Posted on June 5: Engineering and science graduands celebrate Covocation today
The Faculties of Engineering and Science hold convocation ceremonies today (Thursday, June 5) in the Great Hall at Hamilton Place.
Engineering will award bachelor degrees in technology, engineering, engineering & society, engineering & management; master's degrees in science (materials science), applied science, engineering; and doctorates in philosophy. At the afternoon ceremony, science graduands will receive doctor of philosophy, master of arts (geography), master of science and bachelor of science degrees.
This year, McMaster is proud to present two Governor General's Academic Medals. It is very rare to have more than one recipient of this prestigious award in a given year. David Zywina, of the Faculty of Science, will receive his medal during the Science convocation this afternoon. Fellow recipient, Roxanne Lai, who received an Honours Linguistics degree at the Faculty of Humanities ceremony, was awarded her medal on Tuesday.
Honorary degrees will be presented to Francis Navin, Andrew Benedek, James Stewart, and Richard Bader. Navin and Stewart will give the Convocation addresses at their respective ceremonies.
Faculty of Engineering Honorary Degree Recipients
Francis Navin, Doctor of Science
Francis Navin has developed a worldwide reputation as an expert in road safety. The professor of civil engineering at the University of British Columbia has been teaching traffic and transportation engineering to graduate and undergraduates there since 1972. He retires this month (June).
Navin has had a distinguished career as a researcher and as an educator.
He co-ordinated the Transport Canada-UBC Accident Research Team from 1980 to 1995 and participated as a member of the Ontario Professional Engineers' Committee to investigate the safety of Highway 407 for the Ontario Government.
Navin is President of Synectics Road Safety Research Corporation and director and partner of GD Hamilton Associates in Vancouver, one of the world's largest road safety engineering firms.
Navin received his degree in civil engineering from McMaster in 1963, and his M.Sc. and PhD degrees in transportation engineering from the University of Missouri (1968) and the University of Minnesota (1975). He served as an officer in the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers after graduating from McMaster.
Navin will give the Convocation address at the Engineering Convocation.
Andrew Benedek, Doctor of Science
A leading authority on global water related issues, Andrew Benedek is chair, CEO and founder of Zenon Environmental, based in Oakville.
Zenon is dedicated to solving water quality problems through the use of advanced membrane technologies. The company was formed on Benedek's vision of a world where cost effective membrane technology could ensure with safe and superior quality water. Under his leadership the company has grown steadily to become a global leader.
Benedek received his degree in chemical engineering from McGill University in 1966 and his PhD at the University of Washington, in 1970. He joined McMaster's Faculty of Engineering in 1971 as a chemical engineer specializing in environmental issues, eventually leaving the University in 1981 to found Zenon.
Benedek is a member of the inaugural Faculty of Engineering's Dean's Advisory Board and has served on the National Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Advanced Technology Association and the Biotechnology Research Institute.
Faculty of Science Honorary Degree Recipients
James Stewart, Doctor of Science
Professor emeritus of mathematics, James Stewart is author of the world's best-selling calculus textbooks. The long-time McMaster professor retired in 1995 following a 26-year academic career. He was a favourite with students, winning several teaching awards during his years as an instructor.
The new mathematics centre being established at McMaster in historic Hamilton Hall is being named for Stewart, a major contributor to the new centre. The facility will make the University's Department of Mathematics and Statistics unique within Canada.
Stewart received his Bachelor of Science and PhD degrees from the University of Toronto in 1963 and 1967, respectively. He received his M.Sc. from Stanford University.
He has authored numerous calculus textbooks for students at all levels.
He is a member of the Canadian and American Mathematics Societies and the Mathematics Association of America. He is also a Fellow of the Fields Institute of Mathematics in Toronto.
Stewart will give the Convocation address at the Science Convocation.
Richard Bader, Doctor of Science
Born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario, Richard Bader received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from McMaster and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1958).
Bader initially studied physical organic chemistry and later switched from experiment to theory.
He began his career as an academic at the University of Ottawa in 1959, leaving there in 1963 to join McMaster's chemistry department. While at McMaster, Bader developed the quantum theory of atoms in molecules and its underpinning physics of an open system.
He is the author of An Introduction to the Electronic Structure of Atoms and Molecules and Atoms in Molecules: A Quantum Theory.
Bader is the recipient of many awards and honours: National Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellowship (1958-59), A.P. Sloan Research Award (1964-66), E.W.R. Steacie Memorial (1967-69) and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial (1979-80). In 1995 McMaster recognized him with its Distinguished Alumni Award.
While he officially retired in 1996, Bader remains active in research as an emeritus professor.
