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.
Professors Dr. Jafar Soltan (PhD) and Dr. Carey Simonson (PhD) have received funding from NSERC Discovery Grant program to further work into projects aiming to clean indoor air and make purification systems more efficient.
Engineering better active air filters for pollutants and pathogens
Soltan, a chemical and biological engineering professor and the associate dean of research and partnerships in the College of Engineering, has been studying air quality and removing chemical pollutants from the air for well over a decade.
But Soltan said the scope and focus of his work was both highlighted and changed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The research project was started with the intent of removing chemical pollutants from the air, but pivoted to focus on viruses and bacteria.
Soltan’s current project explores the use of catalysts to clean airborne pathogens. Artificially polluted air is produced in a lab environment to track exact amounts of various pollutants in the air. By testing reactions with various catalysts and ozone gas to see how they inactivate airborne pollutants, Soltan is hoping to find an efficient, active physical filter to remove pathogens from the air.
“When COVID started, we switched the technology with the hope that we could address airborne pathogens, even a simple cold or flu,” he said. “We think these viruses that are floating in the air, if you can inactivate them with this technology, you can improve the health of the air as well as the quality.”
Soltan said the research could not have evolved the way it has without the support of interdisciplinary colleagues from USask’s College of Engineering and Department of Medicine, helping address the issues of viral and bacterial contaminants.
“Those collaborations are the difference between looking at a two-dimensional picture and a three-dimensional object,” Soltan said. “It is difficult, in a way, but the reward is much, much more than the difficulty because you have a better picture, a more realistic picture, and you get access to a lot of knowledge and facilities that your collaborator brings to the project.”
The project received $250,000 in funding from the NSERC Discovery Grant program, which awards funding to creative and innovative long-term research programs.
Soltan said because the NSERC program is peer-reviewed, receiving a Discovery Grant is a strong sign that the work being funded is both respected and appreciated by other researchers in the field.
“It’s confirmation of the quality of the work that we do,” he said. “Another aspect is the flexibility that the Discovery Grant brings in, because it allows you to follow your discovery, your curiosity. Once you see a better path, a better outcome, you can shift your research to explore that outcome.”
Improving energy efficiency of modern HVAC systems
Simonson, a professor of mechanical engineering and the newly appointed interim dean of the College of Engineering, received $295,000 for research into energy-efficient heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.
Simonson’s research is multi-pronged, exploring various ways to improve the energy efficiency of buildings through improved HVAC systems, while still keeping indoor air clean.
“As we improve the energy efficiency of buildings, we still need to bring in fresh air,” he said. “That becomes a larger piece of the energy use in buildings, just providing fresh air, air we want to breathe.”
One aspect of the research project investigates heat and moisture exchangers connected to ventilation systems. These exchangers work to transfer energy from outgoing air to “precondition” incoming air.
Simonson said there are two common types of energy exchangers in commercial buildings: one where heat and moisture transfers through a membrane which separates the incoming and outgoing air, and another where a device stores and releases heat and moisture from the air. As he puts it, a key part of the research is exploring different materials in energy exchange to capture as much energy as possible from the outgoing air without capturing any contaminants along with it.
“We want to move into testing and even material modelling – how can we control those materials so they don’t transfer aerosols or gases and then release them,” Simonson said.
Another part of the Discovery Grant proposal aims to address the frosting of heat pumps for buildings. As emphasis continues to be placed on the decarbonization of energy, Simonson said effective heat pumps will become crucial for heating in cold-weather locations like Saskatchewan – so he and his team are exploring different materials to build frost-free heat pumps to operate efficiently through cold winters.
Like Soltan, this is not Simonson’s first NSERC Discovery Grant. Simonson also said the Discovery Grant is a great benefit for exploring new and important kinds of research and to provide a springboard to seek additional funding to continue this kind of research.
“The NSERC (Discovery Grant) opens doors and creates opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise exist,” Simonson said.
Other USask projects that received funding include:
Bill BiligetuPlant Sciences – College of Agriculture and BioresourcesUncovering salt-tolerance mechanisms in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)$195,000
Asmahan AbuArishAnatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology (APP) – College of MedicineDeciphering the molecular basis of water transport in mammalian airway epithelium using quantitative confocal imaging$200,000Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500
Justin BotterillAnatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology (APP) – College of MedicineA dentate gyrus circuit that regulates novelty, cognition, and affective behaviours$165,000Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500
L. Dean ChapmanAnatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology (APP) – College of MedicineX-Ray Optics for Synchrotron Biomedical Applications$230,000
Yifei DongBiochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology (BMI) – College of MedicineUnderstanding how macrophages respond to oxidized phosphatidylcholines$165,000Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500
James BensonBiology – College of Arts and ScienceModeling approaches towards improved cryopreservation$225,000
Som NiyogiBiology – College of Arts and SciencePhysiological and neurobehavioural effects of trace elements in fish$195,000
Nicole WebsterBiology – College of Arts and ScienceDevelopment and regulation of molluscan biomineralization: a morphological novelty$165,000Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500
Mitch WeegmanBiology – College of Arts and ScienceUnraveling demographic consequences of environmental drivers and individual decisions in migratory birds$255,000
Yangdou WeiBiology – College of Arts and ScienceThe Cellular and Molecular Basis of Penetration Resistance to Fungal Pathogens in Arabidopsis$295,000
Ajay DalaiChemical and Biological Engineering – School of Environment and SustainabilityApplied Catalysis Research for Renewable Liquid Fuels and Light Olefins Production and Glycerol to Chemicals$490,000
Jafar SoltanChemical and Biological Engineering – College of EngineeringDevelopment of novel heterogeneous catalysts and processes for treatment of polluted indoor air$250,000
Lope TabilChemical and Biological Engineering – College of EngineeringPreprocessing, Pretreatment and Characterization of Biomass for Bioenergy and Bioproducts$195,000
Michel GravelChemistry – College of Arts and ScienceSynthetic Studies on Medium-Sized and Large Annulenes$260,000
David PalmerChemistry – College of Arts and ScienceEnzyme catalysis: structure-function relationships, inhibition, and biocatalysis$335,000
Grant FergusonDepartment of Civil, Geological and Environmental Engineering – School of Environment and SustainabilityDeep Groundwater and the Hydrologic Cycle$250,000
Carl GutwinDepartment of Computer Science – College of Arts and ScienceImproving User Performance and Expertise in Interactive Visual Workspaces$345,000
Nathaniel OsgoodDepartment of Computer Science – College of Arts and ScienceStocking Hygeia’s Toolbox: Compositional Methods for Modeling Health & Infectious Disease$205,000
Chanchal RoyDepartment of Computer Science – College of Arts and ScienceSciClone: A Scientific Workflow based approach for studying the change, similarity and redundancy in Software$295,000
Safa KasapElectrical & Computer Engineering – College of EngineeringAmorphous Semiconductors for Optoelectronic Applications: Photodetectors & X-Ray Detectors Based on Multilayer Doped Selenium-Alloys$295,000
Xiaodong LiangElectrical & Computer Engineering – College of EngineeringA Multi-dimensional Framework for Distribution Grid Modernization$295,000
Christopher EskiwFood and Bioproduct Sciences – College of Agriculture and BioresourcesGenome reorganization in response to cellular nutrients and nutrient sensing$200,000
Yuanming PanGeological Sciences – College of Arts and ScienceTrace elements and radiation-induced defects in minerals and Earth materials: From planetary evolution to sustainable development$235,000
Carey SimonsonMechanical Engineering – College of EngineeringHeat and moisture exchangers for energy-efficient buildings: frosting, fouling and contaminant transfer$295,000
Wenjun ZhangMechanical Engineering – College of EngineeringDeveloping a Computational Design Approach for Soft Machines$295,000
Angelica LangCanadian Centre for Rural and Agricultural Health – College of MedicineFunctional movement and scapular kinematics: exploring best practice methods from calibration to application$165,000Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500
Janeen LoehrPsychology and Health Studies – College of Arts and ScienceThe sense of agency in joint action: Cognitive and neural mechanisms$295,000
Timothy JardineToxicology Centre – School of Environment and SustainabilityTracing the fluxes of low- and high-quality foodweb subsidies in freshwater ecosystems$220,000
Yanping LiGlobal Institute for Water Security – School of Environment and SustainabilityCanadian Prairie croplands and wetlands under a changing climate$235,000
Saman RazaviGlobal Institute for Water Security – School of Environment and SustainabilityModelling and Management of Water Resources Systems Under Uncertainty$250,000
Angela Bedard-HaughnSoil Science – College of Agriculture and BioresourcesPedogenesis and Predictive Soil Mapping in the Prairies$175,000
Daniel MacPheeDepartment of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences – Western College of Veterinary MedicineThe Importance of the Chaperome in Uterine Smooth Muscle Function during Pregnancy$225,000
Baljit SinghDepartment of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences – Western College of Veterinary MedicineMechanisms of Lung Inflammation: Biology of Pulmonary Intravascular Macrophages$255,000
Janet HillDepartment of Veterinary Microbiology – Western College of Veterinary MedicineDefining factors affecting population dynamics of closely related bacteria in microbial communities$225,000
Sarah WoodDepartment of Veterinary Pathology – Western College of Veterinary MedicineMechanisms of antimicrobial resistance of foulbrood bacteria in Canadian beekeeping operations$200,000Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500
Neeraj DharVIDO – College of MedicineSingle-cell analysis of two-component systems in Mycobacterium tuberculosis$165,000Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500
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For media inquiries, contact: Brooke Kleiboer USask Media Relations 306-966-1388 brooke.kleiboer@usask.ca