Lethbridge College ranks 39th on a list of Canada’s top research colleges, according to Research Infosource Inc., which yesterday released its inaugural ranking of Canada’s Top 50 Research Colleges.
According to the study, the college attracted a total of $1,076,000 in research funding in 2012, an increase of nearly 43 per cent compared to the $754,000 attracted in 2011. Lethbridge College sees some 500 students exposed to applied research projects each year. The college’s Aquaculture Centre of Excellence (ACE) was cited as one of the primary centres attracting research funding, although work with bio-products such as algae and giardia, the college’s Citizen Research Lab and corporate partners have also brought in research dollars.
“This ranking is a welcome recognition of the work Lethbridge College has done over the years to support meaningful applied research and innovative teaching methods,” says Lethbridge College President and CEO Dr. Paula Burns. “And we are more committed than ever to enhancing applied research opportunities for our faculty and students, as well as cultivating innovation through our focus on continuing to build strong collaborative partnerships to help solve industry problems in southern Alberta.”
Burns went on to note that after receiving its first two National Sciences Engineering and Research Council (NSERC) grants this year, Lethbridge College is poised to build even more depth within the field of applied research.
Lethbridge College was one of seven Alberta colleges or technical institutes to secure a place on the inaugural list. SAIT and NAIT claimed the top two positions, attracting together more than $16 million in research funds, while Grande Prairie, Olds, Norquest and Red Deer colleges were also represented in the rankings. Alberta, Ontario and Quebec were the best represented provinces on the list, while other provinces and territories – including Manitoba and Saskatchewan – only had one college or technical institute on the list. The combined research income of Canada’s 50 leading research colleges was $117.3 million last year.
The 2012 national funding total marked a substantial 30.7 per cent increase over 2011 totals. The number of faculty involved in research also increased to 1,731, representing an increase of 15.2 per cent. Growth in research income and faculty numbers combined to yield an expansion of 13.4 per cent in research intensity – research income per faculty.
“Canada’s colleges are important and growing research performers in the country’s national system of innovation”, said Ron Freedman, CEO of Research Infosource. “Colleges are clearly on the move, as evidenced by their strong year-on-year growth.”
BACKGROUND ON AQUACULTURE CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE
The work happening in the Aquaculture Centre of Excellence focuses on aquaponics, which combines the seemingly disparate worlds of aquaculture and horticulture. Through aquaponics, fish and plants are cultivated synergistically together in a recirculating growing system that can efficiently and safely produce fish and plants year-round while generating little to no waste. These systems considerably enhance the growth rates of greenhouse crops compared to traditional soil-based, or hydroponic greenhouse methods.
The plants are grown in nutrient-rich water provided by the fish. While the nutrients are good for the plants, they are not good for the fish. By absorbing the nutrients however, the plants clean the water, which is then recirculated back to produce healthy fish. No herbicides or pesticides are used.
Aquaponics has been a part of the college’s Aquaculture Centre of Excellence (ACE) for about 13 years. The efforts show the beneficial relationship between fish and plants and demonstrate how the symbiotic relationship can provide a form of agriculture that minimizes water and energy use.
The research and its results are getting noticed around the country and the world. Earlier this year, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada announced that the college received an Innovation Enhancement Grant of $200,000 over two years to advance applied research in the area of commercial aquaponics. As a result, Charlie Shultz, one of the world’s experts on aquaponics training and research, joined Lethbridge College as an aquaponics researcher in August.
The grant will be used to support projects that will assist commercial aquaponics producers locally and across Canada in overcoming existing technical and policy obstacles. It will also be used to help interested parties investigate and adopt commercial-scale aquaponics as an environmentally sustainable form of agriculture.
Aquaponics offers enormous potential to expand on existing food production while addressing issues of food security, sustainability, water conservation, and energy consumption. Recirculation aquaponics systems range in size from micro-systems for residential use to large commercial operations.
Penny Takahashi, an aquaponics technician at the college, is excited by the rapid growth of aquaponics in the United States and in Canada. “Aquaponics has changed rapidly over the last four years and the number of people touring our facility has increased by 75 per cent,” she says. “People want to know they can grow their own food to sustain themselves.”
The $200,000 in funding, available through the College and Community Innovation Program, represents a significant external investment into applied research at the college. This NSERC award is the first that the college has received since obtaining Tri-Council eligibility in 2011.
Whether it’s breeding new strains of algae, building a community of those who live and work with people affected by FASD, or creating a novel way to help teachers reach their students, applied research is one of the hallmarks of a Lethbridge College education. Partnering with Lethbridge College on an applied research project can benefit a business’s bottom line and allow it to lead the way in its industry.
To learn more about applied research opportunities at Lethbridge College, call 403-320-3202 ext. 7344. To book a tour of the Aquaculture Centre for Excellence, call 403-394-7344.