Five more McMaster researchers have been honoured with the Premier's Research Excellence Award, bringing McMaster's total to 27 PREA recipients. The award, which provides each researcher with $100,000 from the province and another $50,000 from the University, is meant to help its recipients attract talented people to their research teams.

The latest recipients include:

James Michael Waddington (geography & geology) for his research into the eco-hydrological and biogeochemical processes controlling runoff water quality and atmospheric CO2 sequestration in restored peat mines.

Stuart Phillips (kinesiology) for his research into how exercise affects skeletal muscle in humans based on new techniques he developed to measure the synthesis and breakdown of proteins within skeletal muscle.

Alex Gershman (electrical & computer engineering) for his research in statistical array signal processing with application to robust adaptive beamforming and smart antennas.

Ana Campos (biology) for her studies on the genetic control of mitochondrial biogenesis and function.

Jonathan Bramson (pathology & molecular medicine) for his research on the communication between infected cells and the immune system; the development of new vaccines, anti-viral strategies and gene therapies.

The Premier's Research Excellence Awards were created in 1998 to help Ontario's world-class researchers attract talented people to their research teams and to encourage innovation among the province's brightest young researchers at universities, colleges, hospitals and research institutes.

The 10-year, $127.5-million awards program includes an $85-million investment from the province, with $42.5 million coming from research institutions or private-sector partners. This overall total reflects the government's May 2000 budget commitment to double the province's annual funding of the awards program from $5 million to $10 million.