Written by: The Daily Gleaner on July 29 2014

FREDERICTON ^• More than two dozen researchers at the University of New Brunswick will get a boost thanks to almost $2.4 million in funding from the federal government.

Ed Holder, minister of State for science and technology, announced on Monday funding for UNB scientists, engineers and students through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

“By supporting over 3,500 researchers and students in Canada, our government is strengthening Canada’s leadership in discovery research around the world,”Holder said.“In so doing, we are developing, attracting and retaining the world’s most talented researchers, who carry out the scientific research that creates jobs and prosperity and improves the quality of life of Canadians.”

“Fredericton has a thriving knowledge industry, and this university is contributing to that enterprise,” Holder stated.

Among the 28 researchers and trainees at UNB who will benefit from the funding is Richard B. Langley, who is receiving $170,000 to improve the positioning precision and accuracy of the global positioning system and of the next generation of European, Japanese and other global navigation satellite systems.

He and his team will also use the funding to analyze data from their GPS instrument on the Canadian CASSIOPE research satellite, which is studying Earth’s ionosphere. Those studies will help scientists better understand space weather and its effects on infrastructure here on the ground and in space.

“Dr. Langley’s team has found applications for businesses right here in Canada,” Holder said in his Monday speech at UNB.“The team has developed a GPS navigation system that automatically steers cranes in shipping container ports to within an accuracy of two centimetres or better.”

“The system has spun off to a private New Brunswick company, Gemini Navsoft Technologies, that provides high-accuracy machine control for monitoring the stability of hydroelectric dams and other structures,” Holder said.

“UNB was recently named Canada’s most entrepreneurial university by Startup Canada. Programs such as NSERC Discovery Grants provide funding for the basic research that allows many of our research initiatives to develop into entrepreneurial opportunities for Canadians,” David Burns, UNB’s vice-president of research, said in a news release.

The NSERC Discovery Grants Program is an integral component of the government’s efforts to develop, attract and retain the world’s most talented researchers at Canadian universities. It funds discovery research in a multitude of scientific and engineering disciplines.