Leadership transition at Biogeoscience Institute

The Barrier Lake Field Station is a facility of UCalgary’s Biogeoscience Institute (BGI), and has been led by Edward Johnson, faculty professor in the Faculty of Science’s Department of Biological Sciences. As of April 17, Dr. Johnson has stepped down from his role as director, after decades of work leading the BGI with dedication and passion. The BGI is a leading field research station with a 65-year history.

Johnson is an internationally recognized researcher, coupling physical processes to ecological processes, specifically natural disturbances. He has done fieldwork in Australia, Canada, Belize, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and the United States. He has published extensively in refereed scientific journals and has multiple books: Fire and Vegetation Dynamics (Cambridge University Press), Forest Fires: Behavior and Ecological Effects (Academic Press), Ecological Education and Environmental Advocacy (Cambridge University Press), Biogeoscience: an Ecosystem Approach (Cambridge University Press) and Plant Disturbance Ecology: The Processes and the Responses (Elsevier Press).

For the last 30 years, he has been part of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Networks of Centres of Excellence in Sustainable Forest Management and GEOIDE and Complex Data Systems, and Community Surface Dynamic Modeling System (CSDMS) and National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). He has held NSERC Discovery Grants continuously since 1980. In 1986, he received the William S. Cooper Award of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) for research on wildfire effects on boreal forest dynamics.

“Ed is an incredible researcher and educator at UCalgary, who has shaped the BGI into the global leader it is today,” says Ed McCauley, vice-president (research). “I would like to thank him for his work and dedication during his tenure at BGI.”

Dr. Andre Buret, associate vice-president (research), will continue to oversee renovations at the Barrier Lake Field Station. Dr. Robert Barclay and Dr. John Post, both professors in the Faculty of Science, have been named interim directors of the BGI, serving until June 30, 2018.

An internal search for the director of the BGI will be launched in the coming days, with a closing date of May 31, 2018. The search is led by Vice-President McCauley.