A trio of researchers are continuing their leading-edge work uncovering clues about climate change and what lies beneath our ocean.
Drs. Uta Passow, Katleen Robert and Sue Ziegler have been renewed as Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) one of the country's top academic honours.
Working with teams of students, researchers and collaborators around the world, the researchers are trying to find answers to pressing environmental challenges.
Dr. Uta Passow
Dr. Uta Passow/Photo: Rich Blenkinsopp
Dr. Uta Passow has been renewed as Memorial's tier 1 Canada Research Chair in biological oceanographic processes.
She is based in the Department of Ocean Sciences, Faculty of Science.
Her work focuses on understanding the impact of climate change and oil or plastic pollution on marine ecosystems and developing mediating measures.
She also examines the critical role of the biological carbon pump in helping the ocean remove carbon dioxide from the Earth's atmosphere.
Dr. Katleen Robert
Dr. Katleen Robert/Photo: Rich Blenkinsopp
Dr. Katleen Robert has been renewed as Memorial's tier 2 Canada Research Chair in ocean mapping.
She is based in the School of Ocean Technology, Marine Institute.
She is also receiving $75,000 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation through its John R. Evans Leaders Fund, in support of her CRC research program.
Dr. Robert is mapping the spatial complexity of the ocean from the seafloor to the surface.
She and her team are creating an integrated picture of the ocean to understand the relationships between habitats, resources, human activities and changing conditions.
Dr. Sue Ziegler
Dr. Sue Ziegler/Photo: Submitted
Dr. Sue Ziegler has been renewed as Memorial's tier 1 Canada Research Chair in boreal biogeochemistry.
She is based in the Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science.
Dr. Ziegler focuses on climate change impacts on carbon dynamics in boreal and subarctic landscapes.
Specifically, she's interested in how landscapes respond to climate change, including carbon-climate feedbacks supported by the cycling of organic matter across terrestrial, aquatic and marine systems.
Her work, examining how ecosystems function and ultimately how they respond to environmental change, helps to inform local and regional adaptation to climate change as well as the Earth system models used in predicting climate change globally.
All three chairs were initially appointed in 2018.
Tier 1 chairs are tenable for seven years, renewable once, and valued at $200,000 annually; tier 2 chairs are tenable for five years, renewable once, and valued at $100,000 annually.
'Critical knowledge'
"It's no surprise that curiosity and a drive to find answers to the unknown are the common denominator among the inspiring work of the researchers receiving support," said Dr. Tana Allen, vice-president (research). "Their research and discoveries, made with their students and partners, enhance Memorial's international reputation as a research powerhouse. Well-deserved congratulations to Drs. Passow, Robert and Ziegler on their renewals."
Memorial is currently home to 14 active Canada Research Chairs, with several nominations pending.
Check back for future Gazette stories highlighting the CRCs and learn more about their innovative research.
Learn more about research at Memorial and check out Research Strategy 2023-28 to learn how we're moving ideas forward.
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