SPEECH 

For Immediate Release
July 14, 2008

Remarks by
Dr. Brian Coombes, Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University
at McMaster University in Hamilton

July 14, 2008 -- CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

Minister Wilkinson, (President George), Deans, Faculty, and students, on behalf of all the Early Researcher Award winners, I would like to thank the Ministry of Research and Innovation for this tremendous and exciting investment in McMaster.
              
The Early Researcher Award can be summed up simply as “the right stuff, at the right time”. For the Faculty recipients, this award is enabling. It allows us to significantly expand our research programs at a critical time in our careers when productivity and performance are paramount.

But it goes beyond this. These awards reach out to the graduate students eager to make their mark in science. Among the eight of us at McMaster, this investment will allow the recruitment and training of dozens of new graduate students who will leave here fully ready to contribute to Ontario’s knowledge based economy.

But just as important, the investments of today will touch literally hundreds of high school students and other young learners through the Youth Outreach component of this award. This is a critical point in the lives of young people when they are keen to learn about their career options, but when the University may seem a scary and daunting place. The students reached through this funding will learn of the exciting options academia has to offer for lifelong learning.

So again, we thank you Minister Wilkinson and your Ministry for this exciting opportunity to do more of what we came here to do - cutting edge science with the next generation of Ontario’s best and brightest.