My research interests include parent-child relationships, child development, early childhood education and care, child and family well-being, family relations, various aspects of work-life integration (as well as school-life or school-work-life integration), and the experiences of non-traditional students in formal post-secondary education, in particular mature students and student parents.
Immigrant families settling the land, quilting bees, and ploughing matches are examples of some of the social and economic topics of early Ontario that link my work to the larger expertise of this University concerning agriculture and rural communities.
My research involves studying the physiology and production management of apples, cider apples, peaches, pears, and cherries. As with any agricultural crop, the industry is rapidly changing with the availability of new cultivars, rootstocks, production systems, and labour saving technology.
Promotion of dairy cattle health, production, efficiency, and welfare not only contributes to economic viability of the dairy production sector, but also provides benefits to the consumers of milk products. These benefits include environmental sustainability, maintenance of milk nutritional quality and safety, as well as assurance that milk is sourced from animals that have been raised humanely.