Agronomist, soil scientist and environmental microbiologist, Professor at the Memorial University of Newfoundland and affiliated with the McGill University. His early research, integrating microbiology with soil physics (University of Guelph, Prof. MJ Goss, and University of Ottawa, Prof. S. Sattar), was on microbial environmental quality in farming systems (crops and dairies), the transport of microbes, including putative pathogens, through soils. At the New Mexico State University (NMSU), as co-PI for NAABB , he developed a line of research on technical and decision support tools that facilitate integration of wastes of various sources to support the economical production of microalgal biomass under various conditions and for various bio-products. As founding Associate Editor for the ensuing Algal Research, he supported the journal from inception to its current Q1 status (edited >500 articles in this period). Also at NMSU, he established a soil-plant relationship program for arid land soils and crops, work with which he is still involved in the US Southwest and Middle East. This research, among others, has shown that soil and plant microbiomes are essential for plant resilience to climate stresses. More recently he established the first Canadian graduate program focused on northern agriculture (Boreal Ecosystems and Agricultural Sciences, BEAS; initially an MSc program, now expanded to add a PhD option). Currently he works on issues relevant to the fertility of northern soils, and the development of an integrated circumboreal research capacity to address the impact of climate change on northern agriculture and food security.
Research interests:
- Northern agriculture under climate change
- Soil and environmental health and quality
- Re-cycling and re-valorization of organic wastes for food security and carbon sequestration
- Microbiological drivers of soil fertility
- Pathogens in the environment
- Cultivation of algae for biomass and bio-products
Education:
- BSc in Agronomy/Agricultural Engineering, Timisoara, Romania
- MSc and PhD in Soil Science, University of Guelph
- PDF, Centre for Research in Environmental Microbiology, University of Ottawa, Medicine
Academic history
- Associate and Full Professor at the Memorial University of Newfoundland (2013-cont.)
- Visiting Professor and Research Affiliate, McGill University (2017-cont.)
- Assistant and Associate Professor, New Mexico University (2007-2013)
- Visiting Professor at AzCATI, Arizona State University (2018)
- Senior Cheney Fellow (School of Earth and Environment, 2014) and Visiting Researcher (School of Geography, 2015) at University of Leeds
- Invited Associate Professor at Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine (currently The King Michael the 1st University of Life Sciences), Faculty of Horticulture and Forestry, Romania (2014-2015)
- Lecturer, University of Guelph, Kemptville Campus (2004)
- Research Scientist, Centre for Research in Environmental Microbiology, University of Ottawa, Medicine (2003-2007)
