Professor Claudio Cañizares has been appointed the Executive Director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE), for a term running from August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2026.
Dr. Cañizares, who has been a professor at the University of Waterloo since 1993, holds the Hydro One Endowed Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research focuses on modeling, simulation, computation, stability, control, and optimization of power and energy systems and he has partnered with governments, industries and academic institutions on various projects and initiatives in this field," wrote Vice-President, Research and International Charmaine Dean in a memo circulated to the University's Executive Council. "He is currently the Editor-In-Chief of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IEEE) Transactions on Smart Grid; the Director-Elect to the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) Board; a Fellow of the IEEE, the Royal Society of Canada, and the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is also the recipient of the 2017 IEEE PES Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award, the 2016 IEEE Canada Electric Power Medal, and other IEEE PES Technical Council and Committee awards and recognitions.
Cañizares holds a PhD (1991) and an MSc (1988) in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a bachelor’s degree from the Escuela Politécnica Nacional in Quito-Ecuador.
As Executive Director, Dr. Cañizares will foster WISE’s role in advancing Waterloo’s sustainability goals and in the national and global battle to address the existential climate crisis. Working with the WISE community, he aims to support diverse, inclusive, and interdisciplinary academic collaborations; promote and support environmental, economic, policy, and social initiatives and projects; and strengthen existing collaborations and form new partnerships with government, industry, and other relevant organizations in Canada and internationally.
"I would like to thank Dr. Jatin Nathwani for his service and leadership as the inaugural and previous Executive Director of WISE," writes Dean. "At an upcoming townhall we will have the opportunity to celebrate Dr. Nathwani’s outstanding contributions to the development of WISE, and to welcome Dr. Cañizares."
"I would also like to thank members of the WISE nominating committee and WISE management board (Dr. Jean Andrey, Dr. Kankar Bhattacharya, Dr. Giovanni Cascante, Dr. Bernard Duncker, Dr. Maurice Dusseault, Dr. Bruce Frayne, Dr. Ranjini Jha, Dr. Bob Lemieux, Dr. Tamer Ozsu, Dr. Paul Parker, Neil Randall, Dr. Sivabal Sivaloganathan and Dr. Mary Wells) for their work with me on this selection process."
"Please join me in congratulating Dr. Cañizares on his new role."
Originally published on the Daily Bulletin