UOIT salutes Canada Research Chairs

Oshawa, ON -The University of Ontario Institute of Technology's (UOIT) five Canada Research Chairs (CRC) joined fellow CRC's from across Ontario at the Thinking Ahead For A Strong Future conference held to celebrate the program's 10^th anniversary. The event kicked off with the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, announcing an investment of $275.6 million to fund 310 new or renewed CRCs at 53 Canadian universities.

"On behalf of UOIT, we thank the Canada Research Chair (CRC) program for supporting the best and brightest and congratulate all the talented and dedicated researchers across Canada," said Dr. Michael Owen, associate provost, Research. "The innovative research conducted as a result of this program is relevant and necessary to address many challenges faced by Canadians. At UOIT, we are focused on transforming ideas into real solutions and thanks to this support and our globally experienced researchers we are working to make a difference."

The event, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, brought together close to 1,000 researchers, graduate students and leaders from the public, private and non-profit sectors to take part in research poster presentations, attend breakout sessions and participate in panel discussions. UOIT's Dr. Greg Naterer, associate dean, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, presented as part of the panel, Canada's Energy Future.

UOIT has been awarded seven CRCs: Dr. Douglas Holdway, Tier 1 in Aquatic Toxicology; Dr. Greg Naterer, Tier 1 in Advanced Energy Systems; Dr. Carolyn McGregor, Tier 2 in Health Informatics; Dr. Shari Forbes, Tier 2 in Decomposition Chemistry; Dr. Dan Zhang Tier 2 in Robotics and Automation; Tier 2 in Digital Technologies for Serious Gaming*; and Tier 2 Digital Media*. (*UOIT is recruiting for this position).

A brief description of the innovative research being conducted by UOIT's world-class CRCs follows:

Clean water is vital to the health and well-being of our society. In Canada, and globally, water quality crises have necessitated the critical need for effective sensors to detect the presence of and understand the impact of contaminants in the water supply. Dr. Holdway's research into biomarkers and the long-term impact of short-term exposure to contaminants is critical in providing the tools and monitoring techniques to better protect freshwater streams, rivers and lakes from long-term and irreversible damage. His research will also help regulate and discontinue the use of chemicals that threaten the viability of aquatic ecosystems. Additionally, in collaboration with Environment Canada, Dr. Holdway and his team are developing a range of biomarkers in fish to assess the possible toxicity of pulp mill effluents from mills around the world.

Dr. Naterer and his research team are developing new ways of improving energy efficiency and utilization, particularly focusing on sustainable hydrogen production and battery thermal management. These can significantly contribute to greenhouse gas reduction and economic growth via new technologies such as nuclear- or solar-based hydrogen production, electric vehicles and other clean-energy sectors. Leading a consortium of researchers from UOIT, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Argonne National Laboratory and other university and industry partners in Ontario and abroad, Dr. Naterer's team is developing and building the world's first lab-scale facility for hydrogen production with a copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) thermochemical cycle. The cycle could eventually be linked with nuclear reactors or other heat sources to achieve much higher efficiencies, while lowering both the environmental impact and costs of hydrogen production beyond any other conventional technology.

With growing global interest in her research, Dr. McGregor is changing how information is used to monitor the health of hospital patients. Dr. McGregor's initial research focuses on using advanced technology to monitor infants born prematurely, since certain life-threatening conditions such as infection can be detected up to 24 hours in advance by observing changes in physiological data streams. Led by Dr. McGregor, a group of internationally recognized researchers including neonatologists from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and hospitals in the United States and Australia, are improving advanced stream computing software developed by IBM Research to work toward greatly enhancing the decision-making capabilities of doctors. Being able to predict potential changes in an infant's condition with greater accuracy will allow doctors to intervene more quickly, greatly impacting neonatal care through reduced mortality and morbidity rates and overall health-care costs.

Improving the rate at which crimes are solved using forensic evidence is the focus of Dr. Forbes' research, which is based on the relatively new field of forensic taphonomy - the study of the processes of death, decay and preservation. Dr. Forbes is working to identify novel information about the chemical reactions that occur during soft tissue degradation. By establishing a unique method for estimating time of death, her research will significantly enhance the speed and accuracy of how crimes are solved in Canada and around the world. Dr. Forbes is the only Canadian member of Geoforensics and Information Management for Crime Investigation, an interdisciplinary team of more than 40 international scientists and forensic advisors. The team aims to find ways new technologies can aid in the forensic investigations of crime scenes, such as locating the graves of murder victims, uncovering buried items of evidence and helping to narrow down search areas for police.

Using advanced parallel robotic designs to significantly enhance manufacturing capabilities in the automotive and aerospace sectors is the purpose of Dr. Zhang's research. Dr. Zhang is working to further advance the flexibility, resiliency, reliability and precision of parallel robot systems. He has invented a prototype parallel robot that has the ability to reach five different sides of an object, works efficiently with contours and allows for precision surface polishing and finishing. With two different dimensions, the prototype offers a macro model used for manufacturing and a micro model that can be used for biomedical and semiconductor applications. His research aims to develop a general design methodology for optimizing the performance of parallel robotic systems, leading to improved manufacturing capabilities, and resulting in higher efficiencies through improved reliability and accuracy, and greater cost savings and sustainability for manufacturing industries.

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Media contact
Melissa Levy
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Ontario Tech University
905.721.8668 ext. 2513
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melissa.levy@uoit.ca