Environment professor recognized for her outstanding research contributions
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The Canadian Geophysical Union honoured Dr. Maria Strack at their Annual General Meeting with their Mid-Career Scientist Award for her outstanding research contributions to the advancement of peatland carbon cycling.
Scott Davidson, Scott Ketcheson, Maria Strack and Claire Oswald, President of the CGU
Dr. Strack is a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management and a Canada Research Chair in Wetland Climate Solutions. She leads an internationally recognized research program investigating greenhouse gas exchange in peatland ecosystems; the world’s largest natural terrestrial organic carbon stores.
Her current research focuses on peatland greenhouse gas fluxes in both natural and disturbed ecosystems. This work includes participation in some of the first peatland reclamation projects in Alberta’s oil sands. She collaborates on several peatland restoration projects across Canada involving restoration of sites used for horticultural peat extraction, former well-pads and roads related to development of natural resources, and peatland construction in oil sands mining regions. Her interest in these projects is evaluating the conditions that help to return a carbon accumulation function post-restoration.
She is also investigating the potential impact of climate change on peatlands through plot to ecosystem scale manipulation of temperature and water table and evaluating the subsequent changes in soil properties, plant community and greenhouse gas fluxes. Her research also tackles peatland methane dynamics including both fluxes and subsurface storage. As part of area of focus, she is using a variety of geophysical techniques to monitor gas accumulation and release while also investigating the physical soil properties and hydrochemical and microbiological conditions that are related to spatial patterns of gas accumulation.
She works closely with industry, government and non-governmental organizations to translate her findings into improved land management. For example, as part of the Can-Peat project, she led the creation of the Canadian Peatland Data Portal; a landmark tool for climate research and policy as it is the country’s first national platform dedicated to centralizing peatland carbon metadata.
The Canadian Geophysical Union is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of geophysical research. They present the Mid-Career Scientist Award annually to recognize outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge in any research area of the Union, namely Biogeosciences, Geodesy, Hydrology and Solid Earth. Both quality and impact of research are considered. Dr. Strack received the award on May 27, 2026.
Congratulations, Dr. Strack!
