Discovery grants: Polytechnique Montréal obtains nearly $3,9 million for research programs

Research programs led by 23 Polytechnique researchers receive support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council - NSERC.

At an event held on June 15, 2021, the Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, the Government of Canada's Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced the granting or renewal of support for the NSERC Discovery Grants Program, which supports ongoing research programs with inherent research objectives.

As part of the 2021 competition, NSERC is granting a total of $3,897,500 to research programs led by 23 researchers at Polytechnique. Each program will receive an amount varying from $24,000 to $64,000 per year for the next five years. Additionally, 13 programs led by early-career researchers will receive an additional $12,500 in the first year. Read on below to discover the programs and the Polytechnique research community members responsible for them.

Chemical Engineering

Program title: Polymer Porous Fibrous Structures with Antiviral Properties
Principal investigator: Full Professor Abdellah Ajji https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/ajji-abdellah

Program title: Decision support systems based on heterogeneous data driven models for a safe and optimal operation of industrial process systems. Principal investigator: Assistant Professor Chioua Moncef https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/chioua-moncef-0 ,

Program title: Thermal transport properties of complex salts systems in solid and liquid states for new energy sources applications. Principal investigator: Aimen Gheribi, researcher

Program title: Intensification and control of cell culture processes. Principal investigator: Full Professor Olivier Henry https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/henry-olivier

Program title: Gas phase activation of monosaccharides and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural to 2,5 diformylfuran a PEF monomer. Principal investigator: Full Professor Gregory Patience https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/patience-gregory-scott

Program title: Modeling the thermodynamic and physical properties of Deep Eutectic Solvents. Principal investigator: Christian Robelin https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/robelin-christian, researcher

Civil, geological, and mining engineering

Program title: Occurrence et contrôle des bactéries opportunistes et bioaérosols issus des systèmes de traitement des eaux usées. Principal investigator: Assistant Professor Emilie Bédard https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/bedard-emilie-0

Program title: Revisiter les critères de conception des éléments épurateurs pour la pérennitédes eaux souterraines. Principal investigator: Assistant Professor Dominique Claveau-Mallet https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/claveau-mallet-dominique

Program title: Nouvelle méthodologie prenant en compte les hydrogrammes probabilistes de rupture de barrages par temps sec pour déterminer les vraies zones à risque tenant compte du recul des berges et de l'érosion fluviale. Principal investigator: Full Professor Tewfik Mahdi https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/mahdi-tew-fik

Program title: Improved design and operations of building water systems to reduce health risks caused by water & energy conservation and extended shutdowns. Principal investigator: Full Professor Michèle Prévost https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/prevost-michele
 

Program title: Innovative Steel Braced Frame Systems for Tall Buildings in Seismic Active Regions. Principal investigator: Full Professor Robert Tremblay https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/tremblay-robert

Electrical engineering

Program title: A Synchrophasor-Assisted Control Framework for Improving Power Quality, Reliability, and Resiliency of Modern Power Systems. Principal investigator: Associate Professor Houshang Karimi https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/karimi-houshang

Program Title: Entraînement de réseaux de neurones profonds à faible énergie en exploitant les compromis énergie-fiabilité. Principal investigator: Assistant Professor François Leduc-Primeau https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/leduc-primeau-francois

Computer and software engineering

Program Title: Sécurité de l'internet des objets dans les villes intelligentes. Principal investigator: Associate Professor Martine Bellaiche https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/bellaiche-martine

Program Title: Autonomous security for complex systems. Principal investigator: Full Professor Frederic Cuppens https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/cuppens-frederic

Program title: Generative models for 3D textures. Principal investigator: Associate Professor Thomas Hurtut https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/hurtut-thomas

Program title: Towards Systematic and Cost-Effective Monitoring of Large-Scale Software Systems. Principal investigator: Associate Professor Heng Li. https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/li-heng

Program Title: Méthodes pour le calcul à haute performance sur FPGA avec applications à la simulation et au contrôle des convertisseurs à commutation rapide. Principal investigator: Assistant Professor Tarek Ould-Bachir https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/ould-bachir-tarek
 

Mechanical Engineering
 

Program Title: Advanced Manufacturing of Intelligent Structures. Principal investigator: Associate Professor Sampada Bodkhe https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/bodkhe-sampada-0

Program title: Application of Boltzmann Transport Equation solutions to nuclear reactor physics and radiotherapy applications. Principal investigator: Full Professor Alain Hébert https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/hebert-alain

Program title: Development of new finite element models to predict the dynamic behavior of shells subjected to flowing fluids. Principal investigator: Full Professor Aouni A. Lakis https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/lakis-aouni

Mathematics and industrial engineering

Program title: Commande optimale stochastique avec applications en épidémiologie et en fiabilité. Principal investigator: Full Professor Mario Lefebvre https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/lefebvre-mario

Program title: Online stochastic optimization for dynamic operations management systems. Principal investigator: Assistant Professor Antoine Legrain https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/legrain-antoine-0

Support for research activities carried out by researchers at Polytechnique Montréal is part of the Government of Canada's investments of over $635 million in science, research, and engineering.

"We’re proud to continue to invest in support, and to celebrate the creativity and innovation that are at the heart of the Canadian research ecosystem. It's inspiring to see our researchers’ ingenuity and dedication to developing interesting ideas that will lead to tomorrow's discoveries and innovations, and which will help improve the planet and generate new prosperity for Canadians," commented the Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.

“The Discovery Grant Program is one of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's flagship programs. This is one of our most ambitious funding programs, both for the total sums committed and for the number of recipients supported,” underlined Alejandro Adem, President of NSERC. “Additionally, this program allows our researchers to count on predictable and long-term funds to explore and push the frontiers of knowledge. Discovery Grants are viewed as the highest standard of excellence in Canada, and are backed by a rigorous peer review process."

Note that the Government of Canada has announced support for various research projects supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada - SSHRC, wherein ten Polytechnique researchers are participating.

Further, the federal government announced the renewal of the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging, held by Associate Professor Julien Cohen-Adad, from the Department of Electrical Engineering.

Learn more

Polytechnique’s research programs supported by the NSERC Discovery Grant Program (“RPGIN” programs) https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/NSERC-CRSNG/FundingDecisions-DecisionsFinancement/ResearchGrants-SubventionsDeRecherche/ResultsInsDetail-ResultatsEtabDetails_eng.asp?Year=2021&Institution=20

NSERC website https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/index_eng.asp