Congratulations to Professor Rebecca Rooney for being awarded the 2022 Faculty of Science Excellence in Science Research Awards! Other recipients are Professors Andrea Edginton (School of Pharmacy) and Anna Klinkova (Department of Chemistry).
This award was established by the Faculty of Science’s Associate Dean of Research in 2021 to recognize outstanding research accomplishments by Science faculty members. Each year, the Science Research Office will award one tenure-track and two tenured faculty members based on their research accomplishments and excellence in the previous two or five years for the tenure-track and tenured faculty members respectively.
Professor Rebecca Rooney from the Department of Biology is the second tenured faculty member selected for this year’s award. She studies the effects of human disturbance and invasive species on wetlands. Wetlands purify our water and are crucial for climate change mitigation and adaptation. They are also biodiversity hotspots, home to many of our species at risk. Yet they are sensitive to contamination from pesticides and microplastics, climate change and biological invasions. Rooney’s important research into the ecological effects of these stressors helps government agencies, environmental NGOs, and land owners more effectively conserve biodiversity, restore degraded wetlands, and steward our existing wetlands to protect ecosystem services for future generations.
“I’m so proud to be recognized with the Excellence in Science Research Award. This honour will give me more time to mentor my talented graduate students, whose important work on wetland ecology is helping us conserve these precious ecosystems for the benefit of wildlife, human health, and the economy.”
Congratulations Rebecca, Andrea, and Anna!