June 8, 2023
Recognizing excellence in professional engineering
Engineering professors named new fellows of the Canadian Academy of Engineering
Two Waterloo Engineering faculty members have been elected fellows by Canada’s most distinguished engineering society.
Dr. Monica Emelko and Dr. Carolyn Ren are among the newest cohort of 55 fellows to be elected to the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) by their peers. Fellows have been selected because of their "outstanding contributions to engineering and for serving as role models in their fields and communities,” said CAE’s president Dr. Soheil Asfarpour in a media release.
The Canadian Academy of Engineering is foremost national engineering institution through which Canada's most distinguished and experienced engineers provide strategic advice on matters of critical importance to the country.
An in-person induction ceremony honouring the 2023 elected fellows will take place June 20 in Victoria, British Columbia.
Dr. Monica Emelko
Dr. Monica Emelko is a civil and environmental engineering professor and a Canada Research Chair in Water Science, Technology and Policy. She is the director of the University’s Water Science, Technology and Policy Group, and was the world’s first researcher to identify climate change–associated threats to water security, including the deterioration of and fluctuations in water quality after wildfires and floods.
Currently, she and her research team are investigating the role of both “grey” in-plant treatment and “green” forest management-based technologies to address water quality challenges. Their findings will help inform water treatment technology innovation for adaptation, resilience and decision-making.
Emelko co-leads forWater, a Canada-wide and internationally-partnered strategic research network focused on forest management-based approaches for drinking water source protection. The network brings together researchers, government agencies and industry professionals from different disciplines across Canada who are focused on understanding and developing response strategies to climate change threats.
Dr. Carolyn Ren
Dr. Carolyn Ren is a mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor and a Canada Research Chair in Microfluidic Technology. As director of Waterloo’s Microfluidics Laboratory, she is recognized as one of Canada’s top microfluidics researchers, with her work having a broad and profound impact on the global biomedical, pharmaceutical and environmental sectors.
Ren is a Member of the Royal Society of Canada College (2018), a Fellow of the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineering (2012) and was recently named one of WXN Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women (2021).
She was recognized as one of 20 leading innovators in Women of Innovation: The Impact of Leading Engineers in Canada. Ren is also an entrepreneur; her microfluidic innovations have spurred the launch of four start-up companies with her students (Advanced Electrophoresis Solutions, Alphaxon, QuantWave Technologies, and Air Mircrofluidics Systems.
