WATERLOO, Ont. (Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012) – The University of Waterloo is one of eight Canadian universities selected to nominate prestigious Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERCs).
The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology) announced today that of the 11 CERCs that institutions across the country will begin recruiting for, Waterloo has been invited to nominate a world-renowned researcher in the area of Security and Privacy for the New Digital Economy. Waterloo currently hosts a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ecohydrology, held by Professor Philippe Van Cappellen, and a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Information Processing, held by Professor David Cory. Both reside in the Faculty of Science.
"It is very exciting that Waterloo has been selected to recruit a third Canada Excellence Research Chair, and fitting that it is in this subject area that has tremendous potential for innovation and universal impact," said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president & vice-chancellor of Waterloo. "The CERC program represents excellence and pre-eminence, and we look forward to bringing yet another top researcher to this campus to do groundbreaking work while mentoring and providing valuable research experience to graduate students. This will not only be of great value to Waterloo, but to Canada in general."
Universities receive up to $10 million over seven years for each CERC recruited and Waterloo will invest an additional $17 million to support the CERC which includes faculty positions, renovations, and student support. Traditionally, a chair is a scientist or scholar who is an international leader in his or her field.
"In today's highly connected world, personal information is increasingly used and shared over wireless devices and the cloud," said Ian Goulden, Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics. "This CERC will create innovative approaches to ensure security and personal privacy as Canada advances in the digital economy.”
There were 46 research proposals submitted by 27 universities, and there is a lengthy peer-review process. The intention of this program is to attract Canadian and international researchers in priority research areas that will create social and economic benefits for Canadians, allow Canadian universities to attract world-leading researchers and showcase Canada as a destination of choice for top researchers. For more information on Canada Excellence Research Chairs, please visit www.cerc.gc.ca.
