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Research Excellence Chairs Program Results

Ontario Tech University has established a Research Excellence Chairs Program to recognize and reward the high-quality research and scholarly achievements of Ontario Tech faculty members. The program is designed to enable accomplished scholars to complete a major research program or project. Further, the program is meant to emphasize the importance of research at Ontario Tech in strategic areas, while highlighting and promoting the outstanding achievements of our scholars and the university’s commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Award decisions were made by a multi‐disciplinary Selection Committee formed by the Vice-President, Research and Innovation.

2024 Research Excellence Chairs Program Results

  • Stream 1 (Transform): Open to previous Chairholders, including, Canada Research Chairs, Industrial Research Chairs and those who have been awarded and completed an Ontario Tech University Research Excellence Chair. 
  • Stream 2 (Ignite): Open to all Tenured and Tenure-Track (TTT) faculty members at Ontario Tech University. 
  •  Stream 3 (Social Innovation): Open to all Tenured and Tenure-Track (TTT) faculty members at Ontario Tech University (including previous Chairholders) whose research contributes to social innovation, defined as the process of developing and deploying effective solutions to challenging and often systemic social and environmental issues in support of social progress.

The Richard Marceau Chair in Clean Energy Research: The Richard Marceau Chair was established to honour the contributions of Dr. Marceau during his tenure as Provost and Vice-President Academic at Ontario Tech University. This Chair reflects Dr. Marceau’s commitment to exploring ways in which scientists, engineers and social scientists can find solutions to the grand challenges of the growth of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) and climate change.

    • Award Recipient: Dr. Ibrahim Dincer, Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science

2023 Research Excellence Chairs Program Results

For the first time, there are 2 streams to the Chair program:

  • Stream 1 (Transform): Open to previous Chairholders, including, Canada Research Chairs, Industrial Research Chairs and those who have been awarded and completed an Ontario Tech University Research Excellence Chair.
  • Stream 2 (Ignite): Open to all Tenured and Tenure-Track (TTT) faculty members at Ontario Tech University.

 Awardees: We received 15 applications and 5 faculty members were awarded the Chair.

  • Pierre Côté (FHS), Stream 1
  • Andrea Kirkwood (FS), Stream 2
  • Atef Mohany (FEAS), Stream 2
  • Salma Karray (FBIT), Stream 2
  • Shilpa Dogra (FHS), Stream 2

2021 Research Excellence Chairs Program Results

In 2021, the program expanded to six awards, two of which are to be housed in the Brilliant Energy Institute (BEI) and awarded to researchers who align their applications with the strategic priority areas of energy and clean tech. After a very competitive process, which attracted 18 high-quality applications, the committee made their difficult choices and awarded the 6 Chairs as follows:

  • JoAnne Arcand, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Faculty of Health Sciences 2021 Research Excellence Chair in Nutrition Policy and Implementation
  • Jean-Paul Desaulniers, Ph.D., Professor, Faculty of Science 2021 Research Excellence Chair in Chemical Biology
  • Ibrahim Dincer, Ph.D., Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science 2021 Brilliant Energy Institute Research Excellence Chair in Development of Clean Hydrogen Energy Technologies
  • Bill Kapralos, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Program Director, Faculty of Business and Information Technology 2021 Research Excellence Chair in Virtual Psychomotor-Based Skills Development Using Pseudo-Haptics
  • Jennifer McKellar, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Faculty of Energy Systems and Nuclear Science 2021 Brilliant Energy Institute Research Excellence Chair in Techno-Economic and Environmental Assessment of Energy Systems
  • Olena Zenkina, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science 2021 Research Excellence Chair in Advanced Functional Materials

2018 Research Excellence Chairs Program Results

The program was highly competitive. The award consisted of $30,000 per year for three years (non-renewable). The 2018 recipients include: 

  • Brad Easton, Ph.D., Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Science (FSci): 2018 Research Excellence Chair in Electrochemical Energy Materials
  • Carolyn McGregor, Ph.D., Professor, Faculty of Business and Information Technology (FBIT): 2018 Research Excellence Chair in Health Informatics