Professors holding regular APUO positions are eligible to submit their application. Exceptionally, clinical professors who are particularly active in the supervision of graduate and postdoctoral students and who have significantly contributed to the University's visibility may also be considered. The number of such distinctions should be no more than 25 regular tenured faculty. This number would not include persons who retain the title after retirement.
Source: Guidelines (updated in 2023)
David Sankoff came to the University of Ottawa as the Canada Research Chair in Mathematical Genomics. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the International Society for Computational Biology, and the Association for Computing Machinery. He is a recipient of the Weldon Medal from Oxford University and several other awards and honorary doctorates.
Highlighting his research contributions are the formulation of new computational problems and the design of algorithms for addressing them prior to their emergence as major subjects in bioinformatics. These include the quadratic algorithm for alignment, tree-based multiple alignment, multiple loops in RNA secondary structure and, most influential, simultaneous folding and alignment. He also initiated the study of the limit behavior of random sequences.
He is responsible for a number of key advances in phylogenetics, including a general approach for optimizing the nodes of a given tree, the computational complexity of several phylogeny problems, and a general technique for phylogenetic invariants.
Sankoff has supervised twenty PhD students and many masters students at uOttawa and led a popular seminar on mathematical genomics for many years.
The focus of his current research is the modelling of processes of genomic rearrangements, devising algorithms and statistical analyses capable of reconstructing evolutionary history and characterizing it. He introduced the computational analysis of genomic edit distances, phylogeny based on gene order, algorithms for analyzing genome duplication and tests for gene clusters at the genomic level.
Dr. Ruth Slack is director of the University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute, and the co-scientific director of the Brain-Heart Interconnectome at the University of Ottawa. She is a full professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, her research team have led major conceptual advances in the field of regenerative medicine in the context of neurodegenerative diseases, with the overall goal to develop clinically translatable strategies to enhance cognitive function in the aging and damaged brain. Dr Slack’s research has been published in top journals and is supported by CIHR, HSFC/Brain Canada, and she co-leads a major grant from Canada First Research Excellence on the Brain-Heart Interconnectome, with Dr. Peter Liu, at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Dr. Slack has demonstrated excellence in teaching, combined with her leadership in cutting-edge research, which have significantly contributed to the development of a new generation of scientific experts, doctors, and researchers. Dr. Slack has trained 34 graduate students and 12 postdoctoral fellows, with many receiving prestigious awards such as Governor General’s Gold Medal and Canada Research Chairs. She has also served as Assist Dean Graduate Studies for 10 years, and Interim Vice Dean Research. Dr Slack has been actively promoting EDI within the university community and in research, before EDI became a mandate for funding agencies. Dr Slack served as Senior Editor for the Journal of Neuroscience, the official journal for the Society of Neuroscience with over 35,000 members from 95 countries. Dr. Slack is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
A nominee will have demonstrated:
The nomination process will be open, with requests for nominations coming from all members of the University community. A candidate may not apply on his or her own behalf. Members of the Selection Committee may not submit nominations.
Nominations will be addressed to the Provost and Vice-President, Academic Affairs, chair of the Selection Committee, and must include:
The Selection Committee will be appointed by the Joint Committee of the Senate and the Board of Governors, on the recommendation of the President. The Provost and Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs will chair this committee.
The Selection Committee will comprise six internal University of Ottawa members and two members from other universities. The membership of the committee will be made up of distinguished scholars and will be as broadly based as possible.
The Selection Committee will meet to review and rank the applications according to their compliance with selection criteria. It may request reports on each nominee from such additional outside referees as it believes are warranted. The final selection will be made by consensus after all documentation has been considered.
The Provost and Vice-President, Academic Affairs, on behalf of the Selection Committee, will present the recommendations for the title of Distinguished University Professor to the President and to the Joint Committee of Board and Senate for consideration. Such recommendations will be accompanied by a written statement outlining the accomplishments of each nominee.
Nominations not accepted by the Committee may be held active for up to three years. Nominators are responsible for providing an updated dossier in each year that the application is under consideration.
No candidate may be nominated a second time until at least two years have elapsed since the last consideration by the committee.
The number of full-time Distinguished University Professors will be no more than 25.
A modest fund for research will be provided to each Distinguished University Professor for the first five years of the designation.
A Distinguished University Professor will retain the title on retirement.
Professors will be recognized at a ceremony organized by the university to celebrate excellence in teaching and research.
Distinguished University Professors will receive special recognition at convocation and, given their status as role models within the institution, should play a visible role in the formal affairs of the University.
Should you have any questions, please contact [email protected].
