John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award
The CSBE/SCGAB John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award is to acknowledge outstanding contributions to research, in any field of research relevant to CSBE/SCGAB, by an individual or team of researchers (which may include graduate or undergraduate students). The Research Innovation Award is not intended to acknowledge the cumulative impact of a career’s worth of research contributions; rather, it is intended to recognize the innovation or ingenuity of a single research project. The research team (individual or group of researchers) is required to prepare a brief nomination that clearly explains why the research is innovative.
Recipients of the CSBE/SCGAB John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award will be selected by the CSBE/SCGAB Awards Committee. Up to three Research Innovation Awards may be awarded each year. All members of a research team must be members of CSBE/SCGAB in good standing. Individuals may be awarded the Research Innovation Award multiple times throughout their career, however, not in consecutive years.
Le Prix John Ogilvie pour l'innovation en recherche de la CSBE/SCGAB vise à reconnaître les contributions exceptionnelles à la recherche, dans tout domaine de recherche pertinent pour la CSBE/SCGAB, d'une personne ou d'une équipe de chercheurs (qui peut comprendre des étudiants diplômés ou de premier cycle). Le Prix d'innovation en recherche ne vise pas à reconnaître l'impact cumulatif de la valeur d'une carrière de contributions à la recherche, il vise plutôt à reconnaître l'innovation ou l'ingéniosité d'un seul projet de recherche. L'équipe de recherche (individu ou groupe de chercheurs) doit préparer une brève mise en candidature qui explique clairement pourquoi la recherche est innovatrice.
Les récipiendaires du Prix John Ogilvie pour l'innovation en recherche seront choisis par le Comité des prix CSBE/SCGAB. Jusqu'à trois bourses d'innovation en recherche peuvent être attribuées chaque année. Tous les membres d'une équipe de recherche doivent être membres en règle de la CSBE/SCGAB. Les personnes peuvent se voir décerner le Prix de l'innovation en recherche à plusieurs reprises au cours de leur carrière, mais pas au cours d'années consécutives.
Nomination Form
2021 John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award
Contribution: Safe Use of Untreated or Partially Treated Wastewater in Agriculture
Dr. Shiv Prasher
Field lysimeters, 1.0 m height x 0.45 m diameter, were used to determine the fate, transport, and translocation of heavy metals in irrigation water in potatoes and spinach plants grown on a sandy soil. Plantain peel biochar (1% w/w) was incorporated in the top 0.1 m of soil. Control and biochar treatments were replicated three times in a completely randomized. Results showed that all heavy metals accumulated in the topsoil. No heavy metals were detected in the leachate. Heavy metals also translocated to all parts of the potato plant, including roots, peel, flesh, and shoots. Biochar amendment significantly reduced (p<0.05) Cd, Cu, Cr, Pb and Zn in the flesh. In spinach, biochar amendment reduced Zn uptake by 42%. Yields, however, were not significantly different between the treatments.
2021 John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award
Contribution: Mathematical Models Of Stored-Grain Ecosystems For Management Of Stored Grains
Digvir Jayas and Fuji Jian
Globally, more than 3.2 Gt (billion tonnes) of grains, pulses and oilseeds (hereinafter collectively referred to as grains) are produced annually and stored at many points after harvesting, prior to being delivered to processors and domestic and international consumers. Post-harvest losses range from 2% in North America to 30% in developing countries. When spoilage occurs in an individual storage bin, 100% of the grain can become unfit for human consumers and sometimes even unfit as animal feed. Drs. Jayas and Jian have been working together for over 15 years towards the development of mathematical models as management tools for reducing quantitative and qualitative losses in stored grains. Our major contributions are to model insect movement and detection in grains and for drying of grains.
2020 John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award
Contribution: Research in soil and water engineering
Ramesh Rudra Ph.D., P.Eng. is the recipient of the CSBE/SCGAB John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award for his outstanding contributions to research in soil and water engineering. Dr. Rudra is a professor of Water Resources Engineering at the School of Engineering, University of Guelph. He obtained the B. Sc. in Agricultural Engineering in 1970 from the Punjab Agricultural University (India) and M.S. in Agricultural Engineering in 1976 and Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering in 1980 from the Pennsylvania State University (USA).
The focus of Dr. Rudra’s research program has been on the development of agricultural nonpoint source pollution control practices for Ontario’s climatic conditions, including mechanics and modelling of processes of drainable water quantity and quality at plot, field, and watershed scale. His contributions include innovative ways of introducing the concept of temporal variations in soil hydraulic and erosion characteristics, targeting approaches for agricultural watershed management, mutli-tier approaches to watershed management, and modelling and monitoring procedures to identify sources of runoff, erosion and pollution from agricultural watersheds.
Ramesh’s research group introduced the application of modelling approaches for agricultural non-point source pollution management during 1980’s and SWAT modeling in the Canadian Great Lakes basin in early 2000. The modelling approaches and the SWAT model are currently used by many conservation authorities in Ontario and many other public and private sectors in Canada. His recent research work has focused on winter hydrology of Ontario, variable source hydrology, effect of climate change on precipitation and temperature regimes, and nutrient management.
Dr. Rudra has supervised over 120 Highly Qualified Personnel (M.Sc, M.Eng., Ph.D. and Post-Doctoral Research Fellows), published more than 200 refereed publications, ten book chapters, one book, and more than 550 presentations at national and international conferences, workshops and symposia. For his exceptional services to CSBE and significant contributions to soil and water engineering field in Canada, Dr. Rudra received the CSBE’s Maple Leaf Award in 2018. He was elected to the grade of Fellow by CSBE in 2005. Ramesh was also made a Fellow of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers in 2012.
2019 John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award
Contribution: Horizontal airflow grain dryer
Digvir Jayas, PhD is a worthy recipient of the John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award. Drying of grains and oilseeds is a necessity on Canadian farms and around the globe. The usual drying method is to force atmospheric air vertically through stored bulks. Dr. Jayas was among the firsts to demonstrate experimentally that the airflow resistance when air is forced through grain in a horizontal direction is significantly lower than the resistance in the vertical direction. Later using micro-computed tomography on bulk samples of grains and analysing pore structures of grain samples, it was shown that average pore diameter is larger in horizontal direction than in vertical direction, hence the low resistance to airflow in horizontal direction. He conceptualized a horizontal airflow dryer and publicized it through farm media in 1990s rather than patenting it. He continued to promote the idea throughout the world. Now many companies and organizations are constructing and implementing horizontal airflow dryers in many countries. With increased use of horizontal dryers, grains is dried more uniformly thus reducing over drying of some sections of grains and not drying to desired moisture in other sections of grains as well as grain is dried more efficiently and using less energy. This should result in reduced cost to the farmers. He is the father of horizontal airflow drying.
2019 John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award
Contribution: A unique and innovative tool to release Trichogramma parasitized eggs in sweet corn for the biological control of the European corn borer
Dr. Mohamed Khelifi is a Full Professor in the Department of Soils and Agri-Food Engineering of Université Laval, Director of the B. Sc. Agri-Environmental Engineering Program, and Director of the M. Sc. Agri-Food Engineering Program. He obtained his B. Sc. Degree in Agricultural Machinery in 1985 from the High Institute of Engineers (Tunisia) and his M.Sc. degree in 1991 and Ph.D. degree in 1996 in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Guelph and Université Laval, respectively.
Dr. Khelifi’s research interests are in the area of engineering of agricultural machinery and equipment, biological control of insect pests, and bioenergy production. Dr. Khelifi developed a unique and innovative tool to release Trichogramma parasitized eggs in sweet corn for the biological control of the European corn borer (US Patent 16/233,216 and Canadian Patent 2991-4999). He also developed an innovative tool to distribute predator insects in potato fields to control the Colorado potato beetle (International Patent WO 148498). His recent research on bioenergy led to the construction and instrumentation of a wheel-mounted commercial press to extract the sugary juice from sweet sorghum and sweet pearl millet biomass for an eventual production of bioethanol and to make wrapped silage bales from the pressing residues to feed the cattle.
Dr. Khelifi has authored or co-authored over 46 peer-reviewed journal articles, 22 proceeding articles, 75 scientific communications, 8 book chapters, and 2 encyclopedia articles. He has supervised/co-supervised 16 M.Sc., 6 Ph.D., and more than 50 undergraduate students. In addition to his teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities, Dr. Khelifi is also assuming the role of faculty advisor for the Université Laval’s ASABE ¼ scale tractor design team (ULtrac) since 2005. Dr. Mohamed Khelifi is a worthy recipient of the John Ogilvie Research Innovation Award.
