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A mechanical engineer, an English scholar, an expert in European studies, an advocate for Aboriginal child health, and a university-community team that assists people with special needs are winners of the University of Victoria’s 2009 Craigdarroch Research Awards.
The winners will be presented with their awards at an event at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria on April 7. Also to be honoured are the two UVic graduates who are sharing the Innovation and Development Corporation’s 2009 entrepreneurship award.
“Choosing winners for the four Craigdarroch awards is always a daunting task for the selection committee,” says Dr. Howard Brunt, UVic’s vice-president research. “This year the committee decided to exercise 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.”
Dr. Sadik Dost
Dost. Photo: UVic Photo ServicesDepartment of Mechanical Engineering
Gold Medal for Career Achievement in Research
Accomplishments are crystal clear
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. As the founding director of the Centre for Advanced Materials and Related Technology and the Canada Research Chair in Semiconductor Crystal Growth, he studies the challenges associated with growing reproducible, high-quality bulk semiconducting crystals. The advances he has made—typically in collaboration with industrial partners—have applications in a wide variety of fields, including medical imaging, solar energy conversion and security devices.
Dr. Patrick Grant
Grant. Photo: UVic Photo ServicesProfessor Emeritus, Department of English
Gold Medal for Career Achievement in Research
Intellectual powerhouse
Described by colleagues as “an intellectual force of nature” and 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. He has concentrated on literature of the English Renaissance and has an interest in the literature of Western mysticism, in modern literary approaches to the New Testament, and in the literature and culture of his native Northern Ireland. Along the way, he has authored 14 books, as well as a steady flow of book chapters, scholarly articles, journalistic essays, professional papers and lectures. He retired from UVic in 2006, but continues to write.
Dr. Amy Verdun
Verdun. Photo: UVic Photo Services Department of Political Science
Silver Medal for
Excellence in Research
European studies pioneer
Amy Verdun’s rise through the ranks of the academic profession gives new meaning to the term “meteoric.” Since earning her PhD in 1995 and 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. As founding director of UVic’s European studies program—now a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence—and a Jean Monnet Chair herself, Verdun is broadly respected as a leading scholar on European macroeconomic and monetary affairs. Her work—published in a prodigious stream of books, articles and book chapters—is widely cited in Canada and beyond, and is increasingly influential in policy circles.
Dr. Nigel Livingston
Livingston, right, with former CanAssist client and current employee, Dan Spelt.and the CanAssist team
Award for
Societal Contribution
Applying ingenuity with heart
The remarkable story of CanAssist began in 1999 when Nigel Livingston, a UVic biologist and the father of a daughter with a disability, saw for himself the unique difficulties faced by other children with disabilities. He formed UVATT, now CanAssist, a UVic program that harnesses the ingenuity of faculty, students and staff as well as community volunteers, to develop and deliver customized technology, programs and services for those with special needs. To date, the talented CanAssist team has worked with many hundreds of clients. Unique in North America, CanAssist is a successful and inspiring example of how universities can engage the community to accomplish profound benefits for society.
Dr. Jessica Ball
Ball. Photo: UVic Photo Services School of Child and Youth Care
Award for
Research Communication
Advocate for Aboriginal children
Whether she’s speaking about Aboriginal fathers, Indigenous children’s literacy and development or intercultural partnerships, Jessica Ball is determined that research—hers and that of others—is translated into improved social policies, effective community programs and informed individual decision-making. As a Canadian leader in Aboriginal child health, she is a popular speaker and news media resource, and the author of more than 40 journal articles, book chapters and books. Her passion for applying research to practice is reflected in the range of media materials she has created to make her work accessible and understandable to the public, government and practitioners in community-based programs. (Related story, page 2)
Anthony Sukow and Andrew Sukow
Sukow brothersAdvanced E-commerce Research Systems (AERS)
UVic Innovation and Development Corporation Entrepreneurship Award
E-commerce
data wizards
In 2004, in partnership with the Innovation and Development Corporation, brothers Anthony and Andrew Sukow—both UVic students at the time—founded Advanced E-commerce Research Systems (AERS). The company provides statistical analysis for the eBay marketplace, helping buyers and sellers determine what their product is worth. Housed in UVic’s Vancouver Island Technology Park and employing 18 people, AERS is eBay’s only market data reseller and has developed relationships with Fortune 500 companies around the world. The company monitors more than 10 million consumer transactions a day.
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