The Network is pleased to announce that three Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network researchers have been honoured with Canada Research Chair designations since the program began.

Richard Seewald, The University of Western Ontario, professor in the School of Communication Sciences & Disorders and researcher at the National Centre for Audiology was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Childhood Hearing. He will receive $1.4 million in funding over the next seven years for research into Infant Hearing Loss.

Judy Lupart, University of Alberta, professor in the Faculty of Education was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Special Education. She will study four factors: the learning progress of children from diverse economic, language and educational levels; their home and school learning environments; teachers’ and parents’ impact on student learning progress; and the implementation of a theory- and research-based model of inclusion to achieve customized, student-centered learning. She receives $1.4 million over the next seven years.

Additionally, we would like to acknowledge that Ravi S. Menon, another Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network researcher and scientist with the Robarts Research Institute was also awarded the Canada Research Chair designation during the first round of recipients on December 15, 2000. He received $500,000 in funding over the next five years for research into using functional magnetic resonance imaging to reveal how the brain responds to specific stimuli and processes thought. His research could lead to a better understanding of how the brain reacts to its senses, and how it processes thought.

"I am delighted with this recognition of the excellence of our researchers. Such awards are a particularly effective way of helping talented researchers to become more productive," says Dr. Donald Jamieson, Scientific Director of the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. "In Canadian universities today, it has become a challenge to find adequate time for a professor to maintain a significant research program. The awards ensure that Canada Research Chairs will have more time to do their research, and the term of the award allows very substantial, multi-year research programs to be carried out that in the end will benefit Canada’s children."

The Canada Research Chairs Program, part of an overall Government of Canada plan to encourage Canada's innovation, promotes leading-edge research and innovation in universities; provides exciting opportunities for Canadian researchers; and attracts the best research minds in the world to Canadian universities. Two thousand Chairs will be established in Canada by 2005.