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.
Juewen Liu
Canada Research Chair in Biosensors and Biotechnology
Worldwide, countries face rapidly aging populations, escalating health-care costs, and environmental contamination from heavy metals, hormones, pesticides and microplastics. To address these connected issues, we need better ways to detect disease biomarkers and pollutants, treat diseases, and clean up the environment.
As Canada Research Chair in Biosensors and Bionanotechnology, Dr. Juewen Liu is using functional DNA to solve these challenging problems.
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.
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.
Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureates
The Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) Program recruits world-leading scientists to establish Canadian universities as centres of excellence and secure Canada’s reputation as a global leader in research and innovation. The Faculty of Science is proud to host two of Canada's initial chairholders:
David Cory
Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Quantum Information Processing
Philippe Van Cappellen
Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Ecohydrology
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)
Michel Gingras (Physics and Astronomy)
Anna Klinkova (Chemistry)
Zoya Leonenko (Physics and Astronomy)
Christine Muschik (Physics and 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 and retired University Professors from the Faculty of Science include:
- 2025 Donna Strickland (Physics & Astronomy)
- 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)
- 2007 Jacob Sivak (Optometry & Vision Science)
- 2005 Terry McMahon (Chemistry)