Thirty-eight UWindsor faculty have been awarded more than $6.5 million in federal funding to advance research and innovation in science and engineering.

This funding, awarded through the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Discovery Grant and Research Tools and Instruments Grant programs, supports a broad range of topics, including large lake ecosystems, electric vehicle drive systems, big data and supercomputing, air pollution, and clean energy.

UWindsor exceeded the national success rate for the 2020 Discovery Grant competition with more than 63% of all applications receiving funding. In addition, all Discovery Grants awarded this year are for a five-year term.

Fourteen of the successful grant applications, submitted by early career researchers in the first five years of their academic appointment, each received a “launch supplement” of $12,500 in addition to their Discovery Grant.

Phillip Karpowicz of the Department of Biomedical Sciences was awarded a “discovery accelerator supplement” of $120,000 over three years to maximize the impact of his established and highly original circadian rhythms research program. Another researcher – Oliver Love of the Department of Integrative Biology and the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research – received an additional $90,000 supplemental grant for advancing science in Canada’s north. Love’s research focuses on the adaptive capacity of Arctic birds to respond to environmental change.

The NSERC Research Tools and Instruments Grant program promote discovery and enhance innovation and training by supporting the acquisition of new research equipment. Funds awarded will enable UWindsor researchers to purchase critical equipment for in vivo imaging, monitoring of vibration control, and analysis of bio-organic matter, among others.

“Discovery Grants and Research Tools and Instruments Grants provide our researchers with important and fundamental support”, said K. W. Michael Siu, UWindsor’s vice-president, research and innovation. “I am absolutely delighted by the success our researchers have enjoyed this year”, he said. “I would also like to thank NSERC for their generous support of discovery research and the tools required in science and engineering.”