Professors J. Stewart Aitchison (ECE) and Harry Ruda (MSE) were inducted as Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada at a ceremony at the National Gallery of Canada on Saturday, November 27. The RSC is the senior national body of distinguished Canadian scholars, artists and scientists. It comprises nearly 2,000 Fellows, who are selected by their peers for outstanding contributions to the natural and social sciences, the arts and the humanities.

Currently serving as the Faculty’s Vice-Dean, Research, Stewart Aitchison is a world leader in the field of nonlinear optics, and considered the leading researcher in the area of spatial optical solitons. His research has resulted in 214 journal publications, which have been cited over 4,800 times, and more than 250 conference publications. In addition, he has seven patents which have led to the creation and growth of four new companies. From 2004-2007, he was Director of the Emerging Communications Technology Institute, where he worked towards the establishment of open access micro- and nano-fabrication facilities. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (London) and the Optical Society of America.

Harry Ruda is an international leader in the synthesis and understanding of the behaviour of semiconductor nanostructures, with seminal contributions dating back to the early 1980s. These contributions are represented in 215 articles in leading journals, 125 papers in international conference proceedings, contributions to nine books, 15 patents and more than 2,000 citations. Professor Ruda is the Founder and Director of the Centre for Advanced Nanotechnology, Canada’s first such centre and internationally renowned for its innovative and leading-edge work on semiconductor nanostructures. He also co-founded the National Centre of Excellence in Photonics, which supports the research of 90 of Canada’s top professors at 20 universities.

“Professors Aitchison and Ruda are acknowledged as groundbreaking leaders in their fields, not just in Canada but on a global level,” said Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. “They are most deserving of this honour, and we are delighted that the RSC has recognized their extraordinary achievements.”