Welcome to the Willick Lab!

We work at the intersection of remote sensing and physiology to investigate biological variation in crops at the ecophysiological and agroecosystem levels. Our recent studies have focused on apples, grapevines, strawberries, hazelnut, and winter cereals. Using this information, we predict how a plant responds to changing climate conditions, identify novel phenotypes for breeding programs, and develop sustainable management strategies to enhance production.

News

January 5 2026: Aisling will return as research skills student (via Acadia University) to help us better understand how winter cereals tolerate prolonged freezing injury. Welcome back!

December 7 2025: Thank you Grace for all your help this fall and winter! You will be missed.

September 2 2025: Welcome Riley Lemieux! Riley has joined the lab as a M.Sc. student and will assess how different soil amendments modify the cold hardiness of grapevines.

September 2 2025: Welcome back Taylor Cahill! Taylor will conduct an honours thesis project characterizing the influence of Si on drought stress in strawberry.

September 2 2025: Grace has kindly agreed to return to provide technical support during the fall harvest. Welcome back!

August 30 2025: Thank you Hope and Taylor for all your hard work this summer. We look forward to seeing what you do next!

August 9-12 2025: Ian will present at the Canadian Society for Plant Biologists AGM in Halifax, NS.

May 26 2025: Ian will present at the joint Canadian Society for Horticulture Science and Canadian Society for Agronomy meeting in Kelowna, BC.

May 1 2025: Undergraduate students Hope Mailman and Taylor Cahill have joined the lab. Welcome!

April 30 2025: The Willick lab says goodbye to Aisling O'Neill and Erin Frankland. Thank you for all your hard work and we look forward to seeing what is next in your bright futures!

April 2 2025: Congratulations to Mike Jordan on his promotion! We look forward to working with you and your new fruit quality analysis lab.

January 29 2025: New book chapter discussing the resilience of apple to fireblight and winter injury. Click here.

January 1 2025: Welcome Aisling O'Neill! Aisling will work with Mike Jordan to characterize grapevine terpenes and apple volatiles.

For archived news (2022-2024): click here.