$2.9 million awarded to Waterloo researchers through NFRF

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

The Government of Canada has awarded almost $3 million to University of Waterloo researchers to support Canadian-led interdisciplinary, international, high-risk and high-reward research.

The funding for Waterloo researchers announced today is part of a $200 million investment through the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF). This combined investment supports researchers through three NFRF competitions: 2022 Transformation; 2022 Special Call—Research for Postpandemic Recovery; and 2022 Exploration.

The funding announced for Principal Investigators of ten Waterloo projects is:

NFRF Exploration 2022

Mohamad T. Araji

Mohamad T. Araji

Associate Professor, Architecture

Monitoring energy flow of urban buildings using aerial multi-modality imaging audits

$217,500

Arash Arami

Arash Arami

Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering

Optimizing the recovery after spinal cord injury: A personalized assistive neuro-robotic paradigm

$250,000

Jean Duhamel

Jean Duhamel

Professor, Chemistry

Blob-based characterization of polypeptide dynamics towards a better understanding of protein folding mechanisms

$250,000

Juewen Liu

Juewen Liu

Professor, Chemistry

Artificial intelligence aided disease diagnoses using single-round aptamer selection in complex samples

$250,000

Nima Maftoon

Nima Maftoon

Assistant Professor, Systems Design Engineering

Eliminating tympanostomy, the most common surgery performed on children

$250,000

John Wen

John Wen

Professor, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering and cross-appointed to the Department of Chemical Engineering

Lunar regolith as a source of metal fuel

$250,000

Xiaoyu Wu

Xiaoyu Wu

Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering

Ammonia as an energy “currency” to connect the food, energy and trade sectors

$250,000

Total: $1,717,500

NFRF Special Call 2022 – Research Postpandemic Recovery

Dustin Garrick

Dustin Garrick

Associate Professor and University Research Chair, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability

Beyond the informal water paradox: Integrating formal and informal water systems for inclusive development

$500,000

Read more about Dustin Garrick's research from the Water Institute

Read more about Dustin Garrick's research from the Faculty of Environment

Ellen MacEachen

Ellen MacEachen

Professor/Director, School of Public Health Sciences

Economic recovery policies for sustainable and equitable digital school teaching and tutoring in Canada and Bangladesh

$498,750

Jangho Yang

Jangho Yang

Assistant Professor, Management Sciences

Does COVID deteriorate gender inequality in technological innovation?

$241,500

Total: $1,240,250

Read more from the Faculty of Engineering: Engineering researchers awarded almost $1.5 million