The University of British Columbia will gain research strength in areas ranging from artificial intelligence to nanostructures when three investigators join the university as Canada Research Chairs.
Investigators have been recruited from such prestigious institutions as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Edinburgh.
The UBC positions — valued at $1.5 million — are among 79 federally funded research positions, representing a total investment of $62.9 million distributed to universities, research institutes and hospitals across Canada today. In addition, the Canada Foundation for Innovation supported the UBC positions with $263,800 and provided $8.1 million across Canada.
UBC has appointed 120 of the 158 Canada Research Chair positions allocated to the university.
The federally funded research positions are designed to build Canada’s research capacity. An investment of $900 million will support the establishment of 2,000 Chairs at universities across the country.
“These individuals bring an international viewpoint and experience that contributes to a robust research environment on campus,” says George Mackie, UBC associate vice-president, Academic Planning. “We have attracted these researchers in a very competitive environment which reinforces UBC’s international reputation for research excellence.”
Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning and Computational Statistics, Kevin Murphy, comes to UBC from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. An expert in computer vision and how computers understand images, his research will be useful for artificial intelligence and robotics.
Wenfei Fan, Canada Research Chair in Imaging Technologies, is an expert in extensible markup language, or XML, the format that allows data exchange between websites. His work will advance the understanding of XML publishing to help websites communicate better and in a more secure environment. Fan comes to UBC from the University of Edinburgh and Bell laboratories in the U.S.
Joshua Folk is Canada Research Chair in the Physics of Nanostructures and comes to UBC from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He focuses on electronic measurement of nanostructures, or structures small enough to isolate only a few electrons. His work will advance knowledge on molecule measurement, a necessary step towards understanding quantum mechanics.
Chair appointments provide research and salary support for either seven- or five-year terms. The seven-year terms are renewable; the five-year terms can be renewed once.
The Canada Foundation for Innovation is an independent corporation established by the Government of Canada in 1997 to strengthen the capability of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and other not-for-profit institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development.
For more information on Canada Research Chairs, visit www.chairs.gc.ca .
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