Research Chairs

Research Chairs are the lifeblood of the Faculty of Science's robust research program. Research Chairs and Professorships allow us to recruit and retain some of the world's most accomplished and promising minds. These positions allow us to recognize outstanding researchers who are acknowledged by their peers as current or emerging world leaders in their fields.



Canada Research Chairs

The Faculty of Science holds 22 of the 116 Canada Research Chairs allocated to the University of Alberta.

Established by the Government of Canada, the Canada Research Chairs program enables Canadian Universities and their affiliated research institutes and hospitals to achieve the highest levels of research excellence and to become world-class centres of research.

The program aims to attract and retain excellent researchers in Canadian Universities, to strengthen the training of highly qualified personnel through research, to improve the capacity of universities to generate and apply new knowledge and to optimize the use of research resources through strategic institutional planning and collaboration.

There are two types of Canada Research Chair: Tier 1 Chairs are for seven years and are targeted at outstanding researchers who are acknowledged by their peers as world leaders in their fields; Tier 2 Chairs are for five years and are targeted at exceptional emerging researchers who are acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to lead in their fields. Both types of chair may be renewed at the discretion of the Faculty and the University; Tier 2 Chairs may be renewed only once.

Tier 1

Robert Creaser
Isotope Geochemistry
Dec 2009 - Nov 2023
Dennis Hall
Boron Chemistry for Green Catalysis and Drug Discovery
Oct 2015 - Sept 2029
Thomas Stachel
Diamond Geology
Apr 2012 - Mar 2026
LIsa Stein
Climate Change Microbiology
April 2023 - March 2030
Chris Sturdy
Animal Cognition, Communication and Neuroethology
April 2020 - Mar 2027
Suzanne Tank
Land-Ocean Biogeochemistry
October 2024 - September 2031
Hao Wang
Mathematical Biosciences
April 2023 - March 2030
David Wishart
Metabolomics and Precision Medicine
April 2023 - March 2030
Yunjie Xu
Chirality and Chiral Recognition
Jul 2011 - Apr 2025

Tier 2

Tamzin Blewett
Environmental Physiology and Toxicology
October 2024 - September 2029
Nassim Bozorgnia
Astroparticle Physics
Oct 2022 - Sept 2027
David Favero
Derived Categories
Apr 2014 - Mar 2024
Stephanie Green

Aquatic Global Change Ecology and Conservation
Oct 2019 - Sept 2024

Lauren Guillette
Cognitive Ecology
Oct 2022 - Sept 2027
Britta Jensen
Quaternary Volcanism
April 2023 - September 2028
Linglong Kong

Statistical Learning
Feb 2020 - Mar 2025

Lindsay Leblanc
Ultracold Gases for Quantum Simulation
Apr 2014 - Sept 2024
Matthew Macauley
Chemical Glycoimmunology
Oct 2018 - Sept 2023
Joseph Maciejko
Condensed Matter Theory
Jul 2014 - Jun 2024
Kim Mathot
Integrative Ecology
Oct 2017 - Sept 2027
Vladimir Michaelis

Magnetic Resonance of Advanced Materials
Sept 2020 - Aug 2025

Sarah Nadi
Software Reuse
Oct 2017 - Sept 2027
Toby Spribille
Symbiosis
Oct 2018 - Sept 2023
Peggy St. Jacques

Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory
Sept 2020 - Aug 2025

Martha White
Reinforcement Learning
April 2023 - March 2028
Sean Wilson
Biogeochemistry of Sustainable Mineral Resources
Oct 2018 - Sept 2023

Partner/Donor Supported Chairs and Professorships

Supporting a research position creates impact in both research and in teaching.

Corwin Sullivan - Biological Sciences
Philip J. Currie Professorship in Vertebrate Paleontology
Daniel Alessi - Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Encana Chair in Water Resources
Manish Patnaik - Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
M.V. Subbarao Professor of Number Theory
Mark Boyce - Biological Sciences
Alberta Conservation Association Chair in Fisheries and Wildlife
Michael Meanwell
Manley and Marian Johnston Professor in Chemistry
Pierre Boulanger - Computing Science
Cisco Research Chair in Healthcare Solutions
July 2012 - Dec 2021
Yingfei Yi - Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Killam Memorial Scholar

Other Chairs and Professorships

Fred West
Allard Research Chair in Oncology
Jens Walter - Biological Sciences/Agriculture/Forestry
Chair in Nutrition, Microbes and Gastrointestinal Health
March 1, 2014 - Present
Matthew Macauley
R. U. Lemieux Chair of Carbohydrate Chemistry (2021-2026)
Michael Bowling - Computing Science
DeepMind Chair in Aritificial Intelligence (2024-)
Monireh Faramarzi - Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Campus Alberta Innovates Program (CAIP) Chair in Watershed Science and Modelling
July 1, 2016 - June 30, 2022
Nikita Karpenko - Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Centennial Professor
Vakhtang Putkaradze - Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Centennial Professor
Yaozhong Hu - Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
Centennial Professor

Canada Excellence Research Chairs

Graham Pearson, CERC Laureate

Chair in Arctic Resources - Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
2010 - 2017

Lara Mahal

Chair in Glycomics - Department of Chemistry
July 1, 2019 - June 30, 2026
CERC Award website

Shinichi Nakagawa

Chair in Open Science and Synthesis in Ecology and Evolution - Department of Biological Sciences
July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2032
CERC Award website