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Dalhousie University researchers to receive $8 million in federal grants

Posted by Media Centre on June 23, 2016 in News

Minister Brison announces 2016 Nova Scotia NSERC Recipients  

(Halifax, NS) – Dalhousie University President Richard Florizone welcomed the Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board, to campus today to announce the Nova Scotia results for the 2016 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grants.

The Discovery Grants (DG) Program is NSERC's largest and longest-standing program. By supporting ongoing research programs with long-term goals, Discovery Grants give researchers the flexibility to explore the most promising avenues of research as they emerge.

“It’s a real pleasure to celebrate the Nova Scotia recipients of the 2016 NSERC competition,” says Minister Brison. “These researchers offer unique and essential expertise that will benefit the province of Nova Scotia, Canada and beyond.”

Dalhousie University is the recipient of over $8 million in Discovery Grants this year. This is comprised of fifty-three researchers from seven different faculties.

“We are so very pleased to have Minister Brison here today to announce this year’s Discovery Grant recipients,” says Dalhousie President Florizone. “Research is what drives change and growth, and helps us find answers to fundamental questions about the world and ourselves.”

“I am thrilled to see so many of our faculty recognized for their creative and innovative research,” says Dr. Martha Crago, Vice-President Research at Dalhousie University, and was recently appointed to the expert panel reviewing federal support for fundamental science. “To be recognized in this way is evidence of the impact each of them is making to their field. We are thrilled that they contribute to our Dalhousie community every day.”

As one of Canada’s leading research universities, Dalhousie overall has attracted $136 million in research funding last year.

Highlights of successfully funded Dalhousie researchers

Dr. Christopher Algar:

Nitrogen is an important component of fertilizer used to increase the productivity of crops. Unfortunately, some of this nitrogen finds its way into the coastal ocean where it can fertilize the rapid growth of marine plants.   The decomposition of these plants removes oxygen from seawater and creates oxygen poor “dead zones” where fish cannot survive.  Dr. Christopher Algar attempts to understand the balance between these processes so that we can understand how sensitive the coastal environment is to this phenomena.

Dr. Randall Martin:

Despite the known health hazards of air pollution, relatively little is known about its distribution patterns and its impacts on local populations in many parts of the world. Research conducted by Dr. Martin is painting a more comprehensive and accurate picture of air pollution by drawing on other sources in addition to the traditional stationary monitoring stations, located primarily in urban areas.

Melanie Hammer

Suspended particles in the atmosphere are the most uncertain forcing agent for climate change, and are the most damaging atmospheric pollutant for human health. My research uses measurements from NASA's Aura satellite in combination with output from the global chemical transport model GEOS-Chem in order to learn about the absorption of solar radiation by atmospheric particles. This work improves scientific understanding of the interaction between atmospheric particles and climate.

In addition to the Discovery Grants program, successful applicants for NSERC’s Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) Grants and Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships, NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships and Postdoctoral Fellowships were also announced. Five researchers were awarded RTI funding and 18 students were recipients of graduate and postdoctoral scholarships/fellowships.

For a complete list of Dalhousie’s successfully funded applicants to the 2016 NSERC competition, please visit NSERC’s website.

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Media Contact:
Janet Bryson
Senior Communications Manager
Dalhousie University
902-494-1269