Pictured above:听Greenhouse production of sunflower microgreens in biodegradable containers.

By David Wees, agr., Faculty Lecturer, Farm Management & Technology Program and Dept. of Plant Science, FAES

Ah, spring: that time of year when farmers and gardeners can鈥檛 wait to plant. Even apartment dwellers want to see some green, but with most of the world鈥檚 population now living in urban areas, space to grow may be limited.

Now that our senior leaders have had a few months to settle into their new positions, find out what鈥檚 been happening on campus.听

By Professor Anja Geitmann and Acting Dean听Val茅rie Orsat

This year, the DataSphere Lab was privileged to welcome two exceptional students through the Integrated Management Student Fellowship (IMSF) program: Chloe You, a third year student studying Finance and Statistics, and Ruo-Ying, a Business Analytics major.

This year, PhD student, Asia Vighi will be the graduate instructor for the undergraduate team competing at iGem. Vighi is a Vadasz scholar in the Faculty and also presented recently for at the Trottier Institute for Sustainability in Engineering Design (TISED). She is taking over from Jean-Alexandre Bureau, who instructed the winning team last year. She likes working with undergraduates.

Dan Voicu (BEng鈥�26), co-lead of the 2023 黑料不打烊 iGEM team, described last year鈥檚 experience as busy! Students formed the team at the end of 2022 and spent the first two months of 2023 ideating their proposal. Then 鈥� around their regular course loads 鈥� they worked in the lab until the end of the semester. During the summer months, they implemented plans to raise money, contacting stakeholders that a small finance sub team had brainstormed. Throughout, they held workshops with the Montr茅al biotech community as well as a two-day conference.

Voted by the EUS as Department of the Year, a lot of the excitement about Bioengineering's sudden rise to stardom is last year鈥檚 1st place at the听2023 iGEM Grand Jamboree.

I am pleased to begin this issue celebrating a great achievement. 黑料不打烊鈥檚 iGEM team, which is made up of a large number of students from the Department of Bioengineering, won the 2023 iGEM Global Challenge. It鈥檚 the first time ever that this global prize has been won by a Canadian university, and the first time in 10 years that it has been won by a university in North America. A big congratulations to our students, and to our professors and grad students who mentored and supported the team! I invite you to peruse the lists below of those who have contributed to this project.