UP HIGH: Faculty of Engineering NSERC grant recipient Roger Zemp (left) with post-doc Parsin Hajireza.
(Edmonton) On February 15, the federal Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan announced funding grants to 94 Canadian research projects in excess of $50 million, through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Six University of Alberta researchers, five of them from the Faculty of Engineering and one from the Faculty of Agriculture, Life & Environmental Sciences, were among the grant recipients.
"We are working on devices for quantum computing and quantum information networks," said Ray DeCorby, of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering-one of the grant recipients. Some applications of the technology his team is working on will be in general sensing and information systems. "And there is a lot of evidence that quantum technologies will be part of the next wave of information technologies," he said.
"The project is expensive in terms of conducting research, as we need to build devices in the nanoFAB," he said. "The award is critical to fund the project." DeCorby will use the NSERC grant money to attract and keep highly qualified graduate students and post-doctoral researchers, build devices in the nanoFAB facility and improve lab equipment.
Roger Zemp of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering was equally happy with his team's NSERC grant result. "We're excited because the funding will enable us to continue to do the work we've been doing related to MEMS, microelectromechanical systems," he said. "We have developed tiny membranes capable of receiving and transmitting ultrasounds. We are using these for completely new applications." These applications might include virtual reality type displays, a remote sensing method, LIDAR and fast-focusing camera systems.
"A lot of the award money will be invested in people and a lot will go towards supplies at the U of A nanoFAB facility, and equipment," he said. "There is potential to commercialize new products and create jobs in Canada."
That fits with NSERC's Strategic Partnership Grants, the goal of which is to "build strong connections between Canada's brain trust, industry and government sectors," said Bettina Hamelin, NSERC's VP Research Partnerships. "These partnerships tackle significant research that strengthens public policy while also meeting industrial needs."