A professor at Nipissing University has been named Canada Research Chair in Climate and Environmental Change.
Dr. Colin McCarter, assistant professor in Geography and Biology is one of 176 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs announced by the Federal government.
Across Canada, $139 million dollars in funding was also announced.
McCarter’s research, which receives $600,000 in funding, involves understanding how a host of factors and disturbances, including wildfire, drought, warming, urbanization, mining and forestry impact water quality.
“My fascination with water and wetlands stems from playing in streams and canoeing through Algonquin Provincial Park as a kid and a teenager,” says McCarter.
The university says his research will also examine changes in key northern water quality indicators, such as mercury and heavy metals, before, during, and after disturbances.
To support field-based science, McCarter will establish the Mercury and Ecohydrology Research Laboratory at Nipissing University.