Alumni Excellence in Mentoring Award
Dr. Barbara Zielinski
For Dr. Barbara Zielinski (BSc, MSc, Waterloo; PhD, Manitoba), teaching at an institution of higher learning involves a high level of commitment to the academic development of students.
The long-time University of Windsor professor joined the Faculty of Science in 1990, and since then, has been successful in transforming eager students into knowledge-seeking, critical thinkers and researchers. Dr. Zielinski’s lab explores how the nervous system is organized through synaptic connections, and how the flow of information along this pathway can be elevated or suppressed. The work of her research lab on olfactory system neuroscience has benefited not only her students but also the academic community as a whole. She is a major contributor to her field, and her mentoring abilities ensure that her work ethic will survive well into the future through the habits of her students: “[w]e are obliged to equip students with the tools for discovering nature through the experimental approach of controlled experiments. We teach this scientific approach by helping students understand the experiments of those who went before them, by a critical discussion on every step of our students’ proposed experiments, and by supporting our students in their experiments.”
Dr. Zielinski is a winner of the Alumni Excellence in Mentoring Award for providing personal, academic, and professional guidance to her students during their university careers and following graduation.
