USask researchers receive more than $8.7 million in NSERC funding

NSERC Discovery Grants are intended to award funding to creative and innovative long-term research programs in instalments over a period of five years.

Below is the list of 36 USask researchers who received a total of more than $8.7 million in 2023 NSERC funding. In addition, seven researchers received a $12,500 supplement to start their projects as early-career researchers.

Bill Biligetu
Plant Sciences – College of Agriculture and Bioresources
Uncovering salt-tolerance mechanisms in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)
$195,000

Asmahan AbuArish
Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology (APP) – College of Medicine
Deciphering the molecular basis of water transport in mammalian airway epithelium using quantitative confocal imaging
$200,000
Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500 

Justin Botterill
Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology (APP) – College of Medicine
A dentate gyrus circuit that regulates novelty, cognition, and affective behaviours
$165,000
Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500 

L. Dean Chapman
Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology (APP) – College of Medicine
X-Ray Optics for Synchrotron Biomedical Applications
$230,000

Yifei Dong
Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology (BMI) – College of Medicine
Understanding how macrophages respond to oxidized phosphatidylcholines
$165,000
Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500 

James Benson
Biology – College of Arts and Science
Modeling approaches towards improved cryopreservation
$225,000

Som Niyogi
Biology – College of Arts and Science
Physiological and neurobehavioural effects of trace elements in fish
$195,000

Nicole Webster
Biology – College of Arts and Science
Development and regulation of molluscan biomineralization: a morphological novelty
$165,000
Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500 

Mitch Weegman
Biology – College of Arts and Science
Unraveling demographic consequences of environmental drivers and individual decisions in migratory birds
$255,000

Yangdou Wei
Biology – College of Arts and Science
The Cellular and Molecular Basis of Penetration Resistance to Fungal Pathogens in Arabidopsis
$295,000

Ajay Dalai
Chemical and Biological Engineering – School of Environment and Sustainability
Applied Catalysis Research for Renewable Liquid Fuels and Light Olefins Production and Glycerol to Chemicals
$490,000

Jafar Soltan
Chemical and Biological Engineering – College of Engineering
Development of novel heterogeneous catalysts and processes for treatment of polluted indoor air
$250,000

Lope Tabil
Chemical and Biological Engineering – College of Engineering
Preprocessing, Pretreatment and Characterization of Biomass for Bioenergy and Bioproducts
$195,000

Michel Gravel
Chemistry – College of Arts and Science
Synthetic Studies on Medium-Sized and Large Annulenes
$260,000

David Palmer
Chemistry – College of Arts and Science
Enzyme catalysis: structure-function relationships, inhibition, and biocatalysis
$335,000

Grant Ferguson
Department of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering – School of Environment and Sustainability
Deep Groundwater and the Hydrologic Cycle
$250,000

Carl Gutwin
Department of Computer Science – College of Arts and Science
Improving User Performance and Expertise in Interactive Visual Workspaces
$345,000

Nathaniel Osgood
Department of Computer Science – College of Arts and Science
Stocking Hygeia’s Toolbox: Compositional Methods for Modeling Health & Infectious Disease
$205,000

Chanchal Roy
Department of Computer Science – College of Arts and Science
SciClone: A Scientific Workflow based approach for studying the change, similarity and redundancy in Software
$295,000

Safa Kasap
Electrical & Computer Engineering – College of Engineering
Amorphous Semiconductors for Optoelectronic Applications: Photodetectors & X-Ray Detectors Based on Multilayer Doped Selenium-Alloys
$295,000

Xiaodong Liang
Electrical & Computer Engineering – College of Engineering
A Multi-dimensional Framework for Distribution Grid Modernization
$295,000

Christopher Eskiw
Food and Bioproduct Sciences – College of Agriculture and Bioresources
Genome reorganization in response to cellular nutrients and nutrient sensing
$200,000

Yuanming Pan
Geological Sciences – College of Arts and Science
Trace elements and radiation-induced defects in minerals and Earth materials: From planetary evolution to sustainable development
$235,000

Carey Simonson
Mechanical Engineering – College of Engineering
Heat and moisture exchangers for energy-efficient buildings: frosting, fouling and contaminant transfer
$295,000

Wenjun Zhang
Mechanical Engineering – College of Engineering
Developing a Computational Design Approach for Soft Machines
$295,000

Angelica Lang
Canadian Centre for Rural and Agricultural Health – College of Medicine
Functional movement and scapular kinematics: exploring best practice methods from calibration to application
$165,000
Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500 

Janeen Loehr
Psychology and Health Studies – College of Arts and Science
The sense of agency in joint action: Cognitive and neural mechanisms
$295,000

Timothy Jardine
Toxicology Centre – School of Environment and Sustainability
Tracing the fluxes of low- and high-quality foodweb subsidies in freshwater ecosystems
$220,000

Yanping Li
Global Institute for Water Security – School of Environment and Sustainability
Canadian Prairie croplands and wetlands under a changing climate
$235,000

Saman Razavi
Global Institute for Water Security – School of Environment and Sustainability
Modelling and Management of Water Resources Systems Under Uncertainty
$250,000

Angela Bedard-Haughn
Soil Science – College of Agriculture and Bioresources
Pedogenesis and Predictive Soil Mapping in the Prairies
$175,000

Daniel MacPhee
Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences – Western College of Veterinary Medicine
The Importance of the Chaperome in Uterine Smooth Muscle Function during Pregnancy
$225,000

Baljit Singh
Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences – Western College of Veterinary Medicine
Mechanisms of Lung Inflammation: Biology of Pulmonary Intravascular Macrophages
$255,000

Janet Hill
Department of Veterinary Microbiology – Western College of Veterinary Medicine
Defining factors affecting population dynamics of closely related bacteria in microbial communities
$225,000

Sarah Wood
Department of Veterinary Pathology – Western College of Veterinary Medicine
Mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance of foulbrood bacteria in Canadian beekeeping operations
$200,000
Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500 

Neeraj Dhar
VIDO – College of Medicine
Single-cell analysis of two-component systems in Mycobacterium tuberculosis
$165,000
Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500