Research Centres and Facilities

Canadian Rivers Institute

The Canadian Rivers Institute (CRI) was founded in 2000 as a collaboration of researchers at the University of New Brunswick at both the Fredericton and Saint John campuses. The mandate of the CRI is to develop the aquatic science needed to understand, protect, and sustain water resources for the region, nation, and the planet. Initially founded with two Canada Research Chairs and two additional professors, the CRI has grown to include 15 Fellows (the principles), 50+ Associates, 6 Canada Research Chairs, 30+ staff, and over 100 graduate students with linkages to researchers across Canada and internationally.

Centre for Environmental & Molecular Algal Research

CEMAR is a cooperative research unit dedicated to the investigation of macroalgal and microalgal species.  Research interests cover a wide range of topics :

  • Routine monitoring of both macroalgal & phytoplankton diversity
  • Investigations into the systematics and evolutionary diversity of algae
  • Application of molecular techniques to population level diversity
  • Mechanisms of environmental acclimation and population dynamics
  • Role of algal viruses in phytoplankton population dynamics
  • Algal aquaculture & polyculture

Planetary and Space Science Centre

Scientific impact

Graduate students working at the PASSC don't just observe from afar - some are directly studying lunar soil and Martian meteorites affected by the impact of asteroids and comets.

Exploring the unknown

PASSC is working directly with world-renowned space agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Work with the groups will see UNB directly involved with two missions to Mars in the near future.

From macro to micro

Studying impact craters has led PASSC to examine shock waves at multiple levels. Micrometeorites, about 1mm in diameter, pose a major threat to any materials outside the Earth's atmosphere - in particular, satellites and spacecraft.

The Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility

The Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility is a regional facility providing imaging and analytical services to universities, government and industry.
As part of the Science Faculty at UNB Fredericton, this facility offers services and training in:

  • scanning electron microscopy (SEM),   
  • transmission electron microscopy (STEM),  
  • electron probe microanalysis,   
  • energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS),
  • wavelength dispersive X-ray analysis (WDS),
  • electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS),
  • energy-filtered TEM (EFTEM),
  • electron diffraction,
  • low-temperature electron microscopy,
  • confocal laser scanning microscopy,
  • digital imaging,
  • x-ray computed tomography (microCT),
  • numerous specialized sample preparation techniques

MRI Research Centre

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is probably the most flexible and powerful diagnostic imaging technique available to clinical medicine. MRI in material science promises to observe and quantify structure and dynamics evolving non-invasively as a function of treatment, processing, use or conditioning. However, such applications have been frustrated by the inability of traditional MRI techniques to observe the very short lived magnetic resonance signals typically encountered outside of the pure liquid state.

The UNB MRI Centre has invented a family of new MRI methods which permit the ready visualization of mobile and immobile 1H containing structures not only in vivo, but in a large range of materials including concrete, polymers, composites, food materials and microporous solids. The successful application of our new MRI techniques, with allied hardware and software innovations, has opened entirely new vistas in material science research. The UNB MRI Centre is one of the largest and best known material science MRI laboratories world-wide and the leading university based laboratory of its type in North America. As the birthplace of the SPRITE MRI technique we are, by definition, one of the leading laboratories world-wide in many aspects of material science MRI. Our ideas and techniques are now being adopted by numerous academic and industrial research laboratories.