Claire Bertens: PhD Recipient

Claire Bertens is a PhD candidate in Animal Science, specializing in ruminant nutrition, at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research focuses on investigating the use of different dietary intervention strategies to modulate “leaky gut” in lactating dairy cattle.

One challenge in evaluating leaky gut in ruminants is distinguishing between permeability occurring in the rumen versus the intestines. To address this obstacle, Claire developed and validated a technique that allows researchers to assess regional gut permeability in ruminants. Her research aims to help producers understand the implications of leaky gut in cattle during stressful conditions such as heat stress, disease and low feed intake, while also providing targeted dietary solutions to promote gut health. To date, Claire has published three peer-reviewed papers in the Journal of Dairy Science, highlighting her research findings.

Claire grew up on a dairy farm east of Olds, Alberta, and was actively involved in the family operation from a young age, which fueled her passion for the dairy industry. She was also a member of the Olds 4-H Beef Club and contributed to the annual ‘Breakfast on the Dairy Farm’ event organized by Alberta Milk. Driven by a desire to deepen her knowledge of agriculture, Claire pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science minoring in Agriculture Business, at the University of Saskatchewan. In her second year, she served as the secretary of the Agriculture Student Association, where she helped coordinate community fundraisers, student outreach initiatives and industry networking events.

Claire began her MSc at the University of Saskatchewan in 2020 and transitioned into a PhD after two years. For the past three years, she has served as a teaching assistant for the fourth-year undergraduate dairy class at the U of S and regularly leads guided tours of the university’s dairy facility. These tours include public groups, young students through ‘Ag in the Classroom’, university students and members of industry organizations. Through these teaching opportunities, Claire has enjoyed delivering transparent, science-based insights into dairy production systems, encouraging greater consumer understanding and trust in the agriculture industry.

After completing her PhD, Claire aims to help bridge the gap between the challenges faced by dairy producers and the solutions provided by academic research. With her strong foundation in dairy production systems and passion for advancing animal agriculture, she hopes to provide producers with the knowledge and tool needed to enhance animal health, productivity, and farm success.

Adele Beaudoin, MSc Recipient

 Adele is a master’s student at the University of Alberta, in the department of agricultural, food, and nutritional sciences. Her research focuses on the alfalfa weevil, and its impact in Southern Alberta alfalfa seed production fields. More specifically, she is focusing on studying the impacts of both pests and beneficial insects, their impact on seed yield and plant health. As well, she is collecting parasitoids of the alfalfa weevil, to assist in measuring their impacts in field.

Adele was especially excited to work on this project because of her agricultural background. Growing up on a farm with both beef and bison, she is no stranger to the importance of alfalfa in Alberta livestock production. Being raised on a central Alberta farm gave Adele numerous life skills and passion that she carries into her research. As well, programs such as 4-H excited Adele about the agriculture industry and inspired her to study it in post-secondary.

Completing a Bachelor of Science at the University of Alberta in Agriculture, Adele made the most of her time at school. She served on the executive of the Agriculture Club all 4 years of her degree, finishing as president in her last year. As well, Adele was an active member in CERES/KORE Women’s Fraternity, a group focused on empowering women who have an appreciation for agriculture. Adele was in the judging club, where she got to keep up her livestock skills. As well, she was a coordinator for a livestock judging competition for 4H youth throughout Alberta.

Working in the agriculture industry over various summers has given Adele a huge appreciation for the industry, and a passion towards bettering it using research. She has worked under agronomists at a retail, in private research trials, and in an agricultural research lab. She also helped work on soil science projects in her undergraduate degree.

Adele is ecstatic to have combined her love of insects and agriculture, studying insect ecology in agricultural systems. She spends her free time as a board member of the Alberta Native Bee council, and as a Girl Guide leader where she brings her love of science to a group of 9 to 11 year-olds.

In the future, Adele hopes to continue working with agricultural entomology in a research position, expanding our knowledge of these ecosystems on the Canadian prairies. Furthermore, she hopes to work with her brother to continue the family farm.

PhD RecipientS

2023 Chantel Chizen, Univ of Saskatchewan

2022 Younyoung Lee, Univ of Calgary

2021 Kristina Polziehn, Univ of Alberta

2020 Jessica Sperber, Univ of Nebraska

2019 Kris Guenette, Univ of Alberta

2018 Cameron Olson, Univ of Alberta

2017 Amy Gainer, Univ of Saskatchewan

2016 Christine Rosser, Univ of Alberta

2015 Nandika Bandara, Univ of Alberta

2014 Alison Murata, Univ of Alberta

2013 Jovana Kovacevic, UBC

MSc RecipientS

2023 Sonja Bialobzyski, UBC

2022 Natalie LaForest, U of Alberta

2021 Warren McAuley, Univ Sask

2020 David MacTaggart, Univ Sask

2019 Nicole Zukiwsky, Univ of Alberta

2018 Nicole Briggs, Univ of Alberta

2017 Leanne Ejack, McGill University

2016 Mathew Vercaigne, U of Alberta

2015 Amy Mangin, Univ of Alberta

2014 Laurel Perrott, Univ of Alberta

2013 Christina Straathof, U of Alberta