[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/25_year_nserc_hor_web.jpg” caption=”NSERC researchers”]Twenty-five years, more than 600 teams of researchers and more than $400 million of research support – that, in a nutshell, sums up the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's investment in McMaster's research enterprise.

Mamdouh Shoukri, vice-president of research & international affairs,
told guests at a 25th anniversary celebration that their
contribution to research is far more than just numbers. “What you have
contributed to advancing research over the last quarter century is
enormous and, simply, cannot be summed up by the numbers. This is
indeed, one of those cases, where the whole is greater than the sum of
its parts. These parts — your contributions — are significant, not only to McMaster, but for the Canadian research landscape. Many of you, through your early research projects, inspired new theories, new ways of thinking and new possibilities for subsequent generations of
researchers.”

McMaster President Peter George echoed Shoukri's comments adding that
McMaster has earned its reputation as one of the country's most
innovative universities largely on the strength of its research
community. “McMaster's research enterprise — indeed the Canadian
research landscape — has changed significantly over the last 25 years.

It has evolved tremendously and NSERC has played an integral role in
that change and has helped McMaster to maintain its reputation as one of Canada's finest research universities.”

Janet Walden, NSERC's vice-president of research partnerships, was on
hand to present certificates recognizing the research achievements of
the honorees, noting that each person, through their research, has
contributed to the well-being of Canadians over the 25 years of NSERC's existence. More than 40 of McMaster's 72 honored researchers attended this week's celebration.

NSERC's mandate is to make investments in people, discovery and
innovation for the benefit of all Canadians. Since its inception in
1978, it has supported the research projects of some 9,600 university
professors every year, as well as more than 17,700 university students
and post-doctoral researchers. It also encourages more than 500
Canadian companies to invest in research annually. In 2003/04, NSERC
will invest $760 million in university-based research and training.

Photo caption: Pictured top, from left, McMaster President Peter George, Janet Walden, vice-president of research partnerships at NSERC and Mamdouh Shoukri, vice-president of research & international affairs, with 25-year recipients Lorraine Allan, professor of psychology and McMaster's NSERC representative and Henry Schwarcz, professor emeritus geography and geology.