UBC Applied Science researchers receive nearly $11M in NSERC support

UBC Applied Science researchers have been awarded over $9.5 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through its Discovery Grants Program.

The program aims to help foster research excellence by “promoting and maintaining a diversified base of high-quality research capability in the natural sciences and engineering in Canadian universities.”

Spanning a wide range of disciplines, the 42 supported projects include efforts to develop bearingless motors, advanced bioproducts and more secure wireless networks.  

Ten UBC Applied Science researchers also received nearly $1.3 million in NSERC Research Tools and Instruments Grants.

183 projects across UBC were awarded a total of $40.1 million from NSERC. For more information about these projects, please see the announcement of UBC’s Office of the Vice President Research and Innovation.
 

UBC Applied Science recipients: Discovery Grants

Alam, Shahria (School of Engineering, UBC Okanagan)
Novel and Emerging Technologies for Sustainable and Seismically Resilient Infrastructure
$215,000

Arjmand, Mohammad (School of Engineering, UBC Okanagan)
Advanced 3D Printed Conductive Polymer Nanocomposites toward Electromagnetic Interference Shielding
$140,000
$12,500 Discovery Launch Supplement

Beznosov, Konstantin (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Novel Physical Protection of Personal Mobile Assets
$205,000

Cheung, Karen (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Microfluidics and inkjet for biomedical engineering materials
$230,000

de Boer, Carl (School of Biomedical Engineering)
Molecular and computational tools for regulatory genomics
$150,000
$12,500 Discovery Launch Supplement

Eberle, Wilson (School of Engineering, UBC Okanagan)
Next Generation Smart-Grid Enabled Electric Vehicle Chargers
$165,000

Elfring, Gwynn (Mechanical Engineering)
Modelling the dynamics of active matter
$320,000
$120,000 Discovery Accelerator Supplement

Fels, Sidney (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Creating and Evaluating New Media Interfaces for Expression
$240,000

Feng, Hsi-Yung (Mechanical Engineering)
Next Generation Machining Simulation Technologies for Complete and Efficient Process Validation
$135,000

Foulds, Ian (School of Engineering, UBC Okanagan)
Microfluidic Sample Handling for the Spectroscopic Integration (SPIN) Program
$195,000

Frigaard, Ian (Mechanical Engineering)
Sealing, Plugging and Visco-plastic Networks
$380,000

Garbi, Rafeef (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Towards Generalizable Reasoned Deep Learning for Efficient Interpretable Medical Image Computing
$230,000

Hewage, Kasun (School of Engineering, UBC Okanagan)
Life cycle thinking based low-impact construction strategies for Canadian micro-communities
$365,000
$120,000 Discovery Accelerator Supplement

Jatskevich, Juri (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Advanced Tools for Modelling and Analysis of Evolving Power and Energy Systems
$275,000

Kamgarpour, Maryam (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Stochastic Control for Large-Scale Safety-Critical Systems
$220,000
$120,000 Discovery Accelerator Supplement
$12,500 Discovery Launch Supplement

Kirchen, Patrick (Mechanical Engineering)
Towards Low GHG Natural Gas Energy Systems
$230,000

Leung, Cyril (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Energy efficiency and security for wireless communications
$140,000

Ma, Hongshen (Mechanical Engineering)
Microscopy-based cell separation, selective propagation, and selective single cell sequencing
$195,000

Markley, Loïc (School of Engineering, UBC Okanagan)
Electromagnetic periodic structures and metamaterials for imaging and wireless technology
$140,000

Marti, Jose (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Advanced Hybrid SFA/EMTP Simulator for Seamless Integration of Power Systems Dynamics and EMT Transients
$195,000

Martinez, Mark (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Novel Applications of Viscoplastic Fluids: Creating New Products for the Pulp and Paper Sector
$195,000

Militzer, Matthias (Materials Engineering)
Computational Design of Complex Microstructures for Advanced Engineering Alloys
$165,000

Miskovic, Sanja (Mining Engineering)
Smart Surrogate Models for Design and Operation of Efficient and Sustainable Comminution Units
$130,000

Mohseni, Madjid (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Photochemical and ion exchange processes for optimized water reuse strategies
$310,000

Noh, Minkyun (Mechanical Engineering)
Design and Control of Novel High-speed Bearingless Motors
$140,000
$12,500 Discovery Launch Supplement

Ollivier-Gooch, Carl (Mechanical Engineering)
Accurate, Robust Simulations of Aerodynamics Flows, Especially Wakes and Shocks
$195,000

Pakpour, Sepideh (School of Engineering, UBC Okanagan)
Sustainable, resilient and healthy built environments: An integrated approach
$130,000
$12,500 Discovery Launch Supplement

Pattabiraman, Karthik (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Resilient, Secure, and Programmable Next-Generation Internet of Things (IoT)
$240,000

Phani, Srikantha (Mechanical Engineering)
Mechanics of Structured Materials
$160,000

Rogak, Steven (Mechanical Engineering)
Carbon nanoparticle structure: implications for environmental impacts, measurement and formation
$230,000

Rohling, Robert (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Advancing towards ubiquitous medical ultrasound
$320,000

Shakiba, Nika (School of Biomedical Engineering)
Curbing the Emergence of Clonal Drift in Stem Cell Expansion Culture
$185,000
$12,500 Discovery Launch Supplement

Shekhar, Sudip (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Integrated Circuits for Large Arrays
$165,000

Sokhansanj, Shahab (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Biomass pelletization and logistics
$275,000

Taghipour, Fariborz (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
UV-LED Photoreactors for Environmental Monitoring and Treatment
$320,000

Taiebat, Mahdi (Civil Engineering)
Understanding, characterization, modeling, and simulation of the spontaneous failure of tailings dams
$310,000

Tannant, Dwayne (School of Engineering, UBC Okanagan)
Identifying geohazards in glaciated valleys and building rural community resilience via bare-earth point cloud analysis and eco-sensitive mitigation
$180,000

Trajano, Heather (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Production of Premium Bio-Chemicals from the Canadian Forest
$140,000

Upham, David (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Understanding sustainable catalytic processes on complex melts to produce chemicals and power
$140,000
$12,500 Discovery Launch Supplement

Veiga, Marcello (Mining Engineering)
Cyanogenic Plants to Extract Gold: an Alternative for Artisanal Miners
$230,000

Yadav, Vikramaditya (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Biovalorization of lignin
$150,000

Zandstra, Peter (School of Biomedical Engineering)
Systematic stem cell bioprocess engineering
$380,000
 

UBC Applied Science recipients: Research Tools and Instruments Grants

Alam, Sharia (School of Engineering, UBC Okanagan) 
Uni-Directional Shaking Table (UDST) system controller for the Applied Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Structures (ALAMS)
$143,982

Arjmand, Mohammad (School of Engineering, UBC Okanagan)
Advanced Polymer Melt Mixer for Development of Multifunctional Polymer Composites
$90,876

Hoorfar, Mina (School of Engineering, UBC Okanagan)
Environmental Test Chamber Urgently Required to Develop and Calibrate Microfluidic and Thin-film Sensing and Energy Conversion and Storage Technologies
$92,927

Jatskevich, Juri (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Hardware and Software for Power-HIL Real-Time Simulation Platform for Integrated AC-DC Energy Systems
$149,988

Ma, Hongshen (Mechanical Engineering)
Wide-field microscope to support research programs in image cytometry and image-based cell separation
$150,000

Poole, Warren (Materials Engineering)
Upgrade of Thermomechanical Processing Laboratory
$135,363

Poursartip, Anoush (Materials Engineering)
Autoclave Facility Upgrade for Advanced Applications
$141,447

Stoeber, Boris (Mechanical Engineering)
Preparation and Characterization of Piezoelectric Materials
$142,591

Tang, Shuo (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
High-Repetition Rate Laser for Real-Time and 3D Photoacoustic Imaging
$150,000

Wilkinson, David (Chemical and Biological Engineering)
Enhanced X-ray Analysis and in-situ Measurements of Materials for Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage Technologies
$85,387