Funding boost for science and engineering research at Memorial University
Researchers and graduate students at Memorial University received a major boost, thanks to new funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
Thirty researchers in the Faculties of Arts, Engineering and Applied Science, Medicine and Science and at Grenfell Campus earned a combined $975,000 to support innovative and creative research projects. These range from projects investigating how black holes interact with their environment to fish metabolism under adverse conditions, and from the principles of memory to cryptography. A list of all funded projects is below.
“NSERC funding continues to make a difference for our researchers,” said Dr. Christopher Loomis, vice-president (research). “Not only does this funding enable outstanding research across a range of disciplines and issues, it also creates a variety of opportunities for students to participate in the research process.”
The excellence of Memorial’s graduate students was also recognized with 19 scholarships in the Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) and NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS) programs. CGS awards are offered to the top-ranked applicants in master’s and doctoral programs. The next tier of meritorious applicants receive NSERC PGS awards. A full list of recipients and their academic unit is listed below.
“Each year, the competition for these awards becomes more intense as the quality of the applications increases,” said Dr. Noreen Golfman, dean of the School of Graduate Studies. “This year Memorial was successful in receiving 13 CGS and 6 PGS awards. The range of disciplines earning this recognition is indicative of the quality of Memorials’ graduate students and their research.”
The funding was announced by Gary Goodyear, minister of state (science and technology) at a news conference in Ottawa, Ont., on May 21. More than $413 million was awarded through the 2013 Discovery Grant, Discovery Accelerator Supplement, Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship, Postgraduate Scholarship and Postdoctoral Fellowship programs.
“Discovery Grants is the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s flagship program and one of Canada’s largest sources of funding for basic research,” said Mr. Goodyear. “It provides researchers with the means and freedom to pursue their most promising ideas. Our government is proud to support 10,000 researchers who are creating the advances that will drive tomorrow’s innovations.”
Discovery Grants
Faculty of Arts
Dr. Trevor Bell, Department of Geography, Mapping and Modelling Deglacial Ice Dynamics and Relative Sea-level History in Newfoundland
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Dr. Octavia Dobre, Cognitive Co-existence of Non-cooperative Heterogeneous Wireless Systems
Dr. Kelly Hawboldt, Waste and Produced Gas Management on Offshore Platforms
Dr. Howard Heys, Lightweight Symmetric Key Cryptography: Design, Analysis, Implementation, and Application
Dr. Faisal Khan, Risk-based Safety and Integrity Management of Oil and Gas Production and Processing in Harsh Environment
Dr. Azizur Rahman, Development of Power Apparatus and Advanced Motor Drive Systems
Dr. Lihong Zhang, Synergistic Synthesis Methodologies and Computer-Aided Design Tools for Analog and RF Integrated Circuits in Advanced Technologies
Faculty of Medicine
Dr. Qi Yuan, Division of Biomedical Sciences, The Engram of Odour Learning in the Piriform Cortex of the Rat
Faculty of Science
Dr. Graham Bodwell, Department of Chemistry, Aromatization-based Methodology in the Synthesis of Designed and Naturally Occurring Pi Systems with Unusual Structures and Useful Properties
Dr. Ivan Booth, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Black Holes and Their Boundaries: From Equilibrium Properties to How Dynamical Black Holes Interact with their Environment
Dr. Thomas Chapman, Department of Biology, Soldiers and Medics: Altruistic Caste Battles Micro and Macro Enemies
Dr. Qiying Chen, Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, Ultrafast Laser Studies of Photonic Materials and Structures
Dr. William Driedzic, Department of Ocean Sciences, Fish Metabolism Under Adverse Conditions
Dr. Colin Farquharson, Department of Earth Sciences, Development of New Quantitative Interpretation Techniques for Applied Geophysics
Dr. Ronald Haynes, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Parallel Space-Time Approaches for the Numerical Solution of Partial Differential Equations
Dr. Kathleen Laura Houriha, Department of Psychology, Metamemory: The Monitoring and Control of Memory
Dr. Abir Igamberdiev, Department of Biology, Nitric Oxide Turnover and the Strategy of Physiological Adaptation of Plants to Low Oxygen Stress
Dr. Ian Jones, Department of Biology, Behavioural Ecology and Demography of North Pacific Seabirds
Dr. Mikhail Kotchetov, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Algebras with Action and Coaction of Hopf Algebras
Dr. Shawn Leroux, Department of Biology, Biotic Drivers of Ecosystem Nutrient Cycling
Dr. Annie Mercier, Department of Ocean Sciences, Rhythms of a Changing Ocean: Chronobiology and Control of Reproduction in Marine Organisms
Dr. Ian Neath, Department of Psychology, Testing System-Wide Principles of Memory
Dr. Michael Slawinski, Department of Earth Sciences, Distance in the Space of Elasticity Tensors: Optimal Choices of Hookean Models
Dr. Paul Sylvester, Department of Earth Sciences, In Situ Mineral Analysis of Earth’s Early Crust and Impact Rocks by LA-(MC)-ICPMS
Dr. Helene Volkoff, Department of Biology, The Endocrine Regulation of Feeding in Fish
Dr. Anand Yethiraj, Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, Tunable Hydrodynamics and Restricted Motions: Probing Dynamics and the Mechanisms of Self-Organization in Soft Matter
Dr. Susan Ziegler, Department of Earth Sciences, Tracking Changes in Organic Matter Reservoirs in Boreal Forest Landscapes
Grenfell Campus
Dr. Carla Krachun, Division of Social Science, False Mental-State Attribution in Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes)
Dr. Telex Magloire Ngatched Nkouatchah, Division of Science, Queuing Analysis of Opportunistic Access in Multichannel Cognitive Radios
Dr. Ian Warkentin, Division of Science, Queuing Analysis of Opportunistic Access in Multichannel Cognitive Radios
NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships – Master’s Scholarship
Spencer Bellows, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Corrina Copp, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
Christine Fontaine, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science
Robert Gash, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Victoria Grandy, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Hiliary Martin, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science
Grant O’Brien, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Kristine O’Rielly, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Nikhil Pansare, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Laura Pittman, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Nicholas Snow, School of Human Kinetics and Recreation
Sachin Waghmare, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science
NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships – Doctoral Scholarship
Alexander Howse, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science
NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship – Master’s Scholarship
Jessica Besaw, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science
NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship – Doctoral Scholarship
Colleen Connors, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
Barbara de Moura Neves, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science
Rajib Dey, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
Vincent Lecours, Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts
Heather Penney, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science