From: Alexandra Gillespie, Vice-President and Principal, University of Toronto Mississauga
Date: June 29, 2021
Re: Appointment of Professor Kent Moore as Vice-Principal, Research, UTM (PDAD&C #85)

I write to share two pieces of wonderful news: Dr. G.W.K. Moore, Professor in the Department of Chemical & Physical Sciences, has accepted a two-year extension on his term as UTM’s Vice-Principal Research, effective 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2023. Near the start of his term, Professor Moore will begin his regularly scheduled period of research leave, arranged to last from 1 August 2021 to 31 January 2022. During this time, to our collective good fortune, Professor Steven Short from UTM’s Department of Biology has agreed to work as Vice-Principal, Research on an acting basis. Please join me in congratulating Professor Moore on his contract extension and Professor Short on his new position!

Their appointments signal UTM’s continued commitment to expanding our capacity as a world-leading powerhouse in research and innovation. An internationally recognized expert in arctic climate dynamics, with over 200 peer-reviewed publications, Professor Moore will continue to lead UTM’s OVPR with his exceptional knowledge of the research funding landscape; his astute foresight as a strategic and infrastructural planner; and his deep experience as an effective collaborator and advisor. He will continue to build on his work as Vice-Principal Research over the past three years, during which time he has strengthened UTM’s investment in core research facilities; advanced development of the New Science Building as the greenest lab space in North America; and identified effective solutions to support the campus’s safe research restart in COVID-19. Concurrently, Professor Moore will continue to represent UTM on a national and world stage: most recently, he has served the Canadian federal government on the International Arctic Science Council as Vice-Chair of the Atmospheric Working Group.

Professor Short has developed a research profile of similar scope and strength. A world-leading scholar of aquatic microorganisms, with over 120 peer-reviewed articles, presentations, and invited lectures, Professor Short continues to make fundamental discoveries on the role of viruses and phytoplankton in aquatic ecosystems. He brings to OVPR his thorough knowledge of UTM’s research operations and priorities, especially in the laboratory sciences; his expertise as a successful academic administrator, enriched by his current position as Biology’s Associate Chair of Research; and his robust experience with major national funding programs, including CFI, NSERC, and NFRF. Most recently, in 2020, he and his colleagues at the University of Waterloo earned a prestigious Exploration Grant from Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund, awarded in recognition of the novel approach they have proposed for the production of human glycosylated proteins. 

Together with Professor Elspeth Brown, who has greatly increased UTM’s capacity for funding success and interdisciplinary collaboration as Associate Vice-Principal Research, Professors Moore and Short will continue to enable a core of UTM’s mission: impactful discovery in student and faculty research. I look forward to continuing my work with Professor Moore toward this goal—and to building a new collaboration with Professor Short. I’m grateful to them both.

Thank you.