USask College of AgBio research projects receive more than $1.6 million in NSERC funding

The NSERC Discovery Grants support long-term research goals, providing researchers with annual instalments over a five-year period. A total of 41 USask researchers were awarded more than $8.3 million in funding from NSERC in 2024.

This year, six USask researchers also received $12,500 from the NSERC Discovery Grant Early Career Researcher Supplement. 

Dr. Kate Congreves (PhD) 
Plant Sciences 
Tightening the nitrogen cycle for sustainable soil management via diversification 
$215,000 

Dr. Melissa Arcand (PhD) 
Soil Science
Crop rhizosphere controls on nitrogen bioavailability and soil organic matter-intersections between microbial carbon and plant nitrogen use efficiencies 
$150,000 

Dr. Derek Peak (PhD)  
Soil Science
Shining Light on Soil Health 
$180,000 

Dr. Katherine Stewart (PhD) 
Soil Science 
Linking biocrusts, plants and belowground communities in a changing climate 
$180,000

Dr. Haixia Zhang (PhD) 
Food and Bioproduct Sciences 
Developing Advanced Metabolomic Platforms to Unlock the Potential of Bioactive Compounds in Canadian Agrifoods 
$165,000 
Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers recipient - $12,500 

Dr. Daniel Columbus (PhD) 
Animal and Poultry Science 
Investigating the impact of dietary nitrogen content on amino acid utilization in growing pigs 
$301,505 

Dr. Yongfeng Ai (PhD) 
Food and Bioproduct Sciences 
Exploring and exploiting starch-plant protein interactions to improve food quality and nutrition 
$195,000 

Dr. Michael Nickerson (PhD) 
Food and Bioproduct Sciences 
Tailoring of the interfacial behaviour of plant proteins for their structure controlling role in foods 
$275,000 

Click here for a complete list of the 2024 USask NSERC funding recipients.