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news release:
Canadian engineer to lead innovative $2.5 million bioengineering research
program
Calgary, Canada, 12 April 2007: An
engineering researcher and entrepreneur at the University of Calgary will
receive a $2.5 million award to turn advances in electrical engineering and
biomedical research into practical applications.
One of the key projects of Dr. Michal Okoniewski and his team is a micro-scale
chip that will have the same functional capacity as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
devices, commonly known for their use in MRI diagnostic machines.
“The history of science and engineering suggests that teams like ours make great
leaps by focusing on a goal, yet creating a culture that welcomes new
possibilities,” says Dr. Okoniewski, the newly named Alvin Libin Ingenuity Chair
in Biomedical Engineering. The team is deliberately leaving room for serendipity
in the research plan.
The chair award is a partnership between the Schulich School of Engineering and
Alberta Ingenuity, providing $150,000 per year from the Schulich benefaction and
$100,000 per year from Alberta Ingenuity. The chair is one of three new major
chairs made possible by the endowment from Seymour Schulich to the engineering
faculty two years ago. It is named after Alberta Ingenuity’s founding board
chair, Alvin Libin, who been a lifelong supporter of research that improves the
quality of life for Albertans.
“It’s so fitting that this chair will bear Alvin Libin’s name. As the Chair of
Ingenuity’s Board for the first five years, his leadership has been crucial in
creating the kinds of bridges between powerful ideas in science, engineering,
medicine and industry that will answer important questions for Alberta,” says
Dr. Peter Hackett, President and CEO of Alberta Ingenuity.
“We want to be unique in our approach. What we excel at here is the development
of fundamental tools and also integrating research from around the world into
applied solutions. We are leaders in integration, and that takes ingenuity,”
says Dr. Elizabeth Cannon, Dean of the Schulich School of Engineering.
The NMR project is a multidisciplinary initiative involving electrical
engineers, scientists and physicists. The chair award will help attract doctoral
and postdoctoral students who want to be a part of a high achieving team whose
key strengths are in the integration of research. Dr. Okoniewski will work
closely with other biomedical researchers in the Centre for Biomedical Research
and Education (CBRE).
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