The National Research Council of Canada announced the annual winners of the Killam Prize on Wednesday in multiple categories -- health sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, engineering and humanities.
Praveen Jain, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Queen's University, was recognized as an expert in power electronics. The technology helps control the amount of electricity that flows for different devices and how it can be used to save energy for various systems including those applicable to space, telecommunications and renewable energy.
They included the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty, developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and delivered to billions of people around the world during the pandemic. "Are there ways that we can help move individuals around to help them evolve and adapt and survive, or what else can we do? That requires modelling to be able to say what the best approach is."
Thirty years ago when he began his research, medication was the only treatment for insomnia but many people resisted that option and there were no available alternatives, he said. However, most people do not have access to a psychologist because that care is not universally covered, he noted, adding loss of productivity, such as through absenteeism at work and accidents involving lack of sleep, cost the overall system more money.