UNIVERSITY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
UPEI researchers receive over $1.6 million in funding from NSERC in 2021 and 2022

Dr. Yulin Hu at work in her lab in the UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering building

Over the past two years, researchers at UPEI have garnered more than $1.6 million in discovery and discovery development grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).  

Dr. Yulin Hu, assistant professor, Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, is one of the researchers who was recently awarded a 2022 five-year discovery grant and an early career researcher supplement. Her project is titled "Development of next-generation technologies to produce clean and renewable transportation fuels." 

"This research program can be beneficial to the production of clean transportation fuels from low-cost biowaste to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and GHG [greenhouse gases] emissions and improve national energy security," she said. "The newly developed biofuels production technologies will strengthen Canada's position as a global leader in the clean technologies and renewable energy sectors. In short, this program funded by NSERC will serve as the foundation for Canadian society to lower GHG emissions and consequently reach the target of zero emission by 2050." 

Dr. Greg Naterer, Vice-President Academic and Research at UPEI, congratulated all of the researchers who were awarded funding from NSERC in 2021 and 2022.  

"UPEI is proud of our talented and award-winning researchers," said Naterer. "With this new funding support from NSERC, they will continue to make impactful contributions to new knowledge, while enhancing UPEI's reputation and profile of research, nationally and internationally." 

In addition to Hu, 2022 discovery grants and two-year discovery development grants have been awarded to the following: 

Dr. Kuljeet Grewal, assistant professor, Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, received a discovery grant and an early career researcher supplement for a project titled "Transdisciplinary resource planning mechanism for clean energy economy." 

Dr. James Polson, professor of physics, Faculty of Science, received a discovery grant for "Computer simulation of confined polymers and 2D catenated-ring networks." 

Dr. Gurjit Randhawa, assistant professor, School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences, received awarded a discovery grant and an early career researcher supplement for "Machine learning-based alignment-free methodology for complete genome analysis." 

Dr. Krishna Thakur, assistant professor, Department of Health Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, was awarded a discovery grant and an early career researcher supplement for a project called "Epidemiological investigation of emerging infectious diseases of farmed fish in Canada." 

Dr. Brian Wagner, professor of chemistry, Faculty of Science, received a discovery grant for "Comprehensive Fluorescence-based Comparative Studies of the Inclusion Properties of Molecular Hosts." 

As well, Dr. Nasser Saad, professor, School of Mathematical and Computational Science, was awarded a discovery development grant for "Old and New, and many things in-between: Perspectives on theoretical physics and special functions." 

In 2021, the following faculty received funding under the discovery grant program: 

Dr. Christian Lacroix, professor of biology, Faculty of Science, received a discovery grant for "Comparative studies of the establishment of sexual identity in flowers of non-model species." 

Dr. Stevan Springer, assistant professor of biology, Faculty of Science received a discovery grant and discovery launch supplement for "Adaptation by improbable changes can identify the phenotypic targets of section." 

Dr. Antonio Bolufe-Rohler, assistant professor, School of Mathematical and Computational Sciences Science, was awarded a discovery grant and a discovery launch supplement for "Improving Heuristic Search by Machine Learning." 

Dr. Annabel Cohen, professor of psychology, Faculty of Arts, received a discovery grant for "Sensitive periods for music acquisition."  

In addition, two discovery development grants were awarded in 2021 as follows: 

Dr. Rabin Bissessur, professor of chemistry, Faculty of Science, received a discovery development grant for "Nanocomposites based on graphene analogous materials." 

Dr. Katy Proudfoot, associate professor, Department of Health Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, was awarded a discovery development grant for "Losing sleep: Understanding the relationship between sleep, stressors, and health in farm animals." 

NSERC's discovery grants program supports ongoing research programs rather than a single short-term project or collection of projects. These grants provide core funding that allows Canadian researchers to pursue ideas and breakthrough discoveries. UPEI's researchers are further supported by the Research Support Fund and Research Services, a team of administrative staff who work directly in support of research development and the administration of research funding at the University.