Dr. Alejandro Adem toured labs and met the scientists and students behind the work.
A satellite the size of a cereal box is being built in Winnipeg to orbit the moon.
It was one of the projects Dr. Alejandro Adem saw when he spent September 17 at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Adem is president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the federal agency that funds research in the natural sciences and engineering. Anne-Marie Thompson, NSERC's vice-president of research grants and scholarships, joined him for the day.
Dr. B. Mario Pinto, UM's vice-president (research and international), welcomed Dr. Adem to a full room in the Architecture II Building, with more people watching online.
Dr. Adem spoke about NSERC's priorities and its commitment to discovery research. He also pointed to a recent UM success. The university secured five of the new Eddie Goldenberg chairs, a federal program that brings leading researchers from around the world to Canada.
"We're no longer in the world of isolated superstars. It's all about the teams and having people around you that are adequately supported," he said.
Anne-Marie Thompson noted that at least three of UM's new chairs work in areas tied to the Arctic and the environment.
Three UM researchers then presented their work to the NSERC leaders: Dr. Peter Pelka, a professor in microbiology, Dr. Sabine Kuss, head of chemistry, and Dr. Jörg Stetefeld, a professor in chemistry.
In the afternoon, Dr. Feiyue Wang, professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Environment and Geography, had his guests change into cleanroom suits before touring his Ultra-Clean Trace Elements Laboratory, where instruments measure trace elements in environmental and biological samples.
Dr. Wang also directs the Churchill Marine Observatory, which works with northern and Indigenous communities on sustainable shipping in Hudson Bay. Its research on Arctic contaminants and sea ice has helped the Port of Churchill Plus Project be identified as a potential nation-building project.
At the Space Technology and Advanced Research Laboratory (STARLab) in the Price Faculty of Engineering, the team showed Dr. Adem work ranging from drones that detect litter to satellites that communicate with lasers.
Two projects are being developed with the hamlet of Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut. ACCESS is a blimp fitted with antennas that follows people when they leave town, giving them a mobile radio and internet link in a region with little coverage. ArcticSat, a satellite the size of a milk jug, will track sea ice and share it across the Arctic as a kind of sea ice weather forecast.
Then there's the cereal box. Built with Magellan Aerospace Winnipeg and funded by the Canadian Space Agency, MAPPER will be the first Canadian satellite to orbit the moon, surveying its surface for minerals and water ice.
"We at STARLab are honoured to have NSERC visit our research lab. Our goal is to make aerospace technology accessible to Canadians," said Dr. Philip Ferguson, STARLab's director.
Dr. Adem left with a message for the people he met.
"I want to congratulate the University of Manitoba, its researchers and students, for the excellent science that is carried out there, which has impact for Manitoba, for Canada in the world. I was very impressed with the scientists and the students that I met during my visit, and we hope and expect to be able to support them in ways that will enable them to continue performing at internationally competitive level," he said.
For nearly 150 years, UM has transformed lives through groundbreaking research and homegrown innovation. We push the boundaries of knowledge and do the hard work here in Manitoba to move our community and the world forward. With a spirit of determination and discovery, we are shaping a better future for our province and beyond.
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