Guillermo Hernandez Ramirez

Associate Dean (Graduate Studies Policy, Regulation and Practice)

Guillermo has been working as a faculty member at University of Alberta in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences (ALES) since 2012. He is a professor and Associate Dean of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies in the Faculty of ALES.

Guillermo previously served as Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Renewable Resources within ALES. Guillermo’s research encompasses carbon, nitrogen and water cycling and dynamics in land ecosystems. For example, we examine sources, transformation, utilization, behavior, fate and fluxes of carbon and nitrogen in land ecosystems (often also called agroecosystems) with particular focus on the relative responses, controlling factors and feedbacks of greenhouse gas exchange and soil carbon sequestration to common and improved management options. Furthermore, field to landscape strategies for sustainable management, greenhouse gas mitigation, climate change adaptation, enhanced resilience of soil and whole ecosystems, improved nutrient and water use-efficiencies, and increased ecosystem services in agricultural systems are also subject of investigation. We aim to deepen, underpin and extend the existing scientific knowledge on these relevant research areas in order to gain insights, to discover and establish principles, and ultimately to provide solutions for current challenging problems faced by the local, regional and global societies including environmental quality, natural resources conservation and food and energy securities. Moreover, this collective work contributes to inform process modelling efforts, life cycle assessments and provide the foundation for the development of policy towards carbon-negative and carbon-neutral systems.

Before starting with U of A, Guillermo worked as a scientist with Plant and Food Research Institute – New Zealand, a professor at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences – University of Panama, a visiting research fellow at University of Hohenheim – Germany and a postdoctoral researcher with USDA–ARS at the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment – Iowa. Guillermo’s B.Sc. is from EARTH University, Costa Rica, and his PhD is from Purdue University, Indiana, and he holds professional agrologist (P.Ag.) designation in Alberta.

Within the U of A, Guillermo has also contributed to the Sustainability Council, the Breton Plots Management Team as well as Bentley Lecture in Sustainable Agriculture as academic lead. Additionally, Guillermo has served the broad community as an elected Councilor of the Alberta Institute of Agrologists (AIA), as well as in the Prizes and Awards Committee of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS).

Responsibilities as Associate Dean

  • Policy and procedures for graduate education at the University of Alberta.
  • I provide advice, guidance, and support to graduate students, supervisors, and graduate student program administrators.
  • I represent GPS on various committees, working groups, search, selection and review committees across campus.

My advice to our graduate students:

  • Follow your dreams
  • Learn from each other
  • Give your best in what you do

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Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences - Renewable Resources Dept

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