Six University of Waterloo researchers have been honoured by the Royal Society of Canada (RSC).
Five new Fellows and one new College Member are among 156 other Canadian researchers elected by their peers for outstanding scholarly, scientific, and artistic achievement announced today by the RSC.
Waterloo's new Royal Society of Canada Fellows
Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (School of Environment, Enterprise and Development) is a pioneering full professor and renowned jurist in sustainable development law and governance, advancing solutions to climate change, natural resources degradation and other critical global sustainability challenges while interactionally informing UN treaty design and compliance. As international award-winning CISDL Senior Director, her ground-breaking scholarly publications include the textbook Sustainable Development Law (OUP 2004, 2024); Athena’s Treaties (OUP 2021) and the Implementing Treaties for Sustainable Development series (CUP 2008-).
Carl Haas (Civil and Environmental Engineering) has contributed seminal new knowledge in the principles behind, the interdependencies among and the circular economic applications of computer vision, mixed reality, building information modeling and human-robotic-systems. Key barriers in the way of moving toward a circular economy in the built environment include the scale, complexity, and uncertainty associated with constructing, maintaining and deconstructing our built environment. His contributions improve complex, built environment systems’ performance.
Randy Allen Harris (English Language and Literature) researches the intersection of rhetoric, linguistics, cognitive neuroscience, and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Waterloo, where he is a Professor of English Language and Literature and Director of the multinational, multisectoral, and multidisciplinary research project, the Rhetoricon Database. His books include The Linguistics Wars (“outstanding”—Nature), Rhetoric and Incommensurability (“a real tour de force”—International Studies in the Philosophy of Science), and the pathbreaking Voice Interaction Design (“supremely practical”— ACM Books).
Richard Hughson (Kinesiology and Health Sciences) is Schlegel Research Chair in Vascular Aging and Brain Health in the Schlegel-UW Research Institute for Aging. His NASA award-winning research revealed accelerated vascular aging for astronauts on the International Space Station and implications for vascular aging on Earth. His pioneering work on human cardiorespiratory adaptations to exercise and physical inactivity continues to profoundly influence research directions in Canada and around the world.
Anita Layton (Applied Mathematics) is an internationally acclaimed authority and leading researcher in mathematical medicine and biology. She has solved long-standing problems in scientific computing and renal physiology. She is recognized for her pioneering contributions to computational methods for fluidstructure interaction problems, and to mathematical modeling of mammalian physiology and pathophysiology, including the first sexspecific models of kidney physiology and blood pressure regulation.
Waterloo's new Royal Society of Canada College Member
Kristina R. Llewellyn (Social Development Studies, Renison University College) is one of Canada’s leading scholars in history and education whose research tackles vital questions in teaching, oral history, and justice. Author and co-editor of four books, including Democracy’s Angels: The Work of Women Teachers and the award-winning Oral History, Education, and Justice, she is a publicly engaged commentator on education issues, promoting nuanced understandings and practices of history, teaching, and learning for an equitable society.