Left to right: Associate Professor Myriam Brochu - Department of Mechanical Engineering; Assistant Professor Dominique Claveau-Mallet - Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering; Full Professor Clara Santato - Department of Engineering Physics.

Three new Research Chairs – all of which are being led by women - are currently working on cutting-edge research projects with recently-granted financial support from the Government of Canada, as announced by the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.

Tier 1 Canada Research Chairs are held by outstanding researchers acknowledged by their peers as world leaders in their fields. The latter Chairs receive funding of $200,000 annually over seven years and funding is renewable once.

Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs are held by exceptional emerging researchers who have been acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to be leaders in their respective fields. These Chairs benefit from funding of $100,000 annually over five years. First-time Tier 2 Chair holders also receive an additional $20,000 annual research stipend.

Innovation, Science, and Industry Canada has provided a total of $2.6 million in funding to the Chairs led by the three Polytechnique professors. In total, Innovation, Science, and Industry Canada is contributing $195 in funding to 259 active Canada Research Chairs at 47 establishments across the country.

“Our government is taking action to attract and retain the world’s brightest and most distinguished researchers. For over 20 years, the Canada Research Chairs Program has been mobilizing Canada’s most esteemed academics to train and mentor the next generation of researchers and pursue groundbreaking research that responds to society’s economic, social and health needs. Congratulations to the new and renewed Canada Research Chairs! I look forward to seeing where your research and innovation leads us.”
- The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

“The Canada Research Chairs Program is committed to excellence in research and research training. Such excellence can only be achieved in an environment that fully respects and promotes the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion, and by advancing knowledge across a variety of research disciplines—from developing new technologies to help clean and protect our oceans, to creating better and more inclusive education systems for our youth, and to applying machine learning to the field of biomedicine. In this way, the program provides an outstanding platform for creating the conditions necessary for Canada to respond to global challenges, now and in future.”
- Ted Hewitt, Chair, Canada Research Chair Program Steering Committee

Research work led by the trio of Polytechnique professors has also received support from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (through the Canada Foundation for Innovation - CFI), and from the Government of Québec; these funds have been earmarked to establish research infrastructure. The federal government’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund assists higher-education institutions to attract and retain top researchers by enabling them to acquire foundational research infrastructure required to undertake leading-edge research, as well as remain competitive in terms of supporting recruited professors’ research.

The CFI has granted a total of $509,381 in research infrastructure funding for the Chairs led by Professors Brochu, Claveau-Mallet, and Santato; the Government of Québec is providing the trio with an equivalent level of support. CFI’s total announced contribution is $14 million, distributed across 58 Canada Research Chairs, active at 27 establishments.

“The Canada Foundation for Innovation was created to attract and retain excellent researchers in Canada. Supporting these Chairs coincides precisely with one of our foundational goals. We are very pleased to contribute to enhancing the research environment and to enable new talent to join the vital research underway in universities across the country.”
- Roseanne O’Reilly Runte, President and CEO, Canada Foundation for Innovation

The following are descriptions of each Research Chair:

Canada Research Chair in Improved Durability of Advanced Metal Materials

Holder: Associate Professor Myriam Brochu - Department of Mechanical Engineering
Chair Type: New Tier 2 Chair

Professor Brochu’s work is focused on providing state-of-the art tools and experimental methodologies adapted to the characterization of innovative material-design-process triads, with the goal improving the precision of models used to predict the durability of structural components. Research is being conducted in a context where a lack of fundamental knowledge of and lack of experimental data about emerging materials and processes limits their use in applications where user and worker safety is an issue.

One of the major objectives of Professor Brochu’s research is the development of efficient, versatile, and reliable fatigue-testing methods that will permit the simulation of a variety of stress states and gradients representative of in-service operating conditions. Application of these methodologies will help to provide information about advanced material and innovative component durability - knowledge is necessary for the development of accurate, versatile, prediction models for fatigue life-cycles.

Professor Brochu’s Chair will receive $120,000 annually over five years, provided by the Canada Research Chairs Program. The Chair will also receive infrastructure funding of $175,000 from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (CFI); $175,000 in funding from the Government of Québec, and a contribution of $107,791 from Polytechnique Montréal and partners, for a total of $457,791 earmarked for research infrastructure.

Canada Research Chair in Decentralized and Small-scale Water Treatment Laboratories

Holder: Assistant Professor Dominique Claveau-Mallet - Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering
Chair Type: New Tier 2 Chair

Professor Claveau-Mallet’s research focus is the development and optimization of decentralized, small-scale water treatment processes that address groundwater drinking water supply contamination issues, in the overall context of the densification of septic systems in regions with vulnerable aquifers and sensitive ecosystems. In conventional septic systems, the purifying element used to remove organic matter from wastewater can be a potential source of contamination due to the partial or little-known removal of nutrients, pathogens, and emerging contaminants.

Professor Claveau-Mallet’s research seeks to characterize and model the physical, chemical, and biological phenomena in treatment processes, as well as develop criteria for the design and performance improvement of these processes relative to their size, water and energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Professor Claveau-Mallet’s Chair will receive $120,000 annually over five years, provided by the Canada Research Chairs Program. The Chair will also receive infrastructure funding of $159,381 from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (CFI), a contribution of $159,381 from the Government of Québec, and $79,692 from Polytechnique Montréal and partners, for a total of $398,454 earmarked for research infrastructure.

Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Organic Electronics: Materials, Processes and Devices

Holder: Full Professor Clara Santato - Department of Engineering Physic
Chair Type: New Tier 1 Chair

Professor Santato’s research scope is the improvement of the environmental footprint of and integration of bio-sourced organic materials and materials produced using green chemistry processes, which are used in electronic and energy storage devices. This research is topical, given growing demand for electronic hardware, which results in massive quantities of electrical and electronic equipment waste, all of which is compounded by manufactured obsolescence and failure.

Professor Santato’s research initiative objective is the integration of materials into electronic devices of technological interest, components that are non-toxic, biodegradable, and have low intrinsic energy (i.e., the amount of energy used to manufacture a device). Target materials over the short- and long-term include melanins, indigo, tannins, and lignin by-products, some of which are abundant in Québec.

Professor Santato’s Chair will receive $200,000 annually over seven years, provided by the Canada Research Chairs Program. The Chair will also receive infrastructure funding of $175,000 from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (CFI), $175,000 from the Government of Québec, as well as a $143,952 contribution from Polytechnique Montréal and partners, for a total of $493,952 earmarked for research infrastructure.

Congratulations to Professors Brochu, Claveau-Mallet, and Santato!

Learn more

Professor Myriam Brochu’s expertise
Professor Dominique Claveau-Mallet’s expertise
Professor Clara Santato’s expertise
Department of Mechanical Engineering website
Department of Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering website
Department of Engineering Physics website
Canada Research Chair Program website
Canada Foundation for Innovation website