Electrical engineering professor Ryan Li explains his research and thanks federal and provincial government representatives today for new infrastructure funding. Li's smart grids research group-one of the largest in North America-will gain new lab space through the funding.
(Edmonton) The University of Alberta has received $82.5 million in infrastructure funding from the federal and provincial governments to improve the scale, quality and sustainability of 10 of its research and innovation facilities.
In the Faculty of Engineering, that means completion of renovations to the Chemical and Materials Engineering Building and the creation of new lab in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Facility (ECERF) to research into smart grid technologies and accommodate biomedical engineering. It will also lead to the hiring of 30 new engineering professors.
The investment, which includes $56.3 million from the federal government's Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) and $26.5 million from the Government of Alberta, will also help with the development of technology commercialization spaces. This combined contribution, along with an injection of $48 million from the private sector and the U of A, will support $132 million of renovation and construction projects over the next two years.
"University infrastructure provides the literal foundation for teaching, learning and research. Our buildings, our classrooms, our labs and libraries, our campus IT networks-these give us the space, technology and equipment we need to teach our students and tackle some of the most challenging issues our society faces today," U of A President David Turpin said, at an event held Sept. 8 to announce the funding.
Electrical engineering professor Ryan Li, whose research focuses on developing new smart grid technologies (video) that will enable our century-old electrical infrastructure to efficiently integrate electrical energy from renewable sources like solar and wind power, says the funding will have a profound impact.
Li is part of a group of about 10 Faculty of Engineering researchers exploring smart grid technologies-it is one of the largest research groups of its kind in North America.
"This enables us to set up the best smart grid research facility in the world-right here at the U of A," he said.
The funding follows an announcement earlier in the week that the U of A had been awarded $75 million in funding to establish the Future Energy Systems Research Institute.
"It's been quite a week," Dean of Engineering Fraser Forbes said. Just as the funding in both announcements strengthens the entire university, it strengthens the Faculty of Engineering, he added.
"These research areas are interdisciplinary, and they cut across all engineering disciplines," he said, adding that the ECERF and CME Building renovations should be complete by the end of next year.
"These announcements are important steps on the road to success," he said. "They are markers in our evolution."
Chris Robinson, a mechanical engineering graduate student who is a leader of the U of A Ex-Alta 1 cube satellite program (video), thanked government officials for investing in education infrastructure.
"This isn't just about bricks and mortar," he said. "It's about strengthening the development of students. "We have the opportunity to build new futures and without these modern facilities these opportunities would not be possible."
The SIF funding is a time-limited program providing up to $2 billion over the next three years to accelerate infrastructure projects at universities and colleges across Canada.
"This once-in-a-generation investment by the Government of Canada is a historic down payment on the government's vision to position Canada as a global centre for innovation," said Hon. Navdeep Bains, minister of innovation, science and economic development. "That means making Canada a world leader in turning ideas into solutions, science into technologies, skills into middle-class jobs and startup companies into global successes. This investment will create conditions that are conducive to innovation and long-term growth, which will in turn keep the Canadian economy globally competitive."
For the U of A, the funding supports capital projects and renewal that will help maintain and improve current campus infrastructure, benefiting students and ensuring the province plays a key role in diversifying Canada's economy and creating a more sustainable future.
For example, enhancing the university's Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Facility will put Alberta at the forefront of research in electrical power generation and transmission, while renewing labs at Campus Saint-Jean will triple the number of student spaces for increasingly needed bilingual health professionals.
"These significant investments maximize opportunities to increase student spaces in new, modernized learning environments that help students put their best foot forward, while also creating much-needed jobs to spur economic growth," said Marlin Schmidt, Alberta's minister of advanced education, who was on hand to make the announcement.