I’m Nicole, an Assistant Research Technician in the Gillespie and Wagner-Riddle Labs at the University of Guelph. I grew up on the coast of Lake Huron before moving to the family cash crop farm at a very young age. Hiking on the coast of Lake Huron, raising chickens and following Grandpa around on the farm showed me from a young age how agriculture operates alongside our natural environment. This led to my undergrad and master’s at the University of Guelph, trying to understand the complex interactions between agriculture and the environment. This is where I learned that agriculture and the environment are intrinsically connected and that to make agriculture more sustainable, we need to take a whole-system approach.
I completed my master’s and the Climate Smart Soil Scholar Program in December of 2022, studying the impact of diverse cropping rotations and nitrification and urease inhibitors on nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soils using the micrometeorological method. My master’s was not only educational, but I also made long-lasting friendships and had a blast collecting soil and plant samples and monitoring meteorological instrumentation with a great group of people. I then worked in the agricultural industry for two years before my yearning for environmental research brought me back to work at the University of Guelph.
I’m very artistic and crafty in my free time. I do macramé, embroidery, and crocheting. I also love houseplants and am always willing to share clippings! Another fun fact about myself is that I love wildlife and animals. If a turtle is crossing the road, you can bet that I will be helping it cross the road in the direction it’s heading!
