Five McMaster scholars recognized as among Canada’s brightest young researchers

Five McMaster researchers will take on everything from senior isolation to antimicrobial resistance as Vanier Canada Graduate Scholars and a Banting Fellow.

Rachel Weldrick, Steven Liang, Kaitlin Blanchard and Elizabeth Culp have all been named Vanier Scholars, and Ana Duggan has been named a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow.

The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships and Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships are Canada’s most prestigious awards for doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows (respectively), working in the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and social sciences and humanities.

Vanier Scholars receive $50,000 a year for up to three years of research, while Banting Fellows receive $70,000 a year for up to two years of research.

Vanier Scholars: 

Name: Rachel Weldrick, Health, Aging and Society

Area of study: Senior isolation

Name: Elizabeth Culp, Biochemistry and Biomedical Science

Area of study: Finding new antibiotics

Name: Steven Liang, Pathology and Molecular Medicine

Area of study: Evaluating a new vaccine for chlamydia

Name: Kaitlin Blanchard, English and Cultural Studies

Area of study: Social and environmental decay

Banting Fellow: 

Name: Ana Duggan, Anthropology

Area of study: The history of the aboriginal people of Newfoundland and Labrador