[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Strangway.jpg” caption=”David Strangway”]Three McMaster researchers have been awarded grants totalling more than $618,000 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for facilities required for their research.

The awards are part of an announcement yesterday by CFI president David Strangway that 29 universities, including McMaster, received $14.6 million for the latest round of projects eligible under the New Opportunities Fund and the University Research Development Fund. (The three McMaster projects came under the New Opportunities Fund.)

CFI has funded a total of $4,109,294 to
McMaster to date under the New Opportunities Fund and under the Innovation Fund program, CFI has given McMaster a total of
$29,719,389 to date.

Samir Chidiac, an associate professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded $60,000 from CFI for a project called
Acquisition of Automated Cementitious Materials Characterization System for Workability and Durability.

Kari Dalnoki-Veress, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, received $304,929 for facilities related to his research on a project titled Mechanical properties and morphology of thin polymer films.

Bernardo Trigatti, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry, received $254,043 for his work on a project titled Molecular mechanisms of receptor mediated lipid uptake in atherosclerosis.

The CFI is an independent, not-for-profit corporation set up by the federal government in 1997 to help the national research community build state-of-the-art facilities where researchers and scientists can conduct their research.

The foundation covers 40 per cent of the eligible costs of projects, with the research institutions such as universities and hospitals contributing 60 per cent of the costs.