Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian astronaut to command the International Space Station (ISS) and a professor at the University of Waterloo, will receive an honorary doctorate at Waterloo’s spring convocation ceremonies.
The now retired astronaut, who joins the University as an adjunct professor in the fall, will address convocation and receive an honorary doctor of science from the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences on Tuesday June 10 at 10 a.m.
Hadfield, who conducted post-graduate research at Waterloo before becoming a leader in space exploration, gained international attention during his 2013 trip on the ISS. During that mission, Hadfield used social media to share breathtaking photos of the planet from space and to communicate with a broad audience on Earth.
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Rolf-Dieter Heuer, a physicist and director-general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), is also among the list of honorary doctorate recipients. CERN's discovery of the Higgs boson—also called the God particle—is considered the most important finding in particle physics in 50 years.
Heuer is professor of experimental physics at the University of Hamburg. In 2012, the European Physical Society awarded him the Edison Volta Prize for leading efforts that have resulted in many significant advances in high-energy particle physics. Heuer will receive an honorary doctor of science from the Faculty of Science and address convocation on Thursday, June 12 at 10 a.m.
Other honorary doctorates will be given at the following ceremonies:
ENVIRONMENT — Tuesday, June 10, 2014 at 2:30 p.m.
Professor Vukan Vuchic will receive an honorary doctor of environmental studies and address convocation. Vuchic taught and conducted research at the University of Pennsylvania from 1967 to 2010 where he made several groundbreaking contributions in the field of urban transportation.
ARTS — Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at 10 a.m.
Ronald Lang will receive an honorary doctor of letters and address convocation. He has devoted much of his professional life to the labour movement and to public service, including his long involvement with the Canadian Labour Congress.
ARTS — Wednesday, June 11, 2014 at 2:30 p.m.
Professor Michael W. Higgins will receive an honorary doctor of letters and address convocation. He is vice-president for mission and Catholic identity at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. The author of 14 books, Professor Higgins served as president of St. Jerome's University at the University of Waterloo from 1999 to 2006.
SCIENCE — Thursday, June 12, 2014 at 2:30 p.m.
Dr. Malcolm Moore, the program head of medical oncology and hematology at Princess Margaret Hospital, and director of the McCain Centre for Pancreatic Cancer, will receive an honorary doctor of science and address convocation.
MATHEMATICS — Friday, June 13, 2014 at 10 a.m.
Professor Dan-Virgil Voiculescu is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley. Voiculescu, who has published more than 100 research papers, will receive an honorary doctor of mathematics and address convocation.
MATHEMATICS — Friday, June 13, 2014 at 2:30 p.m.
Professor Ronald Rivest, one of the world's pre-eminent cryptographers, and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will receive an honorary doctor of mathematics and address convocation.
ENGINEERING — Saturday, June 14, 2014 at 10 a.m.
Professor Bruce Rittmann, director of the Biodesign Institute in the Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology and Regents' Professor at Arizona State University, will receive an honorary doctor of engineering and address convocation.
ENGINEERING — Saturday, June 14, 2014 at 2:30 p.m.
Professor Ralph Keeney, professor emeritus of industrial and systems engineering at the University of Southern California, will receive an honorary doctor of engineering and address convocation. He is research professor emeritus at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
For more information, please visit the spring convocation 2014 website.
