The University of Waterloo’s two Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERCs), David Cory and Philippe Van Cappellen, have been named Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada and inducted into the Academy of Science.
Election to the academies of the Royal Society of Canada is the highest honour a scholar can achieve in the Arts, Humanities and Sciences.
Cory is Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Information Processing and deputy director of research for the Institute of Quantum Computing. A leading global innovator in experimental quantum physics and quantum engineering, Cory is already seeing his work used in a range of applications, from the medical field to the oil industry.
Cory is engineering tools called quantum sensors and actuators to navigate, control and exploit the quantum world. These tools will form the building blocks for future quantum computers and technologies we have only begun to envision.
Van Cappellen is Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ecohydrology and a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
His research focuses on the movement of nutrients and toxic metals between groundwater and surface water. Combining laboratory and field experiments with mathematical modelling, he is able to define the accompanying biogeochemical changes and their impacts on water quality and ecosystem health.
Van Cappellen’s research is revolutionizing global strategies for managing water resources by revealing the range of effects that groundwater withdrawal, land use and climate change have on the chemical and ecological status of groundwater and surface water. It also allows policy-makers and stakeholders to make responsible decisions about water resource management that will balance the needs of human and ecosystem health.