Government of Canada Announces Top Award Winners in Natural Sciences and Engineering Research

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb. 3, 2014) -

Some of Canada's top researchers will be honoured today at an official ceremony for their outstanding achievements in the fields of natural sciences and engineering.

The ceremony will be hosted by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada at Rideau Hall. He will be joined by the Honourable Greg Rickford, Minister of State (Science and Technology) and Janet Walden, Chief Operating Officer, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Eight prestigious prizes will be awarded to 36 recipients, including individuals and research teams.

The top research prize, the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, is being awarded to Dr. Ford Doolittle from Dalhousie University for his work on the evolution of genes and genomes. Dr. Doolittle is studying, at the gene level, how living organisms survive in their environments and adapt to them.

Also being announced today are prizes for top graduate students, outstanding university-industry partnerships, interdisciplinary research, ground-breaking discoveries, and excellence in multidisciplinary research. The work of these researchers is helping to improve attention spans in children, revolutionizing the design of cars, solving the growing problem of drug resistance, and providing doctors with new tools to track the effectiveness of cancer therapies.

Quick Facts

• Named after Nobel laureate Gerhard Herzberg, the NSERC Herzberg Medal is the agency's highest honour. It provides recipients with $1 million in discovery research funding over five years.

• NSERC's top researchers are honoured every year for a wide range of achievements that showcase the high caliber of talent and the innovative research taking place in Canadian universities.

Quotes

"Our government is committed to developing, attracting and retaining the world's leading researchers right here in Canada. The accomplishments of these top natural scientists and engineers demonstrate how our investments in research help build a stronger, more prosperous country, create jobs and secure a better quality of life for all Canadians."

The Honourable Greg Rickford, Minister of State (Science and Technology)

"Canadian researchers are making stellar contributions in their fields and are highly respected around the world. Today we celebrate this talent, from students just embarking on their careers to seasoned researchers making internationally recognized discoveries. NSERC is extremely proud of this world-class talent that is advancing our knowledge and expanding our understanding of the universe."

Janet Walden, Chief Operating Officer, NSERC

Associated Links

http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Media-Media/PrizeWinner-GagnantsPrix_eng.asp

NSERC is a federal agency that helps make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators for all Canadians. The agency supports almost 30,000 post-secondary students and postdoctoral fellows in their advanced studies. NSERC promotes discovery by funding approximately 12,000 professors every year and fosters innovation by encouraging over 2,400 Canadian companies to participate and invest in post-secondary research projects.