Provost Leo Groarke announced last month that biology professor Daniel Heath will begin a five-year appointment as director of the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research on May 15.

Dr. Heath’s research team, which uses genetic tools and field techniques to investigate fundamental questions in evolution, ecology and conservation biology, attracts more than $200,000 in external research funding annually, Groarke said: “It has helped make GLIER an internationally renowned centre for aquatic research.”

Heath has belonged to the centre since 2000 and had previously served as its acting director.