WATERLOO - The University of Waterloo is once again among the top three universities to receive scholarships from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

NSERC is awarding more than $4.5 million to UW student researchers in departments across the university. The research covers such topics as climate change to advances in wireless technology.

The latest national results place UW in third for the most awards received for the second consecutive year. UW earned 141 NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships and Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships, up from 131 last year. The number of postdoctoral fellowships climbed to 19 from 11.

UW was also honoured with one out of 24 Julie Payette-NSERC Research Scholarships.

"These various NSERC awards are a testimonial of the strengths of our students as well as the professors who prepare them to compete and be successful," says Alan George, UW's dean of graduate studies. "We continue to be proud of our results in NSERC's awards programs."

Colby Steelman, a graduate student in the department of earth and environmental sciences, says his NSERC scholarship will allow him to spend more time on research. The PhD candidate is receiving an NSERC scholarship worth $17,300 over the next year.

He is monitoring very shallow soil moisture changes using non-invasive ground penetrating radar. This method transmits short pulses of high frequency radio waves into the ground, which interact with the underlying soil. It can be used to construct a two- or three-dimensional image of the shallow subsurface.

"The results of this work have direct impacts on groundwater management issues and agricultural practices," Steelman says.

He adds that he has been used these methods to observe freeze-thaw processes that are important to cryosphere research. "This work will help us to understand the potential effects of climate change."

NSERC funding to UW students include NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships and Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships, ranging in value from $17,300 for one year and to $105,000 over three years. The postdoctoral fellowships are worth as much as $80,000 over two years.

With the goal to promote discovery and innovation, NSERC invests each year in basic research, university-industry linked projects and the training of future scientists and engineers across Canada.

The funding is a crucial component of UW plans to triple graduate studies. Its new strategic plan, entitled Pursuing Global Excellence: Seizing Opportunities for Canada, has graduate enrolment growing from 2,500 candidates to 8,000 by 2017.

UW provides a president's graduate scholarship valued at $10,000 annually to recipients of NSERC, as well as to recipients of other competitively awarded national and Ontario graduate scholarships. It also honours award recipients at a reception held each January.