Walter liaises with funding agencies and government, and helps foster and build research collaborations. He also oversees the university's Postdoctoral Fellows Office, Academic Visitors' Office and Research Ethics Office.  A professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, Walter is a graduate of the University of Alberta and the University of Cambridge. He has published over 140 papers.  His research focus is livestock reproductive performance and the impact of nutrition during gestation on embryo/fetal development, lifetime growth potential and animal health parameters.