Office of the Vice-President Research
February 2014 Update
Processes
Update on Cyclotron Facility
Easing IRC Applications
The Cyclotron Facility capital project, a multipurpose facility on campus for advanced research,
training and production of medical imaging
agents for PET-CT scanner use, is about 50 per cent
complete and on budget.
Research Services finalized and distributed a formal
NSERC Industrial Research Chair (IRC) process
for the U of S. This formalized process will provide
researchers with easy access to information on IRC
grants, minimizing work for applicants and their
research teams.
On January 13th, the facility received its License
to Construct from the Canadian Nuclear Safety
Commission without any comments or questions
– demonstrating the high quality of work that has
gone into the project.
Construction, delayed four weeks due to cold
weather, is slated to be completed in late September.
Upon completion, operational responsibility will
be turned over to the Fedoruk Centre which will
undertake regulatory commissioning and manage
the facility under a recently approved agreement
between the U of S and the Fedoruk Centre. The first
isotopes for clinical use are anticipated in 2015.
International Agreements Signed
The U of S finalized Memoranda of Understanding
with three international partners in January:
the University of Birmingham in England, the
Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and the
Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in Iran.
AVPR-Health Office Moves to U of S Campus
The Office of the Associate Vice-President ResearchHealth has moved back to the U of S main campus.
They are now located in the A-Wing of the Health
Sciences Building, room A102.
Funding Successes
OVPR Internal Funds Awarded
Funding for Dairy Research
A total of $20,523 was provided from the OVPR’s
Publications Fund to 17 applicants during January’s
intake. Each application was successful, resulting
in support for the publication of two books and 15
journal articles.
Two projects at the U of S have been awarded
funds administered by the Dairy Farmers of Canada
as their part of the federal/provincial Growing
Forward 2 Program.
The OVPR also provided funding to all five applicants
to the January intake of the internal Visiting
Lecturers fund. Each applicant received $1,023
to assist with the travel expenses and honorarium
costs of bringing a visiting lecturer to the university.
Susan Whiting (College of Pharmacy & Nutrition)
was awarded $100,000 for the project “Association
Between Dietary Intakes and Cardiovascular Risk
of Canadians Using the Canadian Health Measures
Survey Cycles 1+2”.
Joseph Stookey of the Large Animal Clinic in
WCVM will receive $10,925 for his collaboration
on the project “Automatic Milking Systems: Factors
Affecting Health, Productivity and Welfare” led by
the University of Calgary.
OVPR February 2014 Update 1
Office of the Vice-President Research
February 2014 Update
Strategic Projects Funded
$3 Million for Research Infrastructure
Two U of S projects were awarded an NSERC
Strategic Project Grant. These grants support
research in areas targeted for their potential to
strongly enhance Canada’s economy, society and/
or environment within the next 10 years.
Ten U of S researchers were awarded a total of more
than $3 million from the Canada Foundation for
Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund:
Helen Baulch (School of Environment and
Sustainability) was awarded $618,614 for the
project “Understanding Lake Metabolism and algal
blooms: New tools for the management of potable
water sources” with co-investigators John Giesy
(Toxicology), Paul Jones (Toxicology), Karsten
Liber (Toxicology), Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt
(School of Environment and Sustainability).
Additional support will come from industry
partners Saskatchewan Water Security Agency and
the Buffalo Pound Water Administration Board.
Chijin Xiao (Physics and Engineering Physics) was
awarded $346,581 for the project “Control of plasma
instabilities and flow velocity in the STOR-M tokamak
by RMP and CT injection” with co-investigator
Akira Hirose (Physics and Engineering Physics).
Plasmionique Inc. will be contributing in-kind
support.
Steven Siciliano (Soil Science) is a co-investigator
on the 17-member project “Metal Mixtures: Is
Concentration Addition the Correct Model for
Terrestrial Ecological Risk Assessment?” led by
Beverly Hale from the University of Guelph. The
project was awarded $650,000 with additional
funding from industry partners.
International Project Digs into Data
Mark Eramian (Computer Science) was awarded
$124,965 for the international team project “Digging
Archaeological Data: Image Search and Markup
(DADAISM)”, which involves researchers from the
University of York in the United Kingdom and
the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Funding comes from the Digging Into Data
Challenge Grant, co-funded by SSHRC and funding
agencies from the UK and the Netherlands.
Geoff Cunfer (History) was awarded $29,348 for
the project “Historical GIS Laboratory expansion for
long-term socio-ecological research”.
Natacha Hogan (Toxicology) was awarded
$100,692 for the project “Infrastructure for
understanding mechanisms of environment-immune
interactions in aquatic toxicology”.
Adelaine Leung (Veterinary Biomedical
Sciences) was awarded $219,147 for the project
“Infrastructure for a neurobiology laboratory with
structural biology and Drosophila genetics capability”.
Ronald Steer (Chemistry) was awarded $179,269
for the project “Ultrafast laser technology for solar
photovoltaic and materials research” with coinvestigators Matthew Paige and Li Chen.
Ajay Dalai (Chemical & Biological Engineering)
was awarded $684,887 for the project “Innovative
bioprocessing catalysis research laboratory” with coinvestigators Hui Wang and Robert Scott.
Glenn Hussey (Physics & Engineering Physics)
was awarded $119,356 for the project “Advanced
e-region imaging radar” with co-investigators
Kathryn McWilliams and Jean-Pierre St.-Maurice
(Physics & Engineering Physics).
Christy Morrissey (Biology) was awarded
$799,826 for the project “Facility for applied avian
research (FAAR)” with co-investigators John Giesy
(Toxicology) and Karen Machin (Veterinary
Biomedical Sciences).
Steven Siciliano (Soil Science) was awarded
$355,330 for the project “Interactions of carbon and
nitrogen during co-consumption of methane and
nitrous oxide”.
Ian Stavness (Computer Science) was awarded
$176,715 for the project “Laboratory for
computational synthesis”.
Qiaoqin Yang (Mechanical Engineering) was
awarded $396,564 for the project “A multifunctional
vapor deposition system for the development and
application of novel nanocomposite coatings” with
co-investigators Akira Hirose and Wenjun Zhang.
OVPR February 2014 Update 2