CFI Awards $19 M to 11 U of S Research Projects and $4.7 Mfor Operating Costs

Posted January 30, 2002


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - January 30, 2002

2002-01-09-OTHER

CFI Awards $15.9 M to 11 U of S Research Projects and $4.7 M for Operating Costs

Today 11 University of Saskatchewan research infrastructure projects totalling almost $15.9 million were given full or conditional approval by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

"This is great news for the U of S," said Michael Corcoran, U of S Vice-President Research. "These new facilities and equipment are potentially a tremendous addition to our research capacity and promise to greatly enhance our research and teaching in leading-edge areas."

As well, the U of S will receive up to $4.7 million for operating and maintenance costs of CFI projects approved since June of 2001.

Of the $15.9 million for new facilities, U of S will receive a total of up to $15.6 million for five projects under the CFI Innovation Fund and $335,528 for six projects under the CFI New Opportunities Fund. CFI provides 40 per cent of project costs. The remaining funds must be found from government, private sector or other sources.

The announcement was made today in Vancouver by Industry Minister Allan Rock and CFI President David Strangway as part of a $779-million investment to support projects at 69 Canadian universities, hospitals, and other research institutions.

"These awards recognize the outstanding contribution of researchers whose work will be of direct benefit to Canadians in a wide range of fields," said Strangway. "These projects were selected following a highly competitive process and will help ensure that researchers and students at the University of Saskatchewan have access to a world-class research and training environment."

Conditional approval has been given for two major U of S projects:

  • $8.5 million towards the cost of a microgravity research facility which would be the longest drop shaft in the world (free fall time of up to 12 seconds) and the first such facility in Canada. Led by Kamiel Gabriel, associate dean of graduate studies, research and extension in the College of Engineering, the project would enable researchers to do experiments in a near-zero gravity environment before undertaking expensive research projects in space.

    The 1,000-metre deep drop shaft would be built by converting an abandoned mine shaft at Patience Lake, 16 kilometres east of Saskatoon. The drop shaft would be used to study the behavior of substances in the virtual absence of gravity, potentially leading to new materials and pharmaceutical products with superior properties. This research would complement the Canadian Light Source (CLS) synchrotron (www.cls.usask.ca) now under construction on the U of S campus.

  • $4.8 million towards the cost of a new U of S computer research network that will benefit researchers in many fields by providing both increased capacity and increased reliability. Led by Rick Bunt, computer science professor and associate vice-president of information and communications technology, the network will allow researchers to handle increased volumes of research data and collaborate more easily with colleagues around the world.

    "This is very good news for CLS users, both from U of S and off campus, whose requirements for high-speed reliable transmission of very large volumes of data were a central element of our proposal," said Bunt.

Innovation Fund -- Approved Awards:

  • $1.2 million to Carey Williamson, professor of computer science (now at University of Calgary), to establish a collaborative, experimental Internet test network between the U of S and the University of Calgary. The network will be used for the development, testing, and evaluation of next-generation Internet systems, protocols, and applications such as video streaming, mobile computing, and wireless networking applications.
  • $634,475 to Todd Pugsley, associate professor of chemical engineering, for an array of pilot plant equipment for advanced research on "fluidized bed" technologies. Fluidized beds are a type of chemical process vessel applied in a wide range of industries from pharmaceutical drying and coating to production of gasoline from crude oil. This unique-in-Canada laboratory will be housed in the new chemical engineering wing scheduled for completion in the spring of 2002.
  • $403,038 to John Decoteau, associate professor of pathology, for a unique-in-Canada centre that will bank leukemia specimens for research studies and study the genetic changes that lead to development of leukemia. Advanced and genetic computer science techniques will be applied to analyze the expression of thousands of genes and proteins in leukemia specimens from patients undergoing treatment in clinical trials. This will help determine which patients can be cured with standard treatments and which will require more intensive or experimental approaches to improve their chances. The research could also lead to targetted drug treatments. The centre will provide training opportunities for three to six graduate students or post-doctoral fellows each year in genomics and computer science.

CFI New Opportunities Fund grants:

  • $64,000 to John Gray, assistant professor of biology, for a unique-in-Canada facility to study the neuronal basis of adaptive insect flight behaviors. The facility will use virtual reality along with state-of-the-art, multi-electrode recording and motion analysis techniques to learn how nervous systems integrate multi-sensory information into on-going behaviors. It will also identify feeding and mating strategies of economically important insects, which will benefit pest management.
  • $40,000 to Ed Krol, assistant professor of pharmacy, for equipment to study cancer-preventing properties of natural products, such as lignans found in flaxseed. The technology developed with this equipment can be applied to numerous health-related programs including the Natural Health Products Directorate Initiative.
  • $40,000 to Sean Carey, assistant professor of geography, for equipment to study the influence of climate change on water and bio-geochemical cycles in Canada's northern territories. This will provide critical information for water resource management in remote, data-scarce environments.
  • $64,000 to Bing Si, assistant professor of soil science, for equipment to predict the transport and fate of agricultural and industrial pollutants and their impact on soil, air, groundwater, and surface water quality.
  • $57,000 to David Torvi, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, for a laboratory instrument to investigate the behavior of materials during a fire, including how quickly these materials ignite and burn, and the amount and toxicity of smoke produced. Research applications from this first of its kind facility in Western Canada will help researchers, industry and fire departments evaluate fire safety of new materials, improve protection offered by firefighters' protective clothing, conduct post-fire investigations, and develop computer fire models for use in building design.
  • $70,528 to Yuguang Bai, assistant professor of plant sciences, for an instrument called a "differential scanning calorimeter" to study seed germination and plant growth rate of native plant species. This research will help predict seed germination and plant growth rate under field conditions, information that can used for pasture and native range lands management.

The CFI is an independent, not-for-profit corporation established by the federal government in 1997 to address an urgent need of Canada's research community: new, state-of-the-art research infrastructure. A complete list of approved projects is available on the CFI Web site at: http://www.innovation.ca/

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For more information, contact:

Kathryn Warden
Research Communications Officer
Office of the Vice-President (Research)
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2506
kathryn.warden@usask.ca
http://www.usask.ca/research/
Home of the Canadian Light Source http://www.cls.usask.ca