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UBC DAIRY EDUCATION ANDRESEARCH CENTRERonaldo CerriFocus on Community and EducationThe UBC Dairy Education and Research Centre values communityoutreach and education. In 2010, more than 1,500 people fromaround the world visited the Dairy Centre to learn about the originof dairy foods, good animal husbandry practices and the Canadiandairy industry. The Dairy Centre also hosted a number of educationalprograms throughout the past year, including the new BC MilkProducers Association’s Dairy Innovation Day and its new DairyProduction Technician Apprenticeship Program.Education is a major focus for the Dairy Centre. University researchdegree programs typically require two to five years of dedicatedstudy and research. During this time, students are left withinadequate time to earn a living. Thankfully, our donors have madeit possible for students to concentrate on their studies. Last year,two new scholarships, both valued at $2,000, were developed tohelp graduate students cover their living costs while studying at theCentre - the Pacific Dairy Centre Scholarship and the John and MaryYoung Memorial Scholarship. Viterra Feed Products also made a verysignificant contribution to graduate student education by providingtwo $20,000 annual fellowships that fully support the livings costs oftwo students.The Dairy Centre recently completed construction of a state-of-the-artlaboratory building which also provides students with office space anda conference room often used by the dairy industry. These facilitieshelp us communicate our important research in animal welfare,nutrient recovery and animal reproduction to the general public andthe dairy industry.During the past year, our scientists have worked with dairy producersacross North America to perform on-farm assessments of lamenessin dairy cattle and to explore means of reducing it. Building on thissuccess, a new project is underway on improving calf care on farms inBC and Alberta. We wish to thank the large number of producers whoprovided access to their farms and who enthusiastically workedwith our students.Ronaldo Cerri, Assistant Professor,Animal ReproductionBrazilian-born Ronaldo Cerri joined our Faculty in September 2010 inthe newly created role of Assistant Professor in Animal Reproduction.Cerri finished his post-doctoral research at the University of Floridaand prior to that, he completed his MSc and PhD at the University ofCalifornia, Davis. His original plan, when he was in veterinary school atSan Paulo State University in Brazil, was to work with small animals buthe soon changed his focus to dairy cows.“I fell in love with them,” said Cerri, adding that the UBC DairyEducation and Research Centre was the main reason he wasdrawn to our Faculty.“The combination of talented researchers, outstanding infrastructureat the UBC Dairy Education and Research Centre, and a robust localdairy industry offers a unique environment to conduct research inanimal reproduction,” said Cerri, adding that creating a strong researchprogram with links to industry and providing excellence in teachingare his main goals for this position. Cerri’s research involves solvinginfertility problems in dairy cows.“We push cows to produce a lot of milk, which affects theirmetabolism, and as a result reproduction has suffered,” he said. “I’minterested in how nutrition, animal health, animal behavior and animalwelfare affect their reproduction.”During the next year, Cerri will be spending a lot of time in Agassizat the Dairy Education and Research Centre, where his main lab islocated. He will begin teaching courses in animal physiology andreproduction in the Fall of 2011.18 Faculty of Land and Food Systems Annual Report 2009 | 2010
BIOMETEOROLOGY ANDSOIL SCIENCESandra BrownDown to Earth“I look at soil and water and how it affects – and how it’s affected by –the way we use and manage land,” said Brown, sessional lecturer andresearch associate in our Soil Sciences program.Brown works in land and water resource management in mountainregions within Canada and internationally. From 2002 to 2008, sheworked in Cali, Colombia on a joint research project between UBCand the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture. She joined LFSin 2008 and continues to focus on South American-based researchprojects, including an eight-year integrated watershed managementproject in Nicaragua with the Canadian International DevelopmentAgency (CIDA), the goal of which is to build local capacity and providetools for better watershed management.“We’re helping rural Nicaraguan communities identify their priorityissues and developing plans from farm scale to watershed andworking with farmer organizations to improve land management andprotect water supplies,” she added.UBC Killam AwardAssociate Professor Art Bomke was recently honoured with the KillamTeaching Award for 09/10. The Award is given annually in recognitionof excellence in teaching and recipients are nominated by students,colleagues and alumni.Bomke also received the Killam in 1999. The fact that he’s beenrecognized with another Killam speaks to his success as an educatorand the impact he’s made at UBC and in our Faculty.Five other members of the Soil Science group have also received theUBC Killam Teaching Prize in the past, including Tim Ballard (’91), LesLavkulich (’96), Maja Krzic (’06), Suzanne Simard (’06) and Andy Black,who was given the special Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring in2006, only one of which is given out each year.In 2011, Brown will begin working with Colombian partners ona three-year project focusing on the role of water governance inadaptation to climate change (funded by IDRC). She will work with theteam on the generation and use of information at the local scaleto support management.“Communities in the Andes Mountains typically have very limitedwater storage and depend on ecosystems for their water supply,making them vulnerable to shortages,” she said. “A municipality can tryto make management decisions to address water quality and supplyproblems but science is needed to support those decisions, to see ifexisting practices really work, and to develop alternative strategies.”Brown was recently awarded a University Sustainability InitiativeTeaching and Learning grant that will allow her to incorporate moresustainability issues into her courses.Faculty of Land and Food Systems Annual Report 2009 | 2010 19
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Page 5 and 6: AWARDSAlejandro RojasBeverton Medal
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