UCalgary receives more than $4.7 million in funding for innovative research

Over the past five years, devastating wildfires have impacted communities around the globe. Not only do these fires contribute to loss of life, property, and natural, recreational and cultural resources, smoke-polluted air can affect the livelihoods of people living near, or in the wind direction of, these fires.  

Studying the role climate change has on our forests and natural spaces, and how those changes will contribute to the severity of wildfires in the future, is one of 19 University of Calgary projects funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF).

Research program will train others to forecast forest fires 

Using laser scanning, image recognition with artificial intelligence, and process modelling, Dr. Jed Kaplan, PhD, sees an excellent opportunity to train highly qualified personnel to understand and forecast how forests are evolving and how management can mitigate the worst impacts of wildfires while meeting environmental, cultural and economic goals.  

“The project will support the acquisition of state-of-the-art infrastructure to develop a completely new way of characterizing wildfire fuels in Canadian forests, shrublands and grasslands,” says Kaplan, a professor in the Faculty of Science departments of Earth, Energy and Environment, and Computer Science. “This work could be used by forest managers to reduce wildfire risk and support wildfire mitigation, thus improving our resilience to ongoing and projected climate change.” 

Awards support research infrastructure 

Named for the first chair of the CFI board, JELF awards up to 40 per cent of a project’s funding requirements to help researchers by providing the foundational research infrastructure they need to lead in their respective fields and produce transformative work. 

Through the 19 projects selected in this round of JELF funding, UCalgary researchers received more than $4.7 million in funding through the program. Additionally, through the Government of Alberta’s Research Capacity Program, these JELF awards may be matched dollar for dollar. 

"Support from the federal government through the JELF program, and our provincial government’s matching program, allows our researchers to pursue novel discoveries that will benefit all Canadians,” says Dr. William Ghali, vice-president (research) with UCalgary. “These scholars are using cutting-edge innovations to tackle huge challenges in health care, industry and the environment.” 

2025 JELF award recipients 

Schulich School of Engineering 

• Dr. Zahra Abbasi, PhD, Department of Electrical and Software Engineering: ATOM: Anechoic Test and Observation Module for hyper-connected world research
• Dr. Philippe Gray, PhD, Department of Electrical and Software Engineering: Advanced medium-voltage test facility for next-gen power electronics & drives: Accelerating clean tech adoption
• Dr. Emily Rogers-Bradley, PhD, Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and Department of Biomedical Engineering; member of the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute: Advancing quasi-passive prosthesis technology through experimental optimization
• Dr. Mayank Sabharwal, PhD, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering: Energy storage systems for a renewable energy grid 

Cumming School of Medicine 

• Dr. Ejaife Agbani, PhD, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology; member of the Libin Cardiovascular Institute, McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health, Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, and Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases: Procoagulant membrane dynamics: Mechanistic insights, clinical translation, and innovation
• Dr. Kevin Hay, MD, Department of Medicine; member of the Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute: Research hub for binder discovery in cancer immunotherapy
• Dr. Hedwich Kuipers, PhD, Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy; member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases: Deciphering cell-cell interactions and signaling in neuroinflammation
• Dr. Scott Ryan, PhD, Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Department of Physiology & Pharmacology; member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute: The Calgary Amyloid Lab (CALAB) - A novel approach to modelling neurodegenerative disorders
• Dr. Danielle Whittier, PhD, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy; member of the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health and Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute: Investigating the interplay of mechanical loading, bone growth, and metabolic dysfunction in childhood-onset diseases
• Dr. Suirong Chen, PhD, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology; member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Libin Cardiovascular Institute: Miniature Multiphoton Live Imaging for Discovering Mechanisms and Treatments of Alzheimer’s Disease
• Dr. Roman Krawetz, PhD, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy and Department of Surgery; member of the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health: Histological assessment of bone and joint tissue structure and function: A facility approach to increased research 

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine 

• Dr. Diego Borin Nobrega, PhD: Understanding the role of animals in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial-resistant organisms 

Faculty of Arts 

• Dr. Amanda Melin, PhD, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology; member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute: Jungle genomics: infrastructure for in situ study of genetic adaptation 

Faculty of Science 

• Dr. Megan Engel, DPhil, Department of Biological Sciences: Differentiable programming for optimizing nonequilibrium systems and biomaterials design
• Dr. Ann Gregory, PhD, Department of Biological Sciences; member of the Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases: VirRepo: building & characterizing a human Virus Repository for Virotherapy
• Dr. Jed Kaplan, PhD, Department of Earth, Energy and Environment and Department of Computer Science: Measuring and modeling wildfire fuels using laser scanning, artificial intelligence, and process modeling
• Dr. Adriana Guatame, PhD, Department of Earth, Energy and Environment: Integrating the mining cycle for the sustainable supply of critical mineral resources
• Dr. Jackie Lebenzon, PhD, Department of Biological Sciences,; member of the Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases: Integrative metabolic physiology of overwintering insect pests
• Dr. Adriana Zardini Buzatto, PhD, Department of Biological Sciences; member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research and Education: Harnessing Isomer-Resolved Mass Spectrometry Lipidomics to Map Lipid Modulators in Antimicrobial Resistance