[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Elbestawi-07.jpg” caption=”Mo Elbestawi, vice-president of Research and International Affairs at McMaster. File photo. “]McMaster University has been awarded $672,021 for four research projects in the areas of multimedia, health, archaeology, and energy by the Canada Foundation for Innovation under the Leaders Opportunity Fund.

“This funding is essential for allowing newer faculty members to pursue developments in emerging areas of research,” said Mo Elbestawi, vice-president of Research and International Affairs at McMaster. “This in turn supports McMaster's efforts to continue building its reputation as a leading research university.”

One of the larger funding awards went to a collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Humanities and McMaster Libraries which will receive $258,886 to investigate the effects that digital display size and resolution have on the user experience in the design of games and virtual environments.

The principal investigator for the project, titled G-ScalE: Gaming Scalability Environment, is Jacques Carette, associate professor of computing and software in the Faculty of Engineering. Co-investigators are Andrew Mactavish, director of the Humanities Media and Computing Centre, and associate professor of multimedia in the Faculty of Humanities; and Jeffrey Trzeciak, McMaster's university librarian.

Waliul Khan, assistant professor of Pathology and Molecular Medicine in the Faculty of Health Sciences received $250,341 for infrastructure that will allow for the study of interactions between immune and endocrine systems in the gut, in the context of intestinal pathophysiology and host defense.

James Cotton, associate professor of mechanical engineering received $99,493 to develop a Thermal Energy Recovery and Management (ThERM) testing platform to aid in the recovery of waste heat energy. This is one of the most effective ways of increasing the availability of energy without adverse environmental effects.

Tristan Carter, assistant professor of anthropology received $63,301 to establish the McMaster Archaeological XRF Lab. The lab will be a dedicated facility using energy-dispersive X-Ray fluorescence, a technique for the elemental characterization of archaeological and related geological materials. It will be used primarily for research in the East Mediterranean and to initiate new studies in Canada.

“McMaster University has a well-established reputation as one of the world's leading innovators and is home to some of Canada's best and brightest minds,” said David Sweet, Member of Parliament for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale. “Investment in infrastructure is key to McMaster building its research capacity and is important, not only to our local economy, but to Canada's standing on the world's research stage.”

The CFI announced a total of $26,712,283 in new funds to support 117 projects at 29 institutions across Canada. The investment was approved by the CFI's Board of Directors in March, following a rigorous merit-review process. A total of $20,559,448 was awarded under the Leaders Opportunity Fund, which provides infrastructure support to Canadian institutions so they can attract and retain the very best of today and tomorrow's leading researchers at a time of intense international competition for knowledge workers. The remaining $6,152,835 was awarded under the Infrastructure Operating Fund, a complementary program that assists research institutions with the incremental operating and maintenance costs associated with new infrastructure projects.

For a complete list of the projects awarded, please visit www.innovation.ca.