UBC Chemical Engineering Prof. John Grace is one of 12 outstanding Canadian
researchers to receive a Canada Council Killam Research Fellowship.
Killam Research Fellowships are among Canada’s most distinguished research
awards and enable Canada’s best scientists and scholars to devote up to two
years to full-time research.
Grace leads a team of faculty, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and
visiting scholars investigating the fundamentals and applications of fluidized
beds.
The UBC team is one of the leading groups in the world studying and applying
fluidization.
“This fellowship will allow me to spend additional time to work on aspects
of fluidization that have not been studied very much because of their complexity,”
says Grace.
Fluidized beds are formed when a gas or liquid is passed upward through a
bed of solid particles at a sufficient flow rate to support the weight of the
particles.
Fluidization causes the particles to behave as if they are themselves elements
of a fluid.
Fluidized beds are widely applied in industrial processes such as catalytic
cracking of hydrocarbons used in making gasoline and other fuels.
Among the 14 researchers across Canada who have had their fellowships renewed
for a second year is Prof. Richard Ericson, principal of Green College.
Ericson, a leading international socio-legal researcher is conducting a major
research project on how governance is achieved through both public and private
insurance mechanisms.
