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NOMINEES
CSAS EXECUTIVE (2008-2009)

The following are the candidates recommended for the positions that will become vacant at the 2008 Annual Meeting.

Vice President
(four year term, incumbent will become President-Elect at the 2009 Annual Meeting, President at the 2010 Annual Meeting and Past-President at the 2011 Annual Meeting)

Robert Berthiaume, Ph.D.
Julie (Robinson) Small, Ph.D.

Secretary Treasurer (3 year term)

Marie-France Palin, Ph.D.

Western Director (2 year term)

Masahito Oba, Ph.D.
Marina von Keyserlingk, Ph.D.

Eastern Director (2-year term)

Dany Cinq-Mars, Ph.D.
Ira Mandell, Ph.D.

Director at Large (2 year term)

John Duynisveld, M.Sc.
Neil S. Ferguson, Ph.D.
Paul Groenewegen, M.Sc.

CURRICULA VITAE OF NOMINEES FOR CSAS EXECUTIVE

Nominees for Vice-President

Robert Berthiaume, Ph.D.

Dr. Berthiaume is Director of the Organic Dairy Research Centre at the University of Guelph, Campus d'Alfred in Alfred, Ontario. Robert completed his undergraduate training at the University of Laval in Agricultural Economics and continued with his MSc and PhD in Animal Science at the University of Gueph. Interspersed with his academic training, Robert was a Farm Management Specialist with Syndicat de Gestion Agricole du Témiscamingue (S.G.A.T.), a Beef Specialist and then a Farm Management and Livestock Advisor with the Ministère de l'Agriculture, des pêcheries et de l'alimentation (M.A.P.A.Q.) and then a Beef Specialist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) at Kapuskasing (Ontario). Robert completed his Ph.D. in 2001 while holding a Research Scientist position at the AAFC Dairy & Swine Research Centre in Lennoxville, Québec and was named to his present position as Director of the Organic Dairy Research Centre (Campus d'Alfred) in July 2007. Robert's research interests have revolved around understanding and optimizing feeding and management practices for ruminants, and at the fundamental level, has focused on post-ruminal amino acid availability and metabolism.

In 1990, Robert was a member of the organizing committee for the "Symposium International sur l'ensilage d'herbe" held in Rouyn-Noranda. He was Eastern Director for CSAS in 2002/2003, 2004/2004 and Chairman of the CSAS 2002 annual meeting in Quebec. In 2003, Robert also participated as a Member of le Conseil consultatif sur les programmes Agricoles du Québec.

Julie (Robinson) Small, Ph.D.

Born in Saint John NB and working on a beef and strawberry farm on Oak Bay (St Stephen, NB) sparked interest in livestock production, and milking cows helped to pay the way through University. Dr Small's studies in Animal Science went as follows:

1978: Graduated from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Truro, NS
1980: BSc University of Guelph, Guelph ON
1983: MSc University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB
1990: PhD University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Employed as a Research Scientist for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for over 17 yrs, Dr Small has researched cattle reproductive physiology and management at the AAFC Research Centres in Nappan, NS (1990-97), Brandon, MB (1997-2007), Lennoxville, QC (2003-04), and is currently starting up at the NSAC. Over the 17 years with Ag Canada much knowledge has been gained from working with other researchers in Ag Canada, Universities and Ag Industry representatives across Canada. There have been over 30 scientific publications, 160 technical reports and over 50 presentations at conferences.

Dr Small has served two terms as an associate editor for the Canadian Journal of Animal Science, and as the CSAS Western Director and Membership Chair. Dr Small looks forward to the opportunity to serve as the CSAS-VP.

Nominee for Secretary Treasurer

Marie-France Palin, Ph.D.

Marie-France Palin currently works as an animal genomics scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Dairy and Swine R & D Centre, Sherbrooke, Quebec. Dr. Palin is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology at Sherbrooke University and the Animal Science Department at Laval University where she's involved in teaching and superving both undergraduate and graduate students. She obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Sherbrooke in Biochemistry in 1996 and was appointed to the position of research scientist the same year. Dr. Palin's research program focuses on the identification of marker genes associated with economically important traits in swine and dairy cattle. She is currently involved in various research projects including the genomics of fat and fertility in swine, the identification of genetic and nutritional factors involved in intra-muscular fat accretion in growing pigs, and the effects of dietary fatty acids on expression of genes involved in the establishment of pregnancy in dairy cows. She has authored over 45 peer reviewed publications and received the "Young Scientist Award" from the Canadian Society of Animal Science in 2002. Marie-France is an Associate Editor for the Canadian Journal of Animal Science (Cellular and Molecular Biology) and is member of the editorial board of Biological Procedures Online and Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology (paper reporter). She has served on national expert committees of "Animal Genomics, Genetic Resources and Reproduction" and "Animal Husbandry of Livestock Animals Derived from Biotechnology". She is also a member of the swine committee of the "Centre de Référence en Agriculture et Agroalimentaire du Québec (CRAAQ)" and has served on the provincial "Swine Annual Colloquium" organizing committee since 2001. Marie-France believes that the CSAS provides an invaluable opportunity to bring animal scientists together with the aim of facilitating the discovery and dissemination of scientific and publicly related information in animal science, and would look forward to serving the Society if elected to serve as the Secretary/Treasurer.

Nominees for Western Director

Masahito Oba, Ph.D.

Dr. Masahito Oba got his Ph.D. degree from Michigan State University in 2002, and he was appointed to the position of Assistant Professor of Dairy Nutrition at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta in 2004. Masahito's research has been focusing applied dairy nutrition; enhancing animal health and the efficiency of feed utilization by dairy cattle. He has also been developing a research program in basic science on digestive physiology of ruminant small intestine. He has so far published 21 referred journal articles, 49 abstracts, 2 books, 5 book chapters, 7 conference proceedings, and numerous popular press articles. Masahito is also actively involved in technology transfer; he has been an invited speaker and consultant in a number of countries including Canada, US, and Japan. He is currently teaching two undergraduate courses; Metabolic physiology of domestic animals, and Ruminant nutrition, digestion, and metabolism.

Marina von Keyserlingk, Ph.D.

Nina's love of animals began at a very young age while growing up on a beef cattle ranch in British Columbia. During her childhood she was an avid rider and was an active participant in her local 4-H club. She went on to complete her undergraduate in Agricultural Sciences at the University of British Columbia (UBC), and her M.Sc. in Animal Science at the University of Alberta. She then returned to UBC to complete her Ph.D. in Animal Sciences. Nina spent 7 years working in animal feed industry before returning to academic life as a post doctoral fellow working in animal behaviour. Nina joined the Animal Welfare Program in 2002 as the group's third faculty member as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2006. Together with her colleagues she leads a strong group of students, post-doctoral fellows, visiting researchers and adjunct professors that now make up one of the world's foremost research groups working in the area of animal welfare science. The Animal Welfare Program is an important resource for the industry in providing science-based recommendations for improved housing and management of dairy cattle.

Nominees for Eastern Director

Dany Cinq-Mars, Ph.D.

Dany Cinq-Mars obtained his B.Sc in animal Science at Guelph University in 1983. He got his M.Sc. and Ph.D. at Laval University respectively in 1985 and 1991. While he was doing his graduate studies, Dr. Cinq-Mars worked as a consultant in Animal Science. In 1991, he joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Food of Quebec (MAPAQ) where he acted as an extension specialist in nutrition and feeding mainly for herbivores. In addition, in 2005 he started to teach and to do research in sheep, goats and equine, as associate professor at Laval University.

Ira Mandell, Ph.D.

Ira Mandell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the University of Guelph. Ira's academic background includes B.S. and M.S. degrees from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Saskatchewan. While originally trained as a beef cattle nutritionist, Ira's current research program focuses on improving beef and pork quality. Ira teaches undergraduate courses in animal nutrition, and structure and function of farm animals. Ira previously served as an Associate Editor for the Canadian Journal of Animal Science.

Nominees for Director at Large

John Duynisveld, M.Sc.

John received his M. Sc. (Agr.) from Dalhousie University, through the NSAC, completed in 1999. He has worked at AAFC Nappan since October of 2000 as a beef research biologist. The main area of his research has been in the use of pasture in sustainable beef production systems, with additional work in feed efficiency, enhancing beef fat composition, and the use of by-products in beef finishing diets. John's current research projects include a collaborative project studying the relationship between beef cow net feed efficiency and milk production, the effect of pasture species on beef fat composition, and the use of extended grazing in winter calving beef herds to improve sustainability of beef farms. John also runs a pasture-based beef and free range poultry farm. As a bit of a newcomer to the CSAS, he hopes to learn how he can help the organization improve the future of animal production in Canada.

Neil S. Ferguson, Ph.D.

Neil Ferguson obtained his PhD at the University of Natal, South Africa in Quantitative Swine Nutrition in 1996 and was offered a faculty position in the Animal and Poultry Sciences Department at the same university. His main research focus was on pig growth modelling and quantitative nutritional responses to amino acids. In addition, he was involved in a number of wildlife projects including lion ecology, cheetah conservation and crocodile behavioural research. He also had a passion for teaching where he was instrumental in implementing an alternative teaching paradigm into the Faculty, which focused on experiential learning through concept-based problem solving. Dr Ferguson conducted both research and teaching for fourteen years before taking up his current employment with Nutreco Canada Agresearch (formerly Maple Leaf Animal Nutrition Agresearch) in 2003. He is responsible for all swine nutrition research across Canada as well as the swine technical support for ShurGain and Landmark Feeds. Dr Ferguson has served as a member on a number of Academic committees including Education advisory and development boards. From 1998-2002, he served as the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the provincial branch of the South African Society of Animal Science (1998-2002), which included organizing the national Animal Science conference. He has been the subeditor for the South African Journal of Animal Science and was a regular reviewer for the British journal of Animal Science and Annales do Zootechnie. Having been in both academia and industry Dr. Ferguson is in a unique position to provide an industry perspective into research, teaching and extension issues.

Paul Groenewegen, M.Sc.

Paul grew up on a dairy farm in southern Ontario and has been involved in agriculture his entire life. He obtained his BSc(Agr), majoring in Animal and Poultry Science, from the University of Guelph in 1987 and his MSc degree in Nutritional Physiology from the same institution in 1989. Paul then entered the animal nutrition business in Ontario where he work for 15 years in various sales and technical service capacities with an International feed company. In 2004 he joined a global bioscience company with technical management responsibilities in Canada and recently globally as a product brand manager. In 2006 he relocated to Alberta to enhance the technical support to the western Canadian division of the company. He has been an invited speaker to number of conferences has authored and co-authored several book chapters, scientific papers and abstracts and provided nutrition and management support to customers both in North America and abroad. The CSAS has a tremendous opportunity to integrate industry issues with academic advancements, allowing Canadian Agriculture to remain competitive in the global agriculture sector and he is very interested to learn how he can help with this technology transfer.