$1M awarded in Killam prizes, research fellowships

Ottawa, ON – The Canada Council for the Arts today announced the recipients of the 2015 Killam Program. This prestigious program, administered by the Canada Council, is funded by a private endowment supporting creativity and innovation through research and higher learning.

Five Canadian researchers will receive $100,000 each in recognition of their exceptional career achievements in humanities, engineering, natural sciences, social sciences, health sciences, and interdisciplinary studies within these fields. Another $840,000 will be awarded over two years in Killam Research Fellowships, granting six scholars full teaching and administrative release so they may pursue independent research.

Killam Prizes

The 2015 Killam Prize winners are world leaders in fields as varied as poetry, wireless communications, astrophysics, public policy and public administration, and virology.

• Engineering – Vijay K. Bhargava, University of British Columbia, has had a profound impact in the field of wireless communications with his work.  
• Health Sciences – Lorne Tyrrell, University of Alberta, participated in the discovery of several potent antivirals against Hepatitis B.
• Natural Sciences – Victoria Kaspi, McGill University, has made major discoveries throughout her career in the study of rapidly spinning compact neutron stars called pulsars.  
• Humanities – David Bentley, Western University, is a nationally acclaimed teacher and leading scholar of Canadian poetry.
• Social Sciences – Donald Savoie, Université de Moncton, is a leading Canadian expert on public policy, public administration and federalism.

Killam Research Fellowships

The Killam Research Fellowships support scholars engaged in ongoing projects of outstanding merit and widespread interest in their fields.

• Jonathan Abbatt, University of Toronto – Aerosol Particles and Climate: Addressing Fundamental Connections in the Canadian Arctic
• Cathleen Crudden, Queen’s University – Organically Modified Metal Surfaces: Biosensing and Beyond
• Troy Day, Queen’s University – Designing Evolution-Proof Cancer Chemotherapy with Mathematics
• Robert H. Morris, University of Toronto – Developing Catalysts Based on Iron
• James Retallack, University of Toronto – “The Workers’ Emperor”: August Bebel’s Struggle for Social Justice and Democratic Reform in Germany and the World, 1840-1913
• Adrian Shubert, York University – The General of Two Worlds: Baldomero Espartero, Empire, Nation and Liberalism in Spain and Latin America, 1793-1879

The Killam Prize presentation ceremony will be held at Rideau Hall on May 12.