{"id":74409,"date":"2021-03-05T13:32:18","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T18:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?p=74409"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:36:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T13:36:25","slug":"carleton-faculty-receive-cfi-funding-to-explore-dark-matter-and-create-an-accessible-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/2021\/carleton-faculty-receive-cfi-funding-to-explore-dark-matter-and-create-an-accessible-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton Faculty Receive CFI Funding to Explore Dark Matter and Create an Accessible Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton Faculty Receive CFI Funding to Explore Dark Matter and Create an Accessible Canada\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Carleton University\u2019s Mark Boulay<\/a> and Adrian Chan<\/a> have received nearly $9.3 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation\u2019s<\/a> (CFI) Innovation Fund. Mark Boulay\u2019s project will continue to support research into dark matter exploration at SNOLAB<\/a>. Adrian Chan\u2019s project will create a living lab focusing on accessibility with a view to creating an inclusive and accessible Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Razvan Gornea, professor in the Department of Physics<\/a>, will be working on a CFI funded project led by the University of British Columbia entitled Enabling the search for neutrinoless double-beta decays in Xe-136 with nEXO<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCarleton would like to thank our partners and CFI for its vision in further strengthening this ongoing Canadian physics project and for funding the new Abilities Living Laboratory (ALL),\u201d said Rafik Goubran, vice-president (Research and International). \u201cThis major investment in innovative, world-class research will benefit all Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boulay, professor in the Department of Physics, and his partners at the University of Alberta, Laurentian University, Queen\u2019s University, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, SNOLAB and TRIUMF are enhancing Canada’s leadership in dark matter searches by enabling next-generation liquid argon experiments at SNOLAB. Liquid argon’s unique properties allow strong background suppression, enabling very large and sensitive detectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mystery of dark matter has been around since the 1930s, when it became apparent that the normal matter we know of, made up of mostly protons and neutrons, can only account for about five per cent of the universe. Searching for dark matter particles by looking for their interaction with atomic nuclei is now an international scientific priority\u2014understanding the nature of dark matter is one of the most important unsolved problems in science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis funding allows us to continue the search for the elusive dark matter that makes up most of the universe but has not yet been directly observed,\u201d said Boulay. \u201cIt enables improvements to the DEAP-3600<\/a> experiment at SNOLAB\u2014currently the world\u2019s most sensitive liquid argon dark matter detector\u2014and the development of an even larger next-generation experiment, Darkside-20k.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Located two kilometres below the surface in Sudbury, Ont., SNOLAB is the deepest cleanest lab in the world. It provides an ideal low background environment for the study of extremely rare physical interactions. SNOLAB\u2019s science program focuses on astroparticle physics, specifically neutrino and dark matter studies, though its unique location is also well-suited to biology and geology experiments. SNOLAB facilitates world-class research, trains highly qualified personnel and inspires the next generation of scientists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan, director of the Research and Education in Accessibility, Design, and Innovation<\/a> (READi) training program, and his partners at the University of Ottawa will use the funding to support ALL at Carleton. ALL brings together some of Canada’s top minds in science, engineering, design, health, social sciences and the humanities to create innovative community systems that enable a fully inclusive and accessible Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled about this opportunity,\u201d said Chan. \u201cCarleton has engaged in many projects that have contributed to a more accessible society for persons with disabilities. ALL will provide cutting-edge technology and infrastructure to accelerate accessibility research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is anticipated that this research program will lead to the design and development of new assistive and rehabilitation devices, public environments and facilities, and experiences that are more accessible and inclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About CFI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more than 20 years, CFI has been giving researchers the tools they need to think big and innovate. Fostering a robust innovation system in Canada translates into jobs and new enterprises, better health, cleaner environments and, ultimately, vibrant communities. By investing in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment in Canada\u2019s universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions, CFI also helps to attract and retain the world\u2019s top talent, to train the next generation of researchers and to support world-class research that strengthens the economy and improves the quality of life for all Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Media Contact
\n<\/strong>Steven Reid
\nMedia Relations Officer
\nCarleton University
\n613-265-6613
\nSteven.Reid3@carleton.ca<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com\/Cunewsroom<\/a>
\nCOVID 19 Updates: https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/coronavirus-covid-19\/messages\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carleton University\u2019s Mark Boulay and Adrian Chan have received nearly $9.3 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation\u2019s (CFI) Innovation Fund. Mark Boulay\u2019s project will continue to support research into dark matter exploration at SNOLAB. Adrian Chan\u2019s project will create a living lab focusing on accessibility with a view to creating an inclusive and accessible Canada. In addition, Razvan Gornea, professor in the Department […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":69223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[88,105,143,91],"class_list":["post-74409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-releases","tag-awards","tag-physics","tag-read-initiative","tag-research"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74409"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74423,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74409\/revisions\/74423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}