Funding of over $1.3-million awarded to Lethbridge College

Lethbridge College received a huge financial boost today to its applied research activities and programs. A total of more than $1.3-million was awarded as part of two grants through the Canada Foundation For Innovation. Over $410,000 will be given to Mike McCready, who is the President’s Applied Research Chair in Virtual and Augmented Reality. This money will go towards his work in the START initiative.

Over $930,000 was also given to the college’s Advanced Post-Harvest Technology Centre to round out the funding.

“We are thrilled to receive two of the largest financial grants in the history of our Centre for Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship,” says Dr. Samantha Lenci, Provost and Vice President – Academic. “These grants acknowledge our expertise in the fields of post-harvest technology and virtual and augmented reality and will provide our researchers with a boost that will allow them to make a real difference for our industry partners.”

The projects are given funding through the College-Industry Innovation Fund, which helps out Canadian colleges, businesses and institutions.

“We have committed to building our applied research capacity over many years,” says Dr. Kenny Corscadden, Associate Vice President, Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “Receiving these grants is acknowledgement from the federal level that we are positioned to do important work alongside industry that will benefit southern Alberta and the local economy.”

The college said in a release that the grant for the Post-Harvest Technology Centre helps meet the demand for global food needs. One-fifth of food that is made in Canada is lost during packing, storing, handling, harvesting, transporting, and processing. The work that Dr. Singh does brings in technology to crops to reduce food loss and wastage during the post-harvest period.