News & Announcements > PhD Grad Selected as U of S Representative in National Innovation Challenge

PhD Grad Selected as U of S Representative in National Innovation Challenge

June 3, 2009

Kyla Clarke, a recent PhD graduate from the U of S College of Engineering, has been selected by the Industry Liaison Office (ILO) to represent the U of S in the national Innovation Challenge Award sponsored by NSERC.

Clarke’s submission was based on her PhD work on designing a bioreactor for treating air pollution. She designed a peat fluidized bioreactor which has proven to be highly efficient and lower in cost than traditional bioreactors. This system can be used to treat air contaminated with pollutants such as volatile organic compounds, helping processing and manufacturing industries meet environmental regulations and control odour.


Kyla
Kyla Clarke

The Innovation Challenge Award was launched by NSERC and Canadian Science and Technology Growth Fund in 2004 to encourage graduate students in the natural sciences and engineering to look at their thesis work and identify the potential to transform the results into products and processes that will benefit Canadians. As the U of S representative, Clarke received a prize of $500 from the ILO and Innovation Place.

First prize in the annual Innovation Challenge Award receives $10,000. There are two second place prizes of $5,000, and honourable mention prizes of $1,000. The winners will be announced in the fall.

Read about the awards at http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Prizes-Prix/Ica-Pdi/Index-Index_eng.asp

Source: http://www.usask.ca/research/communications/rn54.php#16