Three University of Waterloo researchers have been named renewing Canada Research Chairs (CRC) with additional funds awarded to Maria Strack, Professor, Geography and Environmental Management, through CFI's John R. Evans Leaders Fund.
An announcement was made by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) as part of national funding for CRCs worth $4.6 million. The CRCs are:
Lukasz Golab
Management Sciences, Faculty of Engineering
Canada Research Chair in Data for Good
NSERC Tier 2 (Renewal): $500,000 over five years
The United Nations recently proposed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The SDGs include zero poverty and hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality and reduced inequalities, clean water and energy, economic growth, sustainable communities, climate action, peace, and justice. Dr. Golab's research on Data for Good is finding unique ways to achieve these goals by harnessing the power of big data. His data-intensive software tools will transform terabytes of machine and human generated data into actionable insights for creating a sustainable and inclusive future.
Derek Schipper
Chemistry, Faculty of Science
Canada Research Chair in Organic Material Synthesis
NSERC Tier 2 (Renewal): $100,000 over five years
The scientific community is poised to make significant technological breakthroughs that will enable the advancement of flexible, lightweight, low-cost electronic devices such as photovoltaics, light emitting diodes and field-effect transistors. Conjugated organic materials, such as carbon nanotubes conjugated polymers, are at the core of these emerging technologies, therefore, great effort is dedicated to their assembly and functionalization. The research proposed here will build on Prof. Schipper strong background in synthetic chemistry applied to conjugated materials to make breakthroughs that will advance nascent technologies. Cutting-edge bottom-up synthetic approaches will provide solutions to long-standing and critical problems in organic electronic applications.
Maria Strack
Geography and Environmental Management, Faculty of Environment
Canada Research Chair in Ecosystems and Climate
NSERC Tier 2 (Renewal): $100,000 over five years
Peatlands represent a globally significant stock of soil carbon and exchange greenhouse gases (GHGs) with the atmosphere, including methane. Destabilization of peatland carbon stocks, in response to warming or other human-induced disturbance, contributes to climate change. The research program will improve our understanding of the interactions between peatlands and climate by: 1) evaluating the effect of climate change on peatland GHG fluxes, 2) determining how industrial disturbance affects plant-soil interactions linked to carbon cycling, and 3) developing improved GHG emission factors for managed peatlands. Results will inform improved peatland management, enabling the use of peatlands as natural climate solutions.
