The federal government handed out the annual Canada Research Chairs last week, and U of T netted 18 of those, bringing the university’s total to 125.
Founded in 2000, the program supports research at universities, as well as affiliated hospitals and research institutes. Along with the prestige, the chairs also mean an extra $2.3 million annually for U of T.
Five of the chairs were Tier 1, which are seven-year awards honouring leadership in the winner’s respective field. Minister of Industry Allan Rock, who presented the chairs, also noted that almost one-third of the recipients were foreign-born, meaning that the “brain gain” in Canada is working. Eight of U of T’s chairs were from the U.S. or other countries.
U of T’s chairs came in a wide variety of disciplines, from philosophy and medicine to astronomy and astrophysics.
Zoology and public health sciences were double winners, with professors Peter Andolfatto and Belida Chang taking home Tier 2 chairs for zoology, and Wendy Lou grabbing one for public health sciences.
Her colleague Steven Narod was given the nod for a Tier 1 chair.
