The structure of the Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship (GSS) program is designed to connect scientific enabling platforms with strategically focused research areas.
In Alberta, this means accelerating the development of the enabling platforms of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Nano, and Omics, in support of the application areas of Health, Bio-industries, Energy and Environment.
**NEW GUIDELINES UPDATED**
Please note we have now posted new guidelines for the 2012 GSS program to the Forms & Guidelines page (updated December 14, 2011). New this year: adjudication and administration will be completed by the universities - please contact the appropriate university personnel for applicable forms, contact information is included in the guidelines. Please ensure you have the latest version. It is the applicant's responsibility to keep themselves apprised of program updates and any changes to forms and guidelines.
Platform development
The world of technology-based commerce is critically dependent on continuous improvements to platform technologies, including informatics or information and communications technology (ICT), nano science and engineering (Nano), and the rapidly advancing biological and medical sciences of genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics and regulomics - collectively labelled as Omics.
Areas of interest:
Information & Communications Technology (ICT)
ICT, sometimes referred to as informatics, is a broad-based discipline that is both foundational and enabling. Foundational aspects include progress in computing science, which spans theoretical results and application development. The enabling aspects of ICT support all research fields including but not limited to computer science, mathematics, biology, physics and many applications in areas across all branches of science, engineering and medicine, especially platform technologies in support of nanotechnology, energy, health and medicine.
Applicants must identify how their proposal is related to ICT. Tech Futures will confirm the application’s relevance to an ICT area.
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is a broad enabling discipline crossing research fields including, but not limited to: chemistry, physics, computer science, biology, mathematics, many areas of engineering and medicine and that encompasses social, legal, and ethical aspects.
Nanotechnology research includes the development of modelling, prediction, and control of matter at dimensions of the order of 1 to 100 nanometres. The breath of research encompasses imaging, measuring, modelling, and manipulating matter at this scale to enable novel applications.
Of particular interest is work at the interface of nanotechnology and the life sciences, studies that use tools and concepts to study biology at the nanoscale; that propose to engineer biological molecules toward functions different from those they have in nature; or that manipulate biological systems by methods other than traditional molecular biological, synthetic chemical, or biochemical approaches, are classified as nanotechnology projects.
Applicants must identify how their proposal is related to nanotechnology. Tech Futures will confirm the application’s relevance to a nanotechnology area.
Omics
The last decade’s improvement in technologies related to molecular biology (including chemistry, physics, ICT and nanotechnology) have generated a variety of thrusts across the spectrum of genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, meta genomics, as well as computational aspects of modelling and prediction associated with bioinformatics (management and manipulation of sequencing technologies and large data), and the multi-scale modelling of systems biology.
Research in the development of Omics platforms span a broad spectrum of areas, including applications in health, energy, and environment.
Applicants must identify how their proposal is related to Omics. Tech Futures will confirm the application’s relevance to an Omics area.
Application development
The strategic focus of Alberta Innovates includes the areas of health, bio-industries, energy and environment.
Health
Research in health has a long history in Alberta, catalyzed by former Premier Peter Lougheed’s creation of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR). Tech Futures' health research focus is intended to complement that of Health Solutions (formerly the AHFMR), by focusing on the science and engineering aspects of health and medicine, including those arising from the platform areas (ICT, Nano, and Omics), as well as health informatics and medical devices.
Applicants must identify how their proposal is related to health. Tech Futures will confirm the application’s relevance to an appropriate health application area.
Bio-industries
Bio-industries is an application area that includes a variety of novel developments which rely on the systematic development of biological processes to produce biomaterials, food and nutraceuticals, and bio-energy, especially as related to forestry and agricultural resources. These product areas rely on a variety of overlapping platforms, and typically complement the other application areas, especially energy and environment.
Applicants must identify how their proposal is related to bio-industries. Tech Futures will confirm the application’s relevance to an appropriate bio-industries application area.
Energy
The work of Karl Clark, and the modern processes of extracting hydrocarbon energy from oil sands is but one example of Alberta’s heritage in the development of energy reserves based on oil, coal, and natural gas.
Application research in the energy field encompasses a broad variety of interests, including bio-fuels, machine learning applications in adaptive extraction processes, efficient energy extraction techniques, efficient energy storage and distribution technologies, and research focused on the development of alternative energy resources (e.g., wind power, bio-fuels, coal gasification, geo-thermal).
Applicants must identify how their proposal is related to energy. Tech Futures will confirm the application’s relevance to an energy application area.
Environment
In addition to its natural energy resources, Alberta has an abundance of environmental assets. A broad spectrum of scientific and engineering research is related to understanding, modelling, preserving and restoring Alberta's environment. This includes the principled coordination of economic development in agriculture, forestry, and energy, and the application of the platform technologies for Alberta’s benefit.
Research in this application area includes, for example, research on the mountain pine beetle, and the sustainable management of water in modern agriculture, forestry and energy extraction.
Applicants must identify how their proposal is related to the environment. Tech Futures will confirm the application’s relevance to an appropriate environmental application area.
For general inquiries, please contact:
Sarah Lee
Program Associate
Post-Secondary Investments
780-450-5553
sarah.lee [at] albertainnovates.ca