$43M in NSERC funding awarded

Vancouver, BC – The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSEC) has announced over $43 million in support for 77 scientific teams at universities across the country.

The projects are being funded through two grants, the Strategic Network Grants and the Strategic Project Grants, both administered by NSERC.

NSERC Strategic Project Grants aim to increase research and training in areas that could strongly influence the country’s economy, society or environment in the next 10 years in four target areas: environmental science and technologies; information and communications technologies; manufacturing; and natural resources and energy.

NSERC Strategic Network Grants support large-scale, multidisciplinary research projects that require collaboration between academic researchers, organizations and companies across Canada to address challenges facing a particular industry over the next 10 years.

“These collaborations exemplify NSERC’s goals to connect and apply the strength of the talented researchers in our learning institutions with the needs of industry,” said Janet Walden, NSERC’s chief operating officer.

The following two networks will receive a total of $7.8 million over five years:

1. The new NSERC TRIA Network: Turning Risk into Action for the Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic is an inter-university initiative led by Dr. Janice Cooke from the University of Alberta. This network will focus on research into controlling the pine beetle epidemic in boreal forests. (Awarded $2,977,148)

2. RES’EAU WaterNET: An NSERC Strategic Network on Small, Rural and First Nations Water Systems led by Dr. Madjid Mohseni from the University of British Columbia, is the first inter-university network devoted exclusively to developing innovative and affordable solutions for clean drinking water in small, rural and First Nations communities. (Awarded $4,791,250)

The recipients of the 2013 Strategic Project Grant Competition are as follows, in order by university, showing name, project title, term and award amount:

Carleton University

Qi-Jun Zhang; Cognition-Driven Modeling and Optimization Technology for Multi-Disciplinary Design of High-Frequency Components and Communication Subsystems; Terms: 3; $416,100

Dalhousie University

Paul Bentzen; Genomics approaches to the management of mixed stock fisheries in Canada: Developing tools for promoting fishery stability and the protection of biodiversity; Terms: 3; $593,809

École Polytechnique de Montréal

Raman Kashyap; GRAPPAS: Glass preforms rolled and Planarised for Photonics Applications in sandwich structures form; Terms: 3; $373,250

Ke Wu; Millimeter-wave Identifications, Sensing and Tracking (MIST) for Low-Profile Integrated Services of Security and Logistics; Terms: 3; $634,503

Institut national de la recherche scientifique

Jose Azana; A New Paradigm for Broadband Radio-Frequency Signal Processing; Terms: 3; $537,000

Satinder Kaur Brar; New Biochar-enzyme impregnated micro and nano systems (BEMS/BENS) for efficient degradation of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in wastewater and drinking water; Terms: 3; $512,750

Ahmed Tayeb Denidni; Millimeter-wave reconfigurable antennas based on active frequency selective surface structures for wireless communication systems; Terms: 3; $403,500

François Légaré; Novel laser technologies for the amplification and the frequency conversion of octave spanning laser sources; Terms: 3; $522,668

Tsuneyuki Ozaki; Harnessing carbon plasma for extreme photonics and advanced materials; Terms: 3; $462,000

Federico Rosei; Development of germanium fiber Bragg gratings and Er-doped fiber amplifiers for operation in harsh environments; Terms: 3; $585,000

François Vidal; Hyperpolarization of helium-3 through metastable exchange optical pumping at high pressure; Terms: 3; $508,636

McGill University

Richard Chromik; Composite coatings manufactured by cold spray; Terms: 3; $460,717

Chandra Madramootoo; Managing agricultural systems to protect Canada’s freshwater; Terms: 3; $469,647

Chandra Madramootoo; Application of variable rate irrigation technology for water efficiency and conservation; Terms: 3; $244,300

McMaster University

Muhammad Altaf Arain; Quantifying the response of Canadian forests to climate change, extreme weather events and management activities; Terms: 3; $535,457

Todd Hoare; Accelerated development of smart biomaterials for stem cell therapy and production; Terms: 3; $310,000

Igor Zhitomirsky; Advanced flame retardant materials and fabrication methods; Terms: 3; $208,500

University of Ottawa

Azzedine Boukerche; DISTRACT: cooperative distributed target in multi-tier heterogeneous wireless sensor networks (WSN); Terms: 3; $463,000

Shervin Shirmohammadi; Hi-Fit: High fidelity telepresence over best effort networks; Terms: 3; $362,250

Queen’s University

Pascale Champagne; Bio-oil Recovery and CO2 Recycling by Waste Stream Enhanced Microalgal Growth and Low Energy CO2-Related Extraction; Terms: 3; $592,170

Brian Cumming; Assessment of the importance of nitrogen deposition and climate on aquatic production in Boreal lakes downwind of the Athabasca oil sands region; Terms: 3; $334,740

Michael Cunningham; Stimuli Responsive Crystalline Nanocellulose (CNC) and Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC); Terms: 3; $353,160

Ana Maria da Silva; Contamination of river beds by oil spills and impact on fish habitat; Terms: 3; $469,046

Praveen Jain; New power converters for energy storage systems; Terms: 3; $351,000

Philip Jessop; CO2-Triggered Switchable Surfaces; Terms: 3; $378,240

Ian Moore; Water: Management and assessment of infrastructure (WaterMAIN) to prevent leakage and collapse of water pipes and sewers; Terms: 3; $570,950

John Smol; Predicting dissolved oxygen concentrations in Lake Trout lakes: Developing new tools for a multiple-stressor world; Terms: 3; $365,200

Simon Fraser University

Farid Golnaraghi; A New MEMS gyroscope design based on nonlinear coupling and internal resonance; Terms: 3; $374,100

Daniel Leznoff; Development of Vapochromic Coordination Polymer Materials as Sensors for Electrical Transformer Diagnostics; Terms: 3; $335,850

Trent University

Marguerite Xenopoulos; Linking regime shifts to carbon dynamics in Lake Erie; Terms: 3; $574,000

Université de Montréal

Yoshua Bengio; Adiabatic quantum computing fo
r deep learning with boltzmann machines; Terms: 3; $583,566

Yoshua Bengio; Large-Scale Deep Learning for Content-Based Recommendation Systems; Terms: 3; $575,739

Jean-François Masson; Analyse environnementale avec un instrument Raman portable au site d’échantillonnage : Mesure des matériaux énergétiques dans les eaux souterraines; Terms: 3; $510,000

Université du Québec à Rimouski

Gesche Winkler; Production and consumption of krill in the Gulf of St. Lawrence: Toward an ecosystem-based stock assessment; Terms: 3; $449,800

Université Laval

Louis Bernatchez; Enjeux biologiques et socio-économiques des ensemencements pour supporter la pêche de l’omble de fontaine; vers une exploitation durable; Terms: 3; $518,656

Denis Rodrigue; Développement de membranes polymères pour la séparation de biogaz; Terms: 3; $415,956

René Therrien; Groundwater resources evolution in degrading permafrost environments: Sustainable water availability and management in the northern community of Umiujaq, Nunavik, Canada; Terms: 3; $530,166

University of Alberta

Jie Han; Optimized design verification methodology of variation-tolerant Nanoscale systems; Terms: 3; $300,000

Ellen Macdonald; Tools for managing forest productivity and biodiversity in relation to ecosystem function in boreal mixed wood forests; Terms: 3; $764,300

Pedram Mousavi; 3D Printing of Adaptable Wireless Systems; Terms: 3; $479,958

John Vederas; Probiotic bacteria and their bacteriocins to replace antibiotics in salmon aquaculture; Terms: 3; $580,500

The University of British Columbia

Juri Jatskevich; Advanced integrated AC-DC systems for energy efficient buildings and communities in Canada; Terms: 3; $651,000

Victor Leung; Cognitive platform for ubiquitous cloud-based gaming; Terms: 3; $495,000

Mark Martinez; Novel application of viscoplastic fluids in industry: Creating opportunity for the pulp and paper sector; Terms: 3; $267,200

Panos Nasiopoulos; Elevating entertainment, education, and social networking experience through convergence of immersive video technologies (ELEVATE); Terms: 3; $451,500

Tony Pitcher; Understanding the ecosystem role of Pacific herring in coupled social-ecological systems : Advancing forage fish science; Terms: 3; $682,335

Peyman Servati; Flexible, efficient solar-battery nano-textile; Terms: 3; $514,000

Peyman Servati; Bio-inspired soft epidermal and wearable nanofiber electronics for wireless health monitoring; Terms: 3; $516,000

Kevin Smith; Development of catalysts and adsorbents derived from petroleum coke and applied to oil sands upgrading; Terms: 3; $390,000

Steven Wilton; Raising the Abstraction of Analysis, Debug and Optimization of High-Level Synthesis-Generated Hardware; Terms: 3; $298,300

University of Calgary

Zongpeng Li; Reliable and robust enterprise-public cloud computing; Terms: 3; $423,000

Nader Mahinpey; The application of novel solid materials in an integrated gasification and calcium looping technology: CO2 capture and energy production; Terms: 3; $583,082

University of Guelph

Beverley Hale; Metal mixtures – Is ‘concentration addition’ the correct model for terrestrial ecological risk assessment?; Terms: 3; $653,812

University of Saskatchewan

Helen Baulch; Understanding lake metabolism and algal blooms: New tools for the management of potable water sources; Terms: 3; $618,614

Chijin Xiao; Control of plasma instabilities and flow velocity in the STOR-M tokamak by RMP and CT injection; Terms: 3; $346,581

University of Toronto

Peter Herman; Controlling femtosecond laser processing: smart fibers, catheters, and lab-on-fiber concepts; Terms: 3; $627,275

Eugenia Kumacheva; Microfluidic studies of carbon dioxide-mediated extraction and phase separation in switchable solvents; Terms: 3; $427,500

Baochun Li; A cloud-assisted crowdsourcing machine-to-machine networking platform for vehicular applications; Terms: 3; $448,500

Ben Liang
Cloud in the air: A heterogeneous data communication framework for mobile cloud computing; Terms: 3; $469,300

Edward (Ted) Sargent; Solar-driven removal of organic contaminants from water; Terms: 3; $435,600

David Sinton; Nanoparticle-CO2 foams: New methods for carbon storage and oil recovery via pore-scale microfluidics; Terms: 3; $403,500

Brent Sleep
Optimizing performance of integrated green roof photovoltaic systems; Terms: 3; $352,574

Douglas Stephan; Asymmetric Borenium Cations in Catalysis; Terms: 3; $449,400

University of Victoria

Caren Helbing; Linking behavioural effects of thyroid active chemicals with molecular biomarkers and their application towards the evaluation of sewage treatment technologies; Terms: 3; $671,121

Matthew Moffitt; Manufacturing Block Copolymer-Based Drug Delivery Vehicles in Microfluidics; Terms: 3; $454,500

University of Waterloo

Robert Gracie; Hydraulic fracturing: Geomechanics of naturally fractured shale and risk assessment; Terms: 3; $568,932

Juewen Liu; NSC – Design and screening of DNA-functionalized hydrogels for contaminants in water; Terms: 3; $553,600

Sherry Schiff; Canada’s nitrogen legacy: Combining modeling and isotope approaches for drinking water quality and aquatic ecosystem health of rivers; Terms: 3; $726,564

Xuemin (Sherman) Shen; Advanced Information and Communication System for Smart Grid; Terms: 3; $530,100

Zhou Wang; Advanced 3D video technologies: Quality assessment, display, keying and communications; Terms: 3; $594,000

Tze-Wei Yeow; A cleanroom-free approach towards a robust CMUT-based High Resolution 3D NDT system; Terms: 3; $381,500

The University of Western Ontario

Oleg Semenikhin; Advanced fibers and textiles for energy conversion and storage (window coverings); Terms: 3; $393,000

Abdallah Shami; Energy-efficient resource provisioning for network-based cloud computing environments; Terms: 3; $409,140

Jun Yang; Developing robust, high-resolution, high-performance and low-cost printing technologies for making flexible and stretchable electronics and devices; Terms: 3; $400,800

University of Windsor

Daniel Heath; Development of high performance Chinook salmon stocks for commercial aquaculture: Genetic hybridization to maximize culture efficiency and minimize environmental impact; Terms: 3; $526,600