Establishing and supporting innovative research projects is an important priority for the University of Waterloo. The Canadian Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund has recognized four Faculty of Science researchers to embarking upon research or technology development that is innovative, high quality and meets international standards.
Vivek Maheshwari, Professor in the Department of Chemistry, alongside Professor Kevin Musselman from the Faculty of Engineering was awarded $125,619 for the project Advanced Characterization Facility for Stable Metal Halide Perovskite Materials and Devices. This funding will be used to build infrastructure to enable the research and development of highly efficient and stable perovskite solar cells, as per solar power industry standards. The infrastructure is critical for the progression of this technology, as a low-cost photovoltaics are in line with the University of Waterloo’s declaration of the climate emergency.
Dale Martin, Professor in the Department of Biology, was awarded $160,000 for the project Microscopy System for Targeting S-Palmitoylation in Neurodegeneration. This funding will go towards purchasing a confocal microscope to track protein movements in live cells, including cultured neurons, that are dependent on the lipid modification of proteins known as S-palmitoylation. S-palmitoylation works like a postal code – it tells proteins where to go in a cell and has emerged as an important modification that directs proteins in neurons. The scope will be used to track dysregulated palmitoylation in neurodegeneration and develop drug screens to target palmitoylation in neurodegenerative diseases.
Jenine McCutcheon, Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, was awarded $100,000 for the project Biofilms as Bioreactors: Using Microbial Processes to Sequester Carbon and Remediate Metals in Mine Waste Materials. This project will study the structure and chemistry of microbial mats and biofilms. The results will have applications to carbon sequestration and metal recovery in mine waste materials, thereby contributing to more sustainable mining practices.
Crystal Senko, Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, was awarded $202,421 for the project Laboratory for Trapped Ion Quantum Computing with Nonidentical Qubits. Senko’s research focuses on using trapped ions for quantum simulations and quantum computing applications. Her work also explores using electrons to represent multiple levels of encryption, known as qudits and how to improve the efficiency of encoding a logical unit of information using the multiple levels of a qudit.
These projects are four of the 21 projects selected for funding at Waterloo. A total of 332 projects were funded province wide though this initiative. This funding helps institutions recruit and retain outstanding researchers, acquire the tools that enable the innovative work of leading researchers and offer research support.