Three Thompson Rivers University researchers received $355,000 through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grants program, announced today by the Government of Canada.
The Discovery Grants Program funds innovations in chemistry, physics, life sciences, mathematics, computer science, geoscience and the many branches of engineering.
Today, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, announced more than $558 million in discovery research funding, as part of the Government of Canada’s plan to attract global talent, promote diversity, and provide nearly 4,300 researchers and students with the means to pursue world-leading discovery work.
These newly funded researchers bring the total to 18 TRU faculty currently supported by the Discovery Grant program, which is valued at more than $2.17 million.
“TRU is thrilled with today’s announcement as it builds on TRU’s research capacity and supports the important work of our faculty and students,” said Christine Bovis-Cnossen, TRU’s President and Vice-Chancellor (Interim).
“The Discovery Grant program is an invaluable resource for scientists in Canada engaged in fundamental research. With the increase in NSERC funding from the Federal Government in this most recent competition, I am already supporting even more students working on important questions in evolution, behaviour, and conservation,” said Dr. Matt Reudink, associate professor of biology. “I’m incredibly excited about the research my students and I will undertake over the next five years – unravelling connections across seasons and between continents in migratory birds, reconstructing the evolution of fundamental life history traits and behaviours, and understanding how these phenomena interact to shape the lives of birds.”
This is the largest investment in research from the NSERC this year and it includes $70 million in new funding announced in Budget 2018. With this investment, the Government of Canada is delivering on Budget 2018’s historic commitment to science by giving more support to researchers and students.
2018 Discovery Grant Awards:
- Dr. Matt Reudink, Associate Professor, Biology. Selection across the annual cycle: Examining movement, colour, and behavior.
- Dr. Mateen Shaikh, Assistant Professor, Mathematics. Statistical learning algorithms for high-dimensional non-normally distributed data.
- Dr. Thomas Pypker, Associate Professor, Natural Resource Science. Understanding the feedbacks between canopy structure and hydrologic flow paths.
Backgrounder
- The $558 million research investment announced today includes $70 million in new funding from Budget 2018. The grants go toward NSERC discovery programs, graduate and postgraduate scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships, and research tools and instruments.
- Among this year’s Discovery Grants recipients, Nobel Prize winner in Physics Dr. Donna Strickland at the University of Waterloo is also receiving support for her work using lasers to better understand matter at the molecular level.
- This investment also includes $5.4 million in funding to more than 400 Early Career Researchers in the first year of their Discovery Grants to help them launch their careers.
- Investments in science are essential to innovation and to the economic strength of a country.
Contact
Dr. Matt Reudink
Associate Professor, Biology
Thompson Rivers University
mreudink@tru.ca
250-828-5428
The Research Support Fund provides a portion of the costs associated with managing the research funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, such as salaries for staff who provide administration support, training costs for workplace health and safety and maintenance of libraries.
