Unlocking memories of plant stress to improve global crop yield and food security
The excitement in the Faculty is palpable these days. Our latest good news — Plant Science PhD candidate Boris Mayer, BSc (AgEnvSc)'12, MSc '15, is the recipient of a prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Mayer is supervised by Professor Jean-Benoit Charron.
An NSERC panel selected the PhD candidate for the award based on his academic excellence, research potential, and leadership skills. The award carries a value of $50K per year for three years.
Mayer, a native of Mauritius, is a student of distinction. It is true that he is an accomplished scholar as evidenced by a very long and impressive list of academic achievements. Perhaps what sets him apart from others, though, is his big picture view of the world and what he hopes to accomplish in the future.
Using epigenetic tools, Mayer strives to understand why the cereal model Brachypodium distachyon exhibits the effects of cold stress long after the stress event has passed. “Unlocking this knowledge,” says Mayer, “will help to improve crop breeding and yield throughout the world and be one more tool in the fight to eradicate food insecurity.”
Nature, community, and music are Mayer's other loves.
He is an accomplished professional musician and currently the leader of the Moschata Trio, an eclectic group that plays "live improvised music influenced by electro, lounge, funk and African rhythms" in Montreal clubs.
In his "off-season" back home in Mauritius, Mayer eagerly shares lessons learned through his studies with others. An undergraduate project on the nutritional value of the invasive snail Achatinae fulica in the Barbados led to collaborations that are already improving food security in Mauritius.
Of his future, Mayer says "I have the goal of opening a multidisciplinary research institute in Mauritius, focusing on energy, agriculture, and food issues. By the end of my studies, I will have developed the skills necessary not only to open a research facility but to run a successful, engaged, forward-thinking team.”
Obviously he is well on his way.