Alberta Synchrotron Institute gets $5.1 million in funding

The Alberta Science and Research Authority (ASRA) and Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) and the Alberta Heritage Fund for Medical Research (AHFMR) are contributing $3.1 million, $1.5 million and $500,000 respectively over five years to help launch the Alberta Synchrotron Institute (ASI). A partnership of the Univs of Calgary, Alberta and Lethbridge, the ASI will coordinate provincial access to the Canadian Light Source (CLS), a national synchrotron facility slated to begin operation in Saskatoon in 2004. ASRA will also contribute $6.7 million to construct two beamlines at the CLS, now under construction at the Univ of Saskatchewan. AHFMR will contribute an additional $2.2 million, while the Univ of Alberta will provide $300,000 for beamline design and development. The ASI will also work to identify Alberta firms that could provide beamline components and act as liaison between researchers and industry to move potentially commercial discoveries into the marketplace...