L. to r.: François Bertrand, Carl-Éric Aubin, and Yvon Savaria

The Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) is a time-honoured organization comprising many of the country’s most experienced engineers, who amply demonstrate dedication to science and engineering in the interests of Canada and its companies. Recently, the CAE named 52 new Fellows for the year 2020 – a distinction engineers earn through election by their peers, in recognition of distinguished achievements and career-long service to the profession.

François Bertrand (Polytechnique Montréal Senior Vice President, Vice President Academic & Research, Professor of Chemical Engineering), is among those named Fellows in 2020, as the CAE notes, due to his specialization in fluid and solid dynamics in chemical engineering and the modelling of transport phenomena in multiphase systems.

“[Professor Bertrand] is renowned for his many contributions to engineering and society at large, notably through the training of highly qualified personnel, his significant involvement in national and international scientific societies, and the transfer of knowledge to industry,” the CAE stated.

Another Polytechnique Montréal professor - Carl-Éric Aubin (Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Executive and Scientific Director of the TransMedTech Institute, and a researcher at CHU Sainte-Justine), was also named a Fellow. The CAE points to international recognition for his innovative work in orthopedic engineering, as well as his strategic initiatives in transdisciplinary and intersectoral open-innovation ecosystems for the development and implementation of next-generation health technologies.

In the communiqué, the CAE noted that, “Aubin’s achievements change lives, his initiatives encourage innovation in biomedical engineering, and his leadership strengthens the life sciences ecosystem of Québec and Canada.”

Yvon Savaria, (Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of the Group (GR2M), is the third Polytechnique professor named Fellow. The Canadian Academy of Engineering notes that he is the holder of the NSERC Industrial Research Chair for High-Speed and Programmable Packet Processing, and has served as scientific head of several large-scale projects that led to production of a dedicated wafer-scale integrated circuit, and prototype technology that predated similar graphics processing units. Savaria is also the co-founder of two companies who commercialized the earliest field programmable gate-array (FPGA)-based reconfigurable computers, and laser trimming technology for analog integrated circuits.

“Professor Savaria has made outstanding contributions to microelectronics,” the CAE writes, adding that he was awarded a Synergy Prize from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and is also a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Professors Bertrand, Aubin, and Savaria will be officially welcomed as Canadian Academy of Engineering Fellows June 2021 an the Induction Dinner in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The event will honour those named Fellows in both 2020 and 2021, given that this year’s ceremony was postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The trio join an elite group of Polytechnique alumni who are already CAE Fellows, notably including: Michèle Thibodeau-DeGuire, the first woman Polytechnique civil engineering graduate and former Chair of its Board of Directors; Philippe A. Tanguy, current Polytechnique Montréal President. Other notables are: Professors Miguel Anjos, Michel Aubertin, Christophe Caloz, Pierre Carreau, Jamal Chaouki, David Haccoun, Raman Kashyap, Gilles L’Espérance, Pierre Lafleur, Pierre Léger, Robert Legros, Sylvain Martel, Michel Meunier, Arthur Pelton, Michel Perrier, Samuel Pierre, Mohamad Sawan, Paul Stuart, Michael Wertheimer, and Ke Wu. André Bazergui and Christophe Guy, both of whom are past Polytechnique Montréal Presidents, are also CAE Fellows.

We extend warm congratulations to Professors Bertrand, Aubin, and Savaria!

Learn more

Professor François Bertrand’s expertise: https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/en/bertrand-francois

Professor Carl-Éric Aubin’s expertise: https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/aubin-carl-eric

Professor Yvon Savaria’s expertise: https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/en/savaria-yvon

Department of Chemical Engineering website:
https://www.polymtl.ca/gch/en

Department of Chemical Engineering website: https://www.polymtl.ca/gch/en

Department of Mechanical Engineering website:
https://www.polymtl.ca/meca/en

TransMedTech Institute website: https://www.polymtl.ca/transmedtech/en

Microelectronics and Microsystems Research Group (GR2M) website: https://www.polymtl.ca/expertises/en/microelectronics-and-microsystems-research-group-gr2m

Canadian Academy of Engineering website: https://cae-acg.ca/