Date Time High-risk, high-reward research Four high-risk, high-reward research projects led by Waterloo Engineering professors were awarded a total of $1 million in federal funding this week. Each of the projects is eligible for up to $250,000 over two years under the New Frontiers in Research Fund 2020 Exploration program, which brings researchers from different disciplines together to pursue breakthrough ideas. The engineering-led projects at Waterloo – six projects were approved campus-wide – are headed by Nandita Basu of civil and environmental engineering, Boxin Zhao and Luis Ricardez-Sandoval of chemical engineering, and Oliver Schneider of management sciences. Basu, also a professor of earth and environmental sciences, will investigate the improved use of agricultural waste as both a fertilizer and an input to biogas energy systems, then quantify the impact on water quality and greenhouse gas emissions.