Claudia Wagner-Riddle
Claudia Wagner-Riddle is a Canadian agrometeorologist. She is a professor in agrometeorology in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph and editor-in-chief of the journal Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. In 2020, Wagner-Riddle was appointed director of the North America regional chapter of the International Nitrogen Initiative and elected a fellow of the American Meteorological Society.
Early life and education
Wagner-Riddle was born in 1961 and raised in Rolandia, Brazil, where she completed her first two degrees in agronomic engineering at the University of São Paulo. Upon completing her undergraduate degree, she accepted a research position in Germany looking at soil erosion which inspired her to pursue graduate research in the subject. As a result, she travelled to North America and enrolled at the University of Guelph's Department of Land Resource Science for her PhD.Career
Upon completing her PhD, Wagner-Riddle joined the faculty at her alma mater, the University of Guelph, in 1994. Beginning in 2008, she has been collaborating with organizations from her homeland, Brazil, in documenting the impact that management of agriculture has on greenhouse gas emissions. Wagner-Riddle was also elected to the Ontario Agricultural College Board of Directors and contributed to the development of the Nitrous Oxide Emission Reduction Protocol. Her research led to a cross-Canada partnership of government, industry and universities in green agriculture technologies to benefit Canadian farmers. In 2011, Gerry Ritz granted the university nearly $4million in grant funds to study and develop tools to help farmers mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. She also received $2.8million from the federal Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Program to lead a research project to lower the carbon footprint of dairy farming in Canada. The following year, Wagner-Riddle was named a YMCA–YWCA Women of Distinction Award for her "efforts to integrate the life and physical sciences to address environmental problems".In 2012, Wagner-Riddle was appointed editor-in-chief of the journal Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. While serving in this role, she also became the director of the University of Guelph's Soil Health Interpretive Centre where she teaches visitors about soils as ecosystems. A few years later, she was elected a fellow of the Canadian Society of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. In 2020, Wagner-Riddle was appointed director of the North America regional chapter of the International Nitrogen Initiative and elected a fellow of the American Meteorological Society.