[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/dunbabin_brook.jpg” caption=”Dunbabin and Brook”]McMaster researchers Katherine Dunbabin and Mike Brook will dedicate the next two years to full-time research and study, after being awarded prestigious Killam Research Fellowships.

They are among 17 Canadian scientists and scholars to receive a total $2 million in the 36th annual competition administered by the Canada Council for the Arts. Dunbabin is one of just nine researchers chosen as a new Killam Research Fellow for 2004.

“The great thing about this is to have the uninterrupted time to dedicate to research,” says Dunbabin, a classics researcher who focuses on “Art and popular Culture in the later Roman Empire.”

Dunbabin will dedicate most of her time to seven public lectures that she will present at Cornell University in the spring of 2005. The lectures will look at the representations of theatrical performance and spectacle in the art of Roman Empire. Dunbabin will also use the time to produce a book based on these lectures.

Her lectures will examine the influence theatre had on Roman society. Spectacles, such as gladiator fights, served as a focal point that brought people together, she says. “It was the only chance for people to come together and shout about what they thought of the government.”

Decorative mosaic flooring in Roman domestic settings is another area she will explore. The flooring in homes said a lot about the owner's tastes, education and status, she says. Fortunately, large quantities of flooring from this period still exist.

She currently is preparing to publish findings from some of the mosaics found in the recent rescue excavations of Zeugma on the Euphrates in southern Turkey.

Mike Brook, awarded the fellowship in 2002, has had his fellowship renewed. Brook investigates the interactions of silicones with the biological world. Click here to read the Daily News story.

Mamdouh Shoukri, vice-president of research and international affairs says the Killam Research Fellowships are among the country's most distinguished awards. “Having two of the 17 new and renewed recipients hail from McMaster speaks volumes about the talent we have here. It's particularly pleasing to be recognized in both the arts and sciences,” he says, noting that Dunbabin's award is a reflection of the growing strength of the research expertise within the humanities.

The Canada Council for the Arts Killam Research Fellowships are made possible by a bequest of Mrs. Dorothy J. Killam and a gift she made before her death in 1965. The awards support scholars engaged in research projects of outstanding merit in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences, engineering and interdisciplinary studies within these fields.

Killam Research Fellowships enable Canada's best scientists and scholars to devote two years to full-time research and writing. The recipients are chosen by the Killam Selection Committee, which comprises 15 eminent scientists and scholars representing a broad range of disciplines.

Photo captions: McMaster researchers Katherine Dunbabin ad Mike Brook, recipients of prestigious Killam Research Fellowships.