Bishop's University has secured nearly $700,000 in research infrastructure funding to advance new work in plant biochemistry, cybersecurity, and exoplanet astrophysics. This includes funding for Canada's contribution to a NASA mission expected to discover 100,000 new exoplanets beyond our solar system and expected to launch later this month -- one of three federal research infrastructure investments announced on August 20.
The Canada Foundation for Innovation's John R. Evans Leaders Fund (CFI JELF) has awarded a total of $338,913 to three Bishop's researchers, matched dollar-for-dollar by the Quebec government. The awards are part of a $118-million federal investment supporting 357 research infrastructure projects at post-secondary institutions across Canada.
"These three awards, arriving together, tell a clear story about Bishop's University," said Dr. Valerio Faraoni, Associate Vice-Principal, Research and Graduate Studies. "Our researchers are working on questions that matter nationally and internationally -- from the search for new worlds to the future of food security to protecting digital identities. This investment confirms that you don't need to be a large institution to do leading research."
Engineering plants for a warming world
Dr. Sarathi Weraduwage
Dr. Sarathi Weraduwage, Full Professor of Biology and Biochemistry, is challenging the prevailing assumption about why crop yields under rising CO2 fall short of predictions, proposing that leaf expansion, not photosynthesis, is the limiting factor. Her $245,310 award -- the largest of the three -- funds a new controlled environment biochemistry research facility, including growth chambers and a high-precision LI-6800 portable photosynthesis system to measure gas exchange in leaves, algae and soil, in the university's Johnson building.
"For decades, researchers have assumed that rising CO2 would boost crop yields because it boosts photosynthesis. The yields haven't followed," said Dr. Weraduwage. "My research asks whether we've been looking at the wrong variable -- and if leaf growth is the real bottleneck, we may finally have a path to fixing it."
Making digital identity harder to fake
Dr. Russel Butler
Dr. Russell Butler, Associate Professor of Computer Science, is building a facility that combines brain-wave sensors, eye tracking, facial video, and gait data into a single, synchronized platform to develop identity verification methods that are harder to spoof and more equitable across users. His $64,527 award funds the lab's core sensor and computing infrastructure.
"The signals that make each of us physiologically unique -- how our eyes move, how our brain responds, how we walk -- are extraordinarily difficult to fake," said Dr. Butler. "Combining them doesn't just improve security. It changes what secure identity can actually mean in the real world."
Searching for 100,000 new worlds
Dr. Jason Rowe
Dr. Jason Rowe, Tier II Canada Research Chair in Exoplanet Astrophysics and Full Professor in Physics & Astronomy, is leading Canada's contribution to NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope -- set to launch at end of August 2026 -- developing the software pipeline that will scan data from more than 100 million stars to identify new planets. His $29,076 CFI award funds the high-performance computing infrastructure the team needs operational before Roman's first science data arrives in early 2027.
"The Roman Space Telescope is going to produce more planet data than every previous mission combined -- but that data is only useful if you can find the signal in it. That's what we're building: the software that turns an ocean of observations into a catalogue of new worlds," said Dr. Rowe.
The three projects will together support student training in machine learning, plant biology, and cybersecurity -- fields central to Canada's research and innovation priorities. The John R. Evans Leaders Fund supports researchers at Canadian universities and colleges in acquiring the equipment and facilities needed to conduct leading research.
