06/28/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 06/27/2024 22:30
Echolocation in bats, smart pavement, aircraft propulsion, drug discovery, and clean combustion - these are a just a handful of the new University of Windsor research projects the federal government will fund for the next five years.
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has announced it will fund 22 UWindsor researchers with grants totalling more than $3.8 million. Most of the funding comes from the Discovery Grants program, NSERC's largest and longest-standing grant program.
"Canada's science and research sector is solving some of the world's greatest challenges, all while driving innovation, growth, and productivity," said François-Philippe Champagne, federal Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, in announcing the funding recently. "Research programs like Discovery give researchers the flexibility to explore the most promising avenues of research as they emerge to ensure Canada remains a world leader in science and new technologies."
The UWindsor grants are among $554 million in NSERC Discovery Grant funding nationally. Early career researchers who qualified for grants received additional $12,500 supplements to help set up their labs, and one researcher - Jeremy Rawson, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry - received $91,400 for the purchase of equipment under NSERC's Research Tools and Instruments grant program.
Shanthi Johnson, vice-president, research and innovation, said the University of Windsor is grateful to the federal government and NSERC for this significant funding.
"As the name suggests, Discovery Grants allow researchers to explore emerging avenues of research and make breakthroughs, expanding the boundaries of their fields, and training the next generation of scientists and engineers," Dr. Johnson said. "These grants are absolutely crucial to discovery in the natural sciences, computer science, mathematics, and engineering, and allow our faculty members to pursue bold and impactful research."
Gordon Drake, a professor emeritus of physics, received the largest Discovery grant of any UWindsor researcher - $305,000. Dr. Drake's project relates to the theory of atomic and molecular processes. Other notable grants include $275,000 to mechanical, automotive, and materials professor Ming Zheng for clean combustion studies; $260,000 to civil and environmental engineering professor Ram Balachandar for the study of wake dynamics; and $230,000 each to electrical and computer engineering professors Bala Balasingham for electric vehicle research and Merhdad Saif for research into autonomous driving systems.
Other Discovery Grant recipients are: