Algoma University professor Dr. Isabel Molina has been appointed tier II Canada research chair in plant lipid metabolism and awarded half a million dollars in funding from the Government of Canada.
The funding, provided through the federal government’s Canada Research Chairs Program, will allow Molina the time and resources in order to grow her research program over the next five years.
“What that allows me is to have teaching relief,” Molina said. “That means I will not have the regular teaching load that a professor at Algoma has. I will have to teach only two courses per year.”
“That gives me more time to focus on my students, my writing - writing new grants to bring more money, more funding to the lab as well.”
In a nutshell, Molina has been researching ways of improving plants’ defense mechanisms against environmental stressors which place plants at risk in the face of climate change.
“I’m absolutely thrilled about it,” said Algoma University president Asim Vezina. “Isabel is a tremendous scholar and researcher, we’re very lucky to have someone of her caliber and talent on our faculty.”
The professor, who holds a bachelor of science in biochemistry from the National University of La Plata, Argentina and a Ph.D in plant biology from Michigan State University, also received nearly $60,000 in funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation in order to purchase new research equipment.
Molina, who began her research on plant lipid biochemistry more than a dozen years ago at Michigan State now plans on using some of her funding as research chair to hire a second research associate.
“Her research will contribute to a really important conversation that we’re having nationally about climate change,” Vezina said.
Algoma University now has two of its faculty members working as Canada research chairs and is in the process of nominating a third, according to a press release.