Inaugural J.D. Webster Fellowship Awarded

The School of Environmental Sciences is pleased to announce that Geraldine (Gerry) Ryan was selected by the OAC Awards Committee as the recipient of the inaugural J.D. Webster Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Environmental Sciences. 

 Established in honour of the late Earle J.D. Webster, the Webster Post-Doctoral Fellowship was created to fund ground-breaking environmental science research toward making a better planet. Webster attended OAC in 1927, and later went on to distinguish himself as an elementary school educator and author. He showed lifelong interest in both geology and forestry.  Applicants were considered on the basis of demonstrated research excellence in subject areas related to environmental sciences, with preference to research in natural resource management. 

Gerry will defend her PhD, on the ecological impacts of climate change on plant-insect interactions, later this summer.  Gerry has already published four peer reviewed journal articles and a book chapter.  Her 2012 Tansley Review, a commissioned feature of the top rated plant sciences journal The New Phytologist, is an indication of the very high quality of her research.  Gerry's application: "Will increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide alter the invasiveness of non-native bio-fuel grasses?" was judged to be the best from a strong international field of applicants.  Gerry said, "I am very happy and honoured to receive this award, and the opportunity it will provide me to continue to advance my career goals."  She will take up her fellowship in September. 

One Webster Post-Doctoral Fellowship is awarded each year.  Recipients receive a $50,000 stipend and spend a year working on their research in the lab of a Faculty Member in the School of Environmental Sciences.