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| Molecular evolutionary biologist Andrew Roger. |
Another Â鶹´«Ã½ star is born. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) has awarded molecular evolutionary biologist Andrew Roger an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship. The prestigious award is given to "outstanding and highly promising researchers." He is the only researcher east of Ontario to receive the award this year.
Dr. Roger, an Associate Professor in Dal's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, points to the unique research his group is conducting as a reason for the recognition.
"My group has been making important contributions to the understanding of the early history of life on Earth, as well as conducting interdisciplinary research into developing computer-based statistical models of how genes and genomes of organisms evolve," he says.
Announced March 19th in Ottawa, the Fellowship will provide Dr. Roger the opportunity to focus his time on research in his lab and afford him more time to train and supervise undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral researchers.
Edgar William Richard Steacie, for whom the awards are named, was a physical chemist and President of the National Research Council from 1952 to 1962. He strongly believed that promising scientists are this countryÕs greatest asset and should be given every opportunity to develop their own ideas.