CN donation supports experiential learning opportunity in ecological monitoring, habitat restoration fieldwork at Laurier

Oct. 10, 2024
For Immediate Release

MILTON - A donation of $500,000 from Canada’s biggest railroad, CN, will provide unique experiential learning opportunities in ecological monitoring and habitat restoration for Wilfrid Laurier University undergraduate and graduate science students.

The funding will allow students to establish long-term monitoring sites as part of the CN-supported Ecological Monitoring and Habitat Restoration Fieldwork Program. They will gain first-hand experience with sampling and methodology, as well as habitat restoration and rehabilitation methods, in partnership with CN’s environmental consultants.

The donation will also support a CN Professorship; a budget for instrumentation; employment opportunities for students such as research, teaching and field assistants; and operating, supply and transportation costs.

“Through its support, CN is making an indispensable opportunity available to our students,” said Anthony Clarke, dean of Laurier's Faculty of Science. “Fieldwork is an exciting and important aspect of scientific education and research – even more so when it is in collaboration with community partners like CN, who see the value of both student experience and the knowledge generated.”

Student involvement in the CN-supported Ecological Monitoring and Habitat Restoration Fieldwork Program builds on a long history of partnership between Laurier and CN, notably as co-hosts of the annual World Class Supply Chain Summit. CN also supports the CN Fellowship in Supply Chain Management and CN Graduate Scholarships in Supply Chain Management at Laurier.

“We are pleased to further strengthen our decade-long partnership with Wilfrid Laurier University,” said Janet Drysdale, senior vice-president, stakeholder relations at CN. “From this partnership, CN will provide students with the opportunity to work alongside our environmental experts who are monitoring the site of our new Logistics Hub in Milton. We are proud to be deepening our connections to a community where we’ve been present for over 100 years and to be doing so by supporting growth, learning, and environmental stewardship.”