By Deborah Inkpen
Memorial University has its 13th Canada Research Chair. The chair, a Tier I level in Scientific Modelling and Simulation, was awarded to Dr. Paul G. Mezey at an announcement made by federal Industry Minister Allan Rock on June 25.

Dr. Christopher Loomis, vice-president (research), welcomed the addition of the new chair to Memorial.

“Dr. Mezey’s accomplishments in macromolecular computational quantum chemistry will greatly enhance Memorial University’s research capacity in chemistry and cognate areas,” said Dr. Loomis. “We are grateful to the Canada Research Chair program for their continuing efforts to help our university attract and retain the highest quality researchers to our institution.”

“Today, we are celebrating the strategic partnership between Memorial University of Newfoundland, the Canada Research Chairs Program and the CFI,” said Mr. Rock. “The Government of Canada's investment in Memorial’s researchers allows them to advance their careers among world-class colleagues, mentor and train top graduate students and gain access to state-of-the-art research facilities.”

Dr. Mezey will be building a state-of-the-art Scientific Modelling and Simulation Laboratory (SMSL). Aided by the centre’s powerful computers, he and an interdisciplinary team of researchers and graduate students are developing fundamental methods and computer software for a broad range of scientific modelling and simulation applications.

The goals of Dr. Mezey’s research program are to advance our understanding of computational quantum chemistry, molecular informatics and high quality biomolecular modelling. The research involves predictive analyses of electronic structure and biochemical property correlations and a high through-put combinatorial quantum chemistry approach to molecular-level virtual reality simulation methods and software development. As well, the research explores the possibilities of a wide range of modelling and simulation applications in the fields of biochemistry, biotechnology, nanotechnology, pharmaceutical drug design, medicinal chemistry and environmental toxicology.