The NCE Selection Committee Report

September 1998

Table of Content

Remarks from the Chair
Background
Competition Process
Recommendations
Summary of the Networks Recommended for Funding

• The Canadian Arthritis Network (CAN)
• The Geomatics for Informed Decision (GEOIDE)
• Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS)

Remarks from the Chair

The NCE (Networks of Centres of Excellence) competition that just ended was not targeted to particular subject areas. That proved to be a great challenge to the Selection Committee, but the challenge was met. A Selection Committee of extraordinary ability and breadth was appointed, and all its members worked very hard to contribute fully to the selection process.

That process began in January, when the Selection Committee applied the five selection criteria to each of the 72 letters of intent that had been received. Eleven full applications were invited on the basis of the letters of intent that were judged to hold the highest potential. Over the summer, these applications were examined in depth by eleven expert panels in a review process that included meetings with the proponents and their partners. The Selection Committee then judged the reports of these expert panels together with the full applications in September.

The reports of the expert panels in the new format developed for this competition proved extremely useful. They provided a deep and objective assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of all the applications. In addition, the chairs of the eleven expert panels each joined the Selection Committee by teleconference to answer questions that arose in the discussion of their respective reports and the subject applications.

Our discussions were extensive and challenging, but the Selection Committee achieved consensus on its recommendations. This competition, the first one for new networks since 1995 was constrained by the budget available. Three new NCE's were recommended for funding within that budget, but the Selection Committee also urged that funding be found as soon as possible for a fourth network that was barely distinguishable from the first three in the excellence of the proposal and the importance of the opportunity that it represented.

The Committee was concerned that the next competition would not be held for another 3½ years. They felt that among the eleven applications reviewed there were several proposals for NCE's in important areas that could likely be improved to the required standard with some additional work. These applicants should be encouraged to stay together and continue developing their ideas. At the same time, the NCE Steering Committee should do all it can to increase the budget for the NCE program and hold additional competitions at the earliest possible date.

Finally, let me offer my personal thanks to the members of the Selection Committee for the expertise, energy, and integrity they brought to the process. Their reward is the knowledge that they have participated in the creation of three (and, we hope, four) outstanding Networks of Centres of Excellence that hold the promise of important advances in knowledge that will benefit Canadians in many ways. With the experience of the NCE program as an indicator, I am sure they will be proud of the work we have done together.

William Cochrane, MD
Chair, NCE Selection Committee

Background

In February 1997, the federal government announced its decision to make the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program permanent, and to provide an annual allocation of $47.4 million. In addition, it announced that competitions for new networks will be held every 3 or 4 years.

The NCE program is an integral part of the government's Science & Technology strategy. The program is built on the foundation of research support from the federal granting councils - Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Medical Research Council (MRC) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). By investing in areas that have strategic importance for Canada, the networks produce significant research discoveries and innovations; ensure that they are transferred quickly to potential industrial users and public policy-makers; and train highly qualified researchers, often in settings outside the university. NCE funding is used as leverage by the networks to attract private and public sector collaboration. Canada derives social as well as economic benefits from the commercialization of marketable products and processes originating from network research. Network funding is incremental and is provided only for a finite period of time with the goal of creating relationships and partnerships that will endure and flourish well beyond the period of NCE funding.

At present there are 11 networks conducting leading-edge research in strategic areas. These networks are at different stages of maturity, seven having been created in 1989 and four in 1995. The current funding allocated to these networks is in the order of $36 million annually.

In June 1997, an NCE competition for new networks was announced with an annual budget of approximately $9 million. Seventy-two letters of intent were received by the competition deadline of November 1, 1997. A Selection Committee was appointed by the NCE Steering Committee (comprised of the Presidents of the three granting councils - NSERC, MRC and SSHRC - and the Deputy Minister of Industry Canada). The terms of reference, membership and short biographical notes on the members can be found in appendices II, III and IV respectively. The NCE Selection Committee met in January 1998 and recommended that 11 applicants be invited to submit a full application.

On May 1, 1998, 11 applications were received by the NCE Directorate. The applicants were subjected to a full day in-depth review by an Expert Panel. The proposed networks were thoroughly assessed according to the five published selection criteria (Appendix I) and the appropriateness of the budgets requested were evaluated. A confidential Expert Panel Report was submitted to the NCE Selection Committee to assist the members in the final evaluation of the 11 applications.

The Selection Committee reviewed the applications and the Expert Panel reports and met in September for final deliberations. The Selection Committee submitted the funding recommendations in this report to the NCE Steering Committee for approval.

Competition Process

Recommendations

The NCE Selection Committee recommends support for 3 networks as indicated below in alphabetical order. The level of funding for years 5 to 7 will be determined following an in-depth review in year 4.

The Canadian Arthritis Network (CAN):

The Geomatics for Informed Decision (GEOID):

Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS):

Summary of the Networks Recommended for Funding

The Canadian Arthritis Network (CAN)

The Canadian Arthritis Network (CAN) is a collaborative effort of more than 100 leading basic and clinical scientists from over 40 different institutions, and has support from 39 companies. It received its mandate to compete for NCE funding from the arthritis community more than a year ago at Arthritis 2000, a stakeholder conference representing people with arthritis, health-care professionals and scientists.

The Canadian Arthritis Network is a completely digitized, integrated network addressing osteoarthritis and related conditions such as spinal degeneration, as well as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory arthritis, from the perspectives of both the bench and the bedside. By accelerating the creation of more effective strategies for the prevention, diagnosis and management of arthritis, the Canadian Arthritis Network also achieves its social-policy goal, which is to decrease significantly arthritis-related disability in the Canadian population and its attendant socio-economic burden.

Arthritis affects one in five in the adult population and is the most frequent cause of long-term physical disability in Canada. The scope of the problem is reflected in the $18 billion arthritis costs Canada's economy annually, most of it related to indirect costs attributable to long-term disability and the failure of contemporary treatments to truly modify the course of arthritis. Currently, arthritis disables about 600,000 adults, a population comparable in size to Winnipeg. Canada's ageing population will ensure that figure rises exponentially in the next decades - unless new treatments are found in the very near future.

The Canadian Arthritis Network intends to partner with academic institutions, non-profit agencies, venture capitalists, and biotech and pharmaceutical companies, as well as with government agencies, to fund arthritis research and develop related products and services in Canada.

The Geomatics for Informed Decision (GEOID)

Geomatics is the evolving discipline that is providing the tools to map our changing world and many of the relationships that affect its future. Geomatics is a relatively new discipline but already supports a $10 billion industry around the world. The demand for Geomatics solutions is fuelling a 15 to 20 per cent annual growth.

The GEOID initiative proposes to create a permanent networking structure linking all sectors of the Canadian Geomatics community. The network is aimed at promoting Canada's domestic Geomatics industry and achieving continuous improvement in the efficiency of transforming Canada's R&D resources into marketable products. It will also help define and develop the human skills needed to sustain a Canadian industrial capacity that will be innovative and competitive. The social benefits of such networking will therefore be at least as important to Canada's future as the economic benefits.

The research undertaken within the GEOID network is grouped into three Applications Thrusts. Projects in the Resource Management Thrust include the development of improved positioning capabilities and the critical assessment of remote sensing, three-dimensional modelling of geological data in support of mineral exploration activities, and research in conflict resolution techniques for integrated resource management. Within the Environmental Management Thrust, projects include early earthquake detection and monitoring systems, new techniques for mapping sea and river beds, the use of computer vision methods applied to remotely sensed data in support of search and rescue operations, and the development of better ecological assessment of spatial patterns. In the Health, Commerce and Social Policy Thrust, projects include strategic planning for commerce, developing access methods for health indicators on the world wide web, and the use of high-precision measurement techniques and models as an aid to surgery. Also, a number of support projects are planned, including the precise determination of the Canadian geoid, the development of new spatial data structures, map and image generalization tools and research into the use of cognitive models for Geomatics solutions.

The GEOID network structure will provide the critical tools and incentives needed to dramatically increase the level and effectiveness of communication among research groups spread across the entire nation. The GEOID network will also implement and coordinate a broad consultation and outreach process and an active program of skill-based and needs-based training both for the training of new professionals and the retraining of current employees to sustain the process of Geomatics technology implementation. This integrated program of research, communication and training will place Canada in a strategic leadership position in important world markets for the twenty-first century.

Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems (MITACS)

Mathematics will play a key role in the coming decades, because of its remarkable ability to model physical, biological and economic systems in ways that permit effective prediction, design and control. The MITACS network, in cooperation with the three Mathematical Sciences Institutes, Centre Recherches Mathématiques (CRM), the Fields Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (Fields) and the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) is designed to harness mathematical power for Canada.

The MITACS network begins with more than 70 industrial, financial, and medical organizations. They will collectively contribute more than $1.5 million to MITACS research projects in the first year of operation, because of the direct relevance to their own priorities of the methodologies these projects will develop. The value and importance of MITACS is underlined by the eminent Canadians who have agreed to serve on its Board.

Harnessing mathematical power requires that the country have mathematical capital in the first place. Fortunately Canada is blessed in this respect: over 400 researchers, postdoctoral follows and graduate students from 22 Canadian universities will work on MITACS projects. Many are leaders in their academic research fields, Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, Steacie and Killam Fellows, other distinguished prize winners and holders of large research grants. Their quality is reflected in the decision this year to add Canada to the select group of top countries in the International Mathematics Union.

The role of MITACS is to provide the focusing framework that will harness this mathematical power. Grouping 21 projects ranging from Cellular and Physiological Systems in Disease, through Cellular Automatic and Semiconductor Nanostructures, Flight Attendant Personalized Scheduling Systems and Financial Risk Management, to Prediction for Interacting Stochastic Systems, the MITACS network will link mathematical scientists and the user community from coast to coast.

APPENDIX I

Selection and Evaluation Criteria

To ensure that the program objectives are met, proposals are assessed against five equally weighted criteria. Networks are also evaluated on an ongoing basis during tenure of a grant against these same criteria. A threshold of excellence must be exceeded for each criterion. These threshold limits must continue to be met as a condition for holding an NCE grant. The descriptors following each criterion are not all-inclusive.

• The excellence, focus and coherence of the research program;
• The extent to which the program will contribute to Canada's ability to lead in areas of research with high economic and/or social impact;
• The quality of the researchers and their ability to contribute to the research program;
• The relationship of the research program to similar work conducted elsewhere in Canada and abroad;
• The value added by the network approach.

Highly Qualified Personnel

• The ability to develop and retain outstanding researchers in research areas and technologies critical to Canadian productivity, economic growth and quality of life;
• Training strategies that promote multidisciplinary and multisectorial research approaches and encourage trainees to consider the economic and social implications of their work.

Networking and Partnerships

• Effective research and technology development links between academic institutions, federal and provincial agencies and private sector participants;
• Multidisciplinary, multisectorial approaches in the research program;
• Evidence that an effort has been made to include all suitably qualified parties;
• Optimization of resources through the sharing of equipment and research facilities, and personnel;
• Presence, nature and extent of contributions from the private sector and federal and provincial agencies, with the prospects for increasing commitments as the work progresses.

• Prospect for new products, processes or services that can be commercialized by firms operating in Canada and will strengthen the Canadian industrial base, enhance productivity, and contribute to long-term economic growth and social benefits;
• Potential for social innovation and the implementation of effective public policy through collaboration with the public sector;
• Effective collaboration with the private and public sectors in technology and market development;
• The impact, or potential impact, of technology and knowledge transfer on the science and technology capabilities of private and public sector partners;
• Effective management and protection of intellectual property resulting from network-funded research.

• Each network must possess an organizational structure appropriate for the management of the research and business functions of a complex multidisciplinary, multi-institutional program. These elements must include:
  • A board and committee structure to ensure that appropriate policy and financial decisions are made and implemented;
  • The presence of effective leadership and expertise in the research and the business management functions;
  • Effective research planning and budgeting mechanisms; Effective internal and external communications strategies.

APPENDIX II

Terms of Reference for the NCE Selection Committee 1998

The Members of the NCE Selection Committee are selected and appointed by the NCE Steering Committee. The Selection Committee will evaluate the applications according to the published selection criteria. As part of the evaluation of applications, the Committee will have peer reviewed reports from Expert Panels for each application that summarize the panels' findings, as a result of meetings with representatives from each group of applicants. The Chair of each Expert Panel will be available by teleconference at a specified time to respond to questions and provide additional information during the deliberations of the Selection Committee. The Committee will rate all the applications on each of the five published selection criteria. To be successful, a network must be judged excellent in every criterion. The Selection Committee will transmit a priority-ranked list of networks recommended for funding, along with the recommended duration and level of award for each network to the NCE Steering Committee for decision.

APPENDIX III

Membership of the NCE Selection Committee

NCE Selection Committee
January 14-15, 1998

Chair/Président:
Dr. William Cochrane
Director
MDS Capital Corp.
Calgary, Alta.

Members/Membres:

NCE Selection Committee
September 17-18, 1998

Chair/Président:
Dr. William Cochrane
Director
MDS Capital Corp.
Calgary, Alta.

Members/Membres:

APPENDIX IV

Biographical Notes of the NCE Selection Committee

Dr. W.A. Cochrane

Dr. Cochrane was born in Toronto and graduated in Medicine from the University of Toronto. Following 5 years of postgraduate studies in Pediatrics and medical research at centres in Canada, the United States and Great Britain he practiced pediatrics in Toronto for 3 years. He began his academic career at Dalhousie University becoming Professor and Head, Department of Pediatrics. He became the founding Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary and subsequently the President of the University. He served as Deputy Minister of Health Sciences, Government of Alberta. In 1978 he began his business career as Chairman and CEO of Connaught laboratories Ltd., Toronto. He returned to Calgary in 1989 where he is President of W.A. Cochrane Associates Inc., a health products consulting company. Dr. Cochrane serves on a number of company Boards in Canada and the United States in the health and biotech sector including M.D.S. Capital Corp., StressGen Biotech (Chairman), Vasogen Inc.(Chairman), Prizm Pharmaceuticals, Chromos Molecular Systems and the Alberta Science and Technology Authority. He has received a number of honours and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1989.

Mr. Richard Fuchs

Mr. Fuchs has worked in rural informatics and rural development for 25 years. He was a Commissioner with the Newfoundland Economic Recovery Commission and the Vice President of Rural Development in the Newfoundland government. In 1988 he started and then led North America's first rural telecentres and online information and communications system for 10 years as the Chairman and CEO of the Newfoundland Crown Corporation, Enterprise Network Inc.

He has worked in the volunteer sector with Oxfam Canada, and has been a public servant and an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at Memorial University. He is now the President of Futureworks Inc., a rural information technology and communications network company that does business in Africa, Asia and Canada. He lives and works from his home office in rural Torbay, Newfoundland.

Dr. Yves Gingras

Dr. Gingras is a professor in the Department of History at the Université du Québec in Montreal (UQAM). He received a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in physics from Université Laval and a Ph.D. in history and socio-politics of sciences from University of Montreal in 1984. He held a postdoctoral position at Harvard University from 1984 to1986 and became a professor in the Department of Sociology at UQAM.

Dr. Gingras has authored many book chapters and more than forty articles on evaluation of university research, science policies, history and sociology of sciences. He has also written numerous reports for different government and non-government organisations. He is Chief Editor for Scientia Canadensis and a scientific committee member for the European review Didaskalia, Culture technique, and Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales. He is cofounder of the "Observatoire des sciences et des technologies" and a member of "Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST)."

Dr. Martin Godbout

Dr. Godbout is Senior Vice-President of BioCapital, a Canadian venture capital firm investing in healthcare and biotechnology companies. From May 1994 to May 1997, he was President and General Manager of Société Innovatech Québec and Chaudière-Appalaches, a $60 million technology investment fund. From December 1993 to April 1994, he was Assistant Managing Director responsible for biopharmaceutical industry relations at the Research Centre of Centre hospitalier de l'université Laval (CHUL) in Québec City prior to which time he was Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine, at Université Laval.

Dr. Godbout holds a B.Sc. in biochemistry and a Ph.D. in physiology and molecular endocrinology from Université Laval. From 1985 to 1990, he held a postdoctoral fellowship from the Medical Research Council (MRC) in Neuromolecular biology at the Research Institute of Scripps Clinic in San Diego. In 1991, the Québec Foundation for Mental Disorder awarded Dr. Godbout the Grand Prix Recherche for his previous work on Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Godbout is a member of the board of directors of several biopharmaceutical companies, foundations and scientific organizations such as the MRC's Standing Committee on Business Development, MRC's Canadian Institutes of Health Research Task Force, MRC's Canadian Genome Task Force, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, BIOTECanada, and BIOTECanada Human Resources Council (BHRC). Since October 1996, he has been a member of the Board of the "Conseil de la Science et de la Technologie du Québec." Dr. Godbout has authored or co-authored more than 60 publications and abstracts, and has been invited speaker at numerous scientific conferences.

Dr. Jack Kraicer

Dr. Kraicer is a Professor in the Department of Physiology at the University of Toronto. He obtained his M.D. and then Ph.D. (physiology) from the University of Toronto. This was followed by postdoctoral training at Université Laval and Université Libre de Bruxelles. His first academic appointment was in Physiology at Queen's University where he remained for 19 years. In 1984 he moved to the University of Western Ontario as Chair of Physiology. In 1993, he accepted the position of Director of Research Grants and then Senior Director of Scientific Affairs, with the Human Frontier Science Program in Strasbourg, France. His career came full circle with his return to the University of Toronto in 1997.

Dr. Kraicer's scientific activities have focused on basic research in neuroendocrinology, with a special interest in the actions and regulation of secretion of the pituitary gland hormones. He has held a number of scientific appointments and elected offices, serving on Review Committees of national and international granting agencies, Councils of national and international scientific societies, and Editorial Boards of Scientific peer reviewed journals. He has served as Editor of the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, and was the President of the Canadian Physiological Society.

Honours have included several Visiting Scientist Awards from the MRC, the Prize for Excellence in Research from Queen's University, and the Sarrazin Lectureship of the Canadian Physiological Society.

Dr. Ron McCullough

Dr. McCullough has an engineering doctorate from the University of Toronto and an MBA from York University. Over a twenty-year career at Spar Aerospace he held a variety of positions. He was a founding member of the Canadarm Team and managed Canada's satellite business for Spar. He was the executive in charge of Technology, Corporate Planning and External Relations when he left Spar in 1991 to form his own company. He is currently engaged in promoting and helping to secure funding for new opportunities coming out of Canada's extensive portfolio of leading edge research through his roles in the BeauTech Management Corporation and ProGrid Ventures Inc.

Dr. McCullough has been a leader in helping to create innovative elements of Canada's science and technology infrastructure. He was the co-founder of PRECARN Associates, a unique industry-government partnership in leading-edge robotics and artificial intelligence. He was a founding board member of three of the Ontario Centres of Excellence and served on various committees as well as Director and Board Chair. He has conceived and let assessment and evaluation processes for organizations such as CANARIE (Canada's information superhighway consortium) and NSERC, among others. Dr. McCullough was a member of NSERC Council for two terms and served as Chair of the Committee on Research Grants and of the Committee for Scholarships and Fellowships. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineers.

He is currently involved in strengthening Canada's economic future through organizations which fund science and technology research and development such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation and through those who turn ideas into wealth through early stage and venture capital investing such as the Canadian Science and Technology Growth Fund.

Dr. Maurice Moloney

Dr. Moloney holds the NSERC Dow AgroSciences Industrial Chair in plant biotechnology at the University of Calgary. Dr. Moloney did his undergraduate work in chemistry at Imperial College, University of London and his Ph.D. work at De Montfort University in Leicester, U.K.

Dr. Moloney took up a position at the University of Calgary in 1986 after postdoctoral work in the University of Lausanne, Switzerland and a 4 year sojourn in Calgene Inc. of Davis, California, one of the earliest plant biotechnology companies. During his time in Calgene, Dr. Moloney developed the first methodology for the genetic engineering of Canola and its US relatives. This work is the subject of two worldwide, issued patent families.

In 1994, Dr. Moloney founded SemBioSys Genetics Inc., a company focused on using this technology to produce proteins in seeds. Dr. Moloney served as President and Director of Research for SemBioSys until July 1998. At that time the company hired Andrew Baum as President and CEO. Dr Moloney now serves as Vice-President of Research and Development for SemBioSys. Dr. Moloney continues with his duties at the University of Calgary and teaches both in undergraduate and graduate classes. His research continues to focus on gene expression and protein trafficking in seed cells.

Dr. Cameron Mustard

Dr. Mustard is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, with active interest in health services research in the areas of mental health, pediatric care, obstetrics and in chronic disease epidemiology with a focus on socio-economic disparities in health status and the utilization of health services. Dr. Mustard is a member of the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and Evaluation and has recently been appointed as Associate Director of the Population Health Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He is also a recipient of an MRC Scientist award (1997 - 2002) and is an investigator associated with the Regional Health Planning theme of the HealNet Network of Centres of Excellence. For the period August 1997 to July 1998, Dr. Mustard was a Visiting Senior Scientist, Institute for Work & Health, Toronto. He is a member of the federal Advisory Committee on Health Information Structure and a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Dr. Donald Nicholson

Dr. Nicholson is Senior Director of the Departments of Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research in Kirkland Quebec. Merck Frosst is Canada's largest pharmaceutical company and its basic research division, which is part of Merck Research Laboratories, is charged with the discovery and development of novel therapeutics to treat substantial human diseases. Dr. Nicholson was born in Nova Scotia, educated in Ontario (HBSc, PhD; Department of Biochemistry, University of Western Ontario) and further trained in Europe as an MRC post-doctoral research fellow (Institute for Physiological Chemistry, University of Munich, Germany) before joining Merck in 1988. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Biochemistry Department at McGill University.

Dr. Eva L.J. Rosinger

Dr. Rosinger, scientist and engineer, is Deputy Director for Environment at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France. Over the past two decades, Dr. Rosinger has held line-management and advisory positions in the field of environment, and research and development. She held the position of Director General and DEO of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), and was the Director responsible for developing the strategy and managing the participation of the Canadian Crown Corporation, AECL Research. She is a past President of the Canadian Nuclear Society, former Vice-President of the Radioactive Waste Management Committee of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, and a former member of the Board on Radioactive Waste Management of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Her academic degrees are an M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Chemistry, and she is the author of more than 40 scientific paper and articles, two patents and numerous conference presentations. Dr. Rosinger is a recipient of the 1992 YM-YWCA Woman of Distinction Award, the 1988 Certificate of Merit by the Government of Canada for Contribution to the Community, and holder of the Order of Sport Excellence and Achievement Awards by the Government of Manitoba. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the 1989 Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation and of the Advisory Committee to the President of the University of Waterloo, a former member of the Board of Directors of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, a former Council member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Manitoba and a member of other professional societies.

Dr. Martha Salcudean

Dr. Salcudean obtained both her bachelor's and postgraduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering. A few years of industrial and design experience were followed by twelve years in the Research Centre for Metallurgy, where she worked mainly in the area of heat transfer and fluids. From 1976 to 1985, she held the position of professor at the University of Ottawa, and in 1985 was appointed Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at U.B.C. From 1993 to 1996, Dr. Salcudean was Associate Vice-President, Research at U.B.C., and she also served as Acting Vice-President, Research in 1995. As of 1996, Dr. Salcudean has been on Administrative Leave to take up her position as Professor and Weyerhaeuser Industrial Research Chair in Computational Fluid Dynamics in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Dr. Salcudean has published extensively in the area of heat transfer and fluid flow and has been involved with numerous industrial collaborations. She has been a member of the NSERC Grant Selection Committee for Mechanical Engineering, the NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship Selection Committee, the Accreditation Team for engineering programs in different universities, the National Heat Transfer Committee, and the GREAT Award Committee in British Columbia. She has also been appointed to the National Advisory Panel on Advanced Industrial Materials and is a member of the Science Council of British Columbia.

Dr. Salcudean was awarded the Science and Engineering Gold Medal in the Applied Science and Engineering Category for 1991 from the Science Council of British Columbia. She has been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and has also been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ottawa. In addition, Dr. Salcudean has been awarded the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation, the Engineering Institute of Canada's Julian C. Smith Medal for 1995 for "Achievement in the Development of Canada," the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of the Province of British Columbia's Meritorious Achievement Award for 1996, the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prize in Engineering in 1998 and the Order of British Columbia in 1998.

Dr. David Sankoff

David Sankoff is a native of Montreal and studied mathematics at McGill University. He is Professor of Mathematics and a longtime member of the Centre de recherches mathematiques at the Université de Montréal. His research involves the formulation of mathematical models and the development of analytical methods in the sciences and humanities. This includes the design of algorithms for problems in computational biology, applied probability for phylogenetic analysis of evolution, and statistical methodology for studying grammatical variation and change in speech communities. Recent work has focused on the evolution of genomes as the result of chromosomal rearrangement processes and on formal models for bilingual syntax. He has served on numerous national grant committees in Canada, the U.S. and France, on mathematics, computational biology and genomics. He is editor of the journal Language Variation and Change (Cambridge). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and a medalist of the Association Canadienne-Française pour l'Avancement des Sciences.

Dr. Bruce Smith

Dr. Smith is Chairman of the Council of the Smith Institute for Industrial Mathematics and Systems Engineering, a collaboration between industry and academia in applied mathematics and computing, and Chairman of Industrial Technology Securities Limited. Until a recent management buyout he was the Chairman and majority shareholder of Smith System Engineering Limited, a firm specialising in the analysis and design of advanced electronic, optical and mechanical systems for both industrial and government customers. Before founding the company in 1971, he worked in design engineering for Decca Radar Limited after a period in the United States with Bellcomm Inc. in the US Space programme. Prior to that he occupied a physics research post at the University of Chicago, having previously obtained a first class honours degree and a doctorate in physics at Oxford University. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. He is Chairman of the Economic and Social Research Council in the UK, a member of the Industrial Research and Development Advisory Committee of the European Commission, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Space Science Centre, Chairman of the Earth Observation Programme Board of the British National Space Centre, a non-executive Director of British Maritime Technology Limited and a Domus Fellow of St. Catherine's College, Oxford.

Dr. Jacquelyn Thayer Scott

Dr. Thayer Scott is President and Vice-Chancellor of the University College of Cape Breton in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Prior to assuming her current post in 1993, Dr. Thayer Scott had served as Director of the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto. She has also been on faculty at the University of Manitoba, operated her own public relations and management consulting firm, and been employed as a journalist by The Canadian Press and the Columbian Newspapers.

Dr. Thayer Scott serves on a number of governing boards and advisory committees including: member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Council on Science & Technology; Chair of the Management Consortium on Environmental Technologies for the Province of Nova Scotia; Board member, Corporate-Higher Education Forum; Advisory Board, Office of Learning Technologies, Human Resources Canada; Chair of the Atlantic Universities' Athletics Association; Executive Committee, Association of Atlantic Universities; Chair, Canadian Alliance of Education and Training Organizations (CAETO); Board member, Atlantic Institute for Market Studies; member of the Millennium Scholarship Foundation; Vice-Chair of CANARIE.

As well, Dr. Scott has served as Past President of the Canadian Association for University Continuing Education (CAUCE), and has headed the Ontario Council for University Continuing Education (OCUCE) and the Council of Ontario Universities' Status of Women Committee. She served on the Premier's Roundtable on the Economy, and has co-chaired the PGI Golf Tournament for Literacy in Cape Breton. Dr. Thayer Scott has been awarded a number of professional honours in her field, and is the author of numerous scholarly and popular articles and books on voluntary organization management and policy, and higher education policy. Her contributions have been recognized by the Government of Canada in awarding her a Canada 125th Medal.

Dr. Eva Turley

Dr. Turley obtained her Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia and continued her training as a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University and subsequently at the University of Oregon. She is a senior scientist in the Division of Cardiovascular Research at the Hospital for Sick Children and a professor at the University of Toronto. Over the years, her research collaborations with industry were numerous. In 1996, she became Vice-President of Research for Hyal Pharmaceutical Corporation.

Dr. Turley is a member of the National Research Council Advisory Council and has served on numerous Boards and Panels including NRC Executive, CISTI-NRC Committee, US Army Breast Cancer Panel and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. She is the editor for "Women and Cancer" and was a commentator on Genetic Research for "Quirks and Quarks" and "The National" for the CBC. In 1988, Dr. Turley received the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award.

Dr. Michael Yeo

Dr. Yeo is an Ethicist in the Research Directorate of the Canadian Medical Association and Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy, and specializes in the area of bioethics. He has taught, lectured, and published on a variety of topics, including ethics and resource allocation, informational privacy, informed consent, and professional ethics.

From 1987 to 1993 he worked as a Research Associate at the Westminster Institute in London, Ontario, and taught ethics at the University of Western Ontario. He has acted as consultant for a number of organizations, including the Canadian Nurses Association, the National Forum on Health, the Queen's/University of Ottawa Economics Projects, the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Ontario Police College.

He sits on a number of committees and advisory boards, including the Animal Care Committee of the University of Ottawa and the Ethics Committee of the College of Family Physicians of Canada.