Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Waterloo researchers named RSC fellows and members

This article was originally published on the Office of Research website.

Eight University of Waterloo researchers have been 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.

They are among 93 new fellows elected by their peers for outstanding scholarly, scientific, and artistic achievement and 46 new members of the College across Canada, announced on September 10.

Waterloo’s new RSC fellows and members are:

Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

Raouf Boutaba (Cheriton School of Computer Science) is an internationally acclaimed authority and leading researcher in the management of communication networks. He is particularly known for his pioneering contributions to automated management which directly led to the trend toward autonomic networking, and for his groundbreaking work on network virtualization and network softwarization expected to revolutionize the way communication networks are designed, operated, and managed.

Zhongwei Chen (Chemical Engineering) is an outstanding researcher and global leader in advanced materials for next-generation battery and fuel cell technologies. His work has received over 20,000 citations and has led to the establishment of deep collaborative partnerships and several technology companies in Canada and around the world. Professor Chen is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and a 2016 recipient of the NSERC Steacie Memorial Fellowship.

Michel Gingras (Physics and Astronomy) has made internationally acclaimed contributions to the field of condensed matter physics, in particular in the area of magnetic materials subject to strongly competing or frustrated interactions, as well as condensed matter systems subject to frozen random disorder. Using analytical and numerical methods, he has explained a number of long-standing experimental paradoxes, provided an impetus for new experimental studies and motivated the synthesis of new magnetic compounds.

Srinivasan Keshav (Cheriton School of Computer Science) has an outstanding international reputation for his groundbreaking work in two distinct fields: computer networking and energy systems. He has made innovative contributions to network congestion control and simulation; wireless networking; and the application of computer networking principles to energy systems in the emerging area of energy informatics. Professor Keshav is a Fellow of both the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Winfried Siemerling (English Language and Literature) is internationally recognized for his pioneering work on Canadian and other North American literatures and cultures in comparative and transnational perspectives. Critically acclaimed for his incisive theorization of English, French, and black Canadian writing, Professor Siemerling has influentially repositioned Canadian cultural achievement within broader North American, hemispheric, and transatlantic contexts, breaking new ground with prize-winning works like The New North American Studies (2005) and The Black Atlantic Reconsidered (2015).

Donna Strickland (Physics and Astronomy) is a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 for co-inventing chirped pulse amplification (CPA), the method for creating high-intensity, ultrashort optical pulses. CPA revolutionized the field of high-intensity laser physics, leading to the most intense lasers ever. The work provided new information on the way light interacts with matter. It has applications from medicine to manufacturing.

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

Nandita Basu (Civil and Environmental Engineering) is internationally recognized for seminal contributions to ecohydrology and water sustainability in human-impacted environments. Her groundbreaking work on the long-term effects of fertilizer and intensive livestock production on water quality has led to new understanding of the role nutrient legacies play in preventing achievement of water quality goals, and has helped to identify management approaches to improve water quality in lakes and coastal zones.

Juewen Liu (Chemistry) has gained a national and international reputation for his contributions in enzyme mimics, bioanalytical chemistry, and biointerface chemistry. His team discovered many new DNA sequences for detecting heavy metals and water quality monitoring. He has authored many highly cited papers and his leadership in the analytical and nanotechnology communities has been recognized by many awards.

Student presents at international engineering conference

by Melanie Scott.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an organization dedicated to helping the global engineering community develop solutions to benefit lives and livelihoods. This year, fourth year Mechanical Engineering student, Kevin Qiu, had the opportunity to present at the ASME 2019 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE) in Anaheim, California.

The conference was an opportunity to network with researchers, participate in technical discussions and present in front of a worldwide audience, which included visitors from Germany, China and Tawain. Qiu also received a grant from the Sandford Fleming Foundation at the University of Waterloo which partially covered his travel costs.

Qiu’s presentation centred around the work he had accomplished at one of his co-op placements, involving gear design. Gears are commonly used in industries such as automotive, aerospace and agriculture and therefore need to be able to withstand high stress environments in order to last. By using a mathematical model, Qiu and his colleagues discovered a method to optimize the design of gear geometries and make them more durable.

“I can confidently conclude that in my 22 years on this planet, the time leading up to my presentation was the most nerve-wracking experience I have ever endured,” said Qiu of the experience. “Surprisingly, I was relatively calm once it was my turn to present.”

To Qiu’s amazement, he was approached after the presentation by the session organizer, Professor Alfonso Fuentes-Aznar from the Rochester Institute of Technology, who wanted to connect and discuss PhD opportunities after graduation.

“The opportunity to have travelled to such a conference all by myself was an incredibly enriching experience that I will cherish for a long time. Not only did I have the opportunity to learn and share my work with world class researchers, I also grew professionally, but more importantly I grew as an individual.”

UWAG presents From Skyworld to Cyberspace

The University of Waterloo Art Gallery (UWAG) is presenting a new exhibit that will run from September 12 to October 26.

In From Skyworld to Cyberspace, artist Skawennati (Mohawk, turtle clan) traces a line from our place of origin somewhere in the heavens to the virtual realm, one of the newest territories on Earth. Investigating concepts of time and self, Skawennati engages various mechanisms of gaming and play, interweaving traditional Mohawk stories and ritual objects with new technologies and processes through representations of avatars, most notably her online persona, which she has maintained for over a decade in the virtual world, Second Life. From Skyworld to Cyberspace is a result of Skawennati’s continuing investigation of cultural construction, contemporary Indigenous self-representation in cyberspace, and of our relationships with the digital world.

Skawennati makes art that addresses history, the future, and change from an Indigenous perspective. Born in Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory, Skawennati holds a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, where she is based. Currently, she is Co-Director, with Jason E. Lewis, of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC), a research network of artists, academics, and technologists investigating, creating, and critiquing Indigenous virtual environments. Her award-winning work is included in both public and private collections.

The opening reception takes place on Thursday, September 12 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in ECH 1239. The artist presentation takes place Friday, September 13 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. in ECH 1219.