Clockwise from top left: Dr. Nicolae Strungaru, Dr. Kevin Judge, Dr. Samuel Mugo and Dr. Cameron Hassall.

Four MacEwan University faculty members have been awarded funding for research on projects that investigate topics ranging from the study of polymers to the ecology of sexual selection.

The funding comes from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering research in Canada. NSERC directly funds university professors and students as well as Canadian companies to perform research and training.

“We are very grateful for this funding support from NSERC. It will allow our faculty members to continue growing their research programs, ensuring that we have the scientific evidence needed to help address society’s pressing challenges,” said Dr. Craig Kuziemsky, associate vice-president, Research. “NSERC funding helps our faculty members develop new knowledge while training the next generation of scientists and engaging with community partners.”

NSERC Discovery Grant recipients:

• Dr. Cameron Hassall, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology. 
  Project: "The neural correlates of naturalistic learning and decision-making" 
• Dr. Kevin Judge, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences 
  Project: "The ecology of sexual selection"
• Dr. Samuel Mugo, Professor, Department of Physical Sciences
  Project: "Biomimetic molecularly imprinted polymers single atom nanozyme molecular scaffolds for multimodal spectroelectrochemical sensing" 
• Dr. Nicolae Strungaru, Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics 
  Project: "Systems with pure point and mixed diffraction spectra"