In any other year, this letter would be reminding you of our upcoming Annual Conference and would be full of mentions of looking forward to seeing you all in Guelph. This year, however, is a year like no other so we are breaking with a few traditions, and creating some new ones.  

Congratulations to everyone who was nominated for a CSM award this year. We received nominations of outstanding CSM members from around the world, and so the evaluation committees had a challenging job in selecting their top candidates.  

Congratulations to this year's award recipients:

• CSM Murray Award for Career Achievement: Dr. Lori Burrows, McMaster University
   
• Thermo Fisher Scientific Award: Dr. John Whitney, McMaster University
   
• Armand-Frappier Outstanding Student Award: Brendan Daisley, Western University

Please be sure to join us for the awards lectures, which will be delivered on-line:

Tuesday, June 23, 1:00 PM EDT - Thermo Fisher Scientific Award Lecture

Wednesday, June 24, 1:00 PM EDT - Armand-Frappier Outstanding Student Award Lecture

Thursday, June 25, 1:00 PM EDT - CSM Murray Award Lecture followed by the CSM Annual General Meeting

Invitations to these events with connection information will be sent to CSM members in a separate e-mail. There is still time to renew your 2020 membership!

I hope you will all be able to attend the awards lectures and join me in celebrating the very best of Canadian microbiology research.

Another round of congratulations goes to our other student award recipients! Moïra Dion (Université Laval) and Nikhil George (University of Waterloo) are recipients of CSM Ambassador Award. Five outstanding microbiology student members are recognized this year with a 2020 CSM Undergraduate Award:

• Meghan Pepler, McMaster University
• Jonathan Bellini, Western University
• Kartik Sachar, University of Manitoba
• Madison Chapel, University of Manitoba
• Vienna Buchholz, University of Calgary

 The CSM Annual General Meeting (AGM), will be held on-line on Thursday, June 25 at 3:00 PM EDT, following the Murray Award Lecture. A link to the meeting package will be sent out to CSM members in the week before the meeting. This is an important annual event for our society. It's an opportunity to get up-to-date on our activities and to contribute to the decisions that will shape our future.

The first AGM of our society was chaired by Prof. Bob Murray (president 1952-1953) and I'm happy to report that Prof. Murray celebrated his 101st birthday in May. As I wrap up my own term as CSM president I am reflecting on how much some things have changed since that first meeting, but also how constant the engagement of our members and their unflagging support for microbiology research and education in Canada have been.

It has been an honour.

Sincerely,
Janet E. Hill, Ph.D.
CSM President