Newswise — Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has opened a world-class facility that will be the home to some of the world’s leading oceans researchers and projects. Fittingly launched during World Oceans Week, the building represents the latest step in securing Dalhousie’s place as one of the leading global oceans research and learning institutions.
The Dalhousie Ocean Sciences Building will be the home to Doug Wallace, Dalhousie’s Canada Excellence Research Chair in Oceans Science and his team, as well as the Halifax Marine Research Institute (HMRI), the global consortium Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), and the Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response NCE Network (MEOPAR). The $41.5 million building will contain four floors of research labs and offices, an expanded Aquatron facility, and an atrium that will connect the building to the Oceanography wing of the Life Sciences Centre.
Dalhousie’s Vice President, Research, Martha Crago notes that this one-of-a-kind space will cluster world-leading experts and innovators in a common space. “This opening marks a significant milestone in ocean science and education at Dalhousie University,” she says. “To bring these tenants under one roof creates myriad opportunities for collaboration, creative thinking and dynamism and will make our ocean research even stronger and easier to access so that we can partner with industries and governments, regionally and nationally and internationally.”
At the building’s launch on June 5th, the Honourable Gary Goodyear, federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, announced a new round of Leader’s Opportunity Fund investments from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) including $1,892,242 for Dalhousie research projects. The largest of these investments is nearly $800,000 for Dr. Wallace’s project, “Assessment and Prediction of Chemical and Ecological Changes in the Ocean.”
“Our government has invested record levels in science, technology and the growth of innovative firms because we are committed to ensuring that Canada is a world leader in innovation,” said Minister Goodyear. “Congratulations to Dalhousie University and all of the Ocean Sciences Building partners. We look forward to the future breakthroughs, discoveries and innovations that will result from the research performed here.”
The new 76,000 square-foot building will also house a container bay holding several portable labs and four new tanks allowing for large-scale replicated experiments in fresh water or seawater circulated from the North West Arm at up to 1250 cubic metres per hour.
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