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Seven Engineering researchers will receive Strategic Project Grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, the government announced on Thursday.

The Strategic Project Grants (SPG) Program awards were announced at the University of Waterloo by the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), and Stephen Woodworth, Member of Parliament for Kitchener Centre. They were joined by Janet Walden, Vice-President, Research Partnerships Programs of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Professors Greg Evans (ChemE), Roman Genov (ECE), Peter Herman (ECE), Radhakrishan Mahadevan (ChemE), Emma Master (ChemE), Joyce Poon (ECE), and Torstein Utigard (MSE) received grants for collaborative research projects with businesses and government agencies. In addition, Professor Ted Sargent (ECE) will work on the research team of Professor Shana Kelley of the Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering.

The grants to the seven principal investigators in the Faculty will amount to $1.08 million in the first year. In total, NSERC’s SPG Program will invest $55 million over a three-year period in support of more than 120 research teams across Canada.

“In receiving these grants, our faculty members demonstrate our broad impact and our strength in engineering research,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “We are proud that so many of our professors will receive NSERC funding to support research that will advance engineering knowledge and lead to discoveries benefitting Canadians.”

The research projects range from advancing communications technologies to minimizing industrial off-gas pollution. Specifically:

  • Professor Evans will investigate how emission-control technologies mitigate health impacts from diesel fuel combustion, with Environment Canada
  • Professor Genov and his team will work on a low-cost, compact spectral imaging microsystem for rapid, regenerative and highly selective nucleic acid detection, in partnership with Dalsa Corporation and UHN Microarray Centre
  • Professor Herman will investigate intelligent beam control for ultrashort laser manufacturing of photonic and biomedical microsystems, with Elcan Optical Technologies, FiberTech Optica Inc., Teraxion Inc. and Trojan Technologies Inc.
  • Professor Mahadevan will research rational design of microbial strains for novel biochemical products, with DNP Canada Inc.
  • Professor Master will investigate reagent development and assessment for biomass conversion, with the Canadian Forest Service
  • Professor Poon and her team will research integrated photonics for energy-efficient communications in multi-core processors for exascale computing systems, with IBM Canada Ltd.
  • Professor Utigard and his team will research on selective sulfation roasting of Ni concentrate to minimize off-gas pollution, in partnership with Vale Inco Limited and Xstrata Nickel

Professor Sargent’s research on Professor Kelley’s team will focus on miniaturized microelectronic devices for cost-effective point-of-care diagnostics, with Kalgene Pharmaceuticals Inc.

“These Strategic Project Grants show that the NSERC community has risen to the challenge and is putting the federal science-and-technology strategy to work,” said NSERC President Suzanne Fortier. “We have received a high number of quality submissions, and the peer review committees evaluating them are impressed with the excellence of the research teams, the importance and potential impact of the proposed research, and the strong support from partners.”

NSERC’s Strategic Project Grants support early-stage project research led by at least one researcher and a supporting organization. The goal of the program is to increase research and training in areas that could strongly influence Canada’s economy, society or environment in the next ten years.

NSERC is a federal agency that helps make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators for all Canadians. The agency supports some 30,000 postsecondary students and postdoctoral fellows in their advanced studies. NSERC promotes discovery by funding more than 12,000 professors every year and fosters innovation by encouraging more than 1,500 Canadian companies to participate and invest in postsecondary research projects.

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