Finalists for Canada's Top Science Prize Announced

Ottawa, Ontario, October 7, 2002 – Tom Brzustowski, President of NSERC, this morning named the finalists for the 2002 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering:

• Barrie Frost, Queen's University, Kingston, is an internationally renowned visual neuroscientist who has pioneered research into how our brains see and hear, and how animals like monarch butterflies and seabirds navigate amazing distances.
• Brian Hall, Dalhousie University, Halifax, revealed how embryonic movement causes stem cells to switch from bone to cartilage development. Dubbed "Canada's Stephen Jay Gould," he is an international trailblazer in explaining how developmental changes in the embryo are a factor in evolution.
• Tito Scaiano, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, is the "global dean" of photochemistry. Dr. Scaiano is helping find out what happens when light hits a molecule, and how the fleeting "billionth of a second" processes that result can be understood and harnessed.

The 2002 winner will be announced on November 25 and will receive the medal at a gala event in Ottawa that day. Canadian Nobel Laureate John Polanyi will give the address. The winner's NSERC Discovery Grant will be increased to $1 million over 5 years. If the annual grant is already greater than $150,000 a year, it will be topped up by a further $50,000 a year. The two other finalists will receive $50,000 each.

How to reach the finalists:

Barrie Frost
Tel.: (613) 533-2484
E-mail: frost@pavlov.psyc.queensu.ca

Brian Hall
Tel.: (902) 494-3522
E-mail: brian.hall@dal.ca

Tito Scaiano (until noon Oct. 7, returns Oct. 10)
Tel.: (613) 562-5896
E-mail: tito@photo.chem.uottawa.ca

For further information, contact:

Arnet Sheppard
NSERC Newsbureau
Tel.: (613) 995-5997
Fax: (613) 943-0742
E-mail: axs@nserc.ca