“We are adding infrastructure to strengthen the research capacity at our universities that will support our province’s economic development,” Thomson said. “The ability to do scientific research at the national and international level supports the recruitment of our own brightest and best research graduates and contributes to the retention of academic staff.”
Through the Innovation and Science Fund, the province is providing $750,000 for a trace analysis facility, $200,000 toward a Canada Research Chair in computational physics and $180,000 to equip the computational physics research laboratory. This funding matches contributions from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Canada Research Chairs Program.
University president David Barnard said the funding demonstrates the provincial government’s growing commitment to research at the U of R. “In the five-year period ending in 2003/04, total research funding from all sources for research at the University roughly doubled, from $11.6 million to $22.8 million,” Barnard said. “In the same five years, the provincial contribution has more than quadrupled from $1.7 million to $7.2 million. The new funding announced today will help us continue to create new knowledge, and to serve our community.”
The new trace analysis facility for environmental process and impact research will be the only one in Western Canada. It will assess the effects of organic contaminants on ecosystems and human health, including contaminants that were previously unrecognized and unexpected.
The chair in computational physics will initiate a research program to study the interaction of subatomic particles as part of an international effort to create a precise understanding of quarks and their role as the foundation for nuclear science. The new lattice quantum chromodynamics computer cluster in the computational physics laboratory will be significant in the international community and essential to research in this field.
The provincial government’s Innovation and Science Fund is intended to promote economic growth and quality of life through innovation and research, and to develop Saskatchewan’s human capital and innovative capacity.