Sixty-eight grants for innovative research projects in science and engineering at York University will drive positive, real-world change with more than $12.1 million in funding support from the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
Announced by the federal government July 9, the funded initiatives are included in NSERC's 2025 Discovery Grants, Discovery Launch Supplements, Sub-atomic Physics (SAP) Discovery Grants, Northern Research Supplements and Research Tools and Instruments Grants.
Led by 57 York researchers, the projects encompass a wide range of innovative topics, supporting diverse research interests and significant advancements across multiple domains. Researchers represent several Faculties and Schools at York, including the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Health, Lassonde School of Engineering, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, Schulich School of Business and Faculty of Science.
"NSERC's support for these projects plays a vital role in enabling our researchers to pursue fundamental research that lays the groundwork for future innovation and addresses some of the most pressing challenges of our time," says Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation.
A major area of focus for the funded projects is cutting-edge technology, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) applications in areas including cloud computing, intelligent systems and neural networks. Other projects will explore natural sciences through the study of bacterial proteins and the dynamics of disease transmission, highlighting interdisciplinary research that bridges engineering, health sciences and environmental studies.
Sustainable engineering practices will also be central to many projects, addressing the increasing demand for responsible operations and environmental stewardship in supply chains. Projects that focus on physical science and materials engineering aim to deepen understanding of structural properties and explore RNA (ribonucleic acid) modification and energy-efficient technologies, supporting research at the intersection of biology and engineering.
Several of the York-funded projects will focus on developing tools and methodologies for experimental modelling and simulations, showcasing the University's commitment to innovation in tackling complex scientific challenges.
"This important operating support will not only propel York's interdisciplinary research approach but will also contribute to broader efforts in fostering innovation and collaboration, emphasizing the essential connections between engineering, health sciences and environmental studies," says Asif. "Congratulations to all of York's recipients."
For a complete list of York University's recipients, see below.
Robert Allison, Lassonde School of Engineering
Embodiment in virtual and augmented reality
$44,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Aijun An, Lassonde School of Engineering
Knowledge-Enhanced Deep Learning and Decision Making
$62,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Amir Asif, Lassonde School of Engineering
Fully Decentralized, Event-Triggered, and Robust Federated Learning Algorithms for Large-Scale Engineering Applications
$43,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Gerald Audette, Faculty of Science
Structural and Functional Studies of Bacterial Secretion System Proteins
$49,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Mark Bayfield, Faculty of Science
Non-canonical roles of RNA modification enzymes in S. pombe
$56,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Solomon Boakye-Yiadom, Lassonde School of Engineering
Engineering Deformation-Resistant Lightweight Alloys Through the Synergy of Machine Learning and Metal Additive Manufacturing
$43,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Christopher Caputo, Faculty of Science
Redox-Active Main Group Compounds for Small-Molecule Activation
$61,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Gene Cheung, Lassonde School of Engineering
Graph Learning & Signal Processing for Energy-/Parameter-Efficient & Interpretable Neural Networks
$43,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Aleksander Czekanski, Lassonde School of Engineering
Multi-Physics Multi-scale Framework and Applications for Controlling Properties of Heterogenous Soft Materials
$48,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
and
In-Situ Multi-Scale Characterization and Anisotropy Control of Magnetorheological Soft Materials
$150,000 over one year: Research Tools and Instruments program
Vibhuti Dhingra, Schulich School of Business
Advancing Sustainable and Responsible Operations in Supply Chains and Manufacturing
$32,546 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
and
Advancing Sustainable and Responsible Operations in Supply Chains and Manufacturing
$12,500 over one year: Discovery Launch Supplements program
Adam Diamant, Schulich School of Business
Operations Analytics with Applications to Health Services
$38,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Logan Donaldson, Faculty of Science
The structural basis of neuronal signaling from the synapse to nucleus
$39,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Yuqing Feng, Faculty of Science
Examining the mechanisms of mutagenesis during antibody gene diversification
$44,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
and
Examining the mechanisms of mutagenesis during antibody gene diversification
$12,500 over one year: Discovery Launch Supplements program
Gerd Grau, Lassonde School of Engineering
3D Sensor Systems by Additive Manufacturing
$48,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Tara Haas, Faculty of Health
Advanced microscopy and image analysis workstation
$149,941 over one year: Research Tools and Instruments program
Ronald Hanson, Lassonde School of Engineering
Engineering Active Turbulence: Simulating Complex On-Road Environments for Laboratory-Scale Testing
$48,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Denise Henriques, Faculty of Health
Internal state and task dynamics in motor learning
$49,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
David Hood, Faculty of Health
Cryostat for muscle health research
$69,339 over one year: Research Tools and Instruments program
Bruce Howard Jr, Faculty of Science
Enhancing oscillation constraint capabilities with the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment via the Near Detector
$43,000 annually for two years: Discovery Grants program - Subatomic Physics
Philip Johnson, Faculty of Science
Functional and structural characterization of DNA aptamer-small molecule complexes
$44,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
and
An Isothermal Titration Calorimeter for Characterizing the Affinity and Thermodynamics of Biomolecular Interactions
$150,000 over one year: Research Tools and Instruments program
Stephanie Jones, Faculty of Science
Transformations of atmospheric aerosols & environmentally relevant interfaces
$35,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
and
Transformations of atmospheric aerosols & environmentally relevant interfaces
$12,500 over one year: Discovery Launch Supplements program
Shahin Kamali, Lassonde School of Engineering
Algorithmic Solutions for Navigating Uncertainty: Practical Models, Predictions, and Fairness
$47,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Roger Kempers, Lassonde School of Engineering
Leveraging Additive Manufacturing for Thermal Technology Development
$43,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Hamzeh Khazaei, Lassonde School of Engineering
Performant and Available Machine Learning Systems on Cloud
$42,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Tom Kirchner, Faculty of Science
Few-Particle Dynamics in Atomic and Molecular Systems Driven by Time-Dependent Interactions
$40,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Konstantinos Kontogiannis, Lassonde School of Engineering
Modeling and Assessing Compliance in Microservice Systems
$37,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Nikola Kovinich, Faculty of Science
Mechanism and Evolution of the Phytoalexin Transcription Factor Network
$39,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Regina Lee, Lassonde School of Engineering
Satellite Technologies for Secure and Sustainable Space
$43,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Zhenhao Li, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Towards Intelligent Automation in DevOps: Enhancing Collaboration, Observability, and Reliability
$36,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
and
Towards Intelligent Automation in DevOps: Enhancing Collaboration, Observability, and Reliability
$12,500 over one year: Discovery Launch Supplements program
Sotirios Liaskos, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Supporting Evidence-based Evaluation of Conceptual Modeling Languages
$37,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Marin Litoiu, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Engineering Adaptive Generative AI Systems
$55,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Xuan Luo, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Fair and Efficient Data Valuation in Data Markets
$36,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
and
Fair and Efficient Data Valuation in Data Markets
$12,500 over one year: Discovery Launch Supplements program
Ian MacKenzie, Lassonde School of Engineering
Motor-sensory Optimization of Augmented and Multimodal User Interfaces
$37,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Neal Madras, Faculty of Science
Lattice Models of Polymers
$37,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Sebastian Magierowski, Lassonde School of Engineering
Systems on Chip for Miniature DNA Sequencing
$63,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Garrett Melenka, Lassonde School of Engineering
Diital Volume Correlation Analysis of Composite Structures
$38,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Jonathan Michaels, Faculty of Health
Investigating the neural basis of closed-loop arm and hand control
$44,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
and
Investigating the neural basis of closed-loop arm and hand control
$12,500 over one year: Discovery Launch Supplements program
John Moores, Lassonde School of Engineering
Exploring Past, Present and Future Solar System Atmospheric Volatile Processes
$60,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Iain Moyles, Faculty of Science
Limited, sparse, and unavailable data: A renaissance for mathematical modelling
$37,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Mohamed Omar, Faculty of Science
Polynomial Techniques in Discrete Mathematics
$32,800 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Spiros Pagiatakis, Lassonde School of Engineering
Exploring the Earth system with low Earth orbiters
$36,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Manos Papagelis, Faculty of Graduate Studies
High-Performance Computing Infrastructure for AI and Data Science Research
$150,000 over one year: Research Tools and Instruments program
Michael Paris, Faculty of Health
Neuromuscular control of force and velocity output in the human hand
$44,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
and
Neuromuscular control of force and velocity output in the human hand
$12,500 over one year: Discovery Launch Supplements program
Matthew Perras, Lassonde School of Engineering
Discovering the role of climate change on long-term rock behaviour with the assistance of machine learning
$38,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Christopher Perry, Faculty of Health
The regulation of glucose contributions to biomass in striated muscle
$49,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Md Enamul Hoque Prince, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Human-AI Interactions for Democratizing Visual Analytics
$37,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Afshin Rezaei Zare, Lassonde School of Engineering
Advanced Strategies and Solution Techniques for Power Grid Resilience Against Geomagnetic Disturbances
$48,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Lauren Sergio, Faculty of Health
Gender in Action: How gender, age, and experience affect the neural control of eye-hand coordination
$39,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Yi Sheng, Faculty of Science
The Role of Ubiquitin in Epigenetic Regulation
$39,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Paul Szeptycki, Faculty of Science
Convergence, compactness and separation
$32,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Hina Tabassum, Lassonde School of Engineering
Towards Deployable and Explainable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Solutions for Joint Sensing and Communications in Next Generation Wireless Networks
$54,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Ruth Urner, Lassonde School of Engineering
Theoretical Foundations for Transparency and Robustness in Machine Learning
$37,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Song Wang, Lassonde School of Engineering
Towards Building Reliable Machine Learning Systems
$37,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Liang Xue, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Privacy-preserving Artificial Intelligence for User-centric Data Protection in Next-generation Networks
$38,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
and
Privacy-preserving Artificial Intelligence for User-centric Data Protection in Next-generation Networks
$12,500 over one year: Discovery Launch Supplements program
Xijuan Zhang, Faculty of Health
Improving the Evaluation of Structural Model Fit
$31,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
and
Improving the Evaluation of Structural Model Fit
$12,500 over one year: Discovery Launch Supplements program
Huaiping Zhu, Faculty of Science
Modelling and dynamics for the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases in Canada
$37,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
Georg Zoidl, Faculty of Health
Role of pannexins in sensory systems of the zebrafish
$49,000 annually for five years: Discovery Grants program
This story was originally featured in YFile, York University's community newsletter
