process, although this time in the development of a master plan for one particular district.” Cohlmeyer will complete the contract in March. She says Colima has many projects underway, “all with an urban sustainability impetus,” and mentions a new transportation and mobility plan, a Sunday city-wide bike event, new green space developments and the revival of the downtown historical centre.

In some ways, Colima could be

and Lyle Vanclief, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’66, are the 2010 inductees into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. Stewart’s career included working as a dairy consultant, but he is widely recognized for helping to establish the Canadian 4-H Council, an

organization committed to youth leadership in Canada.

Vanclief, who was a 4-H member in his youth, started his career on a large farming operation near Belleville, Ont. He eventually entered politics and was first elected to Parliament

compared to Guelph, she adds. “It is fairly close and thus influenced by bigger cities but definitely has its own characteristics and governance. It has a vibrant historical centre, universities, and a friendly and pleasant street life.”

Colima is not on the tourist route.

It’s the inland capital of the Mexican state of the same name that touches the Pacific coast. “The people are so kind and open and have such a sense of community. It has been easy to adapt to the Mexican culture and to build lasting friendships with local people. I am now fluent in Spanish, and I owe

in 1988; he served as Canada’s minister of agriculture and agrifood from 1997 to 2003.

1960 John Bindernagel, BSA ’64, has published his second book about the North American

■

this to time spent in Colima, being fully immersed and working in Spanish.

“I think the biggest difference between working in Mexico and in Canada would be the importance of time. A meeting time, a deadline or a start time are mere approximations here; this definitely takes some getting used to. For example, if a meeting is supposed to start at 12 p.m., a 1 or even 2 p.m. start is not unheard of, and may even be the norm.

“On the other hand, I find the general culture here much more appreciative of a slower pace of life, the impor-

sasquatch with Beachcomber Books of Courtenay, B.C. The Discovery of the Sasquatch reviews some of the reasons that the animal is commonly perceived as a cultural phenomenon and why most attempts to attract the attention of scientists have failed.The

tance of family, spending time together and taking care of each other, and food — oh, the food!”

Before her work in Colima, Cohlmeyer travelled and worked in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay and Nicaragua. “I also worked at the YMCA in Victoria, B.C., before participating in the CIDA internship. Now I look forward to moving ahead in the field of urban planning and urban sustainability practices, and community health and vibrancy.”

BY MARY DICKIESON

wildlife biologist has studied Bigfoot since Bindernagel was a student in wildlife management at U of G. His first book, North America’s Great Ape:The Sasquatch, was published in 1998.

■ John Theberge, BSA ’64, and his wife, Mary, have pub-

lished their third book based on their research as wildlife biologists.Written for non-scientists, The Ptarmigan’s Dilemma examines the mechanisms of evolution.The couple has spent more than 30 years conducting field research in Labrador, Yukon,

Winter 2011 31

British Columbia and Ontario’s Algonquin Park. In 1994, they were jointly awarded the Equinox Citation for Environmental Achievement.

1970 John Buckingham, B.Sc. ’76, after many years working in the pharmaceutical industry in Europe and the United States, is now living in Toronto supporting early-stage health technology companies in the MaRS Discovery District and Health Technology Exchange, as well as more established companies worldwide.

■ Judith Carson, BA ’75, writes: “My strong, fond memories of Guelph from my undergraduate days led me to return here in my retirement.

Guelph is a great place to live.”

■ Ian Darling, BA ’71, recently had his second book, Amaz■

ing Airmen: Canadian Flyers in the Second World War, published by Dundurn Press. It’s a collection of stories about Canadians in the air war against Nazi Germany. Two chapters discuss Canadians who became professors at the Ontario Agricultural College after the war: Tom Lane, BSA ’49 and M.Sc. ’51, who still lives in Guelph, and Ralph Campbell, H.D.La. ’74, who died in 2008. Another story involves former U of G languages professor Manfred Kremer, who was nine when his German city was bombed by Lane and his crew just before they were shot down. Kremer and Lane first met at a book reception held in Guelph last May. (www.amazingairmen.com) ■ Dennis Fitzpatrick, B.Sc. ’75 and M. Sc. ’77, is a biochemistry professor at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta and the

■ Mary van de Kamp, B.Sc. ’78, is an authorized nuclear operator for Ontario Power Generation in Pickering, Ont.

1980

DENNIS FITZPATRICK

KEITH HARRIS

university’s former vice-president of research. Since he joined the campus 10 years ago, the university’s research budget has grown from $2 million to almost $24 million. He has established several programs that encourage partnerships across disciplines and strong ties with Alberta’s technology community.

■ Keith Harris, B.Sc. ’77, recently launched a new beverage aimed at Ontario consumers. KiKi Maple Sweet

Water is offered through his company, Troll Bridge Creek Inc. (www.trollbridgecreek.ca) ■ Nicholas Leyland, B.A.Sc. ’79, recently moved from the University of Toronto to McMaster University to become professor and chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology, Faculty of Health Sciences, at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine. He is also chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Hamilton Health Sciences.

■ George Apostolou, BA ’80, has been teaching at Box Hill College in Kuwait for 10 years.

He says he looks forward to attending U of G’s Homecoming weekend “one of these years.”

■ Barbara Ann Chidiac, DVM ’85, runs the Chidiac Animal Hospital in Waverley, Ont.While her daughters, Anna and Carla, were organizing a fundraiser called “Waverley for Haiti,” she showed them an article from the Summer 2010 issue of The Portico about the Haitian experiences of John, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’71, and Deb Currelly, BA ’71.

Her daughters decided to donate their fundraising proceeds to the Pan American

Development Foundation associated with the Currellys.

■ Chris Clark-Soloninka, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’81, received his PhD last May from Middlesex University in London, England.

■ Diane Deans, BA ’80, was re-elected in October to her sixth consecutive term as a city councillor in Ottawa. She was first elected in 1994. Among her greatest accomplishments, she cites the construction of the Greenboro District Library; saving the Greenboro Turtlehead Nature area, a sensitive wetland, from development; and establishing a business park association in her ward. In 2006, she was elected chair of the community and protective services committee, which directs such essential services as fire, paramedics, housing, public health, and parks and recreation. Deans co-chaired the 2009 City of

Ottawa United Way Campaign.

Charlene (Gillies) Gilmer, B.A.Sc. ’82, and Karen (Lochhead) Walton, B. Comm. ’83, have been best friends since Grade 5; they even attended U of G together and were roommates for two years.

Both women met their hus■

one another in 1989. Charlene’s husband, Reg Gilmer, ADA ’82, owns and operates a large dairy operation in the Ottawa Valley. Charlene is a teacher and a learning resource coach with the Upper Canada District School Board. They have two daughters, one of whom is in

CHARLENE AND REG GILMER, LEFT, AND KAREN AND ROBERT WALTON

bands at U of G, were married within three weeks of each other in 1985 and became firsttime parents within four days of

her first year at U of G studying biology. Karen’s husband, Robert Walton, B.Sc.(Eng.) ’84, is the director of public

Hire Guelph Co-op Students Current Students Alumni

G uelph Post a Job now: www.recruitguelph.ca www .recruitguelph.ca

Make your legacy a better planet.

For information on bequests and planned giving, please contact Ross Butler at 519-824-4120, ext. 56196, rbutler@uoguelph.ca, or visit www.alumni.uoguelph.ca

32 The Portico

Winter 2011 33

PHOTO BY MORAG STEWART

He's doing things differently

O

ntario organic grower Ted Shelegy, BSA ’64 and M.Sc. ’84, hosted farm leaders and politicians on his Scotland, Ont., farm in September as he plugged into a new revenue source: a solar panel that will generate up to 10 kilowatts of power per day during the summer. The energy will enter the provincial power grid.

“This will reduce my carbon footprint,” he said, predicting that many other Canadian farmers will soon be “growing” solar energy.

Shelegy, who taught high school science for 30 years, farmed part-time throughout his teaching career and gained organic certification in the early 1990s.

works for the County of Oxford. Karen runs her own bookkeeping and accounting business. They have three daughters; the eldest two currently attend U of G. In July, the Gilmers and the Waltons celebrated their 25th wedding anniversaries together.

■ Neil Haworth, BLA ’86, chairs Nelson and Haworth, a golf course design architecture firm based in Singapore. He designed the Sheshan International golf course that hosted the 2010 World Golf Championship in November. Landscape architecture professor Robert Brown says Haworth’s Sheshan course “is really quite spectacular. He designed the course around two 1,000-year-old Ginkgo biloba trees and a 50metre-deep rock chasm.”

■ Scott Jordan, B.Sc. ’85 and

Graduate Diploma in

APPLIED STATISTICS s new program, unique in Canada, is designed for professionals who use statistics in their work but have limited formal training

Wear a U of G alumni hoodie, T-shirt, hat and more.

Alumni merchandise is now available at the U of G Bookstore and online.

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The U of G Library celebrates alumni writers.

Submit your book to the Campus Author program.

s modern statistical software is integrated into all aspects of the program s the next admission point is September 2011 For more information, please visit: www.uoguelph.ca/GuelphAppliedStats or contact Susan McCormick at smccormi@uoguelph.ca

34 The Portico

WE WANT TO READ YOUR BOOK

■ Desmond Layne, B.Sc. ’86, is an associate professor of pomology at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C. He launched an educational website entitled “Everything About Peaches” (www.clemson.edu/peach) that he calls a one-stop shop for peach information for commercial and backyard growers and consumers. Layne recently spent two weeks in China, where he was invited to speak at universities and institutes about his peach research program and toured six provinces to investigate the protected cultivation of peaches.

■ George Plumley, BA ’86, has published a new book, 100 Questions to Ask Before Building a Website, to help people avoid costly errors while designing their own websites: www.ahundredquestionstoask.com.

■ Christopher Powell, BA ’82, has been a visiting assistant professor at the University of Alberta and completed a PhD thesis on the anti-Vietnam war movement in Canada at the University of New Brunswick.

■ Jeff Walker, B.Sc.(Agr.)’89 and MBA ’00, married Suzanne Lloyd in July 2009 in Moncton, N.B. The couple announce the arrival of Zoe Elizabeth, born Oct. 22. They live in Shubenacadie, N.S., where Jeff operates a dairy consulting business called Lonsdale Dairy Solutions.

He also owns and operates The Heifer Hotel, which raises dairy heifers for customers in Newfoundland.

1990 Kenn Beatson, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’95, married Iram Malik in August; they live in Palgrave, Ont. While enrolled in the cooperative education program at U of G, Beatson worked for two semesters at Mars Canada (formally Effem Foods). He

■

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now has a full-time position in research and development in Mars Canada’s pet-care division.

■ Peggy (Burnett) Cernick, B.Comm. ’99, has worked as the conference services and special events manager at the Prince of Wales Hotel and Spa in Niagaraon-the-Lake for five years. During the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, she worked with CTV as a hospitality manager and says she was proud to provide enthusiastic energy for such a highprofile sponsor of the games.This past summer she married Mike Cernick of Grimsby, Ont., in “a picture-perfect setting at a local Niagara winery. Life couldn’t be any better.”

■ James Fennstra, BA ’07, completed a master’s degree in history at George Mason University and is now enrolled in a doctoral program at George Washington University; both schools are in the Washington, D.C., area.

■ Christine Garneau, BA ’09, is completing a master’s degree at Simon Fraser University.

■ Tracy-Ann (Amoaba) Gooden, BA ’92, is assistant professor of African diaspora studies at Kent State University in Ohio. She is guest editor for a special issue of the Southern Journal of Canadian Studies on the theme “Constructing Black Canada: Becoming Canadian,” due out later this year.

■ Aleksander Oniszczak, BA ’97, was recently married and has moved to Silicon Valley, California.

■ Deborah Lynn Rumble, BA ’95, writes from her home in London, England: “Thank you for your stories about alumni entrepreneurs. I was selfemployed while I studied psychology at U of G. I sold organic cleaners and recycled toilet paper to banks, golf courses and residences. I also supplied

Garments tell a visual story

O

ntario artist Jane Eccles, BA ’70, is preparing a large exhibition of work that will be at the Station Gallery in Whitby, Ont., from Feb. 26 to April 10. The show comprises 45 paintings of garments originally worn by women who, as Eccles says, “have beaten the odds and succeeded at their chosen discipline.” Included are garments borrowed from Canadian icons such as Karen Kain, Adrienne Clarkson and Margaret Atwood. Eccles has written stories about all of the women to accompany the paintings and garments in the exhibit.

my products to the on-campus pharmacy and sold out at times.

Being an entrepreneur helped me financially, but it was the love of a better environment that fueled my interest in sales.

I met other talented entrepreneurs in a student club, and they would all agree that entrepreneurship is for people who have vision and passion and aren’t afraid of taking risks. Many thanks for your stories. They brought back memories and showed me that good ideas never die.”

■ Al Shaw, B.Sc. ’94, earned an M.Sc. at the University of British Columbia in 1999. His

wife, Bev Wicks, B.Sc. ’94 and M.Sc. ’96, earned a PhD in 2001, also at UBC. Shaw and Wicks have partnered with Jamie Nairn, B.Sc. ’94, and Rob Wilson, B.Sc. ’96 and M.Sc. ’99, to start an environmental consulting firm in Muskoka, Ont.With six U of G degrees among the four partners, Shaw says: “Our academic and social experience at U of G most definitely shaped the way we view the natural environment and, in turn, how we apply our knowledge to our profession.” Learn more about RiverStone Environmental Solutions at ww.rsenviro.ca.

Winter 2011 35

COURTESY JANE ECCLES

Show your pride

PhD ’90, is a toxicologist in Health Canada’s marketed health products directorate in Ottawa. He was recently selected by U.S. Pharmacopeia to serve a five-year term on its expert committee on dietary supplements. USP is a non–governmental authority responsible for creating and revising standards for prescription and over–the–counter medicines and other health-care products manufactured or sold in the United States.

■ Jennifer La Chapelle, BA ’81 and MA ’83, is pleased to announce that both of her children are now U of G students.

Madelaine Donnelly has just started a degree in theatre studies, while her brother, James Donnelly, is in his fourth year of studio arts.

■ Desmond Layne, B.Sc. ’86,

Family pride in U of G grads

PHOTO COURTESY ALISON MAYNARD

M

ichael and Elisabeth Maynard have seen three of their four children graduate from U of G, including Alison Maynard, centre, who received a BA in political science this summer. She has since travelled to Brazil to volunteer with Mulheres Mils, a program run by the Brazilian government to empower disadvantaged women, and then to Palmas in Tocantins state to teach English at a private school.

Alison’s sister, Lindsay, BA ’04, was also bitten by the travel bug, working in Banff, Alta., and teaching English in Japan before returning to Ryerson University to complete an MFA. She taught at George Brown and Sheridan colleges and now lives in Fredericton, N.B., where her parents have relocated after raising their family in Barrie, Ont. Nathan, BA ’07, earned his Guelph degree in studio art. He is now studying advertising and graphic design at Humber College in Toronto.

The youngest Maynard sibling is Sebastian, a Grade 11 student who has yet to decide where to begin post-secondary education.

went on to earn a master’s degree in theological studies, specializing in pastoral counselling, at Wilfrid Laurier University in 1998. She recently opened a private practice in Guelph as a registered marriage and family therapist offering individual, couple and sex therapy.

2000

Kim Anderson

Kim Anderson, PhD ’10, plays a leadership role in an aboriginal health research project at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and is raising two children with Dave Dornan. A Cree Métis

writer and educator, Anderson received the University’s prestigious Brock Scholarship for doctoral research in 2005.

■ Martha Archibald, BA ’02,

■

36 The Portico

has moved to London, England, to pursue a master’s degree in human rights at City University. Previously, she interned at two human rights organizations in the Philippines and volunteered with Amnesty International for three years in Ottawa.

■ John Dempster, B.Sc.’00, has opened an integrated holistic health care centre in Toronto (www.thedempsterclinic.com) to integrate naturopathic and traditional medicine practices and to promote disease prevention through proactive health care.

■ Shannon Gregg, B.Sc. ’09, received her bachelor of education from Queen’s University in June. She lives in Ajax, Ont., and works as an occasional teacher with the Durham Catholic District School Board.

■ Jenna Healey, BA ’09, continues her education in a University of Toronto master’s program in history and philosophy.

■ Valerie Hawke, B.Sc.(H.K.) ’01, is a physiotherapist in Gerringong, New South Wales, Australia. She and her husband, Brian, welcomed their first child, Matthew Jack, on Sept. 11.

■ Heather (McCready), B.Comm. ’05, and Jeremy Hertel, M.Sc. ’05, were married in Guelph in 2008. They both work at The Co-operators in the communications and actuarial departments and celebrated the arrival of baby Jake on July 25.

■ Alisha Janzen, DVM ’04, graduated in June with a master’s degree in veterinary science from the University of Saskatchewan, Western College of Veterinary Medicine.

■ Andrew Kaszowski, BAA ’06, was elected to the University of Guelph Alumni Association board of directors this past summer. A communications specialist at St. Joseph’s Health Care in London, Ont., he is the first University of Guelph-

Humber graduate to serve on the alumni board.

■ Kristen Keller, BA ’07, has embarked on a cross-Canada journey called the “Coast-toCoast Couch-Surfing Robot Tour” in which she is helping special-needs children build moving, art-making robots. She has traversed Nunavut and is now travelling from the East Coast to British Columbia to teach 15,000 kids at 250 schools how to make robots out of recycled materials. Find out more at www.kristenkeller.org.

■ Allen Kharlip, B.Comm. ’08, is director of marketing at Green Earth Solutions Inc. (www.GreenIsIn.ca), a green energy management company in Concord, Ont. ■ Mackenzie Kinmond, BA ’05, worked in Africa and England after graduation and is now completing a master’s program in social work at York University.

■ Kristopher Mask, B.Sc. ’00, and his wife, Tania, of Windsor, Ont., welcome new baby Alexander Lucas, born April 29.

■ Mitch McKechnie, B.Comm. ’06, has started his own landscaping business called Superior Stone Designs and Installations (www.superiorstone.ca) in Burlington, Ont. ■ Meredith Owen, B.Sc. ’04, graduated from the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Dentistry in Nov. 2009. She received the Dr. Bruce Maxwell Medal, an academic merit scholarship in restorative dentistry, in her last year and was also the faculty’s nominee for the University Convocation Medal. She is practising dentistry and tutoring second-year dental students in Sydney. She would love to get in touch with friends from U of G and can be contacted at emily_meredith@hotmail.com.

■ Judith Samuels, MBA ’06,

is manager of corporate communications at Maritz Canada Inc. in Mississauga, Ont.

ADA TANG ■ Ada Tang, B.Sc.(Eng.) ’05, and Libra Yeung, B.Sc. ’06, were married July 10 and live

in Markham, Ont. They met at a bus stop while they were students at U of G. Tang works in the natural health products industry and Yeung works as a pharmaceutical consultant.

■ Julia Vandepolder, BA ’09, had her work featured at The Telephone Booth Gallery in Toronto. Her oil-on-panel paintings depict abandoned architectural structures through abstracted layers of colour and texture.

■ Dylan White, B.Sc.(Env.) ’09, is part of a 14-man crew that will row unassisted across the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for charity. The crew left

Morocco in December, planning to arrive in Barbados in 30 days: www.row4survival.com.

■ David Wilson, B.Comm. ’07, is a senior associate at KPMG Financial Institutions. He says the B.Comm. program at U of G offered him “a unique experience which enabled me to focus my area of specialization beyond what other universities offered.”

■ Valery Woloshyn, B.Sc.(Eng.) ’03, and Debanjan Mookerjea, B.Sc.(Eng.) ’02, served as panelists at the Consulting Engineers of Ontario 2010 conference.

Woloshyn is an intermediate project manager at CH2M

HILL Canada Ltd. Mookerjea works in the environmental services sector at R. J. Burnside & Associates Ltd. ■ Don Woods, H.D.Sc. ’01, and his wife, Diane, wrote The Mills of Waterdown:The Growth of an Ontario Village, 1790 to 1915, which was published by the Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society.The book provides a historical tour through the development of the village as it grew around Grindstone Creek and the 28 different mills that have operated there. More than 250 maps, photos and sketches are included.

PA S S AG E S Angus Adams, BSA ’38, July 14, 2010 Derek Belfry, B.Sc. ’70, Aug. 17, 2010 Donald Baron, BSA ’49, Nov. 13, 2010 Brent Bonner, BA ’85, Feb. 14, 2010 Garfield Bowers, BSA ’51, June 24, 2010 Geoffrey Cox, B.Sc.(P.E.) ’70, April 25, 2009 Gail (Stibbard) Davies, ADA ’60, Jan. 29, 2009 Thomas De Geer, DVM ’54, Nov. 6, 2010 John Dippel, DVM ’47, May 15, 2010 Mary Duxbury, DHE ’47, Aug. 6, 2010 Mark Elliott, ADA ’94, Oct. 6, 2010 William Falkiner, ADA ’74, Aug. 2, 2009 William Fellows, BSA ’49, Oct. 7, 2010 Charles Firman, DVM ’50, Oct. 2, 2009 Alan Fisher, BSA ’52, Aug. 4, 2010 Helen (Hipple) Fleming, DHE ’38, Oct. 13, 2010 William Fleming, BSA ’52, Aug. 4, 2010 Maurice Foster, DVM ’57, Oct. 2, 2010 Norine Galvin, B.H.Sc. ’61 and M.Sc. ’72, April 11, 2010 Ronald Girouard, BSA ’60, Dec. 13, 2009 Ralph Glasser, BSA ’43, Dec. 31, 2009 Nigel Gough, BA ’09, Sept. 26, 2010

Lorne Greenaway, DVM ’58, Sept. 13, 2010 Wrexford Groves, DVM ’41, June 24, 2010 David Hall, BA ’73, July 14, 2010 Macklin Hancock, BSA ’49, Sept. 14, 2010 Grant Hart, BSA ’50, Oct. 10, 2010 Arthur Hawkes, DVM ’51, Oct. 6, 2010 Lyle Henry, DVM ’49, Aug. 6, 2010 Amber (Patterson) Jackson, BA ’87, Aug. 8, 2010 Carl Jackson, BSA ’61, Aug. 14, 2010 James Jewson, BSA ’43, Aug. 14, 2010 Graham Kemp, DVM ’51, October 2010 Eila (Ross) Lawson, DHE, ’39, Oct. 13, 2010 Thomas Leach, ADA ’40 and BSA ’49, July 18, 2010 Barbara (Dodge) Lock, B.Sc. ’75, Oct. 3, 2010 Myra MacLennan, B.Sc. ’84, Sept. 24, 2009 Barbara Manilla, MAN ’08, June 11, 2010 Edward Marfei, BSA ’51, May 9, 2010 Robert Mask, B.Sc. ’00, Sept. 19, 2010 Mark McGarry, BA ’74, Oct. 12, 2009 Lois McIntosh, B.H.Sc. ’59, March 31, 2010 Kenneth McNaught, BSA ’43, July 5, 2010

Clifford Mizzen, DVM ’50, Aug. 18, 2010 Glen Mowbray, DVM ’60, December 2009 Ralph Nelson, BSA ’49, Aug. 27, 2009 James Purdy, DVM ’50, Sept. 21, 2010 Gregory Rich, BLA ’83, Aug. 15, 2010 Sullivan Roy, BSA ’42, Sept. 29, 2010 Jan Rubes, H.D.Let. ’83, June 2009 Doris (Rose) Sadler, DHE ’34, May 22, 2010 Anne MacIntosh Schramek, M.Sc. ’89, Dec. 27, 2009 Walter Scott, BSA ’37, April 15, 2010 Rose Sheinin, H.D.Sc. ’91, March 20, 2009 Neil Stiver, BSA ’51, Jan. 25, 2010 Elizabeth (Howard) van Diepen, DHE ’36, July 31, 2010 Yohanna Yiljep, PhD ’91, Feb. 27, 2009 Christopher Zweerman, M.Sc. ’09, Nov. 14, 2010 FACULTY George Bedell, founding chair of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Sept. 2, 2010 Ross Hallett, Physics, Aug. 6, 2010 Roberto Poma, D.V.Sc. ’02, Clinical Studies, Nov. 15, 2010 Samuel Sidlofsky, Sociology and Anthropology, Aug. 6, 2010

Winter 2011 37

Thank you.

Thank you to the 14,672 alumni and friends, corporations, associations and foundations who made gifts to the University last year. Your support continues to make a difference.

The Impact of Giving Report is available online. Please visit www.alumni.uoguelph.ca.