Canada Research Chairs
November 14, 2024
Two ³Ô¹ÏÍø faculty, leaders in data science and energy systems innovation, were named Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) today in an announcement by the Honourable Yasir Naqvi, Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.
New Canada Research Chair
Jason Keonhag Lee, Mechanical Engineering
Tier II CRC in Energy Systems Innovation
Jason Keonhag Lee’s research advances clean energy technologies to reduce our carbon footprint. Hydrogen fuel cells, for example, are capable of generating electrical energy from hydrogen and air, and electrolyzers can produce hydrogen from liquid water and electricity. Lee focuses on developing membrane-electrode-assembly based electrochemical devices to deliver solutions to the current climate change crisis.
Lee and his research team apply advanced surface modification techniques to improve the structure of the electrode interfaces. This research will accelerate the development and scaling up of electrochemical energy conversion devices for widespread adoption and support decarbonization efforts in Canada and beyond.
Renewal of Canada Research Chair
Ibrahim Numanagić, Computer Science
Tier II CRC in Computational Biology and Data Science
Ibrahim Numanagić’s goal is to make it easier to access genes that harbour important clinical information, allowing for easier, less expensive clinical diagnostics.
To achieve that, he explores new algorithmic and data science methods that can help alleviate the scale and ambiguity issues that are inherent in sequencing data in a fast and cost-efficient manner. He and his research team are also developing a comprehensive, domain-specific framework for developing high-performance computational tools that can produce fast, scalable genomics analysis software for different computer architectures.
UVic research reflects the university’s commitment to advancing the . In particular, these two Canada Research Chairs advance our contributions to SDG 13 Climate action and SDG 3 Good health and wellbeing. We rank second in Canada for climate action; you can learn more about the 2024 assessment by the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.