Science minister Kirsty Duncan has announced the appointment of the first woman chair of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), a federal agency funding and supporting advanced research infrastructure. Dr Ingrid J. Pickering will lead the CFI board of directors for a term of three years effective immediately. She replaces Dr Kevin Smith, who served CFI for 11 years, eight of them as board chair. Pickering, a professor and Canada Research Chair in Molecular Environmental Science at the Univ of Saskatchewan, has previously served as a board member of CFI. Her research using synchrotron X-ray techniques to study metals and other elements in biological systems are important for environmental and human health.