Researchers awarded $1.1 million for lab equipment

Seven professors at Waterloo Engineering were awarded a total of almost $1.1 million in federal funding this week through a program designed to help attract and retain top researchers.

The backing from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund, a program of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, is earmarked for infrastructure to ensure labs are equipped for world-class research and technology development.

The recipients at Waterloo Engineering are:

• Chris Bachmann of civil and environmental engineering: $174,800 for a virtual mobility lab for innovative transportation research
• Dayan Ban of electrical and computer engineering: $145,000 for an advanced evaporator for dedicated high-quality and high-precision indium deposition
• Slim Boumaiza of electrical and computer engineering: $270,000 for a realistic over-the-air test system for researching wireless and satellite communications at up to 44 GHz
• Joyce Kim of civil and environmental engineering: $160,000 for an integrated digital platform for occupant-centric building operation
• Ewen MacDonald of systems design engineering: $80,000 for measurement systems for investigating speech communication
• Serhiy Yarusevych of mechanical and mechatronics engineering: $180,000 for infrastructure for the analysis of multi-phase flows for airborne disease mitigation and pollution control
• Shunde Yin of civil and environmental engineering: $90,000 for laboratory investigation of a geosynthetics reinforced pavement system in response to low temperature and climate change

The funding is part of almost $45 million announced for 150 projects at 43 post-secondary institutions across the country.

“Today’s investments will ensure that researchers at our colleges and universities have the equipment and spaces they need to flourish and tackle our most pressing challenges, like climate change, health care and economic security,” Francois-Philippe Champagne, the federal minister of innovation, science and industry, said in a media release.

Campus-wide at Waterloo, eight infrastructure projects received almost $1.2 million in funding. Biology professor Jozef Nissimov, the other recipient, was awarded $100,000.