2005-2006

News Release

REF NO.: 246

SUBJECT:

DATE: March 28, 2006

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) announced the inaugural round of funding from its Leaders Opportunity Fund (LOF) program at an event held at McGill University today. Dr. Eliot Phillipson, CFI’s president and CEO, along with Maxime Bernier, minister of Industry, announced that Memorial University researchers will be awarded a total of $385,058.
            “This is an investment in Memorial University as well as our province,” said Dr. Christopher Loomis, vice-president (research). “CFI has provided the tools that are  continuing to attract tomorrow’s leaders to Memorial University and are creating opportunities for them to rank among the very best in the world.”
             Three researchers at Memorial were awarded funds from the Leaders Opportunity Fund:
 
  • Dr. Ian Fleming, director of the Ocean Sciences Centre, was awarded $136,840 by the CFI for equipment for the project Fish Evolutionary and Conservation Biology Research. Dr. Fleming will use the funding for infrastructure to create a world-class facility for the study of the evolutionary ecology of fish and other aquatic organisms.
  • Dr. Brent Snook, Department of Psychology, was awarded $152,993 for the building of the Bounded Rationality and Law Lab (BRLL). The lab will help in the study of how participants in the justice system make decisions at different points in the processing of a criminal case. The research involves studying how offenders, police officers, lawyers, judges, jurors, probation officers and other citizens make discretionary decisions when they have limited time, knowledge and resources.
 
  • Dr. Annie Mercier, Ocean Sciences Centre, has been awarded $95,225 for equipment for marine chemical ecology and reproductive biology research. Dr. Mercier’s research in marine chemical ecology and invertebrate reproduction will lead to a better understanding of population dynamics in commercial species of benthic invertebrates, with key benefits for the management of fisheries.
 
A complete list of NOFprojects, by university, can be found at www.innovation.ca.
 
The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is an independent corporation created by the Government of Canada to fund research infrastructure. The CFI’s mandate is to strengthen the capacity of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and non-profit research institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development that benefits Canadians.
 

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