Two Lassonde Professors among group awarded over 700K in funding

York University researchers will receive more than $700,000 in provincial funding for research projects and equipment through the Early Researcher Award (ERA) program and the Ontario Research Fund (ORF). Two of those researchers are Lassonde’s own Professor John Gales and Professor Pouya Rezai from the Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering Departments.

Victor Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of economic development, job creation and trade, announced nearly $41 million in research funding for research institutions across Ontario yesterday, in the High Bay Structure Lab at York’s Lassonde School of Engineering.   Civil engineering Professor John Gales demonstrated how his lab assesses the resiliency of building materials to develop construction materials that are fire safe, innovative and sustainable.  

Gales’ fire testing lab will receive $118,135 in ORF grants, which match funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund. The grants will allow the fire testing lab at Lassonde, one of the few in Canada, to scale up the technology to test load and heat on larger building frames to make buildings safer and more cost-efficient. In addition to Gales, Professor Pouya Rezai from the Department of Mechanical Engineering is receiving $140,000 for research on Organism and Organ on a Chip Platforms for neurodegenerative diseases.     

“York University’s research excellence is rooted in creating positive impacts in the lives of individuals and communities,” said York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton.

“Professor Gales’ lab examines how materials can help make buildings and homes – and the people and families who live and work in them – safer from the risk of fire, and we are grateful to the government of Ontario for supporting this important research.”  

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