Metis Researcher Wins Grant Money

Metis Researcher Wins Grant Money

Friday, July 09, 2004 at 13:23

 

 

A chemistry professor at the University of Saskatchewan has become the first Metis person in Canada to receive a national University Faculty Award.

 

The award will provide Lee Wilson with over 113-thousand dollars in grant money over the next 3 years for his research into materials chemistry.

 

The award will also pay him an annual salary of 40-thousand dollars for up to 5 years.

 

Wilson plans to use the Canadian Light Source Synchrotron to create new porous materials that could be used in water treatment, timed release of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides or to improve drug delivery methods.

 

Wilson knows Aboriginal scientists are rare, and admits Native people might have a hard time seeing science’s relevance in their daily lives.

 

Wilson helped organize the annual Indigenous Summer Science Camp program at the U of S.

 

He is originally from Manitoba, and is the first Metis citizen to receive a Ph. D in chemistry at the U of S.

 

Wilson was also honoured with a National Aboriginal Achievement Award this past April.