Canada Research Chairs to Two

By Suzanne Soto

Jonathan LaMarre	Douglas McCalla

A biomedical scientist pursuing better ways of controlling Alzheimer's disease, cirrhosis and tumour growth and a scholar aiming to build a new Canadian economic history based on the experiences of ordinary farm families are the latest faculty to be named to Canada Research Chairs at U of G.

Prof. Jonathan LaMarre, Biomedical Sciences, has been awarded $100,000 annually for the next five years to hold a junior chair in comparative biomedical sciences. Douglas McCalla, currently a history professor at Trent University, will receive $200,000 annually for seven years to hold a senior chair in Canadian rural history. He will take up the appointment in the new year.

Industry Minister Brian Tobin unveiled the two chairs as part of a national Canada Research Chairs announcement Nov. 29 at McMaster University.

"This is wonderful news for the University of Guelph," said Prof. Deborah Stacey, assistant vice-president (research and infrastructure programs). "The appointment of Prof. LaMarre is very appropriate, given our great strengths in the life sciences as they relate to human health. And the appointment of Prof. McCalla, our first chair recruited externally, fits in very well with the University's emphasis on rural studies."

As holder of a Canada Research Chair, LaMarre will lead laboratory inquiry on the regulation of individual genes, tissues and species and their role in disease states. The work is expected to substantially increase scientific knowledge in many health areas, including the diagnosis, pathogenesis and potential therapies for several animal- and human- related illnesses. A faculty member at Guelph since 1993, LaMarre is an internationally recognized scientist and the winner of seven prior prestigious scientific awards, fellowships and scholarships.

McCalla is the author and editor of several books in economic and business history, notably an award-winning economic history of early Ontario. At Guelph, he will do systematic research on Canadian economic history from 1600 to 1939, based on the experiences of ordinary farm and artisan families of the day.

Launched by Ottawa in 2000, the Canada Research Chairs Program is designed to enable Canadian universities to become world-class centres of research excellence by providing them with new funds to recruit and retain world-class faculty. U of G is expected to have 35 chairs funded over the next few years; the two chairs announced Nov. 29 bring to seven the number funded to date.

"Universities are pivotal to Canada's new knowledge-driven economy because of their role in advancing the frontiers of knowledge and understanding," Tobin said at the announcement. "By investing in our researchers through initiatives such as the Canada Research Chairs Program, the Government of Canada is promoting leading-edge research and innovation, providing exciting opportunities for Canadian researchers, and attracting the best research minds in the world to Canadian universities."

In addition to the new chairs, two of U of G's existing chairs received infrastructure funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Prof. Jacek Lipkowski, Chemistry and Biochemistry, holder of the chair in electrochemistry, received close to $140,000 for his work on thin film technology. Prof. Alejandro Marangoni, Food Science, who holds the chair in food and soft materials, received just over $145,000 to study structure-function relationships in food and soft materials.