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ASPIRE — Applied Science in Photonics and Innovative Research in Engineering, funded by an NSERC CREATE program — is a training program in Nanotechnology and Photonics (construed very broadly) at Â鶹´«Ã½ with collaborations with University of Toronto, Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal, and Wilfrid Laurier University, Windsor, and with international research institutes in the United States, Europe, Japan, and with Canadian high-tech companies.

ASPIRE will award a full-stipend graduate fellowship of $21,000 to a second- or third-year Â鶹´«Ã½ PhD student. ASPIRE will also accept applications from first-year PhDs who transferred into the PhD after at least one year of a Masters program. The fellowship is for one year only and it is not renewable. Anyone already receiving funding from ASPIRE is not eligible for the fellowship. With this fellowship, ASPIRE hopes to open up the field of study to trainees with diverse research interests.

Deadline for applications has been extended to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Criteria:
•    Award will be granted on the basis of originality of the proposed subject and on the applicant’s academic performance in all required graduate courses
•    Applicants in any field of study (i.e., natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, medicine, etc.) whose research work is relevant to photonics and/or nanotechnology are eligible. For example, a history student might focus on the history of photonics; an English student might look into the development of the terminology of nanotechnology; a dentistry student might investigate laser nanoablation, or a student in social sciences may want to study the impact of nanophotonics technology on social behaviour, social structure, demography, employment, etc.
•    The awards will be tenable in any academic department of Â鶹´«Ã½ during the academic year 2014-2015
•    Applicants must be full-time Â鶹´«Ã½-registered students and must have completed their coursework in order to be eligible

Application requirements:
•    A cover letter (maximum 1 page) describing the research project, its significance and its relevance to photonics and nanotechnology
•    Graduate academic transcripts
•    Letter of reference from the graduate supervisor
•    Applicant’s contact information
•    Deadline for applications is 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Send applications to:
•    Email account aspire@dal.ca
•    Or mail to to Liz Joyce, ASPIRE program co-ordinator, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, P.O. Box 15000, Halifax, N.S. B3H 4R2
•    Or drop off to Liz Joyce, ASPIRE co-ordinator, Sexton campus, C building, Room C367, 1360 Barrington St., Halifax, N.S. B3J 1Z1

For any questions, please contact Dr. Michael Cada at michael.cada@da.ca until July 8, 2014, and contact Ms Joyce at aspire@dal.ca or 494-2854 after July 9, 2014.