UNews - Robert Laird

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge awarded record $3.9 million in NSERC funding

trevor.kenney — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:04:26 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge was awarded a record $3.9 million of funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) this year, with U of L researchers earning support for projects in neuroscience, biological sciences, psychology, chemistry & biochemistry, physics & astronomy, geography and mathematics & computer science.

This unprecedented level of support was announced earlier today by Canada’s Minister of State (Science and Technology), the Honourable Ed Holder, at a national funding announcement in Oshawa, Ont.

Dr. Robert McDonald’s base grant of $355,000 (over five years) is the largest NSERC grant awarded to the U of L this year.

“This latest round of NSERC funding clearly demonstrates the outstanding research our faculty and students are undertaking,” says Interim Vice-President (Research) Dr. Lesley Brown. “That our research portfolio continues to grow as it does is testament to the quality of the work being done and also speaks to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ striking the right balance as a comprehensive teaching and research institution.”

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers receiving NSERC Discovery Grant funding include: Dr. Gerlinde Metz (neuroscience); Dr. Aaron Gruber (neuroscience); Dr. Alice Hontela (biological sciences); Dr. Jean-Baptiste Leca (psychology); Dr. David Logue (psychology); Dr. Artur Luczak (neuroscience); Dr. Robert McDonald (neuroscience); Dr. Majid Mohajerani (neuroscience); Dr. Gregory Pyle (biological sciences); Dr. Masami Tatsuno (neuroscience); Dr. Paul Vasey (psychology); Dr. Robert Laird (biological sciences); Dr. René Boeré (chemistry & biochemistry); Dr. Paul Hayes (chemistry & biochemistry); Dr. Locke Spencer (physics & astronomy); Dr. Mark Walton (physics & astronomy); Dr. Christopher Hopkinson (geography); Dr. Robert Benkoczi (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Shahadat Hossain (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Habiba Kadiri (mathematics & computer science); Dr. Nathan Ng (mathematics & computer science).

In addition, Drs. John Zhang and Olga Kovalchuk were each awarded NSERC Discovery Development Grants.

Luczak and McDonald will also both receive an additional $120,000 in funds through the Discovery Accelerator Supplements program (over a three-year period), while McDonald’s base grant of $355,000 (over five years) is the largest NSERC grant awarded to the U of L this year. He is studying neural circuits and mechanisms of context-specific conditioned inhibition.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ’s doctoral students were extremely successful in the NSERC Doctoral Scholarship competitions, led by Katie Wilson (chemistry & biochemistry), who was named a Canada Vanier Scholar, demonstrating leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies. Jason Flindall (neuroscience) was awarded a Canadian Doctoral Scholarship, while Kayla Stone (neuroscience), Allonna Harker (neuroscience) and Stefan Lenz (chemistry & biochemistry) were awarded NSERC Postgraduate Doctoral Scholarships. Additionally, five masters students were awarded the NSERC Canadian Graduate Scholarship, including: Justin Lee (neuroscience), Serena Shandik (neuroscience), Matthew Robbins (physics & astronomy), Rhys Hakstol (chemistry & biochemistry) and Douglas Turnbull (chemistry & biochemistry).

“We are pleased with the amount of money invested in our researchers and what this could yield in terms of the results they will achieve and the benefits their work will bring to society,” adds Brown. “Our continuing success with the federal research funding agencies is testament to our researchers’ ability to compete on the national stage.”

NSERC grants aim to develop, attract and retain the world’s most talented researchers at Canadian universities who are working in a multitude of scientific and engineering disciplines.

Goyal recognized with Cade Award

trevor.kenney — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:30:38 +0000

A student with high aspirations has received an award to match.

Dipankar (Dee) Goyal, a second-year neuroscience student recently received the Bill and Elsa Cade Student of the Year Award.

Goyal moved to Lethbridge from Victoria for his university studies and has been truly amazed by the opportunities provided at the U of L.

"For an undergraduate student, getting the opportunity to work under a professor in first year is simply magnificent. It has been a great experience having done research under Dr. HJ Wieden, Dr. Robert Laird and Dr. Olga Kovalchuk," says Goyal.

Second-year neuroscience student Dipankar Goyal, a member of the U of L's iGEM team, has been named the recipient of the Bill and Elsa Cade Student of the Year Award.

He has set his sights on medical school, and is working his way toward that goal by engaging in a combination of academic and community service activities that he hopes will take him far.

"I look forward to attending medical school with a long-term goal of joining an organization like Doctors Without Borders," he says. "It is far more than a dream for me to one day become a part of an experience like that – it is my passion, dedication and ambition."

Goyal recently organized the Relay for Life Star with the Canadian Cancer Society. He also volunteers under Dr. Surendar Kilam and Dr. Ryan McColl at the Chinook Regional Hospital, and is a crucial part of the award-winning International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) team here on campus. The iGEM team ranked as one of the top four teams at the Americas Competition and as the top Canadian team internationally, all based on its efforts to build a bacterium that could consume oil sands tailings pond residue.

This story first appeared in the May issue of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Graduate students honoured with research awards

trevor.kenney — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:34:27 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge celebrated the achievements of 21 graduate students last night at the 2012 Graduate Student Research Awards reception.

"These graduate students are exemplars of academic achievement," says Dr. Robert Wood, dean of the School of Graduate Studies. "The exciting academic work that they do is advancing the frontiers of knowledge and creativity, and it cultivates and builds an essential foundation for our growing reputation as a comprehensive university. Indeed, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community is immensely proud of these accomplished graduate student scholars."

Following is a list of the 2012 award winners.

Alberta Innovates Health Solutions
Erin Zelinski
(Robert Sutherland)
Neuroscience

Corinne Sidler
(Olga Kovalchuk)
Biological Sciences

Alberta Innovates - Technology Futures
Aaron Mullin
(Craig Coburn)
Geography

Alberta Cancer Foundation
Lidiya Luzhna
(Olga Kovalchuk)
Biological Sciences

Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral (NSERC)
Patrick Barks
(Robert Laird)
Biological Sciences

Andrew Hudson
(Camron Goater & Tony Russell)
Biological Sciences

Jenni Karl
(Ian Whishaw)
Neuroscience

Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship Master (NSERC)
Kathryn Kuchapski
(Joseph Rasmussen)
Biological Sciences

Kirsten Rosler
(Hans-Joachim Wieden)
Chemistry and Biochemistry

Aaron Mullin
(Craig Coburn)
Geography

Natalie Freeman
(Louise Barrett & Peter Henzi)
Psychology

Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship Master's (SSHRC)
Gillian Ayers
(Claudia Malacrida)
Sociology

Leslie Bush
(Robbin Derry)
Management

Stacey Leavitt
(Michelle Helstein & Sean Brayton)
Kinesiology & Physical Education

Daniel Rutledge
(Sameer Deshpande)
Management

Rachel Shields
(Jason Laurendeau)
Sociology

Mark Bruce
(Dawn McBride)
Education

School of Graduate Studies Fellowship
Darcy Best
(Hadi Kharaghani)
Mathmatics & Computer Science

Health Quality Council of Alberta
Shannon Vandenberg
(Judith Kulig)
Health Sciences

endMS
Brietta Gerrard
(Artur Luczak)
Neuroscience

Alberta Gambling Research Institute
Scott Oberg
(Matthew Tata)
Neuroscience

2010 faculty research awards

trevor.kenney — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:36:52 +0000

External SSHRC Grants
(Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council)

Paul Vasey and Martin Lalumiere (Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences in Canada) $23,663
Claudia Malacrida is a co-applicant on a $1 million CURA through the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta

Independent Foundational Grants

Fangfang Li $4,800
Duane Rockerbie $4,000
Ed Wasiak $3,000
David Gregory $11,780
Malla Stavroula $11,500

CREDO Applications
(Community of Research Excellence Development Opportunities)

Kiki Benzon
Robin Bright
Lynn Kennedy
Kevin McGeough
Janice Newberry
Claudia Steinke/Helen Kelley
Wei Xu

CIHR
(Canadian Institutes of Health Research)

Ute Kothe
Igor Kovalchuk
Gerlinde Metz
Paul Vasey
H.-J. Wieden
Kelley Williams-Whitt

AGRI
(Alberta Gaming Research Institute)

Noella Piquette-Tomei, $10,000
Robert Williams, $44,000

Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions
(formerly AHFMR)

Igor Kovalchuk

ARDN
(Alberta Rural Development Network)

Noella Piquette Tomei
Steve Ferzacca

NIH
(National Institutes of Health)

Bruce McNaughton (2 grants awarded by NIH to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Arizona were successfully transferred to the U of L)

Alberta Cancer Research Institute

Roy Golsteyn

Sport Science Association of Alberta

Jennifer Copeland

Alberta Family Wellness Initiative
(Norlien Foundation)

Noella Piquette-Tomei

NSERC CREATE Grant

Phil Teillet, Physics $1.5 Million over 6 years

NSERC Discovery Grants
(Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada)

Robert Laird, Biological Sciences (Developing and testing the evolutionary reliability theory of senescence) $24,000
Rene Boere, Chemistry & Biochemistry (Redox-generated free radicals: basic science to nanomaterials) $40,000
Paul Hayes, Chemistry & Biochemistry (Organometallic complexes of new pincer ligands: Structure, reactivity and catalysis) $61,000
Steven Mosimann, Chemistry & Biochemistry (Structure and function of PTP like inositol polyphosphatases) $31,000
Nathan Ng, Mathematics & Computer Science (Prime numbers and L-functions) $15,000
Aaron Gruber, Neuroscience (Dopamine modulation of neural dynamics and behavioral flexibility) $27,000
Brian Kolb, Neuroscience (Brain plasticity and behaviour) $105,000
Artur Luczak, Neuroscience (Neuronal population patterns - studying interactions among hundreds of neurons) $26,000
Deborah Saucier, Neuroscience (Neural and hormonal bases of sex differences in spatial ability) $42,000)
Masami Tatsuno, Neuroscience (Quiescent dependent memory consolidation: memory-trace replay during REM sleep) $23,000
David Euston, Psychology (Neural mechanisms of decision making in frontal cortex) $23,000
Martin Lalumiere, Psychology (The nature and functions of genital sexual arousal) $27,000
Paul Vasey, Psychology (The comparative biopsychology of non-conceptive sexuality) $30,000

NSERC Equipment Grants

Aaron Gruber, Neuroscience $96,373
Rene Boere, Chemistry $22,024

* We are unable to post SSHRC winners at this time as SSHRC has not officially announced its award recipients. They will be published once they are made available.

UNews - Robert Laird

��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge awarded record $3.9 million in NSERC funding

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��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge awarded record $3.9 million in NSERC funding