Jonathan Linton, Associate Professor and Power Corporation Professor in the Management of Technological Enterprises at the Telfer School of Management has received important grants from two granting councils. The first one is a $76,100 grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for his research program entitled Using Real Options to Gain Insights into the Assessment and Management of Research.

This research program will develop insights into assessing and valuing publicly and privately funded research; and into managing research programs and portfolios of research. It will also create a better understanding of the under-use and overuse of patent protection for technology transfer and commercialization of research, resulting in guidelines for better managing intellectual property. The program focuses on the operationalization, application, and implications of exotic real options techniques to the assessment and management of R&D and research policy/program development.

Dr. Linton also received $105,000 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for the research project Using Direct Kernel Methods to Accelerate Process Improvement with New and Emerging Technologies Within and Across Supply Chains.

This research develops a software infrastructure for manufacturing and supply chain operations to assist in increasing yields, output and flexibility while reducing the time and cost necessary to obtain a deeper level understanding. This is critical to maintaining global competitiveness with existing and emerging manufacturing technologies and processes.

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) granted Dr. Dan Lane’s research project Marine Evaluation Systems for Fisheries, Oceans and Aquaculture in the amount of $95,000 through the Discovery Grant program.

This research consolidates work on problem solving in the management of fisheries, oceans, and aquaculture. Focusing on the state of Canada’s oceans with application to the Atlantic Ocean, research themes include the importance of viewing complex marine problems as a "system" requiring a multidisciplinary approach, and developing tools for integrated management. The long-term objective of this research is to categorize structured and integrated problem solving approaches to operational and strategic issues in the fisheries, oceans, and aquaculture.

Dr. Lane is also Co-Director (with Dr. Patrick Watson of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago) of a research program on environmental change and its impact on coastal communities in the Caribbean region and regional coastal communities in Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Canada where the inhabitants’ livelihoods will be most affected by rising sea levels.

This project has received $29,560 in seed funding from the International Community-University Research Alliance (ICURA) Program through the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). This funding will assist in the development of a research alliance which could receive up to $2M in further funding though the ICURA program.

The research team is comprised of national and international experts including: Drs. Lane and Watson (Co-Directors), Aldrie Henry-Lee, Martin Franklin, Michelle Mycoo, Sandra Sookram, Michael Sutherland, Sonja Sabita Teelucksingh (University of the West Indies); Philippe Crabbé, Colleen Mercer-Clarke, Kaija Metuzels, Caryle Mitchell, Scott Parsons, Howard Powles, Maureen Woodrow (University of Ottawa); Michael Brklacich (Carleton University), Daniel Rubenstein (International Institute for Sustainable Development); Slobodan Simonovic (The University of Western Ontario); Susan Nichols (University of New-Brunswick) and Peter Williams (Simon Fraser University).

Wojtek Michalowski, Full Professor at the Telfer School of Management, received a $100,000 grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for his research entitled Design of Meta-DSS to Support the Decision-making Process: Supporting Activities on a Clinical Pathway in the Emergency Department.

In clinical decision-making there are many situations where a final outcome is a result of multiple intertwined tasks. Managing a patient in the Emergency Department (ED) comes to mind. In order to facilitate patient management and to follow evidence-based medicine, hospitals introduce clinical pathways as tools to ensure that patients receive the most appropriate care. These pathways are developed from clinical practices guidelines and they outline a sequence of temporal clinical evaluations and interventions. The purpose of the research is to develop a methodology for designing a meta-DSS that brings together different support requirements and capabilities so that entire decision-making process is supported.

Under the direction of Assistant Professor Scott Ensign, the research project Developing Cases Studies for Instructional/Learning Purposes received $72,500 in funding through the Public Outreach Grants of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

The project seeks to develop case studies related to funded research on entrepreneurial behaviour. Teaching cases for learning purposes depict an actual “real world” situation and allow the student/trainee to struggle through the decision making process weighing information and evaluating alternatives. Such exercises have been popular in business schools for many decades, have gained notoriety in the healthcare field for training doctors and nurses, and have been adopted as learning aids in other environments. The teaching cases delivered at the end of this project would be suitable for use in classrooms at colleges and universities throughout Canada and the world, and there is every confidence that the material produced (with strong Canadian content) would be welcomed by various economic development and training centres.