Mechanical engineering professor Amy Tsai has been appointed as a Canada Research Chair.
(Edmonton) When Amy Tsai talks about fluids, it's easy to think her wonderment and reverence for the liquid state might just as well have taken her into the arts as it did mechanical engineering.
"Since high school I've been fascinated by amazing fluid motion, but it was during my graduate study that I started getting serious about a professional career doing research and development with fluids because of their magnificence and usefulness," said Tsai, Canada's newest tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Fluids and Interfaces. The position is funded at $100,000 per year over five years.
Tsai-who is one of two new CRCs to go along with one advancement and seven renewals worth a total of $10.4 million announced Feb. 9-studies fluid dynamics for a wide range of applications. For instance, Tsai looks at everything from the instability created when steam pushes against oil during the extraction process, to the system that helps propel penguins out of the water onto land at three to four times their maximum swimming speed (an effect that could prove useful in submarine design), to the way blood flows at the nano-scale to improve the performance of "lab on a chip" technology.
"Fluid is everywhere, not only shaping nature but also determining a myriad of industrial processes and applications."
Her appointment brings the number of Canada Research Chairs in the Faculty of Engineering to 15.
Several CRC research chair renewals were also announced this week, including computer engineering professor Witold Pedrycz as CRC in Computational Intelligence. An international leader in CI development and software engineering, Pedrycz uses engineering to create smart machines, such as self-driving cars.
Pedrycz is creating a network of national and international collaborations to build a world-class multidisciplinary centre for CI research at the University of Alberta. The centre will foster innovation and provide a consultation hub where Canadian industries can exploit CI technologies to improve processes and develop novel products for Canada.
Joining Tsai as the other new CRC on the U of A campus is chemistry professor Dennis Hall, who was named chair in boron chemistry for catalysis and drug discovery.
Three other renewed tier 1 chairs-designations that come with a $1.4-million award paid out over seven years-include physicist Mark Freeman as CRC in Condensed Matter Physics; biological sciences professor Mark Lewis as CRC in Mathematical Biology, and renewable energy researcher Jillian Buriak as CRC in Nanomaterials for Energy.
Renewable resources professor Fangliang He, who looks to measure biodiversity and predict biodiversity change, had his CRC in Biodiversity and Landscape Modelling advanced from tier 2 to tier 1.
Tier 2 renewals included physical education and recreation professor Tanya Berry as CRC in Physical Activity Promotion; physicist Natalia Ivanova as CRC in Astronomy and Astrophysics; and permafrost researcher Duane Froese as CRC in Northern Environmental Change.
The U of A now lays claim to 49 tier 1 chairs and 35 tier 2 chairs worth $13.3 million annually.