Jan Ciborowski honored with IAGLR Lifetime Achievement Award

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2020

Contact: Francine McCarthy, Awards Committee Co-Chair, [email protected]

ANN ARBOR, MI — The International Association for Great Lakes Research honored Jan Ciborowski today with its 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award. Presented online at IAGLR’s 63rd annual Conference on Great Lakes Research, the award recognizes important and continued contributions to the field of Great Lakes research over a period of 20 years or more. Ciborowski, a professor at the University of Calgary in Alberta since last year, is also a professor emeritus at the University of Windsor, where he has worked on the Great Lakes since 1984.

During that time, Ciborowski’s distinguished career has been characterized by selfless, tireless dedication to his students and to the Great Lakes community, according to Mike McKay, executive director of the University of Windsor’s Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research. “Jan’s legacy through the formation of the Lake Erie Millennium Network and his contributions to ensuring the success of the Cooperative Science and Monitoring Initiative laid the foundation for the successful, collaborative binational research network we see today in the Lake Erie basin.”

Ciborowski is a recognized expert in monitoring and in organism stressor-response relationships, and his technical expertise includes working with nutrients, toxicity assays, algae, and invertebrates of aquatic ecosystems. He has received numerous awards for his work, including from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (2008), the International Joint Commission (2003), Ohio Sea Grant (2017), and the University of Windsor. In 2016 he received the university’s Faculty of Science Lifetime Achievement Award.

At the heart of Ciborowski’s approach is an attitude of service. This comes through in his pursuit of applied research. “Jan is committed to developing science that can be applied directly to meeting the challenges of protecting and restoring the Great Lakes,” writes Gavin Christie, of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Ciborowski’s work on mapping and classifying habitats is just one example and has helped to shape management efforts in both the United States and Canada.

His current research in Alberta also has an applied focus. Ciborowski is testing a method he developed to evaluate the success of mining companies’ efforts to build new wetlands on reclaimed landscapes in the Alberta Oil Sands area. “The wetlands being built look very green and promising,” he says, “but there aren't any objective methods by which to evaluate them. Both the companies and the regulators need tools (bioindicators) to predict if the wetlands will be functional parts of the landscapes as they age. “

Ciborowski’s reputation for service also led to his involvement in countless groups. “Jan’s name is one of the first mentioned when it comes to identifying workgroup and committee participants,” notes Lucinda Johnson, associate director of the University of Minnesota Natural Resources Research Institute. “He rarely says ‘no’ to these requests. He is the ultimate team player and collaborator.”

He also has been a dedicated mentor to more than 265 students over his career; in just his last six years at the University of Windsor, Ciborowski mentored 73 students, and he continues to serve as a co-advisor for students there today.

When Ciborowski received word via email that he had received the IAGLR Lifetime Achievement Award, he thought from the subject line that it was a general announcement of this year’s award winners. “I'm always interested to hear which deserving colleague is announced each year. It's like any other faint hope; one looks at a ticket number and wonders if one might win the door prize,” he acknowledges. “It was quite a shock to see the message inside saying that I was the committee's choice for this year!”

Ciborowski’s colleagues would not be surprised at the selection, nor his reaction to it. “Dr. Jan Ciborowski is an exceptional citizen of the scientific community,” notes University of Michigan Professor Emeritus David Allan. “Friendly, modest, always supportive of others, he is the sort of person that can inspire others, form partnerships, take the lead or provide support as the occasion warrants.”

Christie echoes this sentiment. “Jan has ceaselessly stepped up to not just be a part of, but to lead many of the most effective such collaborations,” he states. “His positive outlook, his clarity of thinking, and his selfless commitment to the common good has been the catalyst for many of our shared successes.”

Jeffrey Reutter, retired director of Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Lab, co-founded the Lake Erie Millennium Network in 1998 with Ciborowski. “Jan is a person who truly understands honor and integrity, and a person who would never seek this award for himself,” he says.­­ “Yet, I can truly think of no person more deserving of this award.”