November 20, 2009
Polanyi prizes awarded to McMaster researchers
McMaster University has captured three of five Polanyi awards given to young university researchers in Ontario.
Named in honour of the 1986 Nobel-prize winner, the John Charles Polanyi Prize recognizes outstanding researchers in the early stages of their career who are continuing their post-doctoral studies at an Ontario university. The awards cover chemistry, literature, physics, physiology or medicine and economics and recipients receive $20,000 each.
Laura Parker (physics), Amelia De Falco (literature), and Michael Kiang (physiology/medicine) will be honoured at an award ceremonies held at Massey College in Toronto on Monday morning in the presence of the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario David Onley, and John Milloy, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities and Minister of Research and Innovation.
Laura Parker is an assistant professor in McMaster University’s Department of Physics & Astronomy. Her research interests are in the field of observational cosmology, more specifically, the processes of galaxy and structure formation and how galaxies and the dark matter that surrounds them interact.
Amelia De Falco is a sessional lecturer and post-doctoral fellow in the Department of English & Cultural Studies. She is currently conducting research into the ethics of caregiving in contemporary Canadian literature. Her PhD dissertation is the basis of her forthcoming book Uncanny Subjects: Aging in Contemporary Narrative.
Michael Kiang is an assistant professor of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University and a psychiatrist in the mental health & addictions department of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. Dr. Kiang is currently studying the abnormalities of brain function that cause symptoms of schizophrenia.
McMaster University, one of four Canadian universities listed among the Top 100 universities in the world, is committed to discovery and learning in teaching, research and scholarship. It has a student population of 23,000 and more than 140,000 alumni in 128 countries.
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For more information contact:
Jane Christmas
Manager, Public & Media Relations
McMaster University
905-525-9140 ext. 27988
Michelle Donovan
Public Relations Manager: Broadcast Media
McMaster University
905-525-9140 ext. 22869