UBC faculty named Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

Seven UBC professors have been inducted into the Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) – the highest honour a scholar can achieve in the arts, humanities and sciences in Canada.

The new UBC fellows are: 

  1. BOHLMANN, Joerg (Life Sciences)
    Joerg Bohlmann is a world leader in the fields of plant and forestry genomics and in plant natural products biology. He is distinguished for his research on the genomics of defense and resistance mechanisms of conifers against insect pests and insect-associated fungal pathogens, as well as on plant terpenoid biochemistry. New systems for high value bioproducts, as well as groundbreaking approaches for conifer improvement, are emerging from this work.
     
  2. BRUNHAM, Robert (Life Sciences)
    Robert C. Brunham is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He has measurably improved human health through research into the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases such as Chlamydia, SARS, AIDS, and TB. His contributions to human health have been internationally recognized.
     
  3. FARRELL, Anthony (Life Sciences)
    Anthony Peter Farrell is internationally recognized for his research into the properties of fish hearts, why their cardiorespiratory systems collapse at high temperature and how some hearts continue to function without oxygen. His work has been applied in fish conservation. He has received awards from the British Isles Fisheries Society, the American Fisheries Society and the Canadian Society of Zoology, and an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Gothenburg.
     
  4. FRANÇOIS, Roger (Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences)
    Roger François’s pioneering research on particle and sediment fluxes in the ocean using stable and radioactive nuclides has provided fresh insights into algal production and nutrient recycling as well as the rates of the ocean’s overturning circulation in the past, opening new windows on the evolution of Earth’s global carbon system
     
  5. MOSTOW, Joshua (Humanities)
    Joshua Mostow has been a leader in the innovative examination of the inter-relations between literature and visual art in classical Japanese culture. This research has put him at the forefront of reception studies in the Japanese context, exploring the connections between interpretation and social/political context. He has also been a pioneer in applying feminist critical techniques to the examination of classical Japanese art and literature.
     
  6. MURPHY, Gail (Mathematical & Physical Sciences)
    Gail Murphy, a researcher in software engineering, has advanced understanding of how software is developed in practice and has developed creative approaches for improving how software developers work. Her work on recommendation systems for software engineering has had significant impact both in research and in practice.
     
  7. POTTER, Pitman (Social Sciences)
    Pitman Potter is an internationally acclaimed scholar with significant impact on legal scholarship and policy around the world. His insightful studies of China’s legal systems and the innovative methodologies and paradigms he developed have reshaped the study of legal systems in emerging and transitioning economies. His pioneering work on the concept of coordinated compliance presented an important conceptual breakthrough introducing a bold new approach toward integrating human rights and trade policy.

The UBC contingent are among 87 Canadians who will be officially inducted into the academies of the RSC at a ceremony in Victoria in November.

Citations courtesy of RSC