September 14, 2006 Source: :
http://www.mta.ca/news/index.cgi?id=1096 Mount Allison researchers awarded funding from NSERC Close to a dozen Mount Allison faculty members have a bit more research money thanks to a national announcement made by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) last week. Mount Allison researchers from the departments of biology, chemistry, geography, math and computer science, physics, and the environmental sciences program received over $208,000 in new funding for research and equipment in the recent competition for this year. The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry, and Dr. Suzanne Fortier, President of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), announced the results of the 2006 NSERC Grants and Scholarships competitions, worth more than $503 million. Funding was awarded to some 8,800 professors and students across Canada following national, peer-reviewed competitions conducted by NSERC. "These NSERC awards ensure that Canada’s best and brightest university professors and their students can conduct research that will contribute to our national stock of knowledge, and ultimately to job creation and economic growth," said Minister Bernier who made the announcement in Halifax. "NSERC is extremely pleased to support the talent and creativity found in universities across Canada," said Dr. Fortier. "We take great pride in the contributions university researchers have made to Canada’s prosperity, and we have every reason to expect even greater things from them in the future." Mount Allison’s dean of science, Dr. Jeff Ollerhead, says, "The calibre and diversity of research being conducted on campus is very impressive. I’m pleased with our researchers’ success in the recent NSERC competition and look forward to supporting these exciting projects." Successful Mount Allison recipients include: • Diana Hamilton (biology) — "Predation by aquatic birds in intertidal systems: effects on community structure and implications for habitat conservation" • Irena Kaczmarska (biology, with Felix Baerlocher, Zoe Finkel, and Colin Laroque) — "Stage Automation for Scanning Electron Microscope" (equipment) • Glen Briand (chemistry) — "Chemistry of the heavy p-block metals" • Khashayar Ghandi (chemistry) — "Effect of green solvents on chemical reactions and material formation: characterization of transient intermediates" • Stephen Westcott (chemistry) — "Novel routes to aminoboronate esters" • Laurie Ricker (mathematics and computer science) — "The lexicon of decentralized discrete-event control" • Robert Rosebrugh (mathematics and computer science) — "Category theory and applications to computing" • David Hornidge, physics — "Meson-Nucleon dynamics and hadron structure" Each year thousands of professors from universities across Canada compete for NSERC’s Discovery Grants and other funding. These grants provide primary support for research in dozens of fields, such as chemistry, life and material sciences, mathematics, and civil engineering. The professors dedicate a large portion of their grant funds to training Canadian undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers. As a result of the current competition, some 3,000 professors from across Canada received $383.4 million in Discovery Grants to support their research in the natural sciences and engineering. (These awards are normally paid out over five years.) In addition, 2,341 young university researchers, 2,086 at the graduate level, and 255 at the postdoctoral level received $100 million to pursue their studies in these fields, while 3,466 undergraduate students received Undergraduate Student Research Awards worth a total of $18.7 million to give them a hands-on research experience in a laboratory. Several current students and recent Mount Allison graduates also received NSERC Awards this year. Alma Bardon (physics), Kevin MacDermid (physics), Vance Morrison (physics), Sarah Park (biology), Steve Patterson (physics) and Natalie Wynberg (biology) were all recipients of NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships, valued at $17,300 for one year. Several Allisonians also received NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarships, valued at $17,500 for one year, to pursue their master’s. They are Emily Kay (biology), Charlotte Reid (master’s student, biology), Christine Robichaud (biology), Lesley Rutledge (chemistry), and John Thaler (biology). Master’s biology student Jillian Rendell received a Canada Graduate Scholarship for three years to pursue her doctoral studies. As well 15 Mount Allison students were granted Undergraduate Student Research Awards to work on research over the summer. The total amount received for summer research from these awards is $67,500 for this year. NSERC is a federal agency whose role is to make investments in people, discovery, and innovation for the benefit of all Canadians. The agency supports some 22,000 university students and postdoctoral fellows in their advanced studies. NSERC promotes discovery by funding more than 10,000 university professors every year and fosters innovation by encouraging more than 800 Canadian companies to participate and invest in university research projects. The complete list of NSERC grants and scholarships and a breakdown of winners by province are available at www.nserc.gc.ca/news/news_rel_e.htm —30—
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