The CFI awards $264,316 to Mount Allison University in support of two of its top researchers
2009-04-07 14:26:08
SACKVILLE, NB — The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) announced today, April 7, that it has awarded $264,316 to Mount Allison University to support two projects led by Dr. Suzie Currie (biology) and Dr. Vicki Meli (chemistry).
“The investments being announced today at Mount Allison will further enhance our country’s reputation as a destination of choice for outstanding researchers,” said Dr. Eliot Phillipson, President and CEO of the CFI. “They will make our universities even more competitive when it comes to attracting the best and brightest researchers from around the world.”
The CFI continues to support cutting-edge research infrastructure that helps stimulate various sectors of our economy associated with such capital projects. It is estimated that every dollar invested directly in research yields over $7 in economic benefits, including spin-off jobs.
Mount Allison University Provost and Vice-President, Academic and Research, Dr. Stephen McClatchie welcomes the CFI’s investment: “Today’s announcement from the CFI is wonderful news for Mount Allison. With this investment Dr. Suzie Currie and Dr. Vicki Meli will continue to make important inroads in their respective fields, aquatic sciences and physical chemistry. I congratulate Drs. Currie and Meli on these latest achievements and thank the CFI for their continued support for this country’s top researchers.”
The Honourable Greg Thompson, the Minister of Veterans Affairs and regional minister for New Brunswick, welcomed the new funding for Mount Allison University. “This latest investment from the Canada Foundation for Innovation is another vote of confidence for Mount Allison University and reflects our government’s commitment to research development in Atlantic Canada,” said Minister Thompson. “Both Dr. Currie and Dr. Meli’s programs are making a difference and I congratulate Mount Allison on this announcement.”
The environmental issues of climate change and pollution are national priorities and Mount Allison biology professor and Crabtree Research Chair in Aquatic Animal Physiology Dr. Suzie Currie is working to learn more about how these issues are affecting fish and invertebrates in our waters, an especially important concern for the Atlantic region. Dr. Suzie Currie’s project will help fund research in the new Crabtree Aqualab: Centre for Aquatic Sciences at Mount Allison University. Given Mount Allison’s unique coastal location in the Maritimes, Dr. Currie and her team hope to marry field-based aquatic research with laboratory-based studies. The new centre will provide aquatic facilities that reflect real-world changing environmental conditions. The proposed facility will be designed with the capacity to have both flow-through and recirculating water systems to house large and small-bodied fish as well as invertebrates. This proposed refurbished Aqualab will build on Mount Allison’s current infrastructure to provide a world-class laboratory for integrative, innovative aquatic animal sciences.
The emerging field of nanoscience is viewed by some as the next great industrial revolution in the life sciences, materials, and electronics sectors of industry. Nanoparticles (sometimes called quantum dots and artificial atoms) are among the most promising new class of materials to emerge from this field. Mount Allison chemistry professor Dr. Vicki Meli is poised to be at the forefront of this research area. Drawing from her experience in the field of interfacial chemistry, Dr. Meli’s research program seeks to gain greater insight into the design and assembly of nanoparticulate films. This could play a significant role in several suggested next-generation technologies in the materials, electronics, and biotechnology industries.
With this CFI funding, Dr. Meli's lab will be equipped with two surface sensitive microscopes capable of providing complementary chemical and physical information, as well as the needed synthetic preparation tools. These will provide the Meli lab the needed flexibility, capability, and efficiency to carry out a world-class research program. The new infrastructure will also enhance research educational opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students in the lab, allowing them a research experience not normally possible at the undergraduate level.
The CFI announced a total of $26,712,283 in new funds to support 117 projects at 29 institutions across Canada. The investment was approved by the CFI’s Board of Directors in March, following a rigorous merit-review process. A total of $20,559,448 was awarded under the Leaders Opportunity Fund, which provides infrastructure support to Canadian institutions so they can attract and retain the very best of today’s and tomorrow’s leading researchers at a time of intense international competition for knowledge workers. The remaining $6,152,835 was awarded under the Infrastructure Operating Fund, a complementary program that assists research institutions with the incremental operating and maintenance costs associated with new infrastructure projects.
For a complete list of the projects awarded, please visit www.innovation.ca.
The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is an independent corporation created by the Government of Canada to fund research infrastructure. The CFI’s mandate is to strengthen the capacity of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and non-profit research institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development that benefits Canadians. Since its creation in 1997, the CFI has committed almost $4.5 billion in support of more than 6,000 projects at 129 institutions in 64 municipalities across Canada.
Photo caption: Mount Allison chemistry professor Dr. Vicki Meli, second left in forefront, has received funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Leaders’ Opportunity Fund for her work in physical chemistry.
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For further information please contact Laura Dillman Ripley, Media Relations Co-ordinator, Mount Allison University, Tel: 506-364-2600 (ldillman@mta.ca) or Yves Melanson, Coordinator, Media Relations, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Tel.: 613-996-3160, Cell.: 613-447-1723 (yves.melanson@innovation.ca).