Ten UTM faculty members receive Connaught funds

Professor Liye Xie from the Department of Anthropology is one of 10 UTM researchers to receive a Connaught New Researcher Awards. It will fund her project on “labour mobilization for early Bronze Age urban construction at Erlitou, China.” The annual Connaught awards help establish strong research programs for U of T assistant professors within the first five years of a tenured-stream academic appointment.

“Congratulations to this year’s winners of the Connaught New Researcher Awards on their well-deserved achievement,” said Professor Vivek Goel, U of T’s vice-president of research and innovation. “This funding is designed to help some of the best up-and-coming U of T researchers get their vital projects off the ground and position them to go after and secure external funding to continue and expand their research down the road.”

Along with Professor Xie, the UTM recipients are:

• Professor Andrew Beharry of Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences for “small molecular probes for fluorescence-guided photodynamic therapy”
• Professor Katharina Braeutigam of the Department of Biology for “the relationship between genome, epigenome and plant performance in trees”
• Professor Jacopo De Simoi of the Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences for “fast-slow dynamical systems”
• Professor Teddy Erclik of the Department of Biology for “spatial and temporal patterning of neural stem cells in the developing fruit fly brain”
• Professor Keisuke Fukuda of the Department of Psychology for “EEG-based memory monitoring and intervention for older adults”
• Professor Dehan Kong of the Department of Mathematical and Computational Sciences for “novel statistical models for imaging genetics data”
• Professor Marie-Paule Lory of the Department of Language Studies for “awareness of language program: adopting a plurilingual paradigm to engage students to learn French as a second language in English elementary schools in Ontario”
• Professor Akwasi Owusu-Bempah of the Department of Sociology for “the representation of black criminality and street gangs in Toronto: 2000-2015”
• Professor Xu Tian of the Department of Economics for “the macroeconomic implications of financial frictions”

This year, the Connaught Fund will award a total of $994,000 to 56 researchers across a range of disciplines at U of T.

To see the full list of this year's Connaught recipients, see the U of T News website.