$6 million to support innovative research related to natural sciences and engineering
Faculty members and graduate students from 91亚色 are among the recipients of grants and scholarships awarded recently by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
91亚色 faculty members collected a combined total of $5,304,397 over five years, which will further the discoveries of research in fields related to natural sciences and engineering. Of the 45 awards announced, 24 Discovery Grants were awarded to the Faculty of Science; one each for the School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Arts and the Fisheries and Marine Institute; 11 within the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science; and two for the Faculty of Business Administration. Discovery Grants provide core funding and freedom so Canada檚 best researchers can pursue their most promising ideas and breakthrough discoveries.
Three Research Tools and Instruments Grants were awarded to the Faculty of Science to pay for new equipment, and one Discovery Accelerator Supplement was awarded to the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, which will provide substantial and timely resources to researchers who have a superior research program that is highly rated in terms of originality and innovation.
A combined total of $696,500 in scholarships over two- and three-year instalments were awarded to students: two doctoral students from the faculties of Science and Engineering and Applied Science were awarded Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships to pursue doctoral studies. Six students from the Faculty of Science and the School of Pharmacy were awarded scholarships from NSERC檚 Postgraduate Scholarships-Doctoral Program, which supports high-calibre students who are engaged in doctoral programs in the natural sciences or engineering.
淥n behalf of 91亚色, I congratulate each of the recipients of the grants and scholarships announced today, said Dr. Gary Kachanoski, president and vice-chancellor, 91亚色. 淭heir hard work and dedication to the advancement of innovative research will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on the prosperity and quality of life of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and beyond.
淭hese grants afford 91亚色檚 researchers with unique opportunities to engage in novel, potentially groundbreaking research, said Dr. Richard Marceau, vice-president (research), 91亚色. 淭hey also recognize the wealth of research expertise present at 91亚色 and will contribute to exploring new avenues in support of industry and society as a whole in Newfoundland and Labrador.
淭hese scholarships recognize the future potential of our talented graduate students, said Dr. Faye Murrin, dean pro tempore, School of Graduate Studies, 91亚色. 淭his support will go a long way in helping our students develop expertise in their chosen fields and in enhancing the research reputation of 91亚色.
The announcement was made in Oshawa, Ont., at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology by Ed Holder, minister of State (Science and Technology). The program reflects a $340-million investment in more than 3,800 researchers at more than 70 universities.
The awards announced comprise the 2015 competition results for NSERC檚 Discovery Grants, Discovery Accelerator Supplements, Discovery Development Grants, Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships, Postgraduate Scholarships, Post-doctoral Scholarships and Research Tools and Instruments Grants.
The Discovery Grants Program assists in promoting and maintaining a diversified base of high-quality research capability in the natural sciences and engineering in Canadian universities, fostering research excellence and providing a stimulating environment for research training.
See below for a full list of recipients:
Discovery Grants
Faculty of Science
Dr. Robert Bertolo, Department of Biochemistry, Creatine metabolism in young pigs
Dr. Suzanne Dufour, Department of Biology, The control of extracellular bacterial symbionts in thyasirid bivalves
Dr. (Dawn) Heather Marshall, Department of Biology, Genetic and genomic investigations of hereditary and infectious wildlife diseases in non-model organisms
Dr. Eric Vander Wal, Department of Biology, The eco-evolutionary dynamics of habitat- and density-dependent animal behaviour
Dr. Yolanda Wiersma, Department of Biology, Micro to mega-landscapes: scaling arboreal lichen pattern and processes in the boreal rainforest
Dr. Christina Bottaro, Department of Chemistry, Interfacing mass spectrometry with new materials developed for fast targeted analysis
Dr. Michael Katz, Department of Chemistry, New frontiers in metal-organic frameworks: chemical, optical, and electrochemical control of pore size/aperture
Dr. Antonina Kolokolova, Department of Computer Science, Efficient computation in the real world
Dr. Harold Wareham, Department of Computer Science, Efficient options for characterizing and deriving groups of interactive agents
Dr. John Hanchar, Department of Earth Sciences, Crystallization, alteration, and ore-forming processes of iron oxide apatite (IOA) ores and related host rocks in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile
Dr. Penny Morrill, Department of Earth Sciences, Investigating microbial carbon transformations in the ultramafic biosphere and carbon fluxes through serpentine spring portals
Dr. Thomas Baird, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Equivariant topology and symplectic geometry
Dr. Candemir Cigsar, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Statistical methods for the analysis of recurrent events and event history data
Dr. Danny Dyer, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Time and motion in graphs
Dr. Asokan Mulayath Variyath, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Variable selection in joint modelling of longitudinal and survival data and multi-response optimization in designed experiments
Dr. Brajendra Sutradhar, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Parametric and/or semi-parametric dynamic mixed models for discrete spatial and/or longitudinal data
Dr. Patrick Gagnon, Department of Ocean Sciences, Mechanisms of stability of urchin-dominated barrens in Southeastern Newfoundland
Dr. Gordon Andrews, Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, Brillouin light scattering studies of two-dimensional layered materials systems
Dr. Brad DeYoung, Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, Ocean dynamics in the Northwest Atlantic
Dr. Mykhaylo Evstigneev, Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, Building the bridge from atomistic to stochastic modelling of nanoscale friction phenomena
Dr. Jacqueline Blundell, Department of Psychology, Neural mechanisms underlying associative and non-associative fear memories
Dr. Darlene Skinner, Department of Psychology, The role of the head direction cell circuit in behavioural demonstrations of direction learning
Dr. Aim茅e Surprenant, Department of Psychology, Testing the generality of the specificity principle of memory
Dr. David Wilson, Department of Psychology, Sexual selection under social constraints
School of Pharmacy
Dr. John Weber, Chemical analyses and biological activities of berries and their components
Faculty of Medicine
Dr. Mani Larijani, Division of BioMedical Sciences, Ancient biological functions of present day DNA-damaging enzymes involved in the immune system
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Dr. Tahir Husain, Low cost water filtration technology for small communities
Dr. Jonathan Anderson, Tools and trade-offs for security adaptation
Dr. Xili Duan, Heat transfer and phase change materials for thermal energy storage and thermal management applications
Dr. Eric Gill, Radio wave scattering from rough surfaces theory and application to ocean remote sensing with HF and marine radar
Dr. Benjamin Jeyasurya, Power system stability monitoring and control using synchrophasors
Dr. Samir Nakhla, Composite structures for offshore and harsh environment applications
Dr. Greg Naterer, Entropy based design and convective heat transfer in multiphase flows
Dr. Mohammad Rahman, Scaling laws for multiphase flow in pipelines and wellbores
Dr. Mohamed Shehata, Vision algorithms for emerging applications
Dr. Rocky Taylor, Mechanics of iceberg and sea ice failure in offshore engineering applications
Dr. Jianming Yang, Dynamics and fatigue analysis of planetary gear trains under random loading
Faculty of Arts
Dr. Carissa Brown, Department of Geography, Non-climatic controls on tree species distributions under climate change
Fisheries and Marine Institute
Dr. Deepika Dave, A bio-processing strategy for full utilization of sea cucumbers for production of high value nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals
Faculty of Business Administration
Dr. Ginger Ke, Transportation of hazardous materials: management, co-ordination and optimization
Dr. Jeffrey Parsons, Using concept lattices to reconcile semantic heterogeneity in data
Research Tools and Instruments Grants Program
Dr. Susan Ziegler, Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science, Preparatory tools for investigating trace environmental signatures
Dr. Anthony Gamperl, Department of Ocean Sciences, Faculty of Science, Echocardiographic equipment for marine organism and small mammal research
Dr. Annie Mercier, Department of Ocean Sciences, Faculty of Science, Upgrade and expansion of microscopy and imaging suite for multifaceted studies
Discovery Accelerator Supplements
Dr. Eric Gill, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Radio wave scattering from rough surfaces theory and application to ocean remote sensing with HF and marine radar
NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships Doctoral
Sara Klapstein, Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science
Catherine Little, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
Bonita McCuaig, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
Emaline Montgomery, Department of Ocean Sciences, Faculty of Science
Tyler Ensor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science
Matthew Lamont, School of Pharmacy
NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships-Doctoral
Jessica Besaw, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Hamed Tebianian, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science