University of Windsor secures nearly $4M in federal funding for groundbreaking research

By Sara Elliott

WINDSOR, Ont. — The federal government has awarded University of Windsor researchers just shy of $4 million in funding for cutting-edge research. 

Over the next five years the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) will fund 18 UWindsor researchers through the Discovery Grants and the Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) grant programs. 

“This impressive funding gives our world-class researchers the power to drive breakthroughs and push the boundaries of their fields even further,” says Dr. Shanthi Johnson, vice-president, research and innovation. 

“This also positions the University of Windsor to train the next generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs at the forefront of transformative research and innovation." 

The largest Discovery Grant goes to the dean of the Faculty of Science, Cláudio Verani. 

These five-year grants recognize the creativity and innovation that are at the heart of all research advances. Dr. Verani will receive $305,000 for his research work into the mechanisms of how electrons travel directionally through molecules placed between electrodes. Controlling this flow can transform fields like molecular electronics, quantum computing, and corrosion prevention. 

"It is both inspiring and humbling to serve as the new Dean of the Faculty of Science and to have the opportunity to launch an NSERC-funded research program right here at the University of Windsor,” says Dr. Verani. “This program will advance our knowledge in molecular electron transport —and just as importantly— provide a platform to mentor and train outstanding highly qualified personnel in the process.” 

This year’s RTI grant program awarded two proposals to purchase equipment.  

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry’s Scott Harroun received nearly $150,000 for a Raman spectrometer. Dr. Harroun and his team will use the newly funded device, along with gold and silver nanomaterials, to develop advanced tools for biomedical diagnostics, including cancer screening.  

The early career researcher also received a Discovery Grant of $195,000 for his project, Fluorescent Nanoantennas for Probing Protein Function,” along with an extra $12,500 Discovery Launch Supplement to help set up his lab.  

Oliver Love from the Department of Integrative Biology received nearly $150,000 to help purchase a mobile Arctic lab to study the adaptive capacity of a declining songbird in a novel urban system. He is accompanied on the project by three co-applicants, two from UWindsor, Christina Semeniuk and Hannah ter Hofstede. 

Other Discovery Grant recipients are: 

• Majid Ahmadi, “Memristive-based design, architectures for large scale digital circuit design with applications in neuromorphic and cryptosystems” ($270,000)  
• Nihar Biswas, “Industrial Wastewater Treatment” ($240,000) 
• Xiang Chen, “Complementary Model-Based and Data-Driven Control and Optimization for Autonomous Operation” ($215,000)  
• Sazzadur Chowdhury, “MEMS Multifunctional Ultrasonic Transducer Array” ($215,000)  
• Jeffrey Dason, “Roles of lipids in synaptic function and activity-dependent synaptic plasticity” ($245,000)  
• Stephan Eichhorn, “Molecular design and materials properties of mesomorphic and amphiphilic organic dyes” ($180,000)  
• Daniel Heath, “The evolution and inheritance of parental effects in salmonids: offspring fitness and life history” ($220,000)  
• Yong Hoon Kim, “Enhancing Traffic Efficiency and Passenger Comfort with Deep Learning Beyond Human Driving Capabilities” ($215,000) 
• Chris Lee, “Developing Driver Behaviour Models and Vehicle Control Methods to Improve Safety of Autonomous Vehicle and Human-driven Vehicle Mixed Traffic” ($215,000)  
• Roman Maev, “A Real-time Fully-Blind Fully-Embedded Super-Resolution System for Ultrasonic Spot Weld Inspection Technology” ($240,000)  
• Christina Semeniuk, “Evaluating the behavioural adaptive capacity of species to persist in place or shift in space with environmental change” ($245,000)  
• Ruth Urbanic, “Generative Additive Manufacturing Process Planning for Fabricating Large Freeform Metal Components Built by Multiaxis Directed Energy Deposition Processes” ($240,000)  
• Sherah VanLaerhoven, “Predicting blow fly spatiotemporal community dynamics mediated by anthropogenic land use-driven resources and environments and species interactions” ($195,000) 
• Huiming Zhang, “Binaural processing in the auditory midbrain and its dependence on inputs” ($195,000) 

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