$24M funding to help science, engineering grads

Montreal, QC – Job skills training for science and engineering grads and postdocs across the country is being supported with $24 million in funding for a group of 15 new training networks. Announced today by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the funding will run over six years and support a variety of research areas, including genomics, climate change in the Arctic, clean combustion engines, and wireless technology.

The funding is being provided through NSERC’s Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) program. The funded networks are being led by teams of Canadian university researchers who will help the students develop leadership, entrepreneurship, communication and project management skills.

“This team-based training is providing a valuable experience for students and postdoctoral fellows to learn practical skills and to engage in cutting-edge, multidisciplinary and, in some cases, international research,” said Isabelle Blain, vice-president of research grants and scholarships at NSERC. “Exposing our trainees to an innovative, collaborative training environment will enable them to succeed in careers that contribute to the world’s top research.”

CREATE also promotes student mobility between universities and other sectors nationally and internationally. In 2011, an agreement was established with Germany to support a bilateral training program. One of the CREATE recipients will work with the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the German Research Foundation.

In its first three years, CREATE has involved 58 teams of researchers and has supported more than 2,400 students and postdoctoral fellows through funding and training.

Following is a list of the 15 networks in 2013 that are receiving funding, including the name of the grant holder, title of proposed network, university, and grant amount:

• Amyot, Marc; SMART-MINE: Scientific Mentoring, Applied Research and Training for Sustainable MINEs; Montréal; $1,650,000
• Shoichet, Molly; NSERC CREATE in Manufacturing, Materials and Mimetics (M3); Toronto; $1,650,000
• Farenhorst, Annemieke; NSERC CREATE Program for Water and Sanitation Security in First Nations (HO2 CREATE).; Manitoba; $1,650,000
• Burch, Kenneth; Taming the Lost Heat, Training and Research in Thermoelectrics; Toronto; $1,650,000
• Green, Mark; CREATE Sustainable Engineering in Remote Areas (SERA); Queen’s; $1,650,000
• Affès, Sofiène; NSERC CREATE Training Program in Pervasive and Smart Wireless Applications for the Digital Economy (PERSWADE); INRS; $1,636,150
• De Vernal, Anne; International NSERC CREATE on the processes and impacts of climate change in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Canadian Arctic (ArcTrain); Québec à Montréal; $1,650,000
• Wallace, Douglas; NSERC CREATE for Transatlantic Ocean System Science and Technology (TOSST); Dalhousie; $1,645,000
• Wang, Xianbin; NSERC CREATE Program in Communications Security, Privacy, and Cyberethics; Western Ontario; $1,650,000
• Edwards, Aled; NSERC CREATE Collaborative Medicinal Chemistry Network in Epigenetics Training (ChemNET): Training Canadian chemists within a global open access public-private partnership; Toronto; $1,650,000
• Sahinalp, Cenk; Create Program for Computational Methods for the Analysis of the Diversity and Dynamics of Genomes (Create – CMADDG Training Program); Simon Fraser; $1,500,000
• Thomson, Murray; NSERC CREATE Program in Clean Combustion Engines; Toronto; $1,650,000
• Sibley, Paul; Multiple Stressors and Cumulative Effects in the Great Lakes: An NSERC CREATE program to Develop Innovative Solutions through International Training Partnerships; Guelph; $1,596,500
• Schafer, Laurel; CREATE Sustainable Synthesis; British Columbia; $1,650,000
• Seuntjens, Jan; NSERC CREATE: Medical Physics Research Training Network (MPRTN); McGill; $1,650,000