Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Climate change is a pressing issue that affects not only Canada but the entire world. Immediate action is imperative to tackle this challenge, and water plays a crucial role in achieving this goal. Water is essential for climate stability, energy production and consumption, food security, environmental preservation, public health, and economic growth, and it should be an integral part of our efforts to address climate change. However, we are facing significant water-related issues such as unequal distribution, pollution, and inadequate access to safe drinking water and sanitation services. To overcome these challenges, we must develop innovative technologies surrounding water through the Water-Climate-Energy-Food-Environment Nexus (the Nexus) and facilitate science-based decision-making. We are five researchers from environmental engineering, energy engineering, environmental chemistry, and geology at the University of Regina (UofR). Four of us are NSERC-funded researchers, and two are early-career researchers. We are a team based on research excellence and synergies with a dedication to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Our interdisciplinary team strives to decarbonize the water and wastewater treatment industries, recover valuable resources (such as energy, water, nutrients, and minerals) from traditional and nontraditional sources such as wastewater, promote food security, and enhance environmental stewardship. Through the Nexus, we coordinate efforts to combat climate change and achieve sustainable development. Gas chromatography (GC) is a critical tool commonly needed in our research. It is essential in measuring volatile organic compounds and GHGs, which helps us understand and optimize the physicochemical and biological processes in natural and engineered systems. However, our existing GC system is broken down and obsolete. Due to the damaged GC, our research activities and HQP training have been seriously crippled. Eight NSERC-funded projects and more than 30 HQP are negatively impacted per year. Some originally planned objectives are now at a standstill, and some are heavily retarded. The proposed GC system will function synergistically with our existing research instrumentation (such as Microscopic Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy Imaging system and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry) to facilitate our joint effort on the Nexus research as well as the individual research programs. Our applicant team and highly qualified personnel (HQP) represent a wide range of backgrounds in discipline, gender, race, culture, etc. Our research programs are a respectful, healthy workplace that nurtures creativity, discovery, and innovation. The requested GC instrument will replace our broken GC and play an integral role that allows our research infrastructure to serve our research and HQP training missions at maximum capacity for many years, benefitting the sustainable development of the Canadian Prairies and the country.