research

lakehead’s nserc grant recipients examining wind energy, climate change

july 14, 2014 – thunder bay, on

阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 researchers are receiving natural sciences and engineering research council (nserc) grants worth more than $2.1 million.

the following nserc discovery grants, given over five years, are allowing lakehead researchers to examine better ways to harvest wind energy, to study the impacts of climate change and land use on the boreal forest, to investigate how buildings made of engineered-wood products respond in a fire, and study the formation of two dimensional polymers.

lakehead engineering professor dr. mohammad uddin is receiving $155,000 to develop intelligent control algorithms that will help create more efficient systems for converting wind energy into electricity and more efficient motors for electric vehicles.

"the algorithms will act like a brain by automatically adjusting the frequency and voltage of the wind generator or motor,” dr. uddin said. “this project will train highly qualified personnel needed by the power, oil, mine and automotive industries.”

dr. han chen, a professor in the faculty of natural resources management, is receiving $170,000 to study the effects of global climate and land-use change on the diversity and ecosystem functions of the boreal forest.

“my goal is to determine how and why human influences affect the boreal forest. we will help develop mitigation and adaptation strategies to benefit local and regional ecosystems,” dr. chen said.

dr. sam salem, an assistant professor in civil engineering, is receiving $110,000 to explore the structural fire performance of engineered-wood building systems. his project focuses on glue-laminated and cross-laminated timbers; two important components of modern building construction.

“the findings of this research will contribute to the advancement of the design and construction of buildings made of engineered-wood products in canada,” dr. salem said.

dr. mark gallagher, a professor in physics, is receiving $100,000 to study the formation of atomically thin two dimensional polymers. in particular, dr. gallagher will investigate polymerization on silicon and oxide surfaces.

“we anticipate that this research will contribute to the development of a new class of organic materials with wide ranging applications in electronics, optics, and sensor technology,” said dr. gallagher, adding that the majority of the grant will be used to support undergraduate and graduate student participation in the project.

these four projects will support approximately 18 graduate (phd and masters) and 10 undergraduate 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 . training of these highly qualified personnel will contribute to canada’s economic growth and ability to respond to changing markets and environments.

also of interest is the $25,000 engage grant awarded to dr. aicheng chen, a professor in the department of chemistry and a canada research chair, to assess the long-term durability of adhesive material used by bombardier, which contributed $8,000 to the research.

dr. chen will use a computer-controlled test chamber to emulate environmental conditions such as temperature, moisture and sunlight on bonded joints over a period of six months.

“this research will allow bombardier to better understand the physical and chemical properties of available adhesives in order to assess and identify suitable candidates that will work in north american environmental conditions,” dr. chen said.

“these projects demonstrate the diversity of research happening at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 ,” said dr. andrew dean, vice-president, research, economic development & innovation (interim).

“congratulations to all of our researchers and thank you to nserc for recognizing the importance of this work,” dr. dean said.

nserc grants awarded in 2013-2014

total value of awards: $2,106,325

faculty member grants

collaborative research & development grant (three years)

andrew conly, department of geology, petrogenesis of magmatic-hydrothermal graphite deposits: a case study of the albany graphite deposits, northwestern ontario, $76,750 from nserc plus $60,600 from zenyatta ventures ltd.

discovery grant - individual operating grant (five-year grants)

dr. adam van tuyl, department of mathematical sciences, applications of commutative algebra, $90,000.
dr. julia berashevich, department of physics, and thunder bay regional research institute, the first principles methods applied to enhance a performance of new photoconductive materials in x-ray imaging, $95,000.
dr. mark gallagher, department of physics, surface-confined polymerization on semiconducting and insulating substrates, $110,000.
dr. baoqiang liao, department of chemical engineering, anaerobic membrane bioreactor for bioenergy, $125,000.
dr. deli li, department of mathematical sciences, general limit theorems in probability with applications to statistics, $70,000.
dr. amir hossein azimi, department of civil engineering, experimental and numerical investigations of multiphase jets, $120,000.
dr. salama ikki, department of electrical engineering, high spectral and energy efficient multi-user large mimo (mu-mimo) wireless systems, $125,000.
dr. han chen, faculty of natural resources management, diversity and ecosystem functions of boreal forest under global changes, $170,000.
dr. mohammad uddin, department of electrical engineering, control strategies for wind energy systems and motor drives with efficient electric machines, $155,000.
dr. azim mallik, department of biology, post-fire habitat conditions as drivers of progressive and retrogressive succession: seedbed filter, species traits and feedback of dominant plants, $120,000.
dr. sam salem, department of civil engineering, structural fire performance of engineered-wood building systems, $110,000.
dr. rachid benlamri, department of software engineering, semantic web-based medical documentation processing for healthcare collaboration, $100,000.
dr. stephen kinrade, department of chemistry, aqueous chemistry and biochemistry of silicon, $150,000.

engage grants (up to six months)

dr. azim mallik, department of biology, productivity-biodiversity tradeoffs analysis of boreal mixedwood forests developing from a range of silvicultural intensity treatments, $25,000. project undertaken in partnership with tembec.
dr. pedram fatehi, department of chemical engineering, production of furfural from nssc spent liquor, $25,000. project undertaken in partnership with lake utopia paper.
dr. wilson wang, department of mechanical engineering, assessment and characterization of bonding material properties, $25,000. project undertaken in partnership with local company, bombardier transportation.
dr. rachid benlamri, department of software engineering, automated web data extraction for canadian fundraising institutions, $25,000. project also supported by charter press limited ($10,000), the ontario centres of excellence ($20,000) and connect canada ($5,000).
dr. sudip rakshit, 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 biorefining research institute and department of chemical engineering, development of enzyme catalyzed process for the reduction of beta-glucan during the malting process, $25,000. project undertaken in partnership with canada malting company.
dr. aicheng chen, department of chemistry, assessment of ageing and long-term durability of adhesive materials $25,000. project undertaken in partnership with bombardier transportation, which contributed $8,000.
dr. mathew leitch, faculty of natural resources management, development of compression curves for determining accurate pulp pile masses based on volumetric measurements, $25,000. project undertaken in partnership with local company ccs central computer services inc.
dr. elyasi siamak, department of chemical engineering, air disinfection for bombardier rail car passengers, $25,000. project undertaken in partnership with bombardier transportation.
dr. brian ross, faculty of medicine, west campus, prebiotic beer development, $14,000. project undertaken in partnership with sleeping giant brewing company. dr. lada malek, department of biology is also collaborating on the project.

interaction grants (up to three months)

dr. justin jiang, department of chemistry, identification of collaborative research projects in discovering novel anti-infectious agents, $1,880.
dr. wensheng qin, department of biology, algal wastewater treatment and biodiesel production, $3,225.
dr. wilson wang, department of mechanical engineering, prognosis of dynamic properties of rod materials, $4,600.

dr. wensheng qin, department of biology, genetically modified trichoderma reesei strains for xylitol production, $4,920.

promoscience grants (grants of up to three years)

dr. christopher murray, interdisciplinary studies/physics, ecoreach, $20,250. co-applicants: thamara laredo, interdisciplinary studies/chemistry, maria grazia viola interdisciplinary studies/math, and rosario turvey, interdisciplinary studies/geography.
dr. heidi schraft, department of biology, biotrek: biotechnology outreach for remote and underserved communities, $16,700. co-applicants: dr. nandakumar kanavillil, interdisciplinary studies/biology, dr. sreekumari kurissery, interdisciplinary studies/biology.

graduate student awards

master's 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 - joseph-armand bombardier canada graduate scholarships (one-year awards worth $17,500)

joseph tassone, chemistry, hemilability of novel, anionic [p,n]-hybrid ligands in zwitterionic platinum group metal complexes.
matthew macdonald, electrical and computer engineering, stereoscopic imaging based laser guided telethesis for human-computer interfaces.

phd 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 - nserc postgraduate scholarship (pgs) program (three-year awards worth a total of $63,000)

oleksandar bubon, chemistry and materials science, amorphous selenium based geiger-mode photosensor.
robert jackson, biotechnology, pathogen-host transcriptome analyses of whole-genome hpv16 variants in an immune-competent three-dimensional model of human skin.
melissa togtema, biotechnology, a single domain antibody to target human papillomavirus 16 e6: its engineering and applications.

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media: for more information or to arrange interviews, please contact brandon walker, media relations officer, at 807-343-8177, or mediarelations@lakeheadu.ca.

in 2015, 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 will celebrate 50 years of exceptional education. guided by a new strategic plan (2013-2018), our university is known for providing an education focused on independent thinking, unconventional scholarship, and a close sense of community. about 9,700 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 and 2,000 faculty and staff learn and work in ten faculties at two campuses, in orillia and thunder bay, ontario. home to ontario’s first new faculty of law in 44 years (fall 2013) and the northern ontario school of medicine's west campus, lakehead is among canada’s top 10 undergraduate universities (2014 maclean’s university rankings), as well as 1^st in ontario and 2^nd in canada for its innovative research (re$earch infosource). our orillia campus is the first in north america to be built entirely to leadership in energy and environmental design (leed®) standards. share your lakehead story as it relates to our strategic plan at www.hsbcwebinars.com/presidents-office/nurturing-passion, and learn more about lakehead at www.hsbcwebinars.com.

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阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜

research

horne, w.r. and todd stubbs "early canadian auto entrepreneurs and the failure of the all canadian car: a study of spatial logics in business decision making"
canadian association of geographers waterloo, on 2012 paper presented

horne, w.r. & todd stubbs “orillia’s golden age of industry”
canadian association of geographers, regina, sk may 2010 paper presented

horne, w.r. “orillia’s got talent: economic development via cultural tourism”
canadian association of geographers ontario division, mississauga on oct 2009 paper

horne, w.r. and stubbs, t. “orillia’s car and the people who made it” canadian association of geographers (congress of humanities and social sciences) ottawa may 2009 (paper read)

w.r. horne and todd stubbs “the truth about poverty in simcoe county ”
barrie : united way of greater simcoe county (2008)

w. r. horne and todd stubbs “life on the edge of the golden horseshoe area a view of simcoe county from the 2006 census” poster presentation canadian association of geographers ontario division and association of american geographers great lakes division brock university, st catharines october 2008

w.r. horne and todd stubbs "supporting the communities of simcoe county - 2008".http://www.unitedwaysimcoecounty.on.ca/simcoe%20county%20profile.pdf

research

research focuses on remote sensing for natural resource applications including forestry, wildlife habitat mapping, ecological land classification, data integration techniques, image processing programming, terrain analysis and geomorphometry.

current projects include research into:

mapping food security in urban and rural environments
virtual reality and stereoscopic visualizations for urban planning and other applications
landscape and land cover diversity mapping and change detection
research of image processing techniques to extract useful information from complementary datasets such as radar, optical, and digital elevation models

research

dr. robert stewart leads up the freshwater coastal management research group at 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 housed in the department of geography. this interdisciplinary group examines issues pertinent to freshwater coastal regions including:

1) the near shore environment and the evaluation of sediment and water quality, fish contaminates, and other factors affecting or affected by the water column.

2) the watershed (source waters) to the coastal region, which includes the examination of the terrestrial environment for point and non-point source pollution (stormwater assessment, impervious surface mapping, etc).

3) coastal zone management, examining the governance structures managing the freshwater coastal zone.

4) community action research is an important aspect for all research maintaining a balance of academic and applied research.

current projects

	remedial action plan we coordinate remedial action plans (raps) along the north shore of superior. this program is focused on addressing water quality issues along the canadian north shore of lake superior. current projects include stormwater assessment, beach closures (e. coli), kama creek rehabilitation, and shoreline naturalization. for more information about the remedial action plan please visit www.infosuperior.com

	coastal sensitivity to human disturbance three objectives were employed: 1. to determine sensitive geographic features of the archipelago; 2. to identify the potential human impacts and environmental changes to the islands, and; 3. to map the distribution of sensitive/significant features in relation to areas of human disturbance. a 50-day field research expedition through the black bay peninsula archipelago was conducted to assess impacts and generate an evidence-based inventory of sensitive coastal features. for more information please visit thewebsite.

	source water protection drinking water must be protected from its source to the tap. we work with northern communities, including isolated fly-in communities on identifying threats to local drinking water sources.

recent publications

henry james, impressionism, and the public
(burlington: ashgate, 2013)

"invitations and withdrawals: queer romantic ecologies in william blake's the book of thel and john clare's 'the nightingale's nest.'"
essays in romanticism. 20.2 (2013): 1-18.

"'panting, struggling': william blake's transatlantic erotics."
symbiosis: a journal of anglo-american literary relations. 16.1 (april 2012): 57-72.

"queer hospitality in herman melville's 'benito cereno'"
studies in american fiction 37.2 (2011): 181-201.

"felicia hemans, herman melville and the queer atlantic"
in transatlantic literary exchanges, 1783-1863, ed. julia m. wright & kevin hutchings (burlington: ashgate, 2011), pp. 61-74.

阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 researchers peer into new ways to clean up environmental contamination

imagine a typical bumble bee. it’s roughly two and a half centimetres long. with 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 ’s newly installed field-emission scanning electron microscope (fe-sem), that bee can easily be viewed at 120,000 times magnification, making that bee appear three kilometres long.

al mackenzie, who recently retired as the director of 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 ’s centre for analytical services, describes the leap from lakehead’s current and out-dated scanning electron microscope to the new one. “with minimal training on our old system a student or researcher could see things at about 20,000 times magnification. on our new system with the same minimal training, that same person could see things at 120,000 times magnification. that’s an increase of 6-fold, right out of the box. and with advanced training, 阿根廷vs墨西哥竞猜 researchers and 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 can potentially get magnifications as high as 600,000 times.”

the purchase and installation of the fe-sem was made possible through a grant awarded from the canada foundation for innovation and the ministry of research and innovation. dr. phil fralick (geology) and dr. aicheng chen (chemistry) are the principal investigators for this grant. these two leading researchers look forward to seeing and analyzing extremely tiny structures in their research.

it has been known for some time that certain microscopic bacteria found in ontario and nova scotia lakes have a role in cleaning up arsenic, but no one fully understands the underlying processes. one of fralick’s graduate 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 leah kerkermeier is attempting to solve this mystery with fralick. as an environmental earth sciences graduate from lakehead, kerkermeier was drawn to the project because of her interest in environmental remediation, “this project will give me better understanding of how arsenic and other heavy metals work in water. it will allow me to study how to concentrate these elements together so they can be removed from drinking water supplies or mine cleanup sites without any additional harm to the environment.” in some areas of the world, large populations of people are affected by arsenic contaminated drinking water and the outcomes of this research could help.

after fralick and his team gain a better understanding of what’s going on in nature, dr. chen an expert in electrochemistry and nanotechnology, hopes that he will be able to mimic the natural processes in his laboratory. but in order to assess his work, chen and his team must be able to see and analyze the structures they create. chen is pleased with the arrival of the fe-sem. “we’ll be able to easily see the nanostructures we create.”

mackenzie sees the fe-sem as a major boon for the university and is excited to see 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 be granted access on how to operate the instrument. mackenzie is also excited to be able to provide industries within the region access to the fe-sem. “this machine will help us provide support for regional economic development testing and the microscope has already been used for mineralogical applications for the ring of fire area.”

story by jason dampier

research

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