Memorial’s research is expanding and accelerating in a big way thanks to a significant investment from the Government of Canada.
More than $11.5 million was announced on Aug. 29 for state-of-the-art research infrastructure and leading-edge studies focused on global issues.
Check back to the Gazette for future stories highlighting several Memorial researchers and projects benefitting from this investment.
The funding supports critical projects ranging from exploring secularism in contemporary Quebec to unused Atlantic sea cucumber resources to the influences on performance, fatigue and flexibility.
“Through the incredible support of the Government of Canada and its funding agencies, Memorial researchers have the space and opportunity to tackle critical challenges facing our world, take risks, ask important scientific questions and help train the next generation of scholars,” said Dr. Tana Allen, vice-president (research). “Memorial is grateful to our federal government for recognizing our university’s growing research strengths and these exciting projects.”
Funding programs
The investments come from a number of funding programs such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s (SSHRC) Partnership Grants, Partnership Development Grants and Insight Grants; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) Discovery Grants, Research Tools and Instruments, Northern Research Supplements and PromoScience programs; the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF); and the Banting Post-doctoral Fellowships competition.
Researchers in the faculties of Humanities and Social Sciences, Business Administration, Science, Medicine, and Engineering and Applied Science; the schools of Human Kinetics and Recreation, Science and the Environment, Social Work, and Arctic and Subarctic Studies; and the Marine Institute share the funding.
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Below is a listing of Memorial’s results from SSHRC’s Partnership Grants, Partnership Development Grants and Insight Grants competitions.
Partnership Grants
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Dr. Max Liboiron, Department of Geography, IndigeLab Network (IN): Building research collectives through gendered Indigenous theories of change, $2,499,865.
Total: $2,499,865
Partnership Development Grant
School of Human Kinetics and Recreation
Dr. Kyle Pushkarenko, Physical literacy for all in Atlantic Canada: Tailoring frameworks to meet organizational capacity and individual community need, $199,969.
Total: $199,969
Insight Grants
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Dr. Jennifer Selby, Department of Religious Studies, Secularism on the Move (SOM): Transnational Laïcité in Contemporary Québec, $370,016.
- Dr. John Sandlos, Department of History, Mining Danger: Industrial Disease, Accidents, and Pollution in Canada’s Mines and Mining Communities, 1870-1990, Award Amount: $296,133.
- Dr. Eric Tenkorang, Department of Sociology, Food insecurity and intimate partner violence among women living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana: A neglected problem in sub-Saharan Africa? $260,862.
Total: $927,011
Faculty of Business Administration
Dr. Erin Oldford, Leadership Narratives in Systematic and Idiosyncratic Crises, Award Amount: $57,054.
Total: $57,054
Canadian Foundation for Innovation — John R. Evans Leadership Fund
Below is a listing of Memorial’s results from CFI’s JELF competition.
Dr. Shyamchand Mayengbam, project leader, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, along with Dr. Kapil Tahlan, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, and Dr. Guangju Zhai, Division of BioMedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Multidisciplinary Systems Metabolomics Research Laboratory.
Total: $459,701
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
Below is a listing of Memorial’s results from NSERC’s Discovery Grants, Discovery Launch Supplement, Research Tools and Instruments, Northern Research Supplements, Subatomic Physics Discovery Grants and PromoScience competitions.
Discovery Grants
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Dr. Carissa Brown, Department of Geography, Ecological inertia of terrestrial communities under ongoing climate change, $275,500
Total: $275,500
Faculty of Science
- Dr. Katie Wilson, Department of Biochemistry, Computational modeling of the structure and mechanism of membrane embedded glycosyltransferases, $185,000
- Dr. Amy Hurford, Department of Biology, Incorporating movement, seasonality, and climate change into infectious disease models, $220,000
- Dr. Jeanette Wheeler, Department of Biology, Biophysical interactions between marine pathogenic bacteria and invertebrate larvae, $165,000
- Dr. Noah Fleming, Department of Computer Science, Proofs, Circuits, and Total Functions, $205,000
- Dr. Matthew Hamilton, Department of Computer Science, Systems for Rendering, Storage and Transmission of Immersive Media, $180,000
- Dr. Antonina Kolokolova, Department of Computer Science, Meta-complexity through the lens of proofs, $260,000
- Dr. Karteek Popuri, Department of Computer Science, Multimodal and longitudinal image analysis technologies for advanced clinical decision support, $155,000
- Dr. Philippe Belley, Department of Earth Sciences, Towards predictive exploration for gem corundum (ruby/sapphire) deposits: Developing new deposit models, exploration vectors, and heavy mineral based exploration methods, $150,000
- Dr. Steven Denyszyn, Department of Earth Sciences, Supercontinental breakup marked by trans-continental, metalliferous, belts of mafic magmatism, $150,000
- Dr. David Lowe, Department of Earth Sciences, Discriminating the tectonic and climate forces on Ediacaran diamictite sedimentation, $150,000
- Dr. Alison Malcolm, Department of Earth Sciences, Elastic Nonlinearity in the Earth: Merging Computation and Experiment for Improved Understanding, $195,000
- Dr. Stephen Piercey, Department of Earth Sciences, Magmas, Metals, and Massive Sulfides, $175,000
- Dr. Alexander Bihlo, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Scientific machine learning for geophysical fluid dynamics, $165,000
- Dr. Ronald Haynes, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, The design, analysis, and software implementation of parallel adaptive methods for partial differential equations on surfaces, $230,000
- Dr. Jie Xiao, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Graphic Wave Potentials & Capacities, $150,000
- Dr. Deping Ye, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Geometric and analytic properties of convex sets and log-concave functions, $135,000
- Dr. Yuan Yuan, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Time Delay in Nonlinear Dynamical Systems: Modelling, Analysis and Application, $165,000
- Dr. Ian Fleming, Department of Ocean Sciences, Evolutionary and ecological responses to alternate environments in fishes, $275,375
- Dr. Christopher Parrish, Department of Ocean Sciences, Production, transport, fate and effects of lipids in the marine environment, $195,000
- Dr. Ivan Saika-Voivod, Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, Nucleation, dynamics and phase behavior in supercooled liquids, colloids and nanodroplets, $160,000
Total: $3,665,375
Faculty of Medicine
- Dr. Janna Andronowski, Division of BioMedical Sciences, A multiscale model of bone remodeling to investigate interskeletal variability in biomechanical dynamics through the synergistic study of 3D cortical bone microarchitecture and cellular organization, $165,000
- Dr. Matthew Parsons, Division of BioMedical Sciences, The heterogeneity and plasticity of tripartite synaptic nanostructure, $225,000
- Dr. Deepak Kaushik, Division of Biomedical Sciences, Identification of metabolic mediators of microglial function during development, $165,000
Total: $555,000
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
- Dr. Brian Veitch, Department of Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering, Experimental approach to evaluating decision support system design, $207,040
- Dr. Yahui Zhang, Department of Process Engineering, Recovery or Removal of Heavy Metals from Aqueous Systems Using Resins with Selective Functional Groups for Sustainable Metal Production and Environmental Protection, $160,000
- Dr. George Mann, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Long range navigation and control of micro-aerial vehicles in complex environments, $210,000
- Dr. Liam Morrissey, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Studying the Interaction of Solar Wind Plasma with Exposed Minerals and Materials, $160,000
Total: $737,040
School of Human Kinetics and Recreation
- Dr. David Behm, Local and non-local effects and influences on performance, fatigue and flexibility, $255,000
- Dr. Gregory Pearcey, It takes persistence to paint a PICture – the role of monoamines in producing human motor output, $165,000
- Dr. Kevin Power, Cortical and spinal control of rhythmic motor output in humans, $212,605
Total: $632,605
Marine Institute
- Dr. Deepika Dave, Centre for Aquaculture and Seafood Development, Greening the Blue Economy: More Opportunities from Unutilized Atlantic Sea Cucumber Resources, $160,000
- Dr. Jennifer Smith, School of Maritime Studies, Adaptive instructional systems to maintain seafarer proficiency in safety-critical skills, $160,000
Total: $320,000
Grenfell Campus
- Dr. Jianghua Wu, School of Science and the Environment, Carbon cycling and greenhouse gas emissions in boreal peatlands under climate change, $175,000
- Dr. Chad Cuss, School of Science and the Environment, Building the foundation for Environmental Nanogeochemistry, $150,000
Total: $325,000
Discovery Launch Supplement
Faculty of Science
- Dr. Katie Wilson, Department of Biochemistry, Computational modeling of the structure and mechanism of membrane embedded glycosyltransferases, $12,500
- Dr. Jeanette Wheeler, Department of Biology, Biophysical interactions between marine pathogenic bacteria and invertebrate larvae, $12,500
- Dr. Noah Fleming, Department of Computer Science, Proofs, Circuits, and Total Functions, $12,500
- Dr. Matthew Hamilton, Department of Computer Science, Systems for Rendering, Storage and Transmission of Immersive Media, $12,500
- Dr. Karteek Popuri, Department of Computer Science, Multimodal and longitudinal image analysis technologies for advanced clinical decision support, $12,500
- Dr. Philippe Belley, Department of Earth Sciences, Towards predictive exploration for gem corundum (ruby/sapphire) deposits: Developing new deposit models, exploration vectors, and heavy mineral based exploration methods, $12,500
- Dr. Steven Denyszyn, Department of Earth Sciences, Supercontinental breakup marked by trans-continental, metalliferous, belts of mafic magmatism, $12,500
- Dr. David Lowe, Department of Earth Sciences, Discriminating the tectonic and climate forces on Ediacaran diamictite sedimentation, $12,500
Total: $100,000
Faculty of Medicine
- Dr. Janna Andronowski, Division of BioMedical Sciences, A multiscale model of bone remodeling to investigate interskeletal variability in biomechanical dynamics through the synergistic study of 3D cortical bone microarchitecture and cellular organization, $12,500
- Dr. Deepak Kaushik, Division of Biomedical Sciences, Identification of metabolic mediators of microglial function during development, $12,500
Total: $25,000
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
- Dr. Liam Morrissey, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Studying the Interaction of Solar Wind Plasma with Exposed Minerals and Materials, $12,500
Total: $12,500
School of Human Kinetics and Recreation
- Dr. Gregory Pearcey, It takes persistence to paint a PICture – the role of monoamines in producing human motor output, $12,500
Total: $12,500
Marine Institute
- Dr. Jennifer Smith, School of Maritime Studies, Adaptive instructional systems to maintain seafarer proficiency in safety-critical skills, $12,500
Total: $12,500
Grenfell Campus
- Dr. Chad Cuss, School of Science and the Environment, Building the foundation for Environmental Nanogeochemistry, $12,500
Total: $12,500
Research Tools and Instruments
Faculty of Science
- Dr. Shyamchand Mayengbam, Department of Biochemistry, A multicomponent analytical gas chromatography for biological metabolites, $148,529
Total: $148,529
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
- Dr. Mohammad Al Janaideh, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, A Dual-Arm Water Robot Handler for Precision Mechatronics and MEMS Characterizations, $149,488
Total: $149,488
Northern Research Supplements
Faculty of Science
- Dr. Philippe Belley, Department of Earth Sciences, Towards predictive exploration for gem corundum (ruby/sapphire) deposits: Developing new deposit models, exploration vectors, and heavy mineral based exploration methods, $43,310
Total: $43,310
Subatomic Physics Discovery Grants
Grenfell Campus
- Dr. Svetlana Barkanova, School of Science and the Environment, Multi-Loop Calculations for Precision Experiments, $100,000
Total: $100,000
PromoScience
Labrador Campus
- Dr. Ashlee Cunsolo, School of Arctic and Subarctic Studies, Labrador Lands & Waters Science Camp, $94,800
Total: $94,800
Banting Post-doctoral Fellowships
Below is a listing of Memorial’s results from the Banting Post-doctoral Fellowships competition.
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Dr. Evan Andrews, Department of Geography, Exploring an Anticipatory Governance Framework for Small-Scale Fisheries in Sustainable and Equitable Oceans, $140,000
School of Social Work
- Dr. Nicole Schott, “Eating Disorder” Treatment, Recovery and Survival: Sharing, Gathering and Co-Creating Research-Informed Mad Art, $140,000
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science
- Dr. Yiqi Cao, Department of Civil Engineering, Developing a sustainable degrade-sequestrate (DS) bioreactor to simultaneously treat marine oily wastewater and capture CO2 in the Arctic and Northern Atlantic Oceans, $140,000
Total: $420,000
A number of other Memorial researchers are co-applicants, collaborators and partners on other projects that received support.
