Six UBC faculty have been named as members of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. Those named to the College represent the emerging generation of scholarly, scientific and artistic leadership in Canada.
Founded in 2014, the College is a handpicked selection of top mid-career scholars and artists in Canada. College Members have already received recognition in their fields for excellence and serve as ambassadors of their fields.
Read the RSC media release
UBC 2017 RSC College Members
Citations courtesy of the RSC
- George Belliveau, Language & Literacy Education
George Belliveau focuses his research on mobilizing knowledge through research-based theatre. Using his unique theatre-based methodology he has improved the emotional and psychological well-being of teachers, cancer patients, soldiers and their families. His theatre project with Canadian veterans Contact!Unload was recently performed for Prince Harry, as well as on Parliament Hill. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters, six books, and performed his research over 100 times.
- Kai Chan, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES)
Kai Chan is a Professor in the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Chan is a leader in the field of ecosystem services, having contributed to core methodologies and insights linking human and natural systems. His interdisciplinary scholarship bridges ecology, evolutionary biology, ethics and ecological economics. He is also a public scholar engaged in improving decision-making on complex environmental issues.
- Christina Laffin, Asian Studies
Christina Laffin holds the Canada Research Chair in Premodern Japanese Literature and Culture. A leading authority on women writers in medieval Japan, she works between the fields of literary study and historiography to excavate works by women and elucidate the conditions enabling them to write. Her contributions include a monograph on medieval Japanese women, a collection on noh theatre, two volumes on gender in Japan, and more than forty articles, translations, and chapters published in English, French, and Japanese.
- Joanna McGrenere, Computer Science
Joanna McGrenere examines personalized interfaces for software that capture individual differences in needs and preferences for specific users, including at-risk and vulnerable groups such as those with cognitive or motor impairments, older users, and children, using qualitative and quantitative observational methods grounded in theoretical models of human performance and rapid prototyping iterative design.
- Christian Steidl, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Research Scientist at BC Cancer Agency
Christian Steidl is world leader in lymphoma research. His research program on cancer genomics and the immune biology of the tumour microenvironment has already led to breakthrough discoveries in the field. His research strives to identify biomarkers, and rapidly integrate new findings into clinical care, to improve treatment and ultimately survival for lymphoma patients.
- Zhen (Jane) Wang, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Z. Jane Wang is an outstanding, internationally renowned researcher in statistical signal processing (SSP) theory and applications. She has invented powerful methodologies for a wide range of SSP problems and applications, especially in anti-collusion media fingerprinting and brain connectivity network inference. Her landmark and pioneering contributions to the areas of multimedia security and neurological data analytics have been acknowledged with international awards, and by her elevation to IEEE Fellow grade.
The Presentation of 70 members across Canada will take place in Winnipeg in November.