March 15, 2013
Professors Ashish Khisti and David Lie were among 11 new Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) named in a federal government funding announcement Friday. Khisti has been appointed Canada Research Chair for Wireless Networks, and Lie has been appointed Canada Research Chair in Secure and Reliable Computer Systems.
Five of the 23 new and renewed CRCs are researchers in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Collectively, the 23 chairs will recieve $18.7 million in funding from the Canadian government.
The announcement also included the advancement of two existing ECE chairholders from Tier 2 to Tier 1: Brendan Frey, who holds a CRC in Biological Computation, and Wei Yu, who holds a CRC in Information Theory and Wireless Communications. Tier 2 chairs are for exceptional emerging researchers; Tier 1 chairs are for outstanding researchers acknowledged by their peers as world leaders in their fields.
ECE Professor George Eleftheriades, current CRC in Microstructured and Nanostructured Metamaterials, had his chair renewed.
“To see the department so strongly represented in this elite group of researchers underlines that these professors truly are world leaders in their fields,” said Farid Najm, chair of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Congratulations to all of this year’s Canada Research Chairs.”
U of T’s total number of Canada Research Chairs is 238—the largest number of any university in the country.
“The CRCs celebrate world-class research going on in Canada. The Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering is thrilled to see our researchers—and the impact of what they do—recognized through this considerable honour,” said Professor Ted Sargent, Vice-Dean, Research, and the CRC in Nanotechnology. “I congratulate our new and renewed chairholders on this further recognition of their outstanding research and its impact on the economy and society.”
For each Tier 1 Chair, the university receives $200,000 annually for seven years. For each Tier 2 Chair, the university receives $100,000 annually for five years.
The announcement also included the advancement of two existing ECE chairholders from Tier 2 to Tier 1: Brendan Frey, who holds a CRC in Biological Computation, and Wei Yu, who holds a CRC in Information Theory and Wireless Communications. 
Media contact:
Marit Mitchell
Senior Communications Officer
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
416-978-7997
marit.mitchell@utoronto.ca
(with files from Jenny Hall)