Faculty of Engineering receives $540,000 NSERC PromoScience grant
In an announcement today by the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, the Faculty of Engineering at Lakehead University has been awarded a PromoScience grant of $540,000 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
This new NSERC PromoScience grant is part of a $1.74-million project entitled Sustainable Engineering for Indigenous Communities, that the Faculty of Engineering has created in partnership with Lakehead University and a consortium of external partners.
“Together with our partners we have developed a comprehensive multi-year approach working collaboratively with Indigenous communities to promote sustainable engineering. This is designed to address the underrepresentation of Indigenous perspectives and knowledge in Canada’s engineering profession, and to expand accessible pathways and opportunities for Indigenous youth – focused on Northwest Ontario and Saskatchewan,” said Dr. Janusz Kozinski, Dean of Engineering at Lakehead University.
The new funding from NSERC PromoScience to support the Sustainable Engineering for Indigenous Communities project will make a significant and meaningful impact, and will provide Lakehead’s Faculty of Engineering, working alongside our partners, to develop new pathways for more Indigenous youth to study engineering and to enter the engineering profession.
The external partners on the project include PSI Analytics Inc., an innovative engineering company based in Saskatoon that is led by Dr. Curtis Berthelot, P.Eng., a former professor at the University of Saskatchewan, and Civiconnect, an Ontario-based non-profit with expertise in developing work-integrated learning experiences for young people. The successful proposal to NSERC also received support from Chief Michele Solomon, Chief of Fort William First Nation, Chief David LeDoux of the Gambler First Nation, Sandro Perruzza, chief executive of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE), Hon. Rob Norris, CEO of Pinehouse Power in Saskatchewan, and Riel Bellegarde, President and CEO of the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies.