Folio Home > Oct 7, 2011 > Killam winner calculated right when choosing the U of A
Killam winner calculated right when choosing the U of A
Brian Murphy
For his work crunching numbers to provide a host of wildlife populations with a formula for survival, Mark Boyce has been awarded a 2011–2012 Killam Annual Professorship.
Boyce, a biological sciences professor, was recognized with a Killam award for his body of research and teaching work since coming to the U of A in 1999. Boyce has had a distinguished career creating mathematical and simulation models of ecological systems, primarily at the population level for conservation and management.
Boyce credits his research and teaching success to his decision to come to the U of A 12 years ago.
“I’ve been fortunate at the University of Alberta to attract exceptional graduate students who have helped to build the strongest conservation biology research group in Canada and among the best in the world.”
Boyce says his U of A research has focused on the interface between habitat modeling and population biology. That focus led Boyce to investigate a wide variety of Alberta animal species including grizzly bears, wolves, cougars and birds, such as Northern Spotted Owls and Western Grebes.
“I believe my career has flourished at the U of A,” said Boyce, who has published more than 110 peer-reviewed journal papers and dozens of magazine columns, book chapters and government reports.
Boyce says one of his most important research subjects has been the sage grouse. “Our study showed that in southeastern Alberta the greater sage grouse is just a few years away from extirpation due largely to habitat lost to oil and gas developments,” said Boyce.
Boyce occupies a chair in fisheries and wildlife endowed by the Alberta Conservation Association. Throughout his career, Boyce says he’s made efforts to reach out to a very important, non-academic audience writing columns for various sportsmen publications.
“Our scientific publications are usually inaccessible because they are too technical or not widely distributed, but it’s important make research available to the people who need it,” he says.
Spirit of Killam family’s vision alive and well at the U of A
Folio Staff
The Killam Trustees and the University of Alberta hosted a luncheon at the Faculty Club on Oct. 3 to honour recipients of the 2011-2012 Killam Awards.
The Killam Awards are part of the Killam Trust, which was established in 1967 by Izaak Walton Killam and his wife Dorothy Johnston Killam to help build Canada’s future by encouraging advanced study. Since then, the value of the Killam endowments to the U of A has been $90 million.
Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Carl Amrhein, who co-hosted a luncheon with Lorne Babiuk, vice-president (research) and Mazi Shirvani, vice-provost and dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, welcomed Killam Trustees George Cooper, John Matthews, Ann McCaig and John Montalbano to the university as well as Eliza Killam, a student enrolled at Campus Saint-Jean, who represented the Killam family.
“The bequest to our institution by Izaak and Dorothy Killam continues to provide an important source of funds for various programs and scholarships,” said Amrhein. “We very much appreciate this chance to publicly highlight the generosity of the Killams and their devotion to advancing scholarship across all disciplines, and to thank the Killam Trustees for their careful management of these funds.”
Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholars awards are presented to outstanding doctoral students:
Victoria Arbour, biological sciences
Saman Atapattu, electrical and computer engineering
Joshua Freistadt, sociology
Nicholas Jendzjowsky, physical education and recreation
Evelyn Micelotta, business
Andrew Milne, mechanical engineering
Leslie Robinson, secondary education
Vincent Sauer, electrical and computer engineering
Stefanie Vogt, biological sciences
Megan Highet, anthropology
Maya Seshia, political science
The Dorothy J Killam Memorial Graduate Prizes are awarded to the most outstanding Killam Memorial Scholarship recipients:
Megan Highet, anthropology
Nicholas Jendzjowsky, physical education and recreation
Andrew Milne, mechanical engineering
Stefanie Vogt, biological sciences
The Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowships are presented to outstanding PhD graduates:
Meghan Azad, pediatrics
Mahmud Khan, physics
Silvia Pasquetti, sociology
Mark Dickens, religious studies (also received the Dorothy J. Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Fellow Prize, which is awarded to the outstanding Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship recipient)
Resource economics and environmental sociology professor Naomi Krogman received the Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring.
2011-12 Killam Annual Professorships:
Tayfun Babadagli, civil and environmental engineering
Mark Boyce, biological sciences.
Abdulhakem Elezzabi, electrical and computer engineering
André Grace, educational psychology
Kevin Haggerty, sociology
Jan Jagodzinski, secondary education
Robert Smith, history and classics
Frederick West, chemistry