News Release

2006-09-20 10:10:16

National science advisor gives talk on the changing face of science

WATERLOO, Ont. (Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006) -- Canada's national science advisor to the prime minister will give a talk on scientific research and global challenges during a public lecture later this month at the University of Waterloo.

Arthur Carty, a former long-time UW faculty member, will deliver the inaugural Arthur J. Carty Lectureship. His talk, entitled The Changing Face of Science: Canadian Strengths and National Challenges, takes place Friday, Sept. 29 at 4 p.m. in the Centre for Environmental and Information Technology, room 1015.

Carty's talk will look at the bigger science picture. He will offer a perspective on where Canada stands in the world of science at present and the global challenges ahead. As well, he will explore the opportunities presented by interdisciplinary research and international collaboration, new tools and research at the interfaces between disciplines.

The lecture will be held in the wake of a recent major study on Canada's strengths in science and technology, issued by the Council of Canadian Academies. The study says that overall, Canada is strong in research, generally well-equipped technologically, but lagging in the translation of research ideas into innovation strength.

The Arthur J. Carty Lectureship, named after its inaugural speaker, Arthur Carty, was established thanks to a donation by Frank Karasek, a distinguished professor emeritus of chemistry who retired from UW in 1988. The lectureship will feature an annual lecture in an area of science or science policy of broad general interest.

Carty was appointed as the national science advisor to the prime minister in April 2004. In the previous decade, he was president of the National Research Council of Canada, the federal government's leading knowledge and innovation organization.

Before joining NRC in July 1994, Carty spent 27 years at UW where he was a professor of chemistry, chair of the chemistry department and dean of research. He earned his PhD in chemistry at Nottingham University in Britain.

Carty still maintains an active research group at NRC and continues to publish in his field of synthetic chemistry and metallic clusters. The holder of five patents, he has more than 285 publications in refereed journals in addition to book chapters and review articles.

He is a former president of the Canadian Society for Chemistry, honorary fellow of both the Chemical Institute of Canada and the Fields Institute for Research in the Mathematical Sciences, as well as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Among his many awards are the Alcan Award of the Chemical Institute of Canada, the E.W.R. Steacie Award of the Canadian Society for Chemistry, the Montreal Medal of the Chemical Institute of Canada and the Purvis Award of the Society of Chemical Industry. He has received 10 honorary degrees from Canadian and foreign universities. Carty is an Officer of the Order of Canada and Officier de l'Ordre national du Merite of France.

He serves on more than a dozen boards, including Genome Canada, two of the federal Networks of Centres of Excellence, and five science and technology advisory boards for other government departments and agencies.

Resources

Contact:

Terry McMahon, chair, chemistry department, 519-888-4591 or
mcmahon@uwaterloo.ca

John Morris, UW media Relations, 519-888-4435 or jmorris@uwaterloo.ca

University of Waterloo release no. 105

2006-09-20 10:10:16