Centre for Cold Regions and Water Science

The Centre for Cold Regions and Water Science (CCRWS) is a collaborative research facility that houses four research centres/groups and a variety of state-of-the-art analytical equipment. The facility, which opened in 2013, is funded by Laurier, the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI), and the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).

Research Within the CCRWS

The CCRWS is home to two interdisciplinary Laurier research centres and two collaborative research groups.

Laurier Research Centres

• The Cold Regions Research Centre (CRRC) focuses on mountain and northern cold regions, covering such areas as hydrology, climatology, glaciology, resource management, parks planning, and biogeochemistry. Contact: info@coldregions.ca.
• The Laurier Institute for Water Science (LIWS) is a multidisciplinary, collaborative undertaking focusing on both Canadian and global water issues, including the effects of climate change, the sustainability of healthy aquatic and coastal ecosystems, and the development of regulations and policy related to water use. Contact: Professor Jim McGeer, LIWS Director.

Collaborative Research Groups

• Canadian Aquatic Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Boreal Ecosystem Research (CALIBER) researchers apply a holistic, interdisciplinary, and ecosystem approach based on watersheds, responding to urgent and serious concerns about flows and storage processes and the effects of nutrients and contaminants on boreal freshwater. CALIBER facilities in the CCRWS building include labs for hydrology, aquatic culture and testing, biogeochemistry characterization, molecular biochemistry and imaging, and predictive modelling. CALIBER is funded by the Government of the Northwest Territories, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), and Laurier.
• The Ontario Water Consortium (OWC) is a platform for research, development and demonstration of water technologies in the context of an urbanizing watershed. Laurier is one of eight university partners of the consortium, which also includes municipalities, not-for-profits, and the private sector. OWC facilities in the CCRWS building include labs for hydrometerology calibration, sample prep and stabilization, fish, and base workstations for researchers working in the field. The OWC portion of the centre is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI), the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), and Laurier.

Access to Equipment

The CCRWS analytical equipment is available to internal and external users. Access policies and fees may vary by user type – for details, contact Gena Braun. User types are defined as follows:

• Internal User: Faculty members at Laurier, Laurier students or government researchers participating in the GNWT-Laurier Partnership.
• External Academic: Faculty members from other universities not associated with GNWT-WLU projects.
• External Industry: Users from private industry.

Training Requirements

The Faculty of Science research instrumentation technicians will provide initial training for all new internal or external users preceding first use. New users cannot be given initial training by other users or students. Contact Gena Braun to schedule training.

Following training, users can reserve the analytical equipment online using the booking calendar.

User Fees

User fees have been created to offset the costs of instrument operation and maintenance. Contact Gena Braun for the current fee schedule.

Research Equipment and Infrastructure