Feds announce 123 new
Canada Research Chairs
Four for MUN
The federal government announced an investment of $130.1
million to support the creation of 123 new Canada Research Chairs during
a press conference at Memorial University on Nov. 12. The announcement
was made by Gerry Byrne, minister of State (Atlantic Canada Opportunities
Agency), who pointed out that 43 of these new chairs are external recruits
of outstanding calibre.
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| Dr. Thormod Johansen |
“The brain gain is gaining momentum,” said Mr.
Byrne. “Researchers from the United States to Japan are attracted
by the prestige of the Canada Research Chairs Program and the international
reputations of our universities.”
Memorial University will be home to four new CRC chairs, including Dr.
Thormod Johansen, who is coming to Canada from Norway where he worked
as an advisor and senior engineer for a number of petroleum companies,
and specialized in developing simulation software. As Canada Research
Chair in Petroleum Reservoir Engineering and Characterization at Memorial
University, he will work on the development of new simulation methodologies
and tools that apply to the entire lifecycle of an oil or gas field, from
discovery to abandonment.
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| Dr. Robert Bertolo |
Memorial’s other new Canada Research Chairs announced
Nov. 12 were Robert F. P. Bertolo, Canada Research Chair in Human Nutrition;
William R. Driedzic, Canada Research Chair in Marine Bioscience; and Paul
V. R. Snelgrove, Canada Research Chair in Boreal and Cold Ocean Systems.
The investment announced Nov. 12 includes $116.4 million from the Canada
Research Chairs Program and $13.7 million from the Canada Foundation for
Innovation (CFI) to provide infrastructure support to Canada Research
Chairholders.
“An innovative society rests on innovative people,” said Dr.
David Strangway, president and CEO of the CFI. “We must continue
to ensure that top-notch researchers, such as those honoured here today,
have the state-of-the-art facilities and equipment they need to carry
out world-class research.”
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| Dr. William Driedzic |
As the Canada Research Chair in Metabolism and Nutrition,
Dr. Bertolo’s focus will be to improve understanding of the role
of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) in whole body amino acid metabolism.
As one of Canada’s leading fish physiologists, Dr. Driedzic has been
the prime proponent of the fish heart model for studies of the control
of energy metabolism and biochemical adaptations. He studies fish hearts
not because the tissue is singularly important, but because it provides
a vehicle for investigating the full range of levels of organization from
whole animal to molecular biology.
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| Dr. Paul Snelgrove |
Dr. Johansen’s long-range goal is to develop new simulation
methodologies and tools that are applicable to the entire lifecycle of
an oil or gas field, from discovery to abandonment.
Within the marine environment, our understanding of the processes that
regulate and maintain biodiversity is very limited, and even less is known
about cold ocean ecosystems. Dr. Snelgrove’s research will attempt
to address this shortcoming by focusing on early life history stages and
the processes that influence success, failure and the subsequent pattern
of biodiversity. Budget 2000 allocated $900 million to the Canada Research
Chairs Program to help Canadian universities attract and retain the best
researchers and achieve research excellence in natural sciences and engineering,
health sciences, and social sciences and humanities.
For more information on Memorial’s new Canada Research Chairs, or
on the chairs program, see www.chairs.gc.ca/.
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