Waterloo researchers named Royal Society of Canada fellows and members

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

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 today.

Waterloo’s new RSC fellows and members are:

Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

Raouf Boutaba

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 ChenZhongwei 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

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

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

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

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

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

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.