Cynthia "Cindy" Ross Friedman (1970 or 1971 – 24 December 2018) was a professor in biological sciences at

Thompson Rivers University Thompson Rivers University (commonly referred to as TRU) is a public teaching and research university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees and vocational training. Its main campus is in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, and its name c ...

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. She was inducted into the inaugural cohort of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

's College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists in 2014 and as a

fellow of the Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

in 2016.

Research

In a ''

Nature Communications ''Nature Communications'' is a peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio since 2010. It is a multidisciplinary journal and it covers the natural sciences, including physics, chemistry, earth sciences, medici ...

'' paper, her research group showed that the parasitic flowering plant ''

Arceuthobium americanum ''Arceuthobium americanum'' is a species of dwarf mistletoe known as American dwarf mistletoe and lodgepole-pine dwarf mistletoe. It is a common plant of western North America where it lives in high elevation pine forests. It is a parasitic plant ...

'' (Lodegpole pine dwarf mistletoe) undergoes

thermogenesis Thermogenesis is the process of heat production in organisms. It occurs in all warm-blooded animals, and also in a few species of thermogenic plants such as the Eastern skunk cabbage, the Voodoo lily (''Sauromatum venosum''), and the giant wate ...

(internal heat generation) to explosively discharge its seeds.

Media appearances and activism

She was on national radio and television in many instances not only to discuss her team's research but also to act as a spokesperson for a coalition of concerned community groups opposed to the proposed KGHM Ajax mine, a copper-gold open-pit mine project proposed to be located within 1 km of the Kamloops city boundary.

Music

Ross Friedman was also a keyboardist, singer, and songwriter who played in a

Latin ensemble called Caliente, in rock bands and as a solo act. Her music had been favorably reviewed in Winnipeg.

Personal life

Ross Friedman died on 24 December 2018 at the age of 47 from an aortic dissection.

References

External links

Faculty page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Cynthia 2018 deaths 21st-century Canadian botanists 21st-century Canadian biologists 21st-century Canadian women scientists Canadian women biologists People from Winnipeg Scientists from Manitoba Thompson Rivers University faculty University of Manitoba alumni Canadian women botanists Year of birth missing