Three Waterloo Engineering researchers were among the 11 throughout the Waterloo Region who received prestigious Early Researcher Awards that were announced by John Milloy, MPP for Kitchener Centre, on May 4. Alexander Wong of systems design engineering, Zhongwei Chen and Boxin Zhao, both of chemical engineering, received $140,000 each to support their research projects.
Wong is developing advanced computer-aided systems for diagnosing the prostate cancer. Chen is working on a long-term solution to reducing our dependence on fossil fuels by developing nanomaterials that could improve fuel-cell performance and reduce their cost. And Zhao is creating new adhesion technologies, based on geckos’ foot pads, that will help increase the province’s profile in the biotechnology industry.
The Early Researcher Award program assists promising, recently appointed researchers in Ontario build their research teams. This year, 62 researchers at 19 institutions received funding through this program. [news release]