Congratulations to this year’s Research Achievement Award winners who were recognized for their outstanding research achievements on April 27th. The awards were established in 1989 to enhance the quality of research and to recognize research excellence. The recipients’ terms run until the end of April 2016.
| Alain Bellerive, Professor, Department of Physics | Exploration of New Frontiers in High Energy Physics ATLAS is a particle physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN that is searching for new discoveries in the head-on collisions of protons of extraordinarily high energy. Professor Bellerive became a member of ATLAS after transitioning his main research endeavor from SNOLAB to LHC physics. As an expert in data analysis and simulation he plans to continue and strengthen his involvement into ATLAS with the Research Achievement Award. |
| Steven Cooke, Associate Professor, Institute of Environmental Science and Department of Biology | Facilitating the Recovery of Angled Fish that are Released Professor Cooke studies how marine and freshwater fish respond to various natural and anthropogenic stressors. Using concepts and tools from physiology, behaviour and even social science, he addresses pressing management and conservation issues related to hydropower, recreational fisheries, climate change, and restoration ecology. With this award, he will focus on strategies for facilitating recovery of fish that are exhausted from fisheries interactions. |
| Linda Duxbury, Professor, Sprott School of Business | Something’s Got to Give: Balancing Work, Childcare and Eldercare In the new millennium, demographic, social, economic, and policy changes makes family care of older relatives an issue of extreme importance to policy makers, researchers, and employers. Using interview data collected as part of the 2012 National Study on Work, Life, and Caregiving, Professor Duxbury will undertake two qualitative inductive case studies focusing on emerging challenges for employed caregivers and options to support employees to achieve work/life balance. |
| Jennifer Evans, Associate Professor, Department of History | The Present Past: Historical Memory in the Digital Mediascape Professor’s Evans’ project, the Present Past: Historical Memory in the Digital Mediascape will forge new ways to understand the curation of historical memory online. She will devise a set of principles and practices for how to qualitatively interpret digital texts, drawing from the meeting of historical memory studies and media and communications. The award will also serve efforts to found a humanities-driven social media centre at Carleton University to complement existing “big data” initiatives. |
| Vinod Kumar, Professor, Sprott School of Business | Environmental Sustainability in Canadian Manufacturing Supply Chains (SCs) Professor Kumar’s research interests are in optimizing performance of operation systems including flexibility, quality and productivity; technology transfer; new product development; technology adoption; e-commerce applications and e-Government. His current research explores – to what extent have Canadian manufacturing supply chains embraced environmental sustainability? What are the characteristics of adopters and do local firms really get benefit in terms of business performance or competitive advantage? |
| Ronald Miller, Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering | Project Title: Multiscale Modelling: Towards the Virtual Materials Laboratory Professor Miller studies the behaviour of materials using computer simulation. Since materials are ultimately made of atoms, the question is – can behaviour of materials be described and predicted from the underlying knowledge of how those atoms interact? The long-term goal of his project is a “virtual materials laboratory” where new materials can be designed and properties can be predicted using computer simulation. |
| Liam (William) O’Brien, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering | Demonstration of Occupant Behaviour Models in the Building Design Process Professor O’Brien is the principle investigator of the Human Building Interaction Lab, a multidisciplinary research group of 10 researchers who are focused on better understanding the complex interrelationships between humans, buildings, and energy use. His project focusses on developing a methodology and design guidelines for using stochastic occupant behaviour models to support better building simulation and design. |
| Banu Örmeci, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering | Developing a Microalgae-based Wastewater Treatment System for the Removal of Emerging Substances of Concern, Heavy Metals, and Pathogens Using microalgae for wastewater treatment offers several potential benefits such as removal of organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, emerging substances of concern (ESOCs), heavy metals, and pathogens. Professor Ormeci’s research shows excellent capability of microalgae to remove nutrients and organic carbon from wastewater under Canadian conditions and her project will study the potential of microalgae to remove ESOCs, heavy metals, and pathogens from wastewater to make it a complete treatment process. |
| Mark Salber Phillips, Professor, Department of History and the Institute of Comparative Studies in Literature, Arts and Culture | History Painting in Britain, 1700-1900: A Study of Historical Representation For centuries, history painting was the highest branch of art, but there is no study of this art form itself. Professor Phillips’ research examines this much misunderstood genre as it developed in Britain — a county increasingly confident of its place in the word yet racked with anxiety about its capacity for high art. In combination with two previous books, this study will complete a trilogy devoted to issues of historical representation in 18th and 19th century Britain. |
| Monique Sénéchal, Professor, Department of Psychology | How Young Children Learning Language and Literacy at Home Young children enter school with knowledge and experiences that can facilitate their entry into literacy. Strikingly, children who have difficulty reading in grade 1 are more likely to have difficulty in other school domains, and are more likely not to complete high school or pursue their education beyond high school. Professor Sénéchal’s project will focus on optimizing reading skills in young children by documenting how they learn about literacy form interactions with their parents. |