UVic Honours Its Top Researchers For 2009

A mechanical engineer, an English scholar, an expert in European studies, an advocate for Aboriginal child health, and a university-wide team that assists people with special needs are winners of the University of Victoria’s 2009 Craigdarroch Research Awards.

The winners will receive their awards at a celebration tomorrow evening at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. Also to be honoured are two UVic graduates who are sharing the UVic Innovation and Development Corporation’s 2009 Entrepreneurship Award.

“Choosing winners for the Craigdarroch awards is always a daunting task for the selection committee,” says Dr. Howard Brunt, UVic’s vice-president research. “This year the committee exercised its prerogative to award gold medals to two outstanding recipients from very distinct fields, which speaks volumes about the depth and breadth of research talent at our university.”

The winners are:

Dr. Sadik Dost
Craigdarroch Gold Medal for Career Achievement in Research
From watches and cell phones to supercomputers and solar panels, almost all electronic devices rely on the semiconducting properties of single crystal materials. Sadik Dost is an international leader in crystal growth, the processes used to produce these materials.
Media contact: Dr. Sadik Dost (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering) at 250-721-8898 or sdost@me.uvic.ca

Dr. Patrick Grant
Craigdarroch Gold Medal for Career Achievement in Research
Described by colleagues as one of the most productive English scholars in Canada, Patrick Grant has spent his career—including 38 years at UVic—exploring the relationships between literature and religion, including the literature and culture of his native Northern Ireland.
Media contact: Dr. Patrick Grant (retired, Dept. of English) at 250-595-7282 or pjgrant@telus.net
(Grant is not available for interviews on Monday, April 6)

Dr. Amy Verdun
Craigdarroch Silver Medal for Excellence in Research
Political scientist Amy Verdun’s rise through the ranks of the academic profession gives new meaning to the term “meteoric.” Since her arrival at UVic in 1997, she has rapidly become one of the “movers and shakers” in the field of European studies in Canada and internationally.
Media contact: Dr. Amy Verdun (Dept. of Political Science) at 250-853-3527 or averdun@uvic.ca (Verdun is in Europe but available for interviews and is checking her phone and email messages regularly.)
 

Dr. Nigel Livingston and the CanAssist team
Craigdarroch Award for Societal Contribution
CanAssist is a UVic program that harnesses the ingenuity of hundreds of faculty, students, staff and community volunteers to develop customized technology, programs and services for those with special needs. CanAssist is a successful and inspiring example of how universities can engage the community to accomplish benefits for society.
Media contact: Dr. Nigel Livingston (founding director, CanAssist) at 250-721-7121 or njl@uvic.ca

Dr. Jessica Ball
Craigdarroch Award for Research Communication
Whether she’s speaking about Aboriginal fathers, Indigenous children’s literacy and development or intercultural partnerships, Jessica Ball is determined that research is translated into improved social policies, effective community programs and informed individual decision-making. Ball has recently been named 2009 Academic of the Year by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA-BC).
Media contact: Dr. Jessica Ball, (School of Child and Youth Care) at 250-658-3126 (home) or 250-472-4128 or jball@uvic.ca

Anthony Sukow and Andrew Sukow
UVic Innovation and Development Corporation Entrepreneurship Award
The Sukow brothers—both UVic students at the time—founded Advanced E-commerce Research Systems (AERS) in 2004 to provide statistical analysis for the eBay marketplace. AERS now monitors more than 10 million consumer transactions a day and has developed relationships with Fortune 500 companies around the world.
Media contact: Anthony Sukow at 250-483-3270 or 250-858-2377 (cell) or anthony@aers.ca
 

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