Accelerating Discovery
By
Ellen Tsaprailis
Photo Credit:
Luther Caverly
Sonia Chiasson, Audrey Girouard and Yuhong Guo’s research projects are so impressive that they have received an additional boost in funds from the government.
The three Carleton University professors are at the forefront in research for high-demand technologies that is blazing a new path. Specifically, their research in machine learning, data analytics, digital media, cybersecurity and accessible information technology have become a cluster of strength for research at Carleton.
Sonia Chiasson
School of Computer Science professor and Canada Research Chair Sonia Chiasson’s research relates to human-oriented computer security. She received the Discovery Accelerator Supplements (DAS) funding for her investigation into the effects of how poor cybersecurity impacts everyone. Chiasson is looking into system designs that place unreasonable demands on users during security incidents.
Audrey Girouard
Audrey Girouard is a professor with the School of Information Technology and was awarded the DAS grant for her innovative research in design and evaluation of screenless deformable user interfaces. This deformation will include curving a flexible stylus to adjust the size of a brush for digital artists, bending a screen-free smartphone for visually impaired users, and stretching a bracelet to change the volume of music while running.
Yuhong Guo
Yuhong Guo is a professor and Canada Research Chair at the School of Computer Science. Her research on collective machine learning for semantic data interpretation is breaking new ground. Her research aims to overcome the boundaries of traditional machine learning and data analysis, and provide new tools that address a significant need resulting from big data.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) had already awarded all three professors with funding for their research projects but chose to grant them an additional award with their DAS program. Valued at $360,000, Chiasson, Girouard and Guo will each receive $40,000 annually for three years above what they had initially expected to receive from NSERC based on the strength of their research projects.
According to NSERC, the DAS program “provides substantial and timely resources to researchers who have a superior research program that is highly rated in terms of originality and innovation, and who show strong potential to become international leaders within their field.”
Carleton recently received more than $12.6 million in funding from NSERC, including funding for 14 early career researchers.
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