Faculty of Science professors named Distinguished Professor Emeritus

On Thursday, October 11, the following professors in the Faculty of Science were honoured with the title Distinguished Professor Emeritus for their many contributions and years of service to the University of Manitoba.

  • Dr. Judith Anderson, Department of Biological Sciences 
  • Dr. Fereidoun Ghahramani, Department of Mathematics
  • Dr. Benqu Guo, Department of Mathematics

Citations are as follows:

Judy Anderson.

JUDY ANDERSON HOLDS A MODEL OF A VIRGIN GALACTIC SPACESHIP. // PHOTO BY CHRIS REID

Dr. Judith Anderson B.Sc. (Zoo.) (UBC), B.Sc. (Med.), PhD (Manitoba) Faculty of Science

Throughout her distinguished 30-year career, Dr. Judy Anderson has been an outstanding colleague and teacher and an internationally recognized scholar who changed the research landscape in the area of muscle regeneration.

Dr. Anderson began her career in the department of anatomy and completed it in the department of biological sciences, where she served as head from 2007 until 2017. Her conscientious service and unwavering loyalty and dedication to her students, colleagues and the institution earned her great respect and admiration. Her work to develop interprofessional education leaves a lasting legacy.

Dr. Anderson’s innovative research on skeletal muscle regeneration and repair was described as paradigm-shifting. She pioneered the field of satellite cell activation in myogenesis with five patents related to novel drug design for muscle repair. She has over 117 publications in high-ranking journals and gave over 50 invited presentations around the globe in the past six years.

Dr. Anderson served for 25 continuous years on the University Senate, and lent her commitment to numerous committees, including the Board of Governors as an elected senate representative.

A strong advocate for women in science and a mentor for students, staff and faculty alike, she received the Canadian Foundation of Women’s Phenomenal Woman Award in 2001. Dr. Anderson was also recognized for her research and leadership in education through an Australia Endeavour Executive Award and an invited fellow award from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Most recently, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Canadian Council of University Biology Chairs and an Excellence in Graduate Mentorship award, her second, from this institution.

The University of Manitoba is honoured to confer upon Dr. Judy Anderson the title of Professor Emerita.

DR. FEREIDOUN GHAHRAMANI B.SC., M.SC. (TEHRAN), PDF (CAMBRIDGE), PHD (EDINBURGH) FACULTY OF SCIENCE.

Dr. Fereidoun Ghahramani B.Sc., M.Sc. (Tehran), PDF (Cambridge), PhD (Edinburgh) Faculty of Science

Dr. Fereidoun Ghahramani is an exceptional researcher and mathematician whose distinguished, three-decade career won him an international reputation for his theoretical research in Banach algebras and abstract harmonic analysis.

Joining the University of Manitoba’s department of mathematics in 1987 as assistant professor, Dr. Ghahramani advanced to associate professor in 1990 and professor in 1995. He retired in 2017 and currently serves as a senior scholar in the department.

His outstanding research was awarded notable funding and attracted funding from prestigious organizations such as NATO, the London Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Sciences Institute at Australian National University. Since 1988, he held a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grant, with funding recently renewed until 2022. He was a meticulous and enthusiastic teacher who supervised one master’s and six PhD students and six postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have gone on to faculty positions at highly reputed universities.

A gifted mathematician, Dr. Ghahramani solved several old problems, some of which had been open for over 30 years. He is internationally known for his work as the founder of new theories of Banach algebras; two papers containing these have been cited over 120 times. Over the duration of his career, he published 53 papers, most appearing in top-tier mathematics journals. He presented his groundbreaking research at institutions around the globe and he was awarded for his dedicated research and scholarly work with a University of Manitoba Merit Award.

The University of Manitoba is honoured to confer upon Dr. Fereidoun Ghahramani the title of Professor Emeritus.

Dr. Benqi Guo BS (Fudan, Shanghai), MS, PhD (Maryland, College Park) Faculty of Science

Dr. Benqi Guo made remarkable contributions to the field of computational and applied mathematics, enriching methods, theories and tools. His committed mentorship, patient instruction and passion for research had an enduring impact on students and colleagues at the University of Manitoba and beyond.

A member of the department of mathematics since 1989, he reorganized the course of computational mathematics and introduced two graduate courses. Dr. Guo worked with famous mathematician lvo Babuska from 1980 to 1985 for his master’s and PhD degrees, and went on to produce noteworthy work in regularity theory for partial differential equations on non-smooth domains; high-order finite/ boundary element methods and applications; and algebraic polynomial approximation theory.

Over the course of his distinguished career, he published over 70 peer-reviewed papers in prestigious journals. His forthcoming book surveys developments in the field of finite element methods over the past three decades, many of them due to Dr. Guo.

As an internationally recognized scholar, he was a visiting professor and fellow at institutions in Asia, Europe and North America. He presented as a keynote and plenary speaker at 30 international conferences and gave colloquium talks in more than 15 countries around the globe.

Since 1990, Dr. Guo’s work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the U.S. Army and the U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. He organized nine international conferences in Canada, the U.S., China, Korea and Hong Kong. He also served on editorial boards for four journals, including SIAM Numerical Analysis.

The University of Manitoba is honoured to confer upon Dr. Benqi Guo the title of Professor Emeritus.

Oct 17, 2018