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 Three Trent University Researchers Awarded $190,510 from Canada Foundation for InnovationFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Support to Advance Cutting-Edge Research in Psychology, Biology and Environment & Resource Studies Monday, December 15, 2008, Peterborough The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) announced on December 12 that it has awarded $190,510 to Trent University to support three projects led by Drs. Julian Aherne, Michael Chan-Reynolds and Marcel Dorken. “It’s wonderful to see this level of support from CFI for Trent researchers who continue to make important discoveries every day in ways that help us better understand our world,” said Dr. Gyles Iannone, acting vice president of research for Trent University. “This new funding is also significant because it creates opportunities for our Trent students to get involved in this important work.” Details of the funded projects are as follows: Dr. Julian Aherne, Dr. Michael Chan-Reynolds, Dr. Marcel Dorken, “We can say with conviction that Canada has become a place where world-class researchers want to be," said Dr. Eliot Phillipson, president and CEO of the CFI. “This CFI investment will further develop Trent University’s global reputation as a place where outstanding research and training is being conducted.” -30- For further information, please contact Brittany Cadence, Trent University at (705) 748-1011, ext. 6185. |
Professor Aherne, who also holds a prestigious Canada Research
Chair in Environmental Modelling, will use the grant to explore the
impacts of atmospheric deposition, land use and climate on
hydrogeochemistry of forested catchment areas. Environmental
modelling is a technique that researchers use to predict how
changes in pollution and land use activities will affect climate and the environmental health of certain regions. Last week, his report on the impact of
pollution caused by the Alberta oilsands on forests made headlines in the national
media. His was the first study ever conducted that measured how much acid from rain
can accumulate before the soil starts losing nutrients and tree roots are damaged. Prof.
Aherne found up to 12 per cent of the province's forest soils may be over their carrying
capacity, probably because of the oilsands.
Assistant professor Chan-Reynolds will use the new CFI funding to
set up a state-of-the-art laboratory for studying language
comprehension as an embodied processes distributed across the
body and environment. The new laboratory consists of specialized
equipment for studying how physiological processes in the body
need are recruited to assist language comprehension, how the body
acts as an attentional system that influences how people are
transported into narrative worlds, and how language use is
influenced by environmental factors such as emerging technologies
for visible language (e.g., electronic books, personal digital
assistants, tablet PCs). The importance of understanding how the body and environment
shape how we use and understand language is critical, especially considering
language’s central role in education, knowledge acquisition, and emerging technology. This new lab will be set up in the recently announced Health Sciences Facility to be
developed as part of the DNA complex at Trent University.
Together with co-applicant Dr. Joanna Freeland, chair of Trent’s
Forensic Science Program, assistant professor Marcel Dorken will
use financial support from CFI to improve our understanding of
whether rapid evolutionary change plays a key role in determining
the ability of different plant species to expand or shift their
geographical ranges. This question will be addressed in the context
of two highly topical research areas. The first involves
understanding the response of plants to climate change as a key to
mapping the predicted movements of ecosystems. Professors
Dorken and Freeland believe there is an urgent need to know
whether plant populations possess the evolutionary 
potential to shift
their ranges in response to altered climatic regimes. The second
area of focus will examine invasive species as they pose a
substantial and growing global threat that entails tremendous
financial and ecological costs. Scientists still do not fully understand
what enables a small proportion of introduced plants to become
highly invasive. By studying the potential roles of adaptive change
versus the ability to persist in a wide range of environmental
conditions, Profs. Dorken and Freeland will generate valuable insight into what enables
plants to expand their ranges during biological invasions, or alter their ranges in
response to climate change.