The Government of Ontario recently announced funding to support 406 projects at institutions across the province to advance ‘made-in-Ontario’ research and innovation. Of the $278 million administered through the Ontario Research Fund and Early Researcher Awards programs, 13 Queen’s researchers have received more than $3 million to accelerate innovations in critical areas – from cancer research to low-carbon energy.
Six of the 13 researchers are affiliated with Smith Engineering, with funding totaling over $845,000.
These provincial funds work in coordination with federal and university programs to support early-career researchers and large-scale infrastructure through sustained investment in multi-year projects.
"By investing in cutting-edge research, we are safeguarding Ontario’s position at the forefront of innovation that continues to be competitive on a global scale and has the ability to attract the best and brightest talent to our province," said Jill Dunlop, Minister of Colleges and Universities.
The funding also helps cover the direct and indirect costs of research and infrastructure, equipping research facilities with laboratories and the latest technology.
"The Government of Ontario is committed to supporting the province’s research ecosystem so that discoveries and innovations can have a direct impact on the lives of Ontarians," says Nancy Ross, Vice-Principal (Research). "My sincere thanks and appreciation to Premier Ford and Minister Dunlop for their investments in Queen’s and our research community."
Learn more about the funded projects:
Early Researcher Awards (ERA)
The ERA program awards $140,000 in funding to assist early-career researchers in accessing the latest technologies, equipment, and talent to build teams to advance their research projects. Six Queen’s researchers have been awarded funding to support innovations in artificial intelligence, plastics pollution, cancer, and low-carbon energy.
Suraj Persaud (Mechanical and Material Engineering): Developing New Materials to Enable Carbon-Free Small Modular Reactors
Nuclear power is a technology-ready, very-low carbon energy source that can address international climate change concerns. Canada and the Ontario provincial government have recognized this and developed roadmaps to deploy safer, cost-effective, and efficient smaller modular reactors (SMRs). However, success of SMRs hinges on addressing key concerns, such as better understanding the corrosion of materials in extreme environments. Dr. Persaud’s project will address the vital knowledge gaps, explore avenues to develop novel materials for SMRs, and combine cutting-edge experimental facilities, including a proton accelerator for irradiation, one-of-a-kind corrosion facilities, and state-of-the-art microscopes to advance materials discovery.
Nir Rotenberg (Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy): Giant Photon-Photon Interactions on a Chip
Light is one of the most important resources in our society as it powers all our communication networks and carries information long distances with low losses. This same ability makes light crucial to emerging quantum technologies. However, it also brings additional challenges as quantum circuits process information by acting on a quantum state (a single unit of light, the photon) in different ways depending on the state of different photons. Dr. Rotenberg’s project will create a photonic chip that uses single quanta of matter (artificial atoms) to enable efficient and controllable photon-photon interaction for the first time. This will enable the on-demand generation of entanglement, a key resource in quantum communications or quantum logic for quantum computation. The research team’s work will contribute to Ontario remaining a world-leader in the quantum sciences and technologies that stand to revolutionize industries from communications to pharmaceuticals.
Bhavin Shastri (Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy): Photonic Neural Ordinary Differential Equations
Artificial intelligence (AI) enabled by neural networks (NNs) and inspired by the human brain has impacted many industries, from medicine to finance and communications. However, software implantations of NNs on conventional computers are limited in speed and energy efficiency. Dr. Shastri’s project will explore photonics (physics of light) to enable novel AI algorithms, leading to a first-of-its-kind integration of a photonic processor (computer powered by light) on a silicon platform to implement an entirely new class of NNs called neural ordinary differential equations. This analogue photonic processor could solve such tasks on a nanosecond timescale, which is a million times faster than digital computers, and could be applied to fast irregularly sampled data (e.g., from particle detector experiments to understand the nature of the universe).
Beyond Smith Engineering, recipients of Early Researcher Awards at Queen’s include Diane Orihel (Biology and School of Environmental Studies), Colleen Renihan (DAN School of Drama and Music), and Kevin Stamplecoskie (Chemistry).
Ontario Research Fund (ORF)
The ORF provides investment for a range of activities that support research from operations to facilities. The Small Infrastructure Fund (ORF-SIF) helps cover the cost of acquiring and renewing research equipment. These funds are paired with the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund to ensure maintained project support.
Seven projects at Queen’s have received support for state-of-the-art equipment, technology, and hardware.
Suzan Eren (Electrical and Computer Engineering; Queen’s National Scholar): Fast-Charging Infrastructure for Electric Vehicles – $97,536
Current worldwide government incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have spurred electric vehicle (EV) development, especially for urban use. The number of EVs is expected to grow exponentially to 30 million by 2040. Some of the major challenges with the mass development of battery EVs is the lack of charging stations in shopping areas and workplaces and the time required for recharging. Dr. Eren’s project is seeking to develop next-generation EV battery charging stations. The team will design stations that not only increase recharging speed and reduce the amount spent on electricity, but also decrease unnecessary energy losses with a compact design. They aim to develop ultra-fast charging stations that could charge EVs in about the time it takes to fill a gas tank.
Ryan Grant (Electrical and Computer Engineering; Ingenuity Labs Research Institute): Smart Networks for Scientific Computing – $152,000
Smart Network Interface Controllers (SmartNICs) or Data Processing Units (DPUs) are hardware components that add the ability to compute in a never before available location in a High-Performance Computing (HPC) system. Dr. Grant’s project aims to build the world’s first intelligent software layer at the network hardware layer itself to optimize the performance of HPC systems. The team will find new methods for optimization and apply them in an open-source code that can be deployed on HPC systems for scientific discovery and applied in industrial settings to enhance productivity. This work will enhance investments in Ontario’s compute infrastructure in the future as such SmartNIC components become common in data centres.
Abbas Taheri (Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining): Time-Dependent Rock and Joint Behaviour in Deep Underground Environments – $175,600
One of the most significant challenges to the future of the mineral industry is the reduction in the mineral resources inventory due to high production rates and difficulties extracting deep-earth resources. The mining industry in Ontario generates more than $10 billion in annual mineral production and supports 75,000 direct and indirect jobs in Ontario. However, many of Ontario’s known mineral assets will be nearly exhausted within the next decade. Exploring greater depths could be a solution in the longer term. Deep mining and energy extraction are associated with high in-situ stress and water pressure which can cause disasters that are often complex and difficult to forecast and control. Dr. Taheri’s project will develop an advanced high-pressure triaxial compression test system and a large direct shear test system capable of applying complex stress histories to rock and discontinuities and measuring properties. The new system will provide scientific insights and quantitative studies with advanced experimental techniques on the pre-peak and post-peak failure behaviour of intact rock and discontinuities.
Beyond Smith Engineering, recipients of support from the Ontario Research Fund at Queen’s include George diCenzo (Biology), Faith Brennan (Biomedical and Molecular Sciences), David McLagan (Geology and Geological Sciences; Environmental Studies), Teresa Purzner (Surgery), and Sebastien Talbot (Biomedical and Molecular Sciences).
For more information on this latest Ontario research investment, visit the Ontario Newsroom.
This article, written by Special Projects Officer Kayla Dettinger, was published in its original form by the Queen’s Gazette.