11/24/2000 1:58:21 PM
November 15, 2000 -
College of the North Atlantic has been awarded a $670,060 grant from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for the establishment of a GeoSpatial Research Facility for Terrestrial Ecosystems. This grant represents 40 percent of the $1.7 million cost of the project.
The facility will be attached to the Centre for Forest and Environmental Studies at the college’s Corner Brook campus. It will help build databases and research capability for a variety of research purposes including landscape-level spatial forest ecosystem modeling through time, new technologies and techniques to address biodiversity assessment and forecasting, advanced 3-dimensionsal landscape visualization tools, and state-of-the-art computing and networking technologies to enable collaborative research initiatives involving shared databases. Applications of this new facility will serve users in sustainable forest management, environmental assessments and impact studies, and land use planning.
The college spearheaded the application to the CFI in co-operation with its research partners Corner Brook Pulp and Paper, Newfoundland Forest Service, Canadian Forest Service, Gros Morne National Park, and Sir Wilfred Grenfell College of Memorial University, who together contributed over $1 million to the project.
“I am delighted the college is able to take a leadership position in the region to co-ordinate the partners in maximizing our forest and natural resources for the benefit of all,” says Pamela Walsh, President of College of the North Atlantic.
“Planning for this facility is underway and when complete, the centre will enable a high level of research in this important area for the province,” said Jack O’Keefe, the college’s Chief Technology Officer.
“It will build on existing forest and environmental research activities in Corner Brook and should also serve to attract and retain highly qualified people in the area of geospatial research.”
College of the North Atlantic’s proposal was one of only 21 projects from 15 institutions approved under the College Development Fund by the CFI Board of Directors on the recommendation of multidisciplinary assessment committees made up of world-class experts from a wide range of fields and disciplines. To receive funding applicants had to demonstrate the excellence and innovativeness of their projects and how they will benefit Canada.
The CFI is an independent, not-for-profit organization established by the federal government in 1997 to address an urgent need of Canada’s research community for new, state-of-the-art research infrastructure.
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For more information contact:
Mr. Jack O’Keefe
Chief Technology Officer
College of the North Atlantic
tel: (709) 758-7242
or
Stephen Lee
Communications Officer
College of the North Atlantic
tel: (709) 643-7928
fax: (709) 643-7932
email: stephen.lee@northatlantic.nf.ca