Dr. Lev Tarasov, an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography, has been renewed as the Canada Research Chair in Glacial Dynamics Modelling.

 As a tier two junior chair, Dr. Tarasov will receive $100,000 annually for five years for a total of $500,000. Tier two chairs, tenable for five years and renewable once, are for exceptional emerging researchers, acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to lead in their field.

Dr. Tarasov’s research involves inferring and understanding changes in the glacial system in which ice, climate and earth interact. This work spans the last million years of ice age cycles, to questions about the stability of present-day ice sheets over the next 500 years. He is particularly preoccupied with quantifying uncertainty. This involves the integration of observational data and large ensemble modelling to generate probability distributions for the past and future evolution of ice sheets and their impacts on climate and earth.

“Memorial is blessed with a diversity of strong researchers interested in Earth and societal sustainability,” said Dr. Tarasov. “The university has the potential to become a powerhouse in polar science.”

“The Canada Research Chairs Program enables Memorial University to recruit and retain world class researchers like Dr. Tarasov,” said Dr. Gary Kachanoski, Memorial’s president and vice-chancellor. “Programs like these have fuelled the significant growth of Memorial’s research program over the past number of years. And, through their direct supervision and teaching, Dr. Tarasov and other researchers are sharing their expertise and knowledge with our students, especially our graduate students who are coming to Memorial from all over the world for this valuable experience. ”

The Canada Research Chairs Program stands at the centre of a national strategy to make Canada one of the world’s top countries in research and development. In 2000 the Government of Canada created a permanent program to establish 2,000 research professorships – Canada Research Chairs – in eligible degree granting institutions across the country.

The program invests $300 million per year to attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds. Chairholders are also eligible for infrastructure support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to help acquire state-of-the-art equipment essential to their work.

Memorial is home to 26 Canada research chairs, 10 of those within the Faculty of Science, studying areas such as marine bioscience, human nutrition, photonics and environmental science.