Dr. Ricardo Scrosati named to second five-year Canada Research Chair

Dr. Ricardo Scrosati, a StFX professor and researcher, has been successful in having his prestigious Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Marine Ecology renewed for a second five-year term.

The Canada Research Chairs program invests $300 million per year to attract and retain some of the world's most accomplished and promising minds. Dr. Scrosati’s new Tier 2 CRC will run from 2009-2014 and will bring $500,000 to StFX.

He was first awarded a five-year $500,000 CRC in 2004 to generate new knowledge about how coastal systems work as well as applications in conservation and management in Atlantic Canada and in similar coasts around the world.

“This second CRC period is a fantastic opportunity that will give continuity to my long-term research goals, allowing me as well to keep training a strong number of graduate and undergraduate students,” says Dr. Scrosati.

“The Canada Research Chairs program helps attract and retain the best researchers from the country and around the world to Canadian universities, which has direct benefits for our communities,” the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology), said when he announced the latest round of funding for 181 Canada Research Chairs newly awarded or renewed in 45 Canadian universities.

“The Canada Research Chairs program fosters a research environment of international calibre in our country,” said Dr. Chad Gaffield, President of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and head of the Chairs program’s steering committee. “The program enables our universities to attract and retain the world’s most accomplished and promising scholars, to achieve research excellence across the natural sciences and engineering, the health sciences, and the social sciences and humanities, and to offer first-class learning and training experiences to the researchers and leaders of tomorrow.”

Dr. Scrosati’s Marine Ecology Lab (http://people.stfx.ca/rscrosat) investigates the ecology of marine rocky shores, focusing on seaweeds and invertebrates at the population and community levels. Through a variety of regional and international collaborations, his lab works with students at the honours, masters (M.Sc.), and Ph.D. levels, who later become StFX ambassadors when they are recruited by other institutions in Canada and abroad.