NSAC E-Bulletin

Please forward your submissions to the NSAC E-Bulletin to Stephanie Rogers (news@nsac.ca) by Friday at 3:00 p.m. for inclusion in the next week's edition.

Academic & Cultural Affairs Officer visits NSAC

Marc Jacques, an Academic and Cultural Affairs Officer at the Canadian Consulate in Boston, visited the NSAC campus Tuesday, August 9th, 2005. His division hosts an annual counselors information session and luncheon every December and last year he featured NS universities. Mr. Jacques is seen as an important relationship in a key recruitment market for NS universities.

Marc Jacques and Dr. Bernie MacDonald

Host Families Wanted!

The Host Family Program, a program supported by the Colchester Immigration Partnership, matches International students studying at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College with a community host family, for one week duration upon arrival in Truro (August 29-September 5).

The host family program’s function is to make the transition to Canadian culture easier for the student as many of them are away from their home country for the first time. The host family acts as a support to the student by helping them get settled in the community. After the initial one week stay has been completed, the Immigration Partnerships hopes that both student and host will have created a bond and subsequently remain in contact with each other and perhaps share holidays together throughout the year.

Host Families are needed for the 2005-2006 academic year. For more information, please contact Creston Rudolph, Welcoming Community Program Coordinator, Colchester Regional Development Agency Phone- (902) 893-8099

NSAC Graduate Student Wins Award

Rowan D. Brisco, a graduate student of the Department of Plant and Animal Sciences, working under the supervision of Dr. Raj Lada received a prestigious American Society of Horticulture Science Travel Grant Award for 2005 and presented his research at the conference at Las Vegas. Congratulations Rowan. This is the third consecutive year that Dr. Lada's graduate students won this award.

Public Seminar:

Conflict Diamonds and the Kimberley Process: Implications for Human Security in Sierra Leone

Presented by J. Andrew Grant

Wednesday, August 17: 11-12pm NSAC Campus Haley Institute- Room 112

J. Andrew Grant recently completed his doctorate in Political Science at Dalhousie University. From April to June 2003, he was an intern at the Campaign for Good Governance in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Grant has either authored or co-authored a number of articles, book chapters, and conference papers on African politics. He is co-editor (with Fredrik Söderbaum) of The New Regionalism in Africa (Ashgate, 2003).

In September 2005, Grant will begin a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Center for International and Comparative Studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

For more information, contact Kendra at NSAC International: kmmellish@nsac.ns.ca, 893-6514

Call for Submissions

International Winner

International would like to announce the winner of the International Tic-Tac-Toe game from Open House. In order to qualify for the prize draw for a globe, participants were required to correctly answer at least three International trivia questions. Thank you to all participants. Our winner was Chanel Pearson of Bible Hill. Chanel will be entering Grade 7 at Redcliff Middle School in the fall. Congratulations!

Chanel Pearson receiving her prize from Jody Nelson and Kendra Mellish

Dr. Kor Oldenbroek Visits NSAC

The Genetics and Breeding Group at NSAC welcomed Dr. Kor Oldenbroek from
the Centre for Genetic Resources, Wageningen University and Research
Centre, The Netherlands, to campus July 21 and 22 .

Dr. Oldenbroek, the editor of the 1999 publication 'Genebanks and the Conservation of Farm Animal Genetic Resources', was on a North American visit of units involved with animal and plant genetic resource conservation. Dr.
Oldenbroek was especially interested in the undergraduate 'Farm Animal
Genetic Resources' teaching module developed at NSAC by Dr. Dian
Patterson, Ms.Linda Jack and Ms.Sondra Mantle, in cooperation with Dr. Fred Silversides of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Dr. Josef Vagi of Szent Istvan University, Hungary.

While on campus, Dr. Oldenbroek presented a seminar on genetic resource conservation and discussed challenges and opportunities with the faculty, graduate students and research associates. (A copy of the seminar presentation can be obtained from Dian Patterson, NSAC International.)

(L to R) standing: Dr. Oldenbroek, Shafiqul Islam, Irin Arju, Joseph Donkor, Dr. Nigel Firth. Seated: Dr. Nancy McLean, Dr. Hossain Farid, Dr. Masroor Babar

NSAC Congratulates Dr. Deng-lin Wu on his Research Accomplishments

About two year ago, NSAC established a partnership agreement with National Chiayi University, Taiwan and the Asian Vegetable R&D Centre (AVRDC) - The World Vegetable Centre, Taiwan. Under the terms of this agreement, inter-institutional supervision of students is allowed and accordingly Mr. Deng-lin Wu of the Graduate Institute of Agriculture, National Chiayi University successfully completed his graduate program in July, 2005.

Mr. Wu's research, co-supervised by Drs. R. Lada and Y.-F. Yen, dealt with screening tomato and eggplant rootstocks for anoxia tolerance; Mr. Wu was Dr. Lada's principal research assistant at AVRDC.

Flooding can be a major threat to vegetable production in many parts of the world. The research performed by Mr. Wu has identified some of the mechanisms of flooding resistance in these plants. He selected the accessions that were resistant, grafted these to resistant egg-plant rootstocks and field-evaluated them for their potential. The data are relevant to the sustained production and availability of nutrient-rich tomatoes that contribute to the nutritional security and increased rural household income of the resident population. Flooding in Asia can result in the total loss of vegetable crops. Such catastrophes may lead to a poor supply of vegetables and this can result in up to three-fold increases in vegetable prices. In this situation, malnutrition is exacerbated as is the vulnerability to diseases.

NSAC congratulates Mr. Wu for his research accomplishments and the successful completion of his graduate program.

Visit NSAC at the Provincial Exhbition

NSAC will be participating in the Provincial Exhibition August 23rd to 27th with two displays in honour of our Centennial.

Wander through the NS Antique Farm Equipment Museum and view NSAC's display depicting the science of agriculture over the past 100 years. NSAC will also have a presence in the Agri-Dome with an interactive recruitment display.

NSAC is pleased to be returning to the Exhibition after more than a decade of absence and we encourage you to come out and visit NSAC at the Ex.

For more information contact Stephanie Rogers at srogers@nsac.ca

Sports Week Finishes with a "PULL"

Week 6 of the Athletics/Scotia Pool "Kids Discovery Camp" , concluded on Friday with a "tug - of - war" pull on the NSAC Pitch. Earlier in the week, the campers received skill instruction and play time in soccer, badminton, volleyball, basketball ,bowling and other minor games. Each day finished with a swim at Scotia Pool.

The 7th and final week (Aug.15-19) is "ARTS" week. The campers will be drawing, painting, dancing and swimming at Scotia Pool.