Professor Thomas Cooper among four York U recipients of CFI funding

Four York University researchers were awarded with funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The researchers received a combined total of $677,990 to advance our understanding in areas related to sustainable materials, honeybee behaviour and health approaches to mitigate disease.

The CFI funding was awarded through the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), which helps institutions recruit and retain outstanding researchers. The funding, which was announced on Feb. 22, will also support the development global legal epidemiology, an emerging area of research that evaluates the role and impact of international law on global health.

“We are grateful for the continuing support and investment provided by the Government of Canada through CFI,” says Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation. “The infrastructure funding provided by CFI plays a critical role in supporting important research that will have a positive, transformative impact on society, particularly in areas related to health, sustainability and food security.”

List of CFI JELF awards:

Multifunctional aerogel innovation platform – Thomas Cooper

Award amount: $140,000

Society desperately needs new solutions to address climate change, energy security and access to clean drinking water. Assistant Professor Thomas Cooper is collaborating with Assistant Professor Marina Freire-Gormaly and Associate Professor Paul O’Brien to accelerate and enable the development of the next generation of multifunctional aerogel materials to help address these societal challenges. Aerogels are highly porous solid foams with interconnected pores ranging in size from the nanoscale to the macroscale. Their unique structure affords them many remarkable properties, making them excellent candidate materials for meeting multifunctional requirements needed in energy, water and sustainability applications.

With support from CFI, the team will develop the critical research infrastructure that can enable high-throughput fabrication and systematic characterization of next-generation aerogels for innovative applications focusing on renewable energy, clean water and sustainability. The research program will generate novel materials for Canada’s rapidly expanding environmental and clean technology industry.

Read the full article with all the award recipients on YFile.