b'grant writer. It was actually very rare for one of his grant applications to be turned down.Navabi taught multiple undergraduate and graduate courses as well as advising 12 graduate students. He sat on over 25 graduate advisory committees. He was very dedicated to his research but also knew that working at a university meant teaching is an impor-tant part of your responsibilities. He cared a lot about the students, and they spent many hours in his office where he would discuss their projects with them and make sure they were doing well, says Peter Pauls, a University of Guelph plant breeder and colleague of Navabis.I think he had a very clear vision of how one could go about working at the whole plant breeding enterprise in a way that made it fun and relaxed.Peter Pauls says Navabi cared a lot about his students, and they spentRajcan agrees that Navabi had an ability to put stu-many hours in his office where he would discuss their projects with themdents at ease and help them work through their struggles. and make sure they were doing well. His office was located next to Navabiswhich gave him unique insight into Navabi as a mentor for his students.He had a huge heart and patience for everyone in terms of listening to them and supporting them. Hed talk to a student until they got to a better place if they were stressed or overwhelmed. They always left his office better off than when they arrived. Being in the neighbouring office, I had the pleasure of witnessing that many, many times.Harwinder Sidhu was one of those students. He was a graduate student of Navabis and worked with him for over four years and is still part of the wheat breeding program at the university.He was always there to help others. One of my family members was going through a tough time once and Ali tried to help even when he had no obligation to do so. This was a few months after I had started to work with him. That established in my mind the kind of character he had, and I really looked up to him for that, Sidhu says.He organized the Christmas party in 2017 for the Navabis colleague Istvan Rajcan says Navabi had an ability to putdepartment. He ensured that there was music for every-students at ease and help them work through their struggles. one in every language and culture to which the attendees belonged. Even the people who considered themselves introverts got up and danced. Thats just one example of how he always tried to make everyone around him feel at ease and comfortable.Soren Seifi joined Navabis lab in June 2017 as a post-doctoral fellow. He remembers Navabi as someone who incorporated creativity into his worksomething more often associated with the arts than the sciences.When I started my postdoc project I expected a certain type of outcome from the initial experiments. However, the results were totally different from what we expected. I personally thoughtat the time I did not know him very wellthat I had messed the things up and he would be disappointed. To my surprise, he actually appreciated the unexpected outcome, and asked me to focus on those strange results and work on them and he assured me that he trusted the quality of my work, Seifi says. Harwinder Sidhu (right) was a student involved in Navabis wheatHis support and trust gave me enough confidence to breeding program. continue my analyses, and after a while I was able to find 32GERMINATION.CA NOVEMBER 2019'