TORONTO, April 19, 2005 -- York U’s Dr. Doug Crawford, Canada Research Chair in Visual Motor Neuroscience, received the Steacie Prize in the Natural Sciences for his outstanding contributions to the field of neuroscience and vision research in a ceremony held today at York.

Crawford, of the university’s pioneering Centre for Vision Research, released a groundbreaking study in 2004 aimed at assisting stroke and head injury victims to rehabilitate their sight. For the first time, Crawford and his associates used measurements of eye and head movements, computer simulations and brain recordings, to determine how we use vision to guide our movements.

The Steacie Prize is a national award of $15,000 presented once a year to the country’s outstanding young scientist or engineer for outstanding scientific research carried out in Canada. The winner is selected by a distinguished panel appointed annually by the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fund, a private foundation dedicated to the advancement of science and engineering in Canada.

The Steacie Prize is named to honour the memory of Edgar William Richard Steacie, a physical chemist and former President of the National Research Council of Canada. It is supported from the income of the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fund, which was established in 1963 through contributions from several hundred friends, associates and former colleagues of Dr. Steacie.
In his position as President of the National Research Council of Canada, Dr. Steacie did much to encourage young people in whom he had a special interest and for whose research he tried to arrange optimum circumstances. The Steacie Prize is therefore awarded to a younger person 40 years of age or less who has made notable contributions to research in Canada. The average age of recipients of the Steacie Prize has been 38 years.

Winners are invited to deliver a lecture about their research work at the Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences in Ottawa. Crawford will make his presentation in Ottawa on Friday June 3, 2005.

 

MEDIA CONTACT:        Melissa Hughes, Media Relations, York University

416-736-2100 x22097 / mehughes@yorku.ca 

 

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Hélène Létourneau, Communication Officer

Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences/Institut

Steacie des sciences moléculaires

613-991-5419 / Helene.Letourneau@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca