Seneca awarded Industrial Research Chair for Colleges in Open Source Technology

Professor Chris Tyler to continue research for emerging platforms

TORONTO, May 8, 2012 /CNW/ - Seneca Professor Chris Tyler has been named among the first Industrial Research Chairs for Colleges by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

The $1 million renewable five-year grant recognizes Seneca's expertise and establishes Tyler as a research leader in open source technology for emerging platforms. In this new role, his research will focus on foundational software for new energy-efficient computing platforms, ranging from the revolutionary $35 Raspberry Pi computer to large data centres, with industry partner Red Hat Canada. Emerging ARM computer systems have the potential to reduce energy, space, and cooling requirements by 90 per cent or more.

"These grants support research leaders and the development of business-focused applied research programs at colleges," said David Agnew, Seneca President. "This is a recognition of Professor Tyler's expertise and speaks to innovative research that Seneca's outstanding faculty and students continue to do with Open Source."

Industrial Research Chairs for Colleges (IRCC) Grants support Chair programs across the spectrum of natural and social sciences, engineering, humanities and/or health sciences fields. The grants are part of the College and Community Innovation Program which is managed by NSERC in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Seneca is a previous recipient of three NSERC research grants totaling nearly $5 million.

"Seneca's strength has always been our responsiveness to industry," said Tyler. "With the establishment of Industrial Research Chairs for Colleges, we will now be better positioned to lead industry initiatives."

Seneca is recognized for worldwide expertise in Open Source technology. Seneca's Centre for Development of Open Technology (CDOT), provides a physical and virtual environment for the development and research of Open Source products in collaboration with the Open Source community, business, and partner institutions.

Tyler is a professor in Seneca's School of Information and Communications Technology and a member of CDOT. He is a long-term contributor to the Fedora Project, has served two terms on Fedora's board and is the author of two books, X Power Tools and Fedora Linux: A Complete Guide to Red Hat's Community Distribution. As a founding member of Seneca's CDOT, he has contributed to the Seneca Free Software and Open Source Symposium since its inception in 2002. He founded TeachingOpenSource.org in order to promote the teaching of open source concepts and principles.

More information on the IRCC grants 
More information on the CDOT

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