Peak Scholars in Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Knowledge Engagement

This special edition of the Peak Scholars program celebrated entrepreneurship, innovation, and knowledge engagement activities related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

UCalgary scholars have gone to great lengths to address the global need created by the pandemic. We are incredibly proud of our community for the rapid response that resulted in exciting and groundbreaking work, with potential for significant impact. 

10 projects were selected from a highly competitive group of applicants and were recognized in four categories: Applied research; Clinical research; Equipment, infrastructure and products; and Social impact.

• Rahul Arora - Peak Scholar helps chart route out of COVID-19
• Gina Dimitropoulos - Brief-UP pilot study plucks UCalgary students from stressful experiences
• Linda Duffett-Leger - New VID-KIDS app takes help online for mums with postpartum depression
• Belinda Heyne - Innovation is the equivalent of art – it’s creation
• Casey Hubert and Michael Parkins - Listening, learning and sharing are key to successful COVID-19 wastewater project
• Michael Kallos - How to mobilize the research community to tackle an all-encompassing problem
• Bonnie Lashewicz - Long-term care workers caught 'between a rock and a hard place'
• Naomi Lightman - Short film advocates for workers following tragic impact of COVID-19 in long-term care
• Dylan Pillai - Pandemic or endemic, testing is first step in preventing serious health outcomes

Peter Dawson, Faculty of Arts
Digitally Preserving Alberta’s Cultural Heritage

Dr. Dawson engages with government and community partners through research activities that focus on digitally preserving heritage sites in Alberta and the Canadian Arctic. Dawson is the creator and director of the Alberta Digital Heritage Archive, an online repository containing high resolution 3D images and interactive computer models of over a dozen heritage sites in the province. Many of the heritage sites contained in the archive have since been lost due to the impacts of climate change and human-caused destruction. The archive contains a lasting record of these important heritage resources, ensuring they will remain accessible to future generations. https://preserve.ucalgary.ca/

Thomas O'Neill, Faculty of Arts
Creating Healthy and High-Performance Teamwork in Organizations

Dr. Tom O’Neill has worked with many organizations in order to support the development of meaningful, engaged, impactful work within the context of high-performance teamwork. Industries include oil and gas, energy, finance, and education. In addition, Dr. O’Neill has worked with start-ups and in all levels of the organization (C-suite to front lines). Dr. O’Neill conducts assessments of team health using his CARE Model of team effectiveness (Communicate, Adapt, Relationships, and Education/learning) and provides feedback to leaders and teams. Structured goal setting helps teams and their members feel more connected to the purpose of the team and their organization.

Nicole Racine, Faculty of Arts
Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences in Primary Care: Implications for Maternal-Child Health Professor, Economics

Dr. Nicole Racine is leading the ACEs-HIGH project in collaboration with 40 healthcare providers at the Riley Park Maternity Clinic, in Calgary, AB. Her work is focused on understanding whether asking about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in prenatal care leads to improved maternal and child health outcomes.

Cora Voyageur, Faculty of Arts
Indigenous Wellness and Community Building Capacity Professor

Women play the important role of transferring language, traditions, and cultural knowledge to younger generations. Recently, schools and other community agencies have taken over those tasks. Dr. Voyageur’s research builds upon our ongoing Sohki Teyhew Group’s CIHR-funded research into mature women’s wellness in which participants discuss cultural and traditional activities that help them to maintain wellness and good health as they age. The Sohki Teyhew participants identified a need for younger women to learn (or re-learn) traditional and cultural skills and activities. They believe this task is best be done by connecting middle-aged and younger women with nohkoms, Elders and other community experts who have the necessary cultural and traditional knowledge.

Sarah Kenny, Faculties of Arts and Kinesiology
Injury Prevention in Dance

Dr. Kenny’s research is unique in Canada, bringing together the disciplines of Kinesiology and Dance. Specifically, Dr. Kenny applies her experience as a contemporary dancer to the science of injury epidemiology. As lead of a longitudinal project with Alberta Ballet, Dr. Kenny’s research is impacting the international dance medicine and science community, contributing towards refined international standards of how dance-related injury is defined and captured, but also close to home, advocating for recognition of dancers as both artists and athletes.

Sandy Hershcovis, Haskayne School of Business
Harassment Policy and Bystander Intervention

Dr. Hershcovis conducts research on witness reactions to workplace harassment. Her research examines the failure of bystanders to speak up about sexual harassment, and investigates the extent to which workplace social networks protect and enable harassers. She recently gave expert testimony before House of Commons and Senate committees that influenced public policy and Canadian law on workplace harassment.

Harrie Vredenburg, Haskayne School of Business
Project Reconciliation

Dr. Harrie Vredenburg is part of the professional team supporting Project Reconciliation, an initiative to acquire majority (51%) ownership of the TransMountain pipeline and its expansion by a coalition of western Canadian Indigenous communities, at the request of the former Chief of the Thunderchild First Nation, Delbert Wapass.  Dr Vredenburg has represented Thunderchild’s equity stake in Prairie Thunder Resources, a private company majority-owned by Edge Natural Resources of Texas, for more than two years on that company’s board of directors.

Anna-Maria Hubert, Faculty of Law
Geoengineering Research Governance Project

Prof Anna-Maria Hubert’s research explores how emerging science and technology should be regulated to ensure effective, fair and democratically accountable governance in a time of global environmental change. She leads the “Geoengineering Research Governance Project”, an interdisciplinary collaboration with the University of Oxford and Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Germany. The project seeks to understand how legal frameworks can evolve to meet the challenges posed by technologies planned for deliberate large-scale interventions in natural systems to counteract climate change. A major output of the project is the development of a draft Code of Conduct for Responsible Geoengineering Research. The draft Code has received significant attention, and been considered by several international bodies and governmental agencies, offering an example of how research and transdisciplinary engagement can transform law and policy through innovative scholarly outputs.

Claire Barber, Cumming School of Medicine
Patient-Centered Framework for Measuring, Monitoring and Optimizing Rheumatoid Arthritis Care

In collaboration with patient partners and national organizations including the Arthritis Alliance of Canada and the Canadian Rheumatology Association with support from a CIHR-funded project, Dr. Barber has led the development of a Patient-Centered Framework for Measuring, Monitoring and Optimizing Rheumatoid Arthritis Care. The framework defines a central vision for quality improvement and performance measures aligned to 6 strategic objectives addressing areas for optimizing care. Her work has significantly advanced, regional and national efforts for quality improvement in inflammatory arthritis care across Canada.

Shelagh Coutts, Cumming School of Medicine
CT And MRI in the Triage of TIA and Minor Cerebrovascular Events to Identify High Risk Patients (CATCH)

Dr. Shelagh Coutts was the principal investigator of the CATCH study that showed that CT angiograms of the brain and neck in the assessment of minor stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients can predict which patients are at risk for a recurrent stroke and disability.

Kirsten Fiest, Cumming School of Medicine
Engaging Patients as Partners in Critical Care Medicine Research

Dr. Fiest's work is novel as she engages former ICU patients and family members as equal members of the team in her program of research. Dr. Fiest collaborates with patients and family members on delirium research by engaging them in drafting study materials, study recruitment and participation in focus groups. This project not only engages patients and family members but is also of high importance in the field of critical care.

Rebecca Haines-Saah, Cumming School of Medicine
Seeing Beyond the Numbers

Dr. Rebecca Haines-Saah is recognized across Canada as a leading voice for harm reduction and drug policy reform in the context of the opioid overdose death crisis. In partnership with community groups mumsDU and Moms Stop the Harm, the “Seeing Beyond the Numbers” Project challenges the stigma of substance use, suicide, and overdose by sharing family experiences of grief and advocacy. http://see-beyond.ca

Catherine Lebel, Cumming School of Medicine 
Improving MRI Scanning in Young Children

Dr. Lebel and her team have transformed the MRI scanning experience for children into a rocketship adventure, allowing them to collect a large, longitudinal neuroimaging dataset, and to detail brain development across early childhood. Furthermore, in partnership with Anesthesia, Child Life, and Diagnostic Imaging at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, they are conducting a study to see if similar preparation methods reduce the need for anesthesia for children undergoing clinical MRI scans.

Nancy Marlett, Cumming School of Medicine
Patient and Community Engagement Research in Partnership with Alberta’s Strategic Clinical Networks

Patient and Community Engagement Research or PaCER, in partnership with Alberta’s Strategic Clinical Networks,  the O’Brien Institute of Public Health and Continuing Education is incubating an innovative science of patient engagement.  Patients and researchers learn how to conduct and support research - by with and for patients.  The graduates of the UofC certificate program bring a patient research voice to health care transformation. PaCER has gained recognition nationally and internationally as it expands across Canada.

Heather Bensler, Faculty of Nursing
Indigenous Initiatives Connecting Nursing Students, First Nations Communities and the Broader Calgary through Community Engagement

As the Director of Indigenous Initiatives, Heather engages students, faculty, and most importantly Indigenous partners in creating meaningful programs that address community-identified needs. Through innovative means, Heather builds the faculty's capacity to implement the University's Indigenous Strategy and the TRC Calls to Action specific to nursing education.

Eloise Carr, Faculty of Nursing
Enhancing the Lives of People with Chronic Pain Who Live with a Dog: The Human Animal Pain Interactions (HAPI) Network

Dr. Eloise Carr is the lead investigator for a new research network - Human-Animal Pain Interactions (HAPI). Our symposium 'Gone to the Dogs' brought together over 100 people representing researchers, community partners, and the general public. In just three years we have established a growing network of researchers, community organizations, patients and the public across North America, and beyond, that suggests living with a dog can bring health and social benefits for people living with chronic or persistent pain.

Sarah Dewell, Faculty of Nursing
Linking Nursing Knowledge and Genomics through Innovative Education

Dr. Sarah Dewell connects nursing knowledge and genomics to enrich the implementation of genomic health care. Dewell has helped create a knowledge engagement hub which provides needed genomics educational resources within a Canadian healthcare context and exposure to international genomic nursing education, research, and practice.

Tam Truong Donnelly, Faculty of Nursing
Breast Cancer Screening Among Arabic Women Living in the State of Qatar

As the Lead Principal Investigator, Dr. Tam Truong Donnelly, a full professor, Faculty of Nursing and Adjunct Professor, Cumming School of Medicine established large multidisciplinary research teams including colleagues from nursing, medicine, epidemiology, and education, as well as partners from major Qatari institutions (Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar Ministry of Health, Qatar Primary Health Care, Qatar Centre for Cancer Care and Research) to address health priorities in Arab-speaking population in Qatar. One of her studies investigating breast cancer screening practices of Arab women have influenced healthcare policy and delivery in Qatar and across the Middle East region. 

Kuljeet Singh Grewal, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape
Influence of Mixed-use Neighborhood Developments on the Performance of Waste-to-Energy CHP Plant

Dr. Kuljeet Grewal is conducting research on sustainable neighborhood design that also involves planning of clean energy resources. He recently quantified the energy generation by waste-to-energy (WtE) based CHP plant for various mixed-use neighborhoods configurations. It is estimated that 13.5% energy demands of Alberta can be fulfilled by WtE facilities.

Caroline Hachem-Vermette, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape
Towards High Energy Performance, Climate Resilient Neighborhoods: Developing Methodologies and Tools Assistant

The research conducted in Dr. Hachem-Vermette’s lab (Solar  Energy and Community Design Lab  (SECDL) aims at developing procedures, methodologies and tools for the design of climate resilient, energy self-sufficient, mixed-use communities, and the assessment of their environmental impact from a life-cycle perspective.

Tawab Hlimi, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape
The Green Alley Project

The Green Alley Project is a resilience and revitalization design strategy for Downtown Calgary, advocating for the potential of alley ways to serve as integrated natural infrastructures for stormwater management and vibrant public places for pedestrian activity. Working with the Calgary Downtown Association, the mission of the Green Alley Project is to transform perceptions and to highlight potentials through the integration of design research and a series of design installations. 

Jiaxun (Jennifer) He, Schulich School of Engineering
Bioretention for Enhancing Urban Stormwater Management

Dr. Jianxun (Jennifer) He pursues knowledge engagement and collaborative research activities that address real-world practice issues in the field of water resources engineering. Her research ranges from improving understanding of physical mechanisms through field monitoring to developing modeling tools in order to enhance water resources management for sustaining societal functions and healthy ecosystems.

Pedro Pereira Almao, Schulich School of Engineering
Industrialization of Greenhouse Gases (CO2 and Methane) to Produce High Value Carbon Nano-fibres

Dr. Pereira Almao develops catalysts and processes to unlock the energetic potential of resources from bitumen to bio-wastes, in close collaboration with industrial sponsors since 2003. In parallel he has also investigated on his own, into transforming the ultimate environmental irreversible impact of the use of fuels, the green house gases CO2 and methane.

Derek Lichti, Schulich School of Engineering
Imaging Metrology

Dr Derek Lichti’s research focuses on developing new methods for precise 3D measurement from imaging sensors. One of his inventions, MillMapper, has changed mining service industry practice for comminution mill monitoring.

Amir Nezhad, Schulich School of Engineering
Nanobiosensing Technology for Point of Care Detection of Brain Injuries, Cancer and Infection

Dr. Amir Sanati-Nezhad is the Canada Research Chair in BioMEMS and leads the microfluidic sensing technology and novel medical devices at the University of Calgary. He has developed various sensing technologies for rapid diagnosis and management of diseases like brain injuries, cancer and infection. His technology development, translational research and entrepreneurship approach have resulted in several innovations, patents and spin out companies. These technologies, once are commercialized and accessible to patients, will be predictive for early disease diagnosis and monitoring the recovery process, with the impact on the health of Canadian patients.

Viola Birss, Faculty of Science
Clean Energy Storage and Conversion

Dr. Birss’ research focuses on better understanding fuel cell reaction mechanisms, on CO2 conversion in high temperature electrolysis cells, utilizing their teams very promising metal oxide catalyst, and also on improving performance and lifetime of low-temperature PEM fuel cells through the development of paradigm-shifting nanoporous carbon scaffold materials.  Dr. Birss has been collaborating with Honeywell Aerospace for over 25 years, and recently two start-up companies have evolved from her group: SeeO2 Energy and Momentum Materials.

Ian Lewis, Faculty of Science
Harnessing microbial metabolism to fight infections

Dr. Ian Lewis specializes in using metabolomics to investigate infectious diseases. He is the founder and head of the Calgary Metabolomics Research Facility, the principal investigator on two Genome Canada projects related to infectious diseases, and is the project leader of APEX—a new provincial wide network that enables translational research. The research and innovation initiatives in the Lewis lab are focused on drastically reducing infectious disease testing timelines in hospitals across Canada. These tools will markedly improve clinical outcomes for all Canadians who suffer from microbial infections.

Joel Reardon, Faculty of Science
Improving Mobile Privacy

Dr. Reardon focuses research on security and privacy issues related to smart phones. His recent efforts have been the study of the ads and analytics companies that are present in a wealth of nomially free apps but which allow their developers to monetize it through the wholesale harvesting of private user data and behavioural profiling. His work has resulted in on-going regulatory actions against major companies and media coverage in venues such as the CBC and  Financial Times.  Google Play's Designed For Families program has also changed their requirements shortly after the release of a large-scale study that showed that a majority of Children's games are potentially illegally tracking children.

Venkataraman Thangadurai, Faculty of Science
Advanced Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion Technologies: All-Solid-State Batteries and Fuel Cells

Dr. Thangadurai develops next generation electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems that utilize advanced solid state electrolytes and electrodes for all-solid-state Li  batteries, solid oxide cells, and gas sensors. He is pioneer in the development of 6V stable solid state Li ion electrolytes and chemical stable perovskites and utilization of garnets in high energy density lithium-sulfur batteries and perovskite-type oxides in fuel cells. He is the founder and scientific advisor with Ion Storage Systems, a solid state battery company in Maryland, USA.

Mea Wang, Faculty of Science
Innovation at the Intersection of Computing and Networking with Entrepreneurial Thinking

Dr. Wang conducts innovative research at the interaction of computing and networking with entrepreneurial thinking.  She closely collaborate with industry partners (AT&T, Cybera, and OASIS) to propose and prototype innovative solutions in areas of multimedia networking, cloud computing, network management, and IoT.  She is also very active in entrepreneurship education.  She has been the Technovation regional ambassador from 2014 to 2019.  She is currently teaching the Software Entrepreneurship course.

Richard Ramsey, Faculty of Social Work
LivingWorks

In 1983, Dr. Ramsey, along with colleagues Bryan Tanney, Roger Tierney, and Bill Lang set out to address the lack of effective skills to empower everyone to help save lives from suicide. This groundbreaking program addressed a critical need for suicide intervention skills in many workplaces and communities. It spread across Canada and made its way to the USA, Australia, and beyond. The four founders' partnership became LivingWorks, a social enterprise dedicated to building a world free from suicide loss. 

Kathleen Sitter, Faculty of Social Work
Participatory Visual Media: Creativity, Innovation, and Impact

Dr. Sitter pursues knowledge engagement and participatory research activities using creative storytelling approaches to improve quality of life for people with disabilities through thought provoking first-person creative works that engage key stakeholders in social issues. Dr. Sitter has lead and co-led several projects including Making the Journey in Transportation and Love Bytes: Supporting Sexual Health for Persons with Disabilities. Dr. Sitter's research contributions have led to implementing important legislative and service delivery changes in supporting the human rights of persons with disabilities. Her work includes over 90 arts-based media with a reach of over +1MM people in knowledge translation efforts.

Cindy Adams, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Novel Model of Communication using a One Health Approach towards Community Engagement

Combining the different knowledge, skills and perspectives gained from a career in social work and a doctorate in Veterinary Epidemiology, Dr. Adams has pioneered a research program pertaining to the impact of clinical communication on outcomes of care for animals and their owners.  She developed and implemented the first clinical communication skills training program in veterinary medicine.

Ina Dobrinski, Cumming School of Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Modeling Disease in Swine by Transplantation of Gene Targeted Germ Cells

Dr. Dobrinski’s current project with Recombinetics, Inc., is supported by an NIH-NIGMS Phase II SBIR award to transfer germ cell transplantation technology in swine developed by Dr. Dobrinski’s group to generate commercially valuable swine models for the study and treatment of human disease.

Ed Pajor, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Knowledge Translation and Community Engagement at the Calgary Stampede

Over the past 10 years, Dr. Pajor has developed an exemplary program in knowledge translation and community engagement with the Calgary Stampede.  Dr. Pajor’s efforts have led to the development of numerous science based animal care programs that improves the welfare of animals used at the Calgary Stampede.  Dr. Pajor’s community engagement involves direct communication with the public, the press, and numerous government officials on a regular basis to ensure that science based information is part of the public discourse on animal welfare issues.

Innovate Calgary Special Recognition

Parvus Therapeutics
Dr. Pere Santamaria, Cumming School of Medicine

Parvus is pioneering a novel class of disease-modifying therapeutics, called Navacims, that represent a paradigm shift in the way that autoimmune diseases are treated. Navacim drug candidates are able to selectively blunt the action of pathogenic immune cells, restoring immune tolerance and potentially reversing disease. Parvus has entered into a worldwide collaboration and license agreement with Genentech,  to develop, manufacture, and commercialize novel Navacim therapeutics for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), autoimmune liver diseases (ALD), and celiac disease (CD).

Willow Biosciences
Dr. Peter Facchini, Faculty of Science

Willow Biosciences is a synthetic biology company, rooted in innovative cannabinoid production. They are a multidisciplinary team of world-leading discovery biologists, biochemists and geneticists dedicated to harnessing the therapeutic potential of plants. Willow was formed through the merger of BIOCAN Technologies and Epimeron. Willow recently expanded operations to include three facilities in Alberta, California, and British Columbia.

2018-19 Patent Recipients

Gerald Zamponi and Philip Diaz: T-type Calcium Channel Modulator and Uses Thereof (US 10,227,332)

Viola Birss, Beatriz Molero Sanchez and Paul Addo: High Performance Oxygen snd Fuel Electrode For Reversible Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Applications (US 10,147,955)

Daniel Holloway: Suturing Training Device and Method (US 10,347,155)

Viola Birss, Xiaoan Li and Daniel Kwok: Porous Carbon Films (US 10,258,932)

Susan Graham, Faculty of Arts
Engaging Early Language Acquisition to Support Healthy Child Development

In Canada, 25% of kindergarten children have difficulty in at least one of five key developmental domains prior to entering Grade 1. These early-emerging developmental issues are often long-lasting and have cascading effects over development. Dr. Graham’s research program examines child development during the infancy and preschool years with specific focus on delineating the interactive trajectories of early language, cognitive, and social-cognitive development. Understanding how linguistic, social, and cognitive abilities work together to shape children’s development leads to a greater understanding of how typical development unfolds and has the potential to lead to more reliable identification of those children who are at high risk for cognitive and language problems.

Ronald D. Kneebone, Faculty of Arts
Public Policy Solutions to Homelessness

My research into public policies associated with the social problems of homelessness and poverty has involved establishing relationships with social agencies in Calgary and with relevant government ministries at both the federal and provincial levels of government. This approach recognizes that developing practical and useful government policy interventions requires the close collaboration of the community level agencies working most closely with people impacted by homelessness and poverty, governments with the responsibility for implementing polices, and an independent arms-length research team able to fairly assess policy options.

Jennifer Leason, Faculty of Arts
Education for Reconciliation

Professor Leason has been nominated for her work in Truth and Reconciliation. In addition to her multifaceted, interdisciplinary research, teaching and service that span local, provincial, national and international Indigenous communities, her education for reconciliation experiential learning exercise has been transformational. The exercise, which has been conducted across Canada has improved lives by transforming participant’s capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect for Indigenous peoples (TRC, 2015: p. 7, #62–63 iii); and skills-based training in intercultural competence, conflict resolution, human rights and anti-racism (TRC 2015, p. 3, #24).

Marie-Claire Arrieta, Cumming School of Medicine
A Healthy Microbiome During Childhood Fosters Lifelong Health

Dr. Marie-Claire Arrieta is an assistant professor at the Departments of Physiology & Pharmacology and Pediatrics at the University of Calgary (since Sept 2016). Research from Dr. Arrieta concerns both basic and applied aspects of gastrointestinal immunophysiology and microbiology, as well as symbiotic host-microbial interactions in the vertebrate gut. Her work has significantly advanced our knowledge on the microbiome influence on asthma development. She demonstrated that gut microbial alterations are not only associated with subsequent asthma risk in human infants, but also causally implicated in disease in a relevant animal model, demonstrating —for the first time—a causal association between the gut microbiome and asthma.

Fiona Costello, Cumming School of Medicine
Innovations in Biomarker Development: Multiple Sclerosis Research and Clinical Care

Dr. Costello has pioneered the establishment of optical coherence tomography (OCT) as a novel biomarker in multiple sclerosis research and clinical care. Over the past decade, her research has highlighted the utility of OCT in quantifying the extent of brain injury in multiple sclerosis patients. Dr. Costello has distinguished herself as an international leader in her field, and identified the University of Calgary as an institution committed to advancing the role of vision research.

Bin Hu, Cumming School of Medicine
Canadian Ambulosono Project

An innovative non-pharmaceutical therapeutic program for Parkinson’s disease. The Ambulosono Project has now been introduced in six countries, helping many patients improve their quality of life. The project has spurred many international collaborations and innovative activities in academic medicine, technological development, student training, public education, and community engagement and commercialization. Ambulosono Project has been cited by Canadian governments and funding agencies as an exemplary case in translational neuroscience research.

Deborah Kurrasch, Cumming School of Medicine
Drug Screening for the Treatment of Refractory Pediatric Epilepsies

Dr Kurrasch’s lab has developed a novel drug screening platform that uses zebrafish to uncover therapies for children with epilepsy who fail to respond to current medications. Their top drug is in clinical trials in Dravet syndrome patients at Alberta Children’s Hospital and they are currently validating other lead candidates. Dr Kurrasch is a co-founder and CEO of Path Therapeutics, a biotech company that develops drugs for rare, pediatric epilepsies.

Irene Wai Yan Ma, Cumming School of Medicine
Integrating Point-of-Care Ultrasound into the Practice and Education of Medical Residents

One of the most transformative technologies introduced to clinical medicine is the use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) at the bedside. POCUS allows safer procedures and augments the physical examination by directly visualizing bedside findings. Our team has created an evidence base in support of its use and defined educational elements and education indicators for internal medicine locally and nationally, laying the foundation for responsibly integrating new technology to clinical medicine.

Deborah A. Marshall, Cumming School of Medicine
Patient Preferences and Engagement of Patients in Research

Patient preferences is about understanding the needs and values of patients and making them an integral part of clinical practice and service planning. Patient engagement is enabling individuals to gain knowledge about their condition and treatment options, to take an active role in managing and treating their condition, and to influence medical practice and policy.

Naweed I. Syed, Cumming School of Medicine
Brain-Chip Interfacing Technologies

Dr. Syed’s team is the first to develop a true bionic hybrid whereby neurons in culture, brain slices and intact brain of freely behaving animals have been directly interfaced with the electronic chip. This technological breakthrough has tremendous implications for exploring brain function - to repair damaged brain tissue and to develop future brain controlled prosthetic devices. In addition, Dr. Syed has also been the recipient of Canada-150 Medal by the Senate of Canada and the University of Calgary Faculty Association for his outstanding community services.

James A. White, Cumming School of Medicine
Standardized Diagnostic Phenotyping for Personalized Healthcare

Dr. White's is Director of the Stephenson Cardiac Imaging Centre at the Libin Cardiovascular Institute.  His research is focussed on patient-specific risk models for the prediction of cardiovascular outcomes, such as sudden cardiac death and heart failure.  He is pioneering the generation of data-driven models using standardized data from diagnostic tests, inclusive of cardiac imaging, to provide patients a more accurate and individualized way to estimate risk and to guide their care decisions.  He is Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Cohesic, a rapidly growing software company delivering cloud-based solutions to bridge hospitals, researchers and healthcare industry partners to collectively discover new ways to deliver precision medicine.

Alice de Koning, Haskayne School of Business
Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education

Dr. de Koning has lead the effort to design and implement a new entrepreneurship curriculum for all university students.  The goal of the entrepreneurship programming is to create a combination of rigorous university courses and a wide variety of non-curricular activities, encouraging students to construct their education in entrepreneurship to fit their personal goals and passions.  Her contribution emphasizes experiential learning, community engagement, and interdisciplinary approaches.

Emily Laidlaw, Faculty of Law
Technology and Intermediaries

Dr. Laidlaw’s research on technology intermediaries examines the role of private companies as regulatory middlemen between technology and users, in particular the impact of intermediation on freedom of expression and privacy. Dr. Laidlaw translates her research into action through law reform. She is advisor to various projects, including the Law Commission of Ontario on defamation law and the Uniform Law Conference of Canada on non-consensual sharing of intimate images. Her current SSHRC funded project seeks to reform the tort of privacy to address online abuse and technology.

Dawn Kingston, Faculty of Nursing
HOPE Digital Platform Supporting e-Mental Health - A First in Canada

The HOPE Digital Platform is a model of universal mental healthcare. Built on an e-technology backbone, this virtual single-point access to mental healthcare is being trialled in pregnant and postpartum women across all five zones in Alberta. Like a doorway into a mental healthcare system, women can access e-screening, e-referral, and e-therapy - anytime, anywhere.

Paul Barclay, Faculty of Science
Quantum Nanophotonics

Creating photonic devices that connect light to nanomechanical and nanoelectronic systems whose behaviour is governed by the laws of quantum mechanics,  in order to realize sensors that detect forces and fields with record precision, implement systems for secure communication and computing, and advance the state-of-the-art of nanofabrication. 

Belinda Heyne, Faculty of Science
Innovations in Light Activated Materials

Dr. Heyne’s research investigates a wide range of topics wherein ambient light is used as a powerful tool to solve relevant industry and societal problems, including the current antibiotic resistance crisis. Her basic and applied research has been done with an eye towards improving cleaning practices in health-care, food and agricultural industries, and towards knowledge engagement with the province and the forestry industry in Alberta leading to disruptive innovations adding economic value to abundant biomass resources.

Lora Oehlberg, Faculty of Science
People-Centered Technology for Creativity and Collaboration

Dr. Oehlberg’s research examines how new technologies can augment human creativity and facilitate collaboration, expression, and innovation. Her human-centered approach learns from and works alongside creative communities – from open-hardware communities and interaction designers, to electronic fashion designers and improvisational actors – to tailor new collaboration and design tools that support real-world creative practices.

Cathy Ryan, Faculty of Science
Community-Driven Water Research Program

Cathy Ryan's research interest are focussed around issues identified by a range of stakeholder communities that range from understanding the origin of locally weak (and unfarmable) areas of Alberta soils called 'soapholes', ground contribution to the Elbow River (which supplies 45% of Calgary), groundwater supply prospects for a desert region in Peru under an agro-export boom, and the implications of free-phase gas transport in the subsurface (both as the driving force behind geyser activity and stray methane gases around leaky petroleum wells).  Dr. Ryan also works with local agencies, including APEGA, Parks Canada, the Alberta Energy Regulator, and Alberta Environment and Parks. 

Anatoliy Swishchuk, Faculty of Science
Financial Mathematics and Energy Finance Seminar ‘Lunch at the Lab’-14 Years and On

In these positions as Co-Director and now Director of the Mathematical and Computational Finance Lab, and the creator, organizer and coordinator of Financial Mathematics and Energy Finance seminar 'Lunch at the Lab' for 14 years, Dr. Swishchuk was and is facilitating not only new research developments in financial mathematics and energy finance, but is also providing training of numerous HQP, and is developing new technologies with particular emphasis on energy and financial markets, working with academic and industrial partners to serve the needs of the community.

David Este, Faculty of Social Work
We are the Roots: Black Settlers and Their Experiences of Discrimination on the Canadian Prairies

Working with Deborah Dobbins, President of the Shiloh Community Multicultural Roots (Edmonton) and Dr. Jenna Bailey, University of Lethbridge, “We Are The Roots”  explores the experiences of 1500 African Americans who migrated and settled in Alberta and Saskatchewan between 1905-1912. The film is seen the lens of interviews conducted with 19 descendants of those black settlers.

Linda Kreitzer, Faculty of Social Work
Social Work in Africa: Exploring Culturally Relevant Social Work Education and Practice

Dr. Kreitzer’s work in Africa began when she was a volunteer teaching social work in Ghana in 1994. Through this experience she critically explored what kind of curriculum was being taught in Ghana through her PhD work. From this work she became involved in this important discussion throughout all of  English speaking Africa attending conferences and participating in workshops with social work colleagues and students. She also found unique and unheard of Association of Social Work Education in Africa (ASWEA) documents from 1973-1990 that are records of debates on this subject by African social work educators. These 20 documents are now online, in DVD form and hard copies were presented, in person, to many African social work programs from 2000-2010. Her book “Social work in Africa: Exploring culturally relevant Education and Practice in Ghana” is used by many social work programs in Africa as well as around the world to challenge educators and practitioners as to how to teach and practice social work in a culturally appropriate way.

Michael (Mishka) Lysack, Faculty of Social Work
Innovative Leadership for Renewable Energy Economy and Climate Protection

Since 2008, Dr. Michael (Mishka) Lysack has been bringing effective sector leaders from Germany, US, and UK to Canada to mentor and build capacity among their Canadian counterparts for innovative social/environmental leadership. These sector leaders mentor their Canadian counterparts in problem-solving barriers and generating innovative solutions to advance/accelerate a renewable energy transition, sustainable economy, and climate protection in Canada. Through partnerships with the German Embassy, UK High Commission and US institutes, Dr. Lysack has made these sector leaders available to Canadian universities/researchers, government/political leaders, business, NGOs/civil society, and media in 6 cities: Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Victoria.

Joule Bergerson, Schulich School of Engineering
Innovations in the Assessment of Advanced Energy Technologies

Joule Bergerson’s research program applies an interdisciplinary, systems-level engineering approach that draws on methods and tools from several scientific fields. Her research explores appropriate combinations of techniques across the life cycle of technology development through to deployment; the unique characteristics of the particular energy technology; and the nature and degree of uncertainty associated with each stage of its development. In April 2015, Dr. Bergerson released the Petroleum Refinery Life Cycle Inventory Model as an open-source tool. This innovative modeling approach allows for a more detailed evaluation of the impact of crude quality and refinery configurations on GHG emissions than was previously available.

The results of this research have informed policy change, for example, they were incorporated into the 2015 Alberta Climate Leadership report, and has led to an invited presentations including the COP21 meeting in Paris in 2015. The model has been adopted by several oil companies for internal use and it has been incorporated into an investor toolkit (developed by ARC Financial) to manage investors’ climate change risk as well as the most recent research paper in Science Magazine were covered by hundreds of media outlets.

Alex Bruton, Schulich School of Engineering
Straight Up Business Institute

Dr. Bruton’s scholarly work is in the area of teaching and learning for fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, i.e. he advances theoretical frameworks, practical curricula, and award-winning tools for helping others start impactful ventures, and for helping educational leaders develop entrepreneurial talent and accelerate innovation. The Straight Up Business Institute is an open education company and innovation design firm that helps people learn to innovate. It counts professors at hundreds of universities among the people it has helped. It has provided the underpinnings of several notable nation-wide initiatives for fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, including the federally-funded Big Idea Labs designed for STEM educated people who had been laid off from Blackberry in the Waterloo area. And its leading edge educational approaches help thousands of innovators every year in places as far away as Moscow, Mexico, and Waterloo, and in the labs of some amazing organizations such as Google.

Lina Kattan, Schulich School of Engineering
Transportation Systems Optimization

Dr Kattan's research lies at the intersection of diverse disciplines, including engineering, urban planning, applied mathematics, psychology and sociology, and focuses on the exploration of the techno-economic, environmental and social dimensions associated with the deployment of emerging transportation technologies. In order to achieve sustainability, Dr Kattan's team has developed sophisticated traffic and transportation  models which incorporate the key drivers that shape and improve quality of life in Canadian cities, including environmental, efficiency, equity, safety, social, and economic measures. Insights from her work inform policies and investment decisions needed to meet societal sustainability objectives. 

Hamidreza Zareipour, Schulich School of Engineering
Training Engineering Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs

Dr. Zareipour is  an advocate for entrepreneurial thinking among undergraduate engineering education. He has established entrepreneurship stream projects with in the fourth year team design project course where students are linked with the start-up community in Alberta, and are trained for not only the technical design of solutions but also for converting them to products are services. He advocates to support those engineering students who instead of looking for jobs are creating jobs. Out of his course over the past six years, many engineering students are exposed to entrepreneurship and intra-preneurship thinking and some have stared companies with very positive outlook.

Jeroen De Buck, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Innovation in Infectious Disease Biosensors

Dr. De Buck has developed a unique diagnostic platform technology. The technology is elegant and highly sophisticated conceptually and yet inexpensive and straightforward in application. The numbers of potential uses for this technology in a myriad of analytics cannot be overstated. The method has the potential to replace many rapid/field and laboratory based assays for detection of both infectious disease agents and possibly any other molecules of interest. In fact, it has the potential to revolutionize the means of conducting detection –for many applications including medical and veterinary diagnostics. He is founder of Creative Protein Solutions, a biotech start-up create to commercializes the biosensor technology.

David C. Hall, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Ecosystem Approaches to Improve Water and Farm Health in Vietnam

Dr. Hall’s research explores EcoHealth options for working with low income, small scale agriculture communities in Vietnam where drinking water quality has been compromised by bacteria from animal waste. Working with commune leaders and villagers, the partnership has identified sustainable, cost effective, filtration and purification technologies. Our partnership has extended to include policy makers and industry, allowing centuries old commune agricultural systems to continue while reducing the threat of emerging infectious disease.

Tuan Trang, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Alleviating Opioid Withdrawal by Blocking Pannexin-1 Channels

Patients on opioids who wish to decrease or stop their medication often endure symptoms of withdrawal. Work from the Trang laboratory established a new understanding for the critical role of immune cells in this condition. In putting the molecular puzzle together, his team identified that probenecid a Health Canada-approved anti-gout medication effectively curbs opioid withdrawal in rodents. This discovery is being translated into the clinic to help chronic pain patients at risk for opioid withdrawal.

2017–2018 Patent Recipients

• Gerald Zamponi
• Gregory Welch
• Vincius De Maria Gadotti
• Seth McAfee
• Agutin Garcia Caballero
• Jonathan Cann
• Chang-Chun Ling
• Leo Belostotski
• Ping Zhang
• Michael Himmelfarb
• Hermann Schaetzl
• Sabine Gilch
• Basant Abdulrahman

David G. Dick, Faculty of Arts
Integrity Network

The Integrity Network is a working group of ethics professionals from corporate, academic, and non-profit sectors that meets four times a year to discuss and engage business ethics issues. Now six years old, the Integrity Network has grown from a small informal lunch group to an organization with regular meetings and more than 100 participants from 50 organizations.

Jeff Caird, Faculty of Arts, Professor
The Teen and Novice Driver Crash Mitigation Project

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among those aged 15 to 20 in Canada, the U.S. and worldwide. This project involved more than 10 years of problem-driven research by researchers across Canada that was funded by the AUTO21 Network of Centres of Excellence and led by the nominee that focused on identifying contributors (e.g., alcohol, cannabis, distraction, fatigue and lack of experience) and developing countermeasures (e.g., education, interventions, graduated licensing, policy, and training) to reduce teen and novice drivers’ motor vehicle crashes. 

Trevor Tombe, Faculty of Arts
Yukon Government Financial Advisory Panel

Like many governments around the world, low commodity prices have hit Yukon hard. Their projected budget shortfalls over the coming years are large, with no immediately obvious or easy solution. In response, the Yukon Government created a 'Financial Advisory Panel' of five independent experts to come up with options and engage with Yukoners to deal with these financial challenges. The panel will complete its work in November, and its report will guide government budgets in the coming years.

Andrew Demchuk, Cumming School of Medicine
Endovascular Reperfusion Alberta 

Endovascular Reperfusion Alberta is a multiple stakeholder project that I was the physician lead for which intended to improve access for rural patients to acute stroke mechanical thrombectomy treatment. A pre-hospital pathway was created that streamlines processes to limited any time bottlenecks. Stakeholders included the Cardiovascular Health and Stroke Strategic Clinical Network, STARS, RAPID, AHS, and all stroke centres in the province.

Cheryl Barnabe, Cumming School of Medicine
Group for Research with Indigenous Peoples (GRIP) and the Alberta Indigenous Mentorship in Health Innovation (AIM-HI) Network

Together with David Turner, GRIP engages scholars, stakeholders and Indigenous community members from diverse disciplines, professions, and institutions to encourage respectful research that aids Indigenous Peoples in achieving well-being. The AIM-HI Network will enhance capacity in health research led by Indigenous scholars. The AIM-HI Network provides Indigenous scholar mentorship activities and opportunities for experiential engagement and advancement in Indigenous health research, scholarships for mentees, and a suite of recruitment and retention activities.

Fiona Clement, Cumming School of Medicine
Health Technology Assessment Unit

The Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Unit is a policy-responsive research team that supports governments to develop evidence-informed policy.  In 5 short years, Fiona has expanded the Unit to be the only Unit in Canada that supports multiple provinces enabling pan-provincial coordination and collaboration on key policy issues. 

Katrina Milaney, Cumming School of Medicine
Calgary Recovery Services Task Force and Final Report and Recommendations

Dr. Milaney has been actively engaged in community-based research and knowledge translation activities for 15 years.  In 2017 she worked collaboratively with the Calgary Recovery Services Task Force to advance several evidence-based recommendations to Alberta Health to enhance addiction and mental health supports for homeless Calgarians. This research and engagement project led to 750,000 in new dollars for community-based responses to streamline access to health services for Calgary’s most vulnerable. This project also led to a needs assessment to develop interventions in response to the current opioid crisis that is currently underway. 

Lindsay McLaren, Cumming School of Medicine
Community Water Fluoridation Cessation: Equity, Controversy, and Decision-making in Population and Public Health

Dr. McLaren’s research focuses on community water fluoridation, and is anchored in the City of Calgary’s decision to stop the practice of fluoridation in 2011. The research program is interdisciplinary in scope and includes, for example, studies aimed at understanding 1) the process and circumstances that led to council’s decision to stop fluoridation, and 2) the implications of fluoridation cessation for children’s dental health. 

Randal Johnston, Cumming School of Medicine
Biomedical Technology 

Dr. Johnston served as President and CEO of Genome Prairie/Alberta for five years and helped initiate the funding of multiple genomics projects and the establishment of multiple biotech start-ups. In his current role as Director of the Master in Biomedical Technology graduate program, he has coordinated and taught over 100 science students, providing an efficient bridge to employment in the biotech sector.

Scott Patten, Cumming School of Medicine
Epidemiology of Mood Disorders in Canada

Dr. Patten’s research examines the burden, distribution and determinants of mood disorders in the Canadian population. This includes making detailed comparisons of mood disorder prevalence, incidence and associated mortality in relation to personal, environmental and clinical characteristics.

Shalina Sheryl Ousman, Cumming School of Medicine
AlphaB-crystallin as a Therapy for the Injured Peripheral Nervous System

After many decades of research, there is still a lack of medications to promote long distance axon regeneration and functional recovery for millions of individuals with peripheral nerve injuries. With my PhD student Erin-Mai Lim, we recently showed that alphaB-crystallin, a small heat shock protein that is expressed by Schwann cells (the glial cells of the peripheral nervous system), was therapeutic in improving remyelination and functional recovery in animals with peripheral nerve crush damage. With a provisional patent in hand, we are now testing the medicinal effect of alphaB-crystallin in models with human relevant injuries. 

Stephen Wilton, Cumming School of Medicine
Measuring and Improving Outcomes for Patients with Heart Disease 

Stephen is leading the Acute Myocardial Infarction Quality Assurance (AMIQA) Canada initiative, a nationwide observational study that is trying to identify opportunities to improve care and prevent sudden cardiac death in people who have survived a heart attack. 

Jason Johnson, Faculty of Environmental Design
Constructing Digital Futures

Constructing Digital Futures is an SSHRC funded initiative that brings together design researchers from all over North America to collaborate on projects that develop and promote digital tools for design literacy.  This project has been a platform for engaging communities in the production of design artifacts through digital tools and has resulted in a number of public art projects across Alberta.

Joshua Taron, Faculty of Environmental Design
Constructing Digital Futures

Founded in 2008, the Laboratory for Integrative Design (LID) has focused on the ways in which computational techniques impact the design of architecture and the built environment at all scales. Constructing Digital Futures uses the LID as a platform that enables people to play a greater role in the design and adaptation of their built environments while training emerging architects to approach the interface between designers and clients as an entrepreneurial opportunity.

Irene M. Herremans, Haskayne School of Business
Innovative International Internships in Sustainability 

Ten Master of Science students in Sustainable Energy Development engaged in internships in Ecuador where they had an opportunity to apply their technical knowledge in three communities.  The interns worked with high school students and community leaders to guide them in becoming agents of change in their communities.  In addition to providing numerous benefits both to the interns and their communities, the research team gained insights in educating for sustainability and developing sustainability leaders.  Thus the project played a role in fulfilling the UN Sustainable Development Goals through U of C’s campus as a learning lab.

Michael Robinson, Haskayne School of Business
Creative Destruction Lab Rockies

Michael was the Director of CDL-Rockies, that provides support to seed and early-stage massively-scalable science-based ventures.  The program will provide the opportunity for 25 ventures to seek mentoring and potentially financial support from a group of over 30 highly engaged accomplished business angels drawn from across Western Canada.  The program will also involve MBA students working with the ventures over a nine-month period as they seek to use science to transform Canada’s social, industrial, and economic landscape.

Mohammad Keyhani, Haskayne School of Business
Entrepreneur Tools

The “Entrepreneur Tools” list (https://entrepreneur-tools.zeef.com/) is a comprehensive, curated and crowdsourcing-enhanced list of tools and resources initially made for entrepreneurship students at the University of Calgary, which has now become a popular reference for start-ups and entrepreneurs around the world. The project is currently under expansion and will soon include a new page on crowdfunding resources, and another page specific to Alberta entrepreneurs.

Nicole Culos-Reed, Faculty of Kinesiology
Cancer and Physical Activity 

Nicole’s work examines the role of exercise in cancer survivorship, with a focus on the translation of best-evidence to best-practice, and building sustainable community-based exercise programs for survivors. In Alberta, work is building towards the integration of exercise into standard cancer care within the Alberta Cancer Exercise (ACE) program.

Jennifer Koshan, Faculty of Law
The Equality Effect

Since 2010, Jennifer Koshan has been a member of the legal team of the Equality Effect, an international network of human rights advocates working collaboratively to improve the lives of women and girls by using human rights law to achieve concrete change.  Through the Equality Effect’s “3 to be Free” project, Professor Koshan co-edited a book project on marital rape, The Right to Say No: Marital Rape and Law Reform in Canada, Ghana, Kenya and Malawi (Hart Publishing, 2017), which will be used as the basis for law reform and litigation activities in the Equality Effect’s African partner countries.

Elena Di Martino, Schulich School of Engineering
Vividia: Virtual in Vivo Diagnostics

Vascular surgeons lack the tools to accurately estimate the rupture potential for aortic aneurysms when deciding whether and when to perform risky repair procedures. In order to maximize patient survival via an optimal risk/benefit analysis, these clinicians need to discriminate with maximum accuracy ‘benign’ from ‘malign’ aortic aneurysms. For decades clinicians have used the maximum diameter of the vessel as a generalized proxy for its rupture potential; however, this approach has failed at accurately representing this risk leading to high patient mortality. Our team proposes to develop Vividia, a health IT imaging software designed to non-invasively assess aortic aneurysm wall vulnerability. It will enable a personalized method of rupture risk assessment based on local wall strength. It is estimated that Vividia can reduce sudden aneurysm-related mortality by 50%, paving the way for a new clinical gold standard in the field of aneurysm diagnostics.

Janet Ronsky, Schulich School of Engineering, Professor
Biomedical Research and Innovation

Dr. Ronsky has driven many biomedical engineering research and technology development initiatives, including establishing the Centre for Bioengineering Research and Education (CBRE). Her biomechanics research has led to novel imaging infrastructure and approaches sought globally. Janet’s leadership with Zymetrix Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering Technology Development Centre has resulted in several innovations and spin out companies, including a patent and commercial product with BOSE ESG (now TA Instruments). 

Kristina Rinker, Schulich School of Engineering
Early Cancer Detection

Research performed in Dr. Rinker’s laboratory has led to a high accuracy blood test for breast cancer detection. Kristina has also led the launch of the Early Cancer Detection Initiative (ECDI), a pan-university initiative within the Charbonneau Cancer Institute and in partnership with the Cumming School of Medicine, Schulich School of Engineering and Tom Baker Cancer Centre. The ECDI aims to accelerate discovery, development and translation to practice of early cancer detection innovations.

Marjan Eggermont, Schulich School of Engineering
Zygote Quarterly Journal

Zygote Quarterly (ZQ): A Open-source Online Bio-Inspired Design Journal. This project engages the public in topics related to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) through bio-inspired design and entrepreneurial thinking.  Ms. Eggermont co-founded, designs and publishes ZQ to showcase many aspects of innovation and creative thinking with the goal of enriching the fields of engineering and design by show-casing how ideas can be inspired from nature and then turned into products and systems that can positively impact society. 

Zhangxing (John) Chen, Schulich School of Engineering
Reservoir Simulation

Dr. Chen’s research interest focuses on modeling and simulation of advanced oil and gas recovery processes. By simulating recovery processes using state-of-the-art computational and visualization techniques and equipment, he is developing computer simulators to identify risk and study feasibility before new processes are put into practice. His work is uncovering new, more economical and sustainable ways to recover oil and gas resources.

Gregory Welch, Faculty of Science
Low-cost Organic Solar Cells

This research project centers on the utility of common ‘dyestuffs’ for the fabrication of colored, cheap, and flexible solar cells. Dr. Welch’s team of talented students design new photoactive materials based on dyes, make them using environmentally friendly methods, and use them to create the next generation of photovoltaics.

Lisa Gieg, Faculty of Science
Innovations in Petroleum Microbiology

Dr. Gieg's research in the area of petroleum microbiology examines both beneficial and detrimental microbial processes ongoing in deep subsurface petroleum reservoirs, shallow fuel-impacted groundwater, oil sands tailings ponds, and energy infrastructure in order to better understand how microbial processes can be exploited or prevented with an eye towards innovative biotechnology development and improved industrial practices.  She is a co-founder and chief scientific officer of Helios Genomics, a genomics sequencing company that helps identify problematic microbes in oil and gas operations.

Marc Strous, Faculty of Science
Alkaline Biotechnology for Conversion of CO2 to Methane

A team of UCalgary investigators is scaling up technology that will eventually remove CO2 from the atmosphere, use it for bioenergy and sequester it below ground. The technology is so simple that it was already used in elementary school classrooms for hands-on-learning on biofuels and climate change.

Michael P. Lamoureux, Faculty of Science
PIMS Innovation Coordinator

As Innovation Coordinator for the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, Dr. Lamoureux builds collaborations between academic and industrial researchers using mathematical expertise to solve challenges in developing commercial products and processes. Funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, these initiatives include PIMS’ Industrial Problem Solving Workshops, Graduate Math Modelling in Industry Workshops, Lunchbox events, industry roundtables, and other events that bring together scientists for intensive focus periods studying specific topics of commercial interest.

Dorothy Badry, Faculty of Social Work
Caregiver Curriculum on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Dorothy Badry created and developed the Caregiver Curriculum on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder that has been disseminated international and is located on the website fasdchildwelfare.ca  She was the recipient of the Premier’s Council for the Status of Persons with Disabilities Award of Excellence in Education in December 2016 for her work in the area of FASD education and research. She is a research lead with the Canada FASD Research.

Julie Drolet, Faculty of Social Work,
Alberta Resilient Communities Project

The Alberta Resilient Communities project aims to better understand the social, economic, health, cultural, spiritual and personal factors that contribute to resiliency among children and youth while empowering them and their adult allies and communities to enact resilience building strategies.

Jeff Biernaskie, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Understanding Stem/progenitor Cell Biology to Enhance Regeneration and Improve Outcomes after Skin and Nervous System Injury

Dr. Biernaskie’s research lab is focused on understanding how specialized niche cells modulate stem/progenitor cell behavior and how these cellular interactions ultimately influence tissue homeostasis and tissue repair. His lab is particularly interested in the role of mesenchymal stem/progenitors that reside in skin, with the ultimate goal of exploiting these cells to improve tissue regeneration following injury. His interests also extend to the nervous system where he studies neural stem cell regulation and the role of glial cells in promoting nervous system regeneration.

Sabine Gilch, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Understanding Chronic Wasting Disease Prions to Improve Surveillance and Assess Public Health Risks

The overarching goals of this research is to study the cell biology of prion infection in order to define new treatment strategies for human patients, and to investigate pathogenesis and diagnosis options for chronic wasting disease which is spreading among wild cervids. This research program involves a network of national and international collaborators and serves public, environmental and animal health in Canada and worldwide.

Susan Kutz, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Working with Northerners to Build Capacity and Support Healthy Wildlife and Healthy Communities

For over 20 years Dr. Kutz has dedicated her career to studying wildlife health in the Arctic and promoting healthy northern communities. She works in partnership with northern indigenous stakeholders to ensure that their concerns drive the research questions and their knowledge is incorporated in the research design, implementation, and interpretation. Through ongoing school outreach programs, she and her undergraduate and graduate students engage youth by bringing locally relevant science into northern classrooms.

2016–2017 Patent Recipients

• Aleksandar Dzhurkov
• Lewis N.  Mander
• Anna Moore
• Maen Husein
• Daniel Sadowski
• Mohammad F.  Zakaria
• Donna L.  Senger
• Orly Yadid-Pecht
• Efraim Pecht
• Patricio Romero Guajardo
• Geir  Hareland
• Paul Kubes
• George Shimizu
• Pere Santamaria
• Graham Jullien
• Ramanathan Vaidhyanathan
• Jennifer Rahn
• Richard Pharis
• Jian-Bin  Lin
• Simon Iremonger
• Justin Cloutier
• Stephen M.  Robbins
• Karl Dawson
• Terence Tam
• Kelly A.  Fairweather
• Warren Piers
• Kyle Deakin
• Xuexin Gao

Keith Dobson, Faculty of Arts
Opening Minds: The Anti-Stigma Campaign

While it is widely recognized that stigma is a significant problem for people with mental health disorders, the development of an evidence-based and effective strategy  to reduce stigma has been challenging. Dr. Dobson has been a lead person in a team that has conducted an innovative program of research to tackle this important topic. The results are benefiting the lives of people with mental disorders, as well as their families, coworkers and employers.

Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot, Faculty of Arts
Offender Management - Electronic Monitoring (GPS-EM)

Together with Gerard Lachapelle, Dr. Gibbs Van Brunschot examined GPS-EM techniques used to monitor high-risk offenders across the province. As with many surveillance methods, GPS-EM is a helpful tool when used in combination with a roster of monitoring techniques.

Mary O'Brien, Faculty of Arts  
Engaging Language Expertise to Support Multilingualism

Dr. O'Brien's research focuses on second language acquisition, specifically on how languages are perceived and produced and on how they are taught and learned. In her work with the community, she focuses on supporting language learners, teachers, and members of the community at large in an increasingly multilingual world.

Aaron Goodarzi, Cumming School of Medicine
Public Awareness of the Health Hazards Associated with Radon Gas in Alberta

Dr. Goodarzi is leading a province-wide initiative to study household levels of radon gas, a radioactive and cancer-causing component of soil gas that is prevalent in the Canadian Prairies. Motivated by cell biology showing that alpha radiation from radon is enormously damaging to our DNA and that hundreds of Albertans are diagnosed with never-smoker lung cancer each year, Dr. Goodarzi and his team have now measured radon levels in homes across the greater Calgary area and determined what features of our houses correlate with the highest radon levels.

Jayna Holroyd-Leduc, Cumming School of Medicine
Elder Friendly care

Dr. Holroyd-Leduc helped from the Calgary Zone Elder Friendly Care Advisory Group, a grass roots initiative that includes front-line health care providers, citizens, administrators and decision makers from across the care continuum, with the goal to improve the care provider to older adults through the implementation of evidence-informed care into practice. Dr. Holroyd-Leduc has helped lead this group in implementing and evaluating Elder Friendly Care practices across all Calgary acute care sites, using peer-reviewed grant funding. This Elder Friendly Care initiative has now extended across the province of Alberta.

Zahinoor Ismail, Cumming School of Medicine
Early Detection of Alzheimer's and other Dementias: The Mild Behavioural Impairment Checklist

Alzheimer's and other dementias have been viewed traditionally as cognitive disorders, especially focusing on impairments in memory. However, neuropsychiatric symptoms are common in dementia and can even precede cognitive decline. We have developed research diagnostic criteria for Mild Behavioural Impairment, which links later life onset of sustained and impactful neuropsychiatric symptoms and the risk of cognitive decline and dementia and have developed an instrument to measure MBI, the MBI checklist.

Nathalie Jetté, Cumming School of Medicine
Toolsforepilepsy.com – An appropriateness study of epilepsy surgery

Dr. Jetté is a health services researcher interested in ensuring neurological patients receive timely effective quality-of-care. For example, years of uncontrolled epilepsy can lead to cognitive decline, poor quality-of-life and increased mortality. Epilepsy surgery has been shown to be superior and more cost effective than ongoing medical management in appropriately selected patients, but significant delays exist in referring patients (up to 20 years for adults). As part of the Canadian Appropriateness Study of Epilepsy Surgery, she and her team developed an evidence-based online clinical decision tool to help physician determine if a patient should be referred for an epilepsy surgery evaluation.

Gilaad Kaplan, Cumming School of Medicine
Discovering the Link Between Air Pollution and Gastrointestinal Diseases

Dr. Kaplan is a gastroenterologist and epidemiologist who studies the environmental determinants of digestive diseases. His research discovered a link between air pollution and gastrointestinal diseases including appendicitis and IBD.

Braden Manns, Cumming School of Medicine
Canadians Seeking Solutions and Innovations to Overcome Chronic Kidney Disease (Can-SOLVE CKD)

Can-SOLVE CKD is a national CIHR Strategy for Patient Oriented Research Chronic Disease network, including 18 synergistic research projects and 5 core infrastructures. Its vision is that by 2020, every Canadian with, or at high risk for, chronic kidney disease will receive the best recommended care, experience optimal outcomes and have the opportunity to participate in studies with novel therapies, regardless of age, sex, gender, location or ethnicity.

Mary-Ellen Tyler, Faculty of Environmental Design
Knowledge Engagement for Sustainable Regional Planning

Co-creation of knowledge with municipal planners and elected municipal councils in the Calgary Regional Partnership to link land use planning with water management and develop a set of regional sustainability indicators. Results incorporated into the current Calgary Metropolitan Regional Plan and supported by one of six national SHHRC Partnership Grants in Environment and Sustainability.  

Loren Falkenberg, Haskayne School of Business
Haskayne Hour

Focused on delivering and discussing new research and its application to industry in a short timeframe, Haskayne Hour for the past three years has left more than 1700 attendees with applicable, new knowledge and better business practices.

Fenner Stewart, Faculty of Law
Dentons’ North American Energy Law Study Tour

This course provides engagement with some of the most significant energy lawyers, regulators, producers, stakeholders and academics from both Canada and the US, offering an insider's perspective into the challenges facing policy makers. By providing students the opportunity to engage directly with these policy communities, this course grants our students a genuine opportunity to understand the impacts of energy policy issues today, so that they can become the informed leaders, who will make the critical energy policy decisions facing Canada tomorrow.

Nicole Letourneau, Faculty of Nursing and Cumming School of Medicine
MOMS Link™

Dr. Letourneau’s research projects focus on developing and testing support programs to promote children’s health and development in families affected by toxic stressors, including maternal depression, family violence, addictions and poverty. She developed MOMS Link with colleague Dr. Cindy-Lee Dennis and the Province of New Brunswick to help mothers affected by postpartum depression. The project reduced depressive symptoms in mothers by approximately 90%, spurring interest in commercializing this effective program. MOMS Link is currently available from Sykes Telecare.

Shane Sinclair, Faculty of Nursing
Understanding, Measuring and Enhancing Compassionate Care in Healthcare

Dr. Sinclair’s novel program of research focuses on understanding, measuring and improving compassionate care that is both patient informed and clinically relevant. He developed the first patient informed model of compassionate care and is currently developing the first reliable and valid patient reported compassionate care measure—both of which are funded by CIHR.  He has rapidly established himself as an international leader in compassionate care research within a healthcare setting, complimenting his established research and leadership in psychosocial oncology and spiritual care at the end of life.  

Frank Maurer, Faculty of Science
Agile Surface Engineering and VizworX

Dr. Maurer’s research focuses on application engineering for multi-surface systems that integrate multiple digital display surfaces (including multi-touch screens, tabletops, and wall-sized displays) as well as the space between them to support problem solving and group collaboration. Applications include energy analytics, emergency management, and the future of retail spaces.

Christian Jacob, Faculty of Science and Cumming School of Medicine
LINDSAY Virtual Human

Dr. Jacob’s research interests revolve on The Computer as a Think Tool, a machine to Augment our Thinking, our Perceptions and our Creativity. His current research topics are: computational physiology; 3D human anatomy; interactive, multi-scale models of biological systems; augmented reality for data visualization and data analytics; game engine technology to create educational Body Universes.

Sheelagh Carpendale, Faculty of Science
Information Visualization + Interaction Design

Dr. Carpendale’s research focuses on designing, developing and evaluating interactive visualizations and technologies so that they support the everyday practices of how people view, represent, manage, and interact with information. Her primary motivation is to promote information comprehension by creating appropriate tools that can help people negotiate the everyday transformation of vast amounts of information into knowledge.

Steve Larter, Faculty of Science
PRG: From Discovery to Deployed Technology

Steve Larter and PRG(research group),  made fundamental  discoveries in understanding key microbial processes in the subsurface of the earth, defining the temperature base of the subsurface biosphere. They also explained the origin of heavy oil and bitumen and translated these understandings into patented inventions and through several spin out companies, to commercially successful, deployed solutions relating to oil and gas development and carbon management strategies. Gushor Inc., was acquired by Schlumberger, the world's largest oil service company, in 2013, the technologies now being used at large scale worldwide.

Fadhel M. Ghannouchi, Schulich School of Engineering
GaN High Power Amplifier Development for Space Communications

GaN-based semiconductor technology offers high power density, high operating voltage and temperature, accompanied by an inherent robustness to radiation damage make GaN devices a potentially outstanding choice for applications in the harsh environments encountered in space missions such as satellite communications, Earth observations or even planetary exploration. The goal of this project, sponsored by the Canadian Space Agency,  is the development of broadband high-power, high-energy efficiency amplifiers for Earth observation and data relay applications using GaN semiconductor technology meeting the technology readiness level, TRL 5. This collaborative development project will no doubt be an asset for future Canadian space missions such as the follow-on to the current RADARSAT Constellation missions or future nano or microsatellite constellations for global and cognitive IoT coverage solutions.

Maen Husein Jarrar, Schulich School of Engineering
Reducing Environmental Impact of Drilling Fluids

Dr. Husein’s research interest is in the areas of heavy oil upgrading, minimizing the environmental impact of drilling operations, and produced water treatment to enable effective recycling. The project under the spotlight relates to in-house engineered nanoparticles and their role in reducing fluids loss to formation, strengthening the wellbore and reducing drag during drilling. Many fold improvement relative to commercial nanoparticles were reported, which led to four patent applications and a spinout company: nFluids.  

Joo Hwa (Andrew) Tay, Schulich School of Engineering
Aerobic Granulation for Wastewater Treatment

The main objective of Dr Tay’s research program is to further develop a cutting-edge and sustainable biotechnological approach to municipal and industrial wastewater treatment and environmental protection by the aerobic granulation technology. The novel technology generates many benefits, including low capital and operational costs, significant reductions of the reactor volume and land space requirements, high resilience to toxic chemicals, high effluent quality and low sludge production. The studies cover aspects ranging from fundamental scientific research, the translation of research results, and further development of applicable technology for the industry.

Orly Yadid-Pecht, Schulich School of Engineering
Alberta Enterprise and Advanced Education (EAE) Project on Alternative Light Sources

Dr. Yadid-Pecht is involved with entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property creation for the last 2 decades. The recent significant development completed with her group this year, is an Alberta Enterprise and Advanced Education (EAE) project at the University together with industry, for an alternative light source, to serve Luxmux Corporation proprietary spectrometer technology. Two alternatives were developed, fiber supercontinuum based and Super Luminescent Diode (SLED) based, of which one was selected for incorporation within the company offerings.

David Nicholas, Faculty of Social Work
Vocational Abilities Innovation Lab

This research program includes the development of: (1) promising practices related to employment opportunities and support for people with autism, (2) nationally-recognized employment support/'job coach' curricula to support people with autism and other developmental disabilities in the workplace, (3) autism service capacity building in under-resourced rural, remote and northern communities, and (4) a network of people with autism and their families who are conveying priorities about research in autism.

2012–2016 Patent Recipients

• Angus Chu
• Zhongchao Tan
• Beata Mickiewicz
• Louis Lauzon
• Brent Winston
• Martin Storr
• Cathy Ryan
• Michal Okoniewski
• Chris Leskiw
• Michel Fattouche
• Christopher Andrews
• Mohamed Youssef
• Dawei Jiang
• Naser El-Sheimy
• Elise Fear
• Orly Yadid-Pecht
• Elizabeth Long
• Paul Kubes
• Emil Neshev
• Richard Fayne
• Gérard Lachapelle
• Robert Brown
• Hans Vogel
• Sau Ching Wu
• Haris Afzal
• Stephen Robbins
• Hector Wong
• Sui-Lam Wong
• Ian Gates
• Tom Back
• Isabelle Barrette-Ng
• Valérie Renaudin
• Jeremie Bourqui
• Venkataraman Thangadurai
• Kannan Vembaiyan
• Wayne Chen
• Kenneth Ng
• Yacov Rabi
• Kevin Thurbide
• Yonatan Shoshan
• Kim Mcleish
• Yonathan Dattner
• Lior Blockstein

Chris Hugenholtz, Faculty of Arts
Professor Hugenholtz has been nominated for his work Environmental Monitoring with Drones. This work has Dr. Hugenholtz teaming up with a number of local companies to advance the development of applications for drones used in environmental monitoring and mapping.

Steig Johnson, Faculty of Arts
Professor Johnson has been nominated for his work Lemur Conservation in Madagascar. His team plays a key role in a larger conservation program that employs innovative ways of community engagement, knowledge transfer and technology transfer in a collaborative framework to address one of the most critical issues in the tropics. Madagascar is one of the most unique and biologically diverse places on Earth. Over 90% of the island has been devastated by environmental degradation resulting from clear cut logging. Saving critically endangered species and developing a sustainable, stable economy and society is at the core of what Dr. Johnson does.

Robert Oxoby, Faculty of Arts
Professor Oxoby has been nominated for his work on the Matched Savings Program and Financial Literacy Interventions. This project explores the use of matched savings programs as a means to facilitate transitions out of poverty. The program utilizes the insights gained from economic research to assist the poorest families in our society to gain financial literacy while saving money to escape the cycle of poverty. Using matched savings and a financial literacy education program, we have developed various mechanisms to create opportunities for skill acquisition, upgrading and asset acquisition (including home ownership), improving the welfare of low income families.

Norm Campbell, Cumming School of Medicine
Professor Campbell has been nominated for his work on Dietary Sodium Evidence. This project will include the development of minimum standards for the conduct of human research on dietary sodium by an international health and scientific consortium. After the standards are set, systematic reviews will be conducted using the standards to reassess the evidence base on dietary salt reduction with the potential to impact global dietary salt recommendations.

Michael Hill, Cumming School of Medicine
Professor Hill has been nominated for his work Endovascular treatment for Small Core and Anterior circulation Proximal occlusion with Emphasis on minimizing CT to recanalization times (ESCAPE) trial. The ESCAPE trial is a practice and treatment changing randomized controlled trial of endovascular stroke therapy that firmly demonstrates the benefit of rapid endovascular stroke treatment for patients with large intracranial artery occlusions. The results of this work have changed stroke guidelines across the world and multiple efforts are now underway to establish systems of care to allow this therapy to proceed.

Bijoy Menon, Cumming School of Medicine
Professor Menon has been nominated for his work on QuikFlo: An Automated Imaging Decision Support Tool for use in Acute Stroke Patients. QuikFlo is an automated imaging-based triaging decision support tool that can help community physicians make clinical decisions on triage of patients with acute ischemic stroke at any time of the day or night quickly and correctly.

Luanne Metz, Cumming School of Medicine
Professor Metz has been nominated for her work on Improving Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Care through Clinical Innovations and Research. Through partnerships in the community, with colleagues, government and the pharmaceutical industry, she has stimulated the development of a province-wide MS program and has been a major force behind the development of a local and national MS registry. She completed innovative research to transform treatment of MS relapses from intravenous to oral therapy thus improving access to care and reducing costs.

David Schriemer, Cumming School of Medicine
Professor Schriemer has been nominated for his work Supporting the Ultimate Detector Generates Advances in Technology and Therapeutics. This research program in biological mass spectrometry leads to informatics solutions, and a new treatment options for celiac disease.

Henry (Tom) Stelfox, Cumming School of Medicine
Professor Stelfox has been nominated for his work Improving the Quality of Trauma Care. Traumatic injuries affect 700 million people around the world, including 2 million Canadians and account for more premature deaths than heart disease, lung disease or HIV. Dr. Stelfox and his team developed the first set of evidence-informed quality measures of trauma care. These have been implemented by healthcare services organizations, research institutes and accreditation bodies in Canada, the United States and Australia to measure and guide efforts to improve the quality of care.

V. Wee Yong, Cumming School of Medicine
Professor Yong has been nominated for his work Protecting and Repairing the Brain. 
Dr. Yong's research seeks to protect the brain during neural insults, and to harness the benefits of inflammation for repair following neural injury.

Noel Keough, Faculty of Environmental Design
Professor Keough has been nominated for his work Active Neighborhoods Calgary (ANC): Community Sustainability Research, Dialogue and Action. ANC is a 5-year, 5 million dollar Public Health Agency of Canada funded collaboration between Montreal Urban Ecology Centre, Toronto Centre for Active Transportation and Sustainable Calgary Society. The purpose of the initiative is to promote active lifestyles and active transportation options in low income and high immigrant population communities in Canadians cities and towns.

Carolyn Emery, Faculty of Kinesiology
Professor Emery has been nominated with her colleague Brent Hagel, for their work in Injury Prevention in Youth Sport and Recreation. The Alberta Program is a collaborative research program composed of interdisciplinary researchers, trainees, and community partners with a common goal – to reduce the burden of sport and recreational injuries in Alberta youth. The main objectives of the Program are to develop and evaluate programs and policies in injury prevention in youth sport and recreation and to increase awareness about youth sport and recreational injury prevention including a focus in youth ice hockey, ski and snowboard school programs, and injury prevention in junior high school physical education programs.

Brent Hagel, Faculty of Kinesiology
Professor Hagel has been nominated with his colleague Carolyn Emery, for their work in Injury Prevention in Youth Sport and Recreation. The Alberta Program is a collaborative research program composed of interdisciplinary researchers, trainees, and community partners with a common goal – to reduce the burden of sport and recreational injuries in Alberta youth. The main objectives of the Program are to develop and evaluate programs and policies in injury prevention in youth sport and recreation and to increase awareness about youth sport and recreational injury prevention including a focus in youth ice hockey, ski and snowboard school programs, and injury prevention in junior high school physical education programs.

Bryce Tingle, Faculty of Law
Professor Tingle has been nominated for his work as the founder and supervisor of BLG Business Venture Clinic and Intellectual Property Clinic. The BLG Business Venture Clinic provides free legal assistance to startup companies and entrepreneurs coming out of the University and surrounding community.  The Intellectual Property clinic provides legal assistance to the technology transfer officers at Innovate Calgary.

Karen Benzies, Faculty of Nursing
Professor Benzies has been nominated for her work Welcome to Parenthood - Alberta. This program studies how early parent-child relationships influence early brain and biological development. Dr. Benzies knows our communities are stronger when we ensure that all families receive support when they bring home a new baby.  Welcome to Parenthood – Alberta evaluates the types of information and support that parents need during the transition from pregnancy to early parenthood.

Kathryn King-Shier, Faculty of Nursing
Professor King-Shier has been nominated for her work on Heart Health of the South Asian Community. South Asians have greater morbidity from heart disease than many other ethno-cultural groups. Dr. King-Shier’s research is focused on ethno-cultural differences in angina or heart attack symptoms and management strategies for heart disease risk.

Deborah White, Faculty of Nursing
Professor White has been nominated for her work on A Comparative Analysis of Alberta’s High Stake Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs). SCNs are province-wide teams of healthcare professionals, researchers, government, communities, patients and families who are collectively engaged to address delivery healthcare across Alberta. In this study of nine strategic clinical networks (SCNs) in Alberta we are using an integrated knowledge translation approach to describe and examine the impacts of team and organizational structures and processes on SCN proximal outputs and outcomes.

Claude Laflamme, Faculty of Science
Professor Laflamme has been nominated for his work Lyryx with Open Texts. Lyryx has developed a reversed approach to the textbook publishing industry: give the content away through open texts, and offer editorial and support services through educational software license revenues. Lyryx with Open Texts is already supporting various subjects in Business and Economics, and Mathematics and Statistics.

Antony Ware, Faculty of Science
Professor Ware has been nominated for his work on Valuation and Hedging of Energy Assets. The project involves working with energy companies to develop mathematical models for risk management of energy assets. This is important both for the ability to invest with confidence in such assets, and to encourage efficient utilization of those assets once they are in operation. 

Ian Gates, Schulich School of Engineering
Professor Gates has been nominated for his Heavy Oil and Oil Sands Spin-off Companies Gushor Inc. and Ideas for Dynamic Growth. Gushor Inc. grew in business with projects in nearly all heavy oil jurisdictions globally and was sold to Schlumberger in 2013. Ideas for Dynamic Growth is a reservoir characterization and simulation company that has provided recovery process designs for cold, thermal, thermal-solvent, and post-cold production processes and companies in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Venezuela, China and the Middle East. Several technologies that have been developed with this company are being commercialized through Innovate Calgary.

Patrick Hettiaratchi, Schulich School of Engineering
Professor Hettiaratchi has been nominated for his work in Methane Biofiltration Technology. Methane Biofiltration technology is an environmentally sustainable and cost-effective alternative to conventional technologies currently being used to control fugitive and engineered methane emissions in various sectors, including oil and has, municipal waste and agriculture. The associated research program has received financial and in-kind support from Climate Change Management Corporation (CCEMC), oil and gas companies, and Alberta and British Columbian municipalities, as well as funding from NSERC and Alberta Innovates.

Steve Liang, Schulich School of Engineering
Professor Liang has been nominated for his work Disrupting the Silos of the Internet of Things through Research and Commercialization. In the near future, millions to billions of small sensors and actuators will be embedded in real-world objects and connected to the Internet forming the Internet of Things (IoT). Today’s IoT systems are isolated technology silos. Professor Liang’s project aims to disrupt the silos of the IoT’s by building an open IoT ecosystem with international open standards.

David Wood, Schulich School of Engineering
Professor Wood has been nominated for his work Harnessing Renewable Energy Resources in Developing Countries. Dr. Wood is developing improved designs for small hydroturbines for remote power generation in Nepal and with Professor Ed Nowicki, on better control systems for these turbines. He also teaches and researches on wind turbine design in Ethiopia.

Lana Wells, Faculty of Social Work and School of Public Policy
Professor Wells has been nominated for her work on the Family Violence Hurts Everyone: A Framework to End Family Violence in Alberta. Lana worked closely with the Government of Alberta on this new policy framework. She was the primary researcher and writer, working in collaboration with the Family Violence Branch in the Human Services Ministry along with partnering Ministries.

Hieu Van Ngo, Faculty of Social Work
Professor Ngo has been nominated for his work on Identity-Based Wraparound Intervention. This project is a collaborative initiative that provides integrative services and support to high risk and gang involved immigrant youth, and draws insights from practice to develop a Canadian approach to youth gang prevention.

Herman Barkema, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Medicine
Professor Barkema has been nominated for his work on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases in Dairy Cattle. The goal of Dr. Barkema’s research, education and extension efforts is decreasing the effect of infectious diseases on the Canadian dairy industry; this will be achieved through research and training (graduate and summer students, postdoctoral fellows, farmers and veterinary practitioners). The vast majority of infectious diseases in dairy cattle are the result of an interaction among the genome, microbes, host immunology, and the environment. Therefore, his research is inherently collaborative and multidisciplinary in nature. 

Sylvia Checkley, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Professor Checkley has been nominated for her work on Environmental Public Health. The environmental public health surveillance system is a robust system developed working with a strong interdisciplinary team for monitoring of water quality trends, mitigation of potential health problems and provision of information used for resource planning, risk analyses and decision making. 

Mark Ungrin, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
Professor Ungrin has been nominated for his work in AggreWell Technology for Cellular Aggregation. AggreWell technology consists of surfaces completely covered in pyramidal microwells. Cells and/or biomaterials are centrifuged into the microwells, resulting in large numbers of uniform, size controlled and reproducible three-dimensional microtissues.

• Dr. Carolyn Anglin – Schulich School of Engineering
• Dr. Tanya Beran – Faculty of Medicine   
• Dr. Naser El-Sheimy– Schulich School of Engineering
• Dr. Reed Ferber – Faculty of Kinesiology
• Dr. Cy Frank – Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Marvin Fritzler – Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Ian Gates – Schulich School of Engineering
• Dr. Mayank Goyal – Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Derek Hassay – Haskayne School of Business
• Dr. Christian Jacob – Faculty of Science
• Dr. Simon Park – Schulich School of Engineering
• Dr. Faramarz Samavati – Faculty of Science
• Dr. Pere Santamaria – Faculty of Medicine
• Dr. Chad Saunders – Haskayne School of Business
• Dr. Tannin Schmidt – Faculty of Kinesiology
• Dr. Nigel Shrive– Schulich School of Engineering
• Dr. Rebecca Sullivan – Faculty of Arts
• Dr. Garnette Sutherland – Faculty of Medicine
• Bryce Tingle – Faculty of Law
• Dr. Simon Trudel – Faculty of Science
• Dr. Gerald Zamponi – Faculty of Medicine