de APRIL 11, 2018
sInce 1916
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
Vol.101 Issue 51 @daIlyegyptIan
Anna Spoerre | @annaspoerre
The Edmonton skyline in Edmonton, Alberta, on April 5.
Montemagno’s Ingenuity Lab closes, employees blame his leadership
Employees of Montemagno’s nanotechnology lab come forward about the “toxic” and “hostile” work environment he created in a lab where he employed family ANNA SPOERRE | @AnnaSpoerre
EDMONTON, Alberta — Nine months after Carlo Montemagno left a position as director of Ingenuity Lab to assume the chancellorship at SIU’s Carbondale campus, some members of the Alberta community are still picking up the pieces of what they call a
failed project brought to life and then abandoned by its director. Ingenuity Lab was established in 2012 by the government of Alberta in partnership with the University of Alberta and Alberta Innovates to conduct nanotechnology research related to health, environment, energy and agriculture. Though a reason was not
explicitly given, funding for the lab will be cut this year following a review of the lab’s operations. Some individuals who worked closely with Montemagno said the employment of his family members, combined with poor leadership, may have contributed to the early downfall of what was intended to be a 10-year-long $100 million
project to bolster innovation within Alberta’s oil-reliant economy. Life in the lab “He said ‘jump,’ and we said ‘how high?’” said Josh Cunningham, a graduate student who was cosupervised by Montemagno in his lab from 2013 to 2017. Cunningham now works as a research assistant at the university
of Alberta. Though Cunningham called Montemagno a “driven dude” who helped him make beneficial connections in his field of study, he also said over time the director cultivated a “hostile,” “weird” and “toxic” work environment. Please see ALBERTA | 14