Canadian scientists awarded Killam Research Fellowships

Ottawa, ON – A group of Canadian researchers have been awarded Killam Research Fellowships, administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Among Canada’s most distinguished research awards, the Canada Council for the Arts Killam Research Fellowships are made possible by a bequest of Mrs Dorothy J Killam and a gift she made before her death in 1965. The awards support scholars engaged in research projects of outstanding merit in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences, engineering and interdisciplinary studies within these fields.

The fellowships enable the recipients to devote two years to full-time research and writing. The following researchers in science-related disciplines became new research fellows for 2006:

Chemistry:
– R Stan Brown, Queen’s University: Metal-Ion Catalyzed Alcoholysis Reactions for the Decomposition of Neutral Organophosphorus Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors. The Development of Practical Methods for the Controlled Decomposition of Organophosphorus Pesticides and CW Agents.

– Michael D Fryzuk, University of British Columbia: New Strategies for the Activation of Molecular Nitrogen

– Richard T Oakley, University of Waterloo: Molecular Radicals as Functional Conducting Materials

Earth & Ocean Sciences:
– Claude Hillaire-Marcel, Universit du Qubec Montral: The Arctic-North Atlantic Climate-Ocean System under a Warmer Planet – Insights from the Past

Geological Sciences & Engineering:
– Kurt Kyser, Queen’s University: Tracing element migration in the near-surface environment

Mathematics:
– Niky Kamran, McGill University: Wave equations in curved space-time

– Roland Speicher, Queen’s University: Second Order Freeness and Fluctuations of Random Matrices

The following Killam Research Fellowships in the area of scientific research were renewed for a second year:

Biological Sciences:
– Bernard Crespi, Simon Fraser University: Comparative Social Evolution: Convergent and Divergent Patterns in the Phylogenesis of Cooperation

Chemistry:
– Axel D Becke, Queen’s University: Density Functional Quantum Chemistry: A New Approach

Physics:
– Hong Guo, McGill University: Multi-Scale Modeling for Nanoelectronic Devices

– Clifford Burgess, McGill University, McMaster University and the Perimeter Institute: String Cosmology