Faculty and Staff Awards

University Professor Emeritus, Mathematics, Dr. William R. Smith has been awarded the title of doctor honoris causa by the University of J. E. Purkyně in the Czech Republic, one of the institution’s highest honours. The honourary doctorate recognize Smith’s exceptional contributions, leadership and lasting impact in the field of mathematics, as well as his international reputation as a scholar and collaborator. The honour was formally conferred at a ceremony on November 27, 2025.

Dr. Xiaodong Lin and team won a Best Paper Award for their paper VerifyNet: Secure and Verifiable Federated Learning in 2025 from the IEEE Signal Processing Society.

Learn more.

Dr. Kathryn E. Preuss, Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Guelph, is the 2026 recipient of the Clara Benson Award, sponsored by the Canadian Council of University Chemistry Chairs (CCUCC).

Dr. Leanne Chen from the Department of Chemistry and Dr. Mihai Nica from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics have received this year’s Research Excellence Awards for their groundbreaking work.

On October 10, the Government of Canada announced nearly $134 million through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to support cutting-edge research infrastructure projects across the country. Dr. Rui Huang, from U of G’s Department of Chemistry, was recognized through the CFI’s John R.

Dr. Minglun Gong and team received a 2025 Test-of-Time award from ACM SIGGRAPH for his team's 2013 paper L1-Medial Skeleton of Point Cloud (2013), given for "papers that have had a significant and lasting impact on computer graphics and interactive techniques over at least a decade."

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Engineering Professor Dr. Simon X. Yang was elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering in recognition of his internationally acclaimed research in intelligent robotics and e-nose systems. His innovative contributions include real-time motion planning, biologically inspired control, and applications in industry and agriculture.

Congratulations to Dr. Yang!

Dr. Ed McBean was awarded the AGGS-Distinguished Fellow Award for his active participation and support for the Association of Global Groundwater Scientists (AGGS). He received the award at the International Groundwater Conference (IGWC-2025) from March 5th to 8th, 2025 at the National Institute of Hydrology in Roorkee, India.

Congratulations to Dr. McBean!

Dr. Ed McBean has been selected to receive the Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management Seminal Paper Award from the Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI). This award marks an important milestone in his career, recognizing his paper titled, The battle of the water sensor networks (BWSN): A design challenge for engineers and algorithms. The award will be presented at the 2025 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress in Anchorage, Alaska, on May 21, 2025.  

Actua's 2025 National Conference took place in Ottawa from January 22 - 24, 2025.

Actua is a network-driven organization, proudly representing over 40 universities and colleges across Canada, delivering hands-on STEM programming to youth in every province and territory.