Posted on March 18: McMaster’s newest Canada Research Chairs delve into papermaking biotechnology, pure mathematics

McMaster University's newest Canada Research Chairs will study advances in biotechnology to improve papermaking chemicals and
mathematical logic.

Chemical engineering professor Robert Pelton has been named a Canada Research Chair in Interfacial Technologies. His research involves using emerging biotechnological developments to produce new papermaking chemicals that are less harmful to the environment.

Pelton's research group is considered the world's largest, most prolific academic research group working in the area of polymers in papermaking.

Pelton, founding director of the McMaster Centre for Pulp and Paper
Research and scientific leader of the new Canadian Network of Pulp and Paper Researchers, is a Tier 1 chairholder. His appointment is worth $200,000 a year for seven years and is renewable.

The second new chairholder is mathematics professor Patrick Speissegger, who comes to McMaster June 1 from the University of Wisconsin  Madison.

Speissegger's research involves the discovery and study of new o-minimal structures and applications to real analytic geometry and differential equations.

Speissegger, who has been awarded a Tier 2 chair, will hold the Canada
Research Chair in Model Theory. His award is worth $100,000 a year for
five years and can be renewed once.

McMaster University now has 37 Canada Research Chairs.

The two newest awards are part of the latest round of awards to 106 new Canada Research Chairs at 36 universities.