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$69 million for infrastructure projects 

Funding program supports construction of three research facilities

By Karen Herland

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With the announcement of $69 million in infrastructure funding from the provincial and federal governments Concordia’s researchers are positioned to outperform, outrun and outshine others across the country.

The Oct. 14 announcement supports the construction of major facilities dedicated to particular areas of research expertise for the university: Exercise science, genomics and solar energy.

“These projects will allow Concordia to open new horizons and support that will benefit all of society,” said President Judith Woodsworth.

Also at the announcement at Loyola’s Richard J. Renaud Science Complex were Senator W. David Angus, Quebec Minister of Justice Kathleen Weil and Jacques Chagnon, MNA for Westmount-St.-Louis.

The funding is made available through the recently inaugurated Knowledge Infrastructure Program, intended to reinforce construction and maintenance of research facilities and laboratories. All three projects being funded under this program are ideally suited to reinforce existing cutting-edge research at Concordia.

Louise Dandurand, Vice-President Research and Graduate Studies, was thrilled with the timing of the new program. “The planets are aligned. These funds will allow existing projects to really take off.”

Concordia’s exercise science program will expand its research in behavioral medicine and clinical exercise physiology and improve its relationships with hospitals and health centres, locally and internationally, with the construction of the PERFORM (Prevention, Evaluation, Rehabilitation, FORMation) centre to connect with the existing sports and recreation installation at the Loyola Campus.

“We can now fast track a project that until now was only a dream. The program allows us to develop our niche in health sciences working in complement with other medical researchers,” said Dandurand.

The centre will include laboratories for teaching and training in athletic therapy and cardiorespiratory physiology. Students will benefit from cutting-edge facilities to remain at the top of the field. The centre will also house therapeutic facilities for people with sports injuries, cancer, cardiac and respiratory diseases.

Just under $35 million of the infrastructure funding is for PERFORM.

Also at Loyola, a new building to facilitate the work of the Centre for Structural and Functional Genomics is proposed as an expansion to the Science Complex. The nearly $30 million slated for laboratories and facilities will support Concordia’s recognized expertise in developing sustainable methods to convert biomass into alternative energy sources and related research in genomics and systems biology.

Last spring, Genome Canada, along with international partners, announced nearly $22 million for genomics research at Concordia. This recognition will attract further researchers, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students to the university. Dandurand points out that the new building will provide the space to support this growth.

Although located near the biology department, the centre’s facilities will encourage cross-disciplinary investigation involving researchers, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and professors from both science and computer science.

Finally, the Solar Buildings Research Network, based on the Sir George Campus will benefit from just over $4.6 million to construct an environmental chamber in the basement of the Hall Building. This facility will allow for numerous simulations to test the performance of building envelopes and materials in relation to heat, freeze/thaw conditions, light, wind and condensation. The research will support work developing net zero-energy building envelopes capable of harnessing solar power to generate as much energy as the structure requires to operate.

“These funds are an acknowledgment of the ongoing development and expertise that has already been established here,” said Dandurand.

Work on all three projects is slated to begin in 2010 and completed in 2011.