Lambton College receives more research grant money

Lambton College’s involvement in circular-economy applied research received a boost recently from a national non-profit.

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The Sarnia college recently received $1.5 million from Mitacs, an organization that connects private companies with post-secondary institutions for research projects, for 200 internship positions during two years, said Mehdi Sheikhzadeh, Lambton’s senior vice-president of research and innovation.

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Getting that funding and designation as a “sponsor organization” for the Mitacs Umbrella program means it’s quicker and easier for companies to partner with Lambton students and graduates on projects, and make use of the research facilities at Lambton, he said.

Applications using the program take about a week to turn around and begin the research process, he said, as opposed to more than a month without it.

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“We have been using Mitacs for many years now, but it was always individual projects,” Sheikhzadeh said.

“And so, for each individual project, we had to submit an application and go through the review process.

“With the new Umbrella grant, what happens is we already have pre-approval.”

Lambton has six research centers that work together under the Lambton College circular economy innovation platform (LCEIP) on all things involving sustainability, he said.

Recent examples include using biomass to generate materials, and using polymeric materials in a recycling process, he said, noting there’s been good interest since the Umbrella funding began in August.

Companies match Mitacs funding for each individual internship, for $3 million in total program funding, or $15,000 for each four-month internship, Sheikhzadeh said, noting internships also can be “stacked,” so a single intern could conceivably use three internships during the course of a year on a single project.

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The arrangement will help more students get hired for projects, he said, noting its another piece in the puzzle of Lambton continuing to build its research capacity.

Others include partnerships with other colleges under the Canadian Materials Circular Economy Syndicate (CMCES) and the Canadian Bio-Cleantech Applied Research Network (CBARN), Sheikhzadeh said.

Other member colleges and universities in those networks also are expected to benefit from the Mitacs agreement, he said.

Eighty per cent of the internships go to Lambton College students and graduates, and the rest go to other positions, including post-doctoral students, via other Canadian colleges, he said.

The schools with which Lambton has partnerships will “be our main, primary target,” for those internships, Sheikhzadeh said.

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“But it’s open for any other institutions. We are open for collaborations and we are inviting people to come to us to collaborate on research projects.”

Interested companies are asked to email Lambton research and innovation business development coordinator Qusay Al-Malkawi, [email protected].

Lambton has been a top-five ranked research college in Canada for seven years and takes on about 300 applied research projects a year, with 200 industry partners, officials said recently, when the college opened its $3.4-million Canadian extrusion research lab at the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park.

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