Canada Research Chairs
The Canada Research Chairs (CRC) Program stands at the centre of a national strategy to make Canada one of the world's top countries in research and development.
Canada Research Chair in Global Water Sustainability and Ecohydrology
As Canada Research Chair in Global Water Sustainability and Ecohydrology, Nandita Basu aims to improve water resource management practices in Canada and globally. Her research team are investigating why water quality degrades and developing the first scalable water-quality models that consider both current land use and accumulated nutrient legacies.
Travis Craddock
Canada Research Chair in Quantum Neurobiology
Travis Craddock, Canada Research Chair in Quantum Neurobiology, is shedding light on how neuroinflammation affects the neuronal microtubule cytoskeleton. He and his research team aim to provide models that describe the basic biophysical behaviour of the neuroinflammatory cascade and its effect on neuronal microtubules, which transport substances to different parts of the cell in the brain.
Canada Research Chair in Fish Environmental Immunology
Brian Dixon examines the effect of climate change on fish immune systems and health. Higher water temperatures have been linked to increased disease from pathogens and parasites. His research will inform policy, preserve fisheries and protect threatened fish species.
Canada Research Chair in Environmental Microbiology
Laura Hug seeks to define microbial diversity and function at contaminated sites using culture-based and culture-independent methods, generating a blueprint of which species are there and which pathways are active.
Canada Research Chair in Redox-Sensitive Metal Isotope Geochemistry
Recent advances in geochemical methods have provided exciting new insights into how the Earth has evolved over nearly 4.6 billion years to become a habitable planet with plentiful natural resources.
Using these new geochemical methods, Brian Kendall is trying to increase our understanding of how the Earth became capable of hosting complex life. His research will also help find and manage the natural resources that are critical to sustaining civilization.
Roger Melko
Canada Research Chair in Computational Quantum Many-Body Physics
Roger Melko, Canada Research Chair in Computational Quantum Many-Body Physics, is making sense of this strange quantum world. With the help of massive supercomputers on which he has built sophisticated models of real materials, Melko is tackling the task of solving quantum equations of motion. These models can simulate the strange vacuum states that harbour phenomena such as exotic particles and allow their behaviour to be studied in great detail.
Linda Nazar
Canada Research Chair in Solid State Energy Materials
Solid state electrochemist Linda Nazar has improved lithium-ion battery electrode materials and discovered new classes of materials suited for fuel cells and solar cell energy conversion devices. Her discoveries are set to transform our energy economy.
Canada Research Chair in New Analytical Methods and Technologies
Recognized as one of the greatest analytical inventions of the last decade, Janusz Pawliszyn's Solid Phase Microextraction technique is revolutionizing the health, food and environment sectors by making on-site analyses faster, less invasive, and more accurate.
Kevin Resch
Canada Research Chair in Optical Quantum Technologies
Kevin Resch aims to implement a new protocol for secure remote access to remote quantum computers—the “quantum cloud.” He plans to transform quantum-based technology into an optical imaging platform capable of measuring biological tissue structure for medical applications, such as non-invasive medical imaging for early-stage disease detection.
Pierre-Nicholas Roy
Canada Research Chair in Quantum Molecular Dynamics
Pierre-Nicholas Roy is developing new methods, theories and software to solve the quantum mechanical equations governing the movement of confined molecules, leading to new materials with very interesting quantum properties.
Derek Schipper
Canada Research Chair in Organic Material Synthesis
Organic-based materials will enable the advancement of flexible, lightweight, low-cost electronic devices. Derek Schipper is exploring novel ways to synthesize this class of materials to unlock new properties and investigate their exciting applications.
Crystal Senko
Canada Research Chair in Trapped Ion Quantum Computing
Quantum computers have the potential to revolutionize computation by taking just seconds to solve problems that normal computers currently cannot solve. One of the many challenges involved in building a quantum computer is finding a way to overcome the fragility of quantum information. Crystal Senko aims to overcome this important challenge.
Mark Servos
Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Protection
Using innovative approaches to model and predict the effects of emerging contaminants on aquatic ecosystems, Mark Servos aims to enhance the scientific basis for risk assessment and the management of emerging contaminants in the context of multiple stressors in watersheds. .
University Research Chairs
University of Waterloo recognizes exceptional achievement and pre-eminence in a variety of fields through its University Research Chairs Program.
David Blowes (Earth and Environmental Sciences)
Andrew Doxey (Biology)
Anna Klinkova (Chemistry)
Zoya Leonenko (Physics Astronomy)
Christine Muschik (Physics Astronomy)
Josh Neufeld (Biology)
Carol Ptacek (Earth and Environmental Sciences)
Ben Thompson (Optometry Vision Science)
Chris Yakymchuk (Earth and Environmental Sciences)
University Professor
Since 2003, the University of Waterloo has been recognizing its most internationally preeminent faculty through the title "University Professor". Once appointed, faculty retain this rare and prestigious designation until retirement. This title is administered by the Office of the Provost and presented annually at Spring Convocation. Current University Professors from the Faculty of Science include:
- 2024 Philippe Van Cappellen (Earth & Environmental Sciences)
- 2022 Robert Mann (Physics & Astronomy)
- 2020 Lyndon Jones (Optometry & Vision Science)
- 2016 Linda Nazar (Chemistry)
- 2010 Janusz Pawliszyn (Chemistry)