$1.7M funding for R&D projects in Newfoundland

St John’s, NL – Deepwater seabed surveying, navigation and control systems for field robots, and improving cyber security measures are among the 10 academic-led research and development projects receiving more than $1.7 million in total funding from the Research & Development Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador (RDC). The funding also leverages more than $10 million from others sources including the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Statoil.

RDC’s funding is provided through a number of academic programs designed to increase R&D capacity in Newfoundland and Labrador, including GeoEXPLORE, IgniteR&D, CollaborativeR&D and LeverageR&D.

A total of $1,760,355 supporting the following 10 research projects at Memorial University of Newfoundland and College of the North Atlantic. Funding is received through RDC’s academic programs: LeverageR&D, IgniteR&D, CollaborativeR&D and GeoEXPLORE and leverages $10,064,159.

LeverageR&D:

• Responsive AUV Localization and Mapping (REALM), $275,000 from RDC: Dr. Andrew Vardy, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University
• Employment-Related Geographic Mobility in the Canadian Context, $500,000 from RDC: Dr. Barbara Neis, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, Memorial University
• Coordinated Control and Navigation of Field Robots, $71,000 from RDC: Dr. George Mann, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University
• Seismic Modeling and Inversion, $215,368 from RDC: Dr. John Whitehead, Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, Faculty of Science
• Reducing Seabed Impacts of Bottom Trawls (AIF Project), $75,000 from RDC: Dr. Paul Winger, Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Resources, Marine Institute

IgniteR&D:

• Computational Modelling of Ionic Liquid Extraction of Sulfur Contaminants from Crude Oil, $95,037 from RDC: Dr. Christopher Rowley, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Memorial University
• Dormatecture – Sustainable Container Living, $99,950 from RDC: Craig Greene, College of the North Atlantic
• Smart Grid and its Cyber Security, $99,000 from RDC: Dr. Hamid Usefi, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, Memorial University

CollaborativeR&D:

• Compressive Ice Failure Mechanics, $300,000 from RDC: Dr. Ian Jordaan, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University and Centre for Arctic Research and Development, C-CORE

GeoEXPLORE:

• North Atlantic Plate Reconstruction Project, $30,000 from RDC: Dr. Jeremy Hall, Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science, Memorial University