Brain gain at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ
From primates to physics — New hires have it covered
Did early civilizations have cemeteries? How "dark" is dark matter? Can we protect babies' brains during birth? These are a few of the questions being asked by the 19 recent recruits to ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ University who were awarded Canada Research Chairs today.
The Canada Research Chair program was created to enable Canadian universities to attract and retain established and emerging world-class researchers. The new awards were announced today in Manitoba by David L. Emerson, the Minister of Industry.
"Through the Canada Research Chairs program, we are continuing to bring in really high-powered, talented and exciting people," says Hudson Meadwell, Associate Provost (Academic Staff) at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ. The latest announcement brings the total of Canada Research Chairs at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ to 103. ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ is the only university in Canada that has used the program exclusively for recruitment.
Three-quarters of these newest ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ researchers, including several Canadians, were working outside Canada — in the U.S., France, Germany and Australia — before receiving a Canada Research Chair award.
Darin Barney, a professor in Art History and Communication Studies, is a new award recipient. He is investigating the relationship between technology and citizenship. In particular, he is looking at the balance between commitment to technological progress and commitment to democratic politics.
"There is a long tradition in Canada of critical scholarship surrounding the politics of technology," he says. "The Canada Research Chair will make it possible for me to continue this tradition in the context of emerging technological challenges."
Biology professor Colin Chapman is the new Canada Research Chair in Primate Ecology and Conservation. He was recruited from the University of Florida and is exploring the roles of nutrition and parasite transmission in primate population size.
ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ anthropologist Nicole Couture was recruited from the University of Chicago thanks to the Canada Research Chair program. A Canadian native, she is conducting archaeological research in the Andean mountains of South America. She will be looking at patterns of social difference, ethnic diversity, economic specialization and ritual practice through excavations of a walled neighbourhood and a nearby cemetery at a major pre-Inca site in highland Bolivia.
Edward Ruthazer of the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) is a new Canada Research Chair award recipient. He was recruited from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, and is studying how nerve cells connect to one another in the brain.
"Being nominated for and receiving a Canada Research Chair played a large role in my decision to come to ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ," says Ruthazer. "My colleagues at the MNI, both faculty and students, are top-notch. The Canada Research Chair and other funding programs offered me the highly desirable opportunity to benefit from the strengths of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, and to focus on science instead of finances."
"Try to imagine what recruitment would have been like without this kind of program," concludes Meadwell, explaining that the Canada Research Chairs program has been especially helpful in hiring in disciplines with high start-up costs.
ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Canada Research Chairs, April 2005
Investigator | Research Topic |
Darin Barney | Citizenship in a Technological Society |
David Buckeridge | Tracking Epidemics with Advanced Computing |
Gwyn Campbell | Mysterious Migrations and a History of Slavery: Uncovering the Hidden Past of the Indian Ocean World |
Colin Chapman | Primate Business: Ecological Principles for Primate Conservation |
Nicole Couture | City Life in the Ancient Andes |
Brian Cowan | Learning to Agree to Disagree: Media Politics and the State Trials of Early Modern Britain |
Ian Gold | Studying Delusion at the Crossroads of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Philosophy |
Pengfei Guan | Crossing New Frontiers in Mathematics and Science |
Samantha Gruenheid | Attack and Counter-attack: The Ongoing Battle in EHEC Pathogenesis |
Gilbert Holder | The Dark Side of the Universe |
Mindy Levin | Enhancing the Power to Heal: Innovations in Motor Learning and Rehabilitation After Brain Damage |
Michel Loreau | Getting it Together for Life: Towards an Integrated Theory of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning |
Jacek Majewski | Using Statistics to Understand Gene-splicing Regulation |
Christopher Pack | The Eye's Mind: Studying the Workings of Our Visual Cortex |
Robert B. Russell | The Protein Recognition Code |
Edward Ruthazer | How the Brain Rewires Itself: Exploring Plasticity in the Human Brain |
Ernest Seidman | Uncovering the Cause of Immune-Mediated Bowel Disorders |
Brigitte Vachon | Learning about Truth: What is the World Made of? |