The CBAS Lecture Series is intended to provide an excellent forum for interaction and engagement between researchers, industry players and other stakeholders; enrich the knowledge base of students; as opportunity for visibility for the College; avenue for identifying solutions to industry related problems; and to help build the investment portfolio for the College’s endowment fund.
The third of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences (CBAS) Lecture Series will be delivered by Professor Howard Alper, Distinguished University Professor at the University of Ottawa and Chair of the Canvassing Committee for the Governor General of Canada’s initiative to enhance global recognition for Canadian research excellence. The lecture is scheduled as follows:
TOPIC:
“SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND INNOVATION POLICY: ADVICE AND BENCHMARKING TO SHAPE THE FUTURE OF A NATION”
Date: Friday, November 20, 2015
Time: 3:30pm
Venue: Great Hall
Chairman: Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, Provost, CBAS
Abstract:
This presentation is concerned with the principal components of a science, technology, and innovation (STI) system, given that STI is pivotal to economic advancement and societal well-being. Best practices will be discussed for providing STI advice in an evidence-based manner. Benchmarking is key to determining how a nation can position itself for maximum benefit for its citizens.
Profile of Professor Howard Alper
Humboldt Foundation/David Asserhofer
Howard Alper is currently spearheading the initiative by the Governor General of Canada (Head of State) to enhance global recognition for Canadian research excellence. He is Chair of the Canvassing Committee for the initiative. Born in Motreal, Quebec, he received his Bachelor of Science from Sir George Williams University in 1963 and PhD from McGill University in 1967. He began his academic career at the State University of New York and became an Associate Professor in 1971. He later joined the University of Ottawa in 1975 as Associate Professor and was promoted to Professor in 1978. He has been a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Ottawa since 2006. From 1997 to 2006, he was the Vice-President (Research) of the University of Ottawa.
Professor Alper was appointed in 1996 as a Titular Member of the European Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Humanities, and in 2003 as a member of TWAS (the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World). On June 13, 2007, he was appointed inaugural Chair of the Government of Canada’s Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) which provides advice to Cabinet and the Prime Minister on science, technology and innovation issues. He was named President of the Royal Society of Canada for a two-year term commencing November 2001, and was its Foreign Secretary from 2004-2010. In 2004, he was elected to a three-year term as Co-Chair of the Inter-American Network of Academies of Science (IANAS). Subsequently, he was elected Co-Chair of IAP (The Global Network of Science Academies) in December 2006 for a three-year term, and in January, 2010, was re-elected to a second term as Co-Chair. The same year, he was also appointed for a three year term to the U.S. National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering, to the Science Advisory Committee of the World Economic Forum, to the Board of the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences-Next Einstein Initiative, to the Advisory Board of the Young Global Academy, and as Vice-Chair of the RIKEN Advisory Council. In 2011, he was elected as Chair of the International Advisory Board of the Knowledge Economy Network headquartered in Brussels. In December, 2012, the Government of Canada reappointed him to a third term as Chair of the STIC. He completed eight years as Chair of STIC in May, 2015; and was subsequently, appointed to the Board of the ambitious Smart Villages initiative.
Professor Alper has received a number of prestigious Fellowships including the E.W.R. Steacie (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, 1980‑82), Guggenheim (1985‑86), and Killam (1986‑88) Fellowships. In 2004, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Chemical Research Society of India, in 2006, an Honorary Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada, and in March 2013, was made an Honorary Foreign Member of the Chemical Society of Japan(CSJ), the first Canadian ever to be so honoured by the CSJ. He was also elected as a Honorary Member of the Colombian Academy of Sciences in 2011, and of the Mexican Academy of Sciences in 2009.
He has also been awarded meritoriously by both his home country (Canada) and internationally. He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1999, and in 2002 he received the award of Officer, National Order of Merit, by the President of the Republic of France. In 2000, the Governor General of Canada presented him with the first Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal in Science and Engineering. The following year, he was given the National Merit Award for contributions to the Life Sciences as well as the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. President Napolitano of the Republic of Italy bestowed the award of Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on Professor Alper in 2014.
Other major awards to Professor Alper include; the Alcan Award for Inorganic Chemistry (1986), Bader Award for Organic Chemistry (1990), Steacie Award for Chemistry (1993), all of the Canadian Society for Chemistry. The Chemical Institute of Canada has presented Alper with the Catalysis Award (1984), the Montreal Medal (2003), and the CIC Medal (1997), its highest honour. He also received the Urgel‑Archambault Prize (ACFAS) in physical sciences and engineering. In 2002, he received the Le Sueur Memorial Award of the Society of Chemical Industry (U.K.).
He has served on a number of NSERC committees and as Chair of Boards and Committees including; the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE), Council of Canadian Academies, Canadian Research Knowledge Network, and the Steacie Institute of Molecular Sciences. He was also Visiting Executive at the International Development Research Centre during 2006-2010.
In terms of research, Professor Alper has been pursuing spans organic and inorganic chemistry, with potential applications in the pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and commodity chemical industries. He is best known for his research of catalysis in chemistry. He has discovered new reactions using homogeneous, phase transfer, and heterogeneous catalysis (e.g. clays, dendrimers). He has also used chiral ligands in metal catalyzed cycloaddition and carbonylation reactions, and succeeded in preparing valuable products in pharmacologically active form. He has published 544 papers, has thirty-seven patents, and has edited several books.
He is passionate about Canada, research and chocolate.
The entire University Community is cordially invited.
