Concordia Journal Home > Archives > September 25, 2008 issue >

Accolades 

Two Concordia faculty members have been elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada. Both Sherry Simon (Département d’Études françaises) and Shimon Amir, of the Psychology department will be among the 74 new fellows inducted at a special ceremony in Ottawa on Nov. 14. Amir will be inducted into the Academy of Sciences in recognition of his research exploring the relationship between emotional states and circadian rhythms. Simon joins the Academy of Humanities for her reflection on the cultural identity of Quebec. Founded in 1882, the Royal Society of Canada is the country’s most prestigious scholarly society.

Vice President, External Relations and Secretary-General Bram Freedman was the host for the 30th annual conference of the Canadian Association of University Solicitors held recently in Quebec City. Over 60 university lawyers participated in the two-day conference that was made possible through the efforts of Nathalie Larose and the team at the Office of the General Counsel.

Muthukumaran Packirisamy of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering was awarded a $40 000 grant from the Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations. This network brings together the talents of Canadian researchers from the public and private sectors to strengthen Canada's position at the forefront of photonics research and innovation. The funds were awarded through the institute’s Technology Exploitation and Networking Program. Packirisamy will work with researchers from Valeo and the Alberta-based SciMed Technologies Inc. This is the first collaboration between Packirisamy and SciMed Technologies.

Cinema grad Benoit Pilon’s film Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life) has been chosen as Canada’s entry in the Best Foreign Film category in the upcoming Academy Awards. The Oscar short list will be announced on Jan. 22. Pilon (BFA 87) also won three awards at the recent Montreal World Film Festival, including the second prize of the festival and both awards based on audience votes — more than any other film.

Michel Magnan co-wrote "The Valuation of Canadian Income Trusts: Do Investors See Through Distributable Cash Management?": one of the papers sharing the top research paper prize awarded by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators. The award was given at a reception on Sept. 3 at the Quebec Hilton. The paper was co-written by Denis Cormier of UQAM and Pascale Lapointe-Antunes of Brock University.

Chris Salter of the Department of Design and Computation Arts is one of only two Canadian architects and designers invited to participate in the Venice Biennale. Salter has been asked to create a site-specific, interactive multimedia installation with Erik Adigard for the main hall of the Biennale’s 11th Annual Architecture Exhibition. The Venice Biennale is recognized as one of the most prestigious exhibitions in the world. This year’s event runs until Nov. 23.