Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Researchers named Royal Society fellows and members

by Rebekah Wiesel. This article originally appeared on Waterloo Stories.

Four engineering researchers from the University of Waterloo were named fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) and members of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists.

Waterloo’s Feridun Hamdullahpur, Zhou Wang, Carolyn Ren and Alexander Wong are joining this prestigious national organization. The RSC recognizes remarkable contributions in the arts, humanities, and sciences, as well as Canadian public life.

Hamdullahpur, Waterloo’s president and vice-chancellor, is named a Specially Elected Fellow, a designation that recognizes individuals who have made exceptionally valuable contributions to promoting the objectives of the RSC in ways that contribute significantly to Canadian society. Hamdullahpur is named for advancing equity in higher education including as a United Nations HeForShe Impact Champion and for his leading work with co-operative education and entrepreneurial programming. 

“Waterloo’s reputation nationally and internationally is furthered by the work of these three researchers and our President’s commitment to research excellence, equity, and education. His visionary leadership continues to be a hallmark of the University’s success as a premier research university,” says Charmaine Dean, vice-president, University Research. “Congratulations to all. This recognition from the prestigious Royal Society of Canada is truly an honour.”

Waterloo’s fellows are:

Feridun Hamdullahpur (Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering)

Specially Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

Feridun Hamdullahpur is an engineer, educator and leader with a career in research and higher education spanning more than 35 years. A professor of mechanical engineering, Hamdullahpur was named a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2014 for impactful research in thermo-fluids and energy engineering. He served in various academic and administrative roles including vice-president academic and provost at the University of Waterloo and is currently Waterloo’s president and vice-chancellor. In acknowledgement of Hamdullahpur’s leadership in education and innovation, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in January 2013.

Zhou Wang (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

Zhou Wang is one of the world’s most cited authors in visual perception-based image quality assessment, processing and compression. His innovative work created a paradigm change in the imaging field and has been used for video quality assurance throughout the global media delivery industry, directly affecting millions of viewers daily. He is a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and a recipient of NSERC Steacie Memorial Fellowship and Primetime Engineering Emmy Award. Wang was named to the RSC’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists in 2015. (Photo credit: NSERC)

Waterloo’s members are of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists:

Carolyn Ren (Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering)

Member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists

Carolyn Ren has been named a Member of the RSC College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists as part of the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership. She is internationally recognized for her seminal contributions to microfluidics and Lab-on-a-Chip research. Her physical and theoretical models, as well as her design and optimization tools, have greatly enhanced the understanding of transport phenomena and have enabled new, truly integrated Lab-on-a-Chip devices for high throughput screening applications. She is currently a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Droplet Microfluidics and Lab-on-a-Chip Technology and holds three patents. Already one of Canada’s foremost microfluidics researchers, Ren’s work promises broad and profound impacts for the global biomedical, pharmaceutical and environmental sectors.

Alexander Wong (Systems Design Engineering)

Member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists

Alexander Wong has also been named Member of the RSC College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists as one of the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership. He is a renowned scientist and engineer whose contributions to artificial intelligence, computer vision and biomedical engineering have had profound impacts on his field. His groundbreaking innovations include computational imaging systems and tissue-scanning techniques for cancer detection, coded hemodynamic imaging technology for blood flow monitoring, and important new concepts for operational artificial intelligence in areas such as explainable and scalable deep learning. He is a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Medical Imaging, is the recipient of numerous awards, and holds six patents and 26 patent applications in the area of artificial intelligence and imaging.

Interested in experiential learning? Join this Community of Practice

The Waterloo ExL Communities of Practice offer a unique opportunity for instructors to connect with their peers across campus to share examples, experiences, ideas, and best practices around experiential Learning (EL). Each community will meet three times over the term to explore how to overcome a variety of potential challenges and barriers with experiential learning. The sessions will also include participation from community and industry organizations who will share their perspectives and provide insight on developing and maintaining relationships with external partners.

Active experimentation and implementation is encouraged to generate tangible, measurable, and value-added benefits related to building capacity for integrating experiential learning opportunities within the Waterloo context.

The Communities are organized under the following three themes with the intention to include a mix of people from across campus in each community.  Feel free to reach out to the friendly instructors leading each of the Communities to learn more:

• Games and Simulations in the Classroom, led by Joel Blit (joel.blit@uwaterloo.ca), Department of Economics;
• Crossing the Town/Gown Divide: Students’ Learning for Good, led by Kelly Anthony (kanthony@uwaterloo.ca), School of Public Health and Health Systems;
• Greater than the sum of its parts: developing opportunities for students to create and innovate through interdisciplinary projects and experiences, led by Jennifer Lynes (jklynes@uwaterloo.ca), School of Environment, Enterprise and Development and Wayne Chang (whchang@uwaterloo.ca), Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business.

The Communities of Practice is just one of the experiential learning initiatives offered through Waterloo ExL. On Wednesday, October 17, Waterloo ExL is hosting an Experiential Learning Symposium at Fed Hall. The Symposium is free to attend for all University of Waterloo community members. This event will provide an overview of EL, highlight examples of existing EL opportunities at Waterloo, and provide information on associated resources on campus. The Symposium will be followed up with an event in February to help you integrate EL opportunities into your course/program.

Register Now: Wednesday, October 17

Waterloo ExL is a program led by four instructors, supplemented by a committee of an additional five instructors, with support from WatPD and CTE.  The Waterloo ExL program aims to provide resources for instructors who want to integrate, or enhance their integration of experiential learning within their courses and build sustainable capacity for experiential learning across campus.

Please direct any questions about the Waterloo ExL program to Amanda Brown at a58brown@uwaterloo.ca.

Keeping well at work and other notes

Save the date! On Wednesday, October 10, the University and the Healthy Workplace Committee will be hosting the second annual Keeping Well at Work Day. This will be a full day of wellness for employees across campus. The day will include two keynote speakers, workshop presentations on strategies that directly help you with your wellness at work and beyond, and wellness booths highlighting regional charitable associations and University partners. Registration details to come over the next few weeks. For more information please check the Healthy Workplace website.

If you are the spouse or partner of an international student, visiting scholar or faculty/staff, there's a group for you - the Int'l Spouses Fall Potluck Dinner on Saturday, September 15. Bring your families and meet others from around the world. Details are available on the Int'l Spouses website.

Employers on campus next week hosting employer information sessions include Intelex Technologies, Husky Energy, Vigilan, IBM, Desjardins Insurance, Capital One, Zenreach, Aviva Canada, Broadway Technology, Manulife Financial, Datadog, Lipton LLP, Bloomberg, ecobee, NexJ Systems, Travelers, Economical Insurance, Yext, Fairfax Financial Holdings, Intelex, Sun Life Financial, Zynga, SnapTravel, WISE, and Uken Games. Visit the employer information sessions calendar for more details.