The life of Lincoln University alumnus Howard Bezar (BAgrSc 1972), tragically killed in an aircraft crash in 2003, has been commemorated with the first presentation of a memorial Rotary award by the Rotary Club of Lincoln.
Howard died along with seven others when a Piper Chieftain aircraft carrying senior staff members of Crop and Food Research Institute crashed on its approach to Christchurch Airport on 6 June 2003.
A memorial prize was established by the Rotary Club of Lincoln last year to recognise Howard’s dedication to agricultural science in New Zealand and his significant contribution to communication within the science community.
Fittingly, the first presentation of the Howard Bezar Memorial Rotary Award has been made to three budding young scientists from Howard’s old university, Lincoln. The recipients are - Dr Samantha Scarrett, Rashidi Othman and Sanjeev Raikar.
Samantha was capped PhD in Entomology in April this year and Rashidi and Sanjeev are both close to finishing PhDs in the area of plant bio-protection.
Howard was Communications Manager at Crop and Food Research, Lincoln, and a keen Rotarian. Given his communications background, it was seen as appropriate that the memorial award be used to help scientists to communicate scientific research and innovations to colleagues and the public.
Samantha presented a scientific paper on “Biological control of leafroller insects in vineyards” at the Romeo Bragato Conference in Gisborne in August last year. At this conference she was offered a job at Seresin Estate, an organic vineyard in Marlborough, where she had been carrying out her PhD research. She is now employed at the Estate and hopes to continue working in the wine industry in a research role.
Rashidi Othman and Sanjeev Raikar used their awards to present scientific papers on plant molecular biology studies at the 13th Australasian Plant Breeding Conference in Christchurch in April.
The first session of this conference was dedicated to Howard Bezar and it was at this session that the Rotary Club of Lincoln presented the Howard Bezar Memorial Rotary Award certificates to Rashidi and Sanjeev.
“Howard would have been proud of the achievements of all three award recipients as he was passionate about helping young people in the community to take advantage of the up-skilling, self-confidence, and communication programmes sponsored by Rotary,” says the President of the Rotary Club of Lincoln, Ravi Gooneratne.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Ian Collins, Journalist
Lincoln University, Canterbury
Tel: 64 3 325 2811 ext 8549
Email: Ian Collins