Research Group
Cynthia Kallenbach; Associate Professor
Cynthia is an Associate Professor in Soil Science in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia and Adjunct Professor at McGill University. She has a MSc in International Agricultural Development and in Soils and Biogeochemistry from University of California, Davis and a PhD in Earth and Environmental Science from the University of New Hampshire. She values collaborations across disciplines and is excited about applying fundamental ecological theories to understand how soil responds to agriculture and climate change.
Melanie Burnett , PhD candidate; co-supervised with Peter Douglas
Melanie has a MSc. from the University of Alaska where she examined denitrification and nitrous oxide emission in soils and sediments of the boreal forest. Her dissertation is linking greenhouse gas emissions in permafrost ponds with upstream soil processes and coupled soil carbon and nitrogen cycling. Melanie holds an FRQNT scholarship.
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Juliette Lebold, MSc; co-supervised with Jacynthe Masse, AAFC
Juliette is MSc student researching the ecology of sweetgrass and its impacts on soil health, to assist the revitalisation of this knowledge with the W8banaki Nation in Quebec. She is interested in weaving social science and natural science to create a complete picture of the current issues involving the decline of sweetgrass populations
Jessica Nicksy, PhD candidate
Jess completed her M.Sc. at the University of Manitoba in soil science, where she evaluated amendments for organic agriculture that cycle nutrients from urban areas back onto farmland. She is interested in the intersection of sustainable agriculture practices and climate change. Her research investigates how management practices impact soil carbon dynamics and storage. Prior to starting graduate studies, Jess worked as a vegetable market gardener on her small farm, Barefoot Gardens. Jess holds a NSERC-CGS-D scholarship.
Jakub Papík, GACR Postdoctoral Fellow
Jakub received his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague. He investigates the interactions between soil, plants and microorganisms using molecular-based approaches and stable isotopes to better understand plant-soil feedback and organic matter turnover in agroecosystems and peatlands. He holds a GACR postdoc individual fellowship.
Aaron Price, PhD; co-supervised with Peter Douglas
Aaron has a MSc from Virginia Tech where he studied the application of microbially explicit models in predicting mineral-associated matter changes in Loblolly Pine forests under future climate and management conditions. His dissertation focuses on integrating microbially explicit process-models into the representation of permafrost soils to facilitate improved global accounting of soil carbon pools.
Lab alumni
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Hannah Liebermann, PhD 2019-2025
Nadia Moukanni, Postdoc 2023-2025
Erik Demers, Research Assistant 2025-2026
Deniz Dutton, MSc 2022-025
Lauriane Decoteau, Undergraduate Research Assistant 2024-2025
Jean-Francois Pilon, Undergraduate Research Assistant 2025
Chloe Kaplan, BSc, Honours and Research Assistant 2023-2026
Visveshwar Senthilkumaran, Research Assistant 2023-2025
Sophie Burgess, MSc 2023-2025
Ana Mendez-Mourelle, Research Assistant 2022-2024
Rachael Harman-Denhoed, MSc 2022-2024
Jessica Chadwick, PhD 2023 Mitacs visiting scholar
William Lapin, NSERC USRA, 2023
Krisztina Mosdossy, PhD 2019-2023
Caitlyn Horsch, MSc 2019-2022
Grace McDougall-Vick, NSERC USRA 2022
Maia Rothman BSc, Honours 2020
Morgan McMillan, MSc 2018-2020
Bingjie Sun, Postdoc 2019