February 11, 2015
From smart sensors that limit driver distraction to lasers for for developing new nano-optical devices, researchers in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering got a major boost this week with a $1.8-million investment from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
Four ECE professors were awarded Strategic Partnership Grants for Projects, a program designed to fund research and training in early-stage, high-risk projects that might otherwise have trouble attracting the funds needed to carry out their research.
The successful investigators are:
- George Eleftheriades, “Field-discontinuity metasurfaces for electromagnetic wave manipulation”
- Peter Herman, “Quantized structuring of transparent film and plates with ultrafast laser interference and filamentation”
- Frank Kschischang, “Error control for terabit links: spatially-coupled staircase codes”
- Konstantinos Plataniotis, “DREAMs: Enhancing driver interaction with digital media through cognitive monitoring.”
NSERC is kick-starting eight new projects for a total $3.5 million in funding to the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering through its Strategic Projects Grants program.
Other projects in the Faculty include:
- Grant Allen (ChemE), “Developing biofilm-based microalgal bioreactors for the efficient production of fuels, chemicals and clean water”
- Cathy Chin (ChemE), “Catalytic conversion of methane from alternative feedstocks to higher value products”
- Ramin Farnood (ChemE), “Developing novel elecro-spun nano-fibre membrane adsorption systems for water treatment”
- Charles Jia (ChemE), “High performance, low-cost porous carbons from oil petroleum coke.”
Across the University of Toronto, 12 project teams received funding through this round of NSERC’s Strategic Partnership Grants for Projects, including the eight engineering projects, totalling more than $5.3 million. (Read more about other U of T projects)
“These 12 projects have the potential to bring great benefit to society in coming years, and we are extremely grateful to NSERC for championing this kind of work, and for its continued investment in U of T research,” said Professor Vivek Goel, U of T’s vice-president of research and innovation.
With files from RJ Taylor, Sarah McDonald and Jenny Hall.
More information:
Marit Mitchell
Senior Communications Officer
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
416-978-7997; marit.mitchell@utoronto.ca