On October 1, 2017, Dr. Gilles G. Patry was appointed executive director of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities. With a long, distinguished career as a consultant, researcher and university administrator, he brings to the U15 a wealth of experience from the private, public and academic sectors.
Dr. Patry holds a BASc and an MASc in civil engineering from the University of Ottawa and a PhD from the University of California Davis in environmental engineering. He was an environmental engineering consultant (1971–78) before becoming professor of civil engineering at the École Polytechnique de Montréal (1978–83) and then at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. (1983–93). Dr. Patry’s research program at McMaster led him to develop an innovative modelling concept for the simulation of wastewater treatment plant dynamics, and ultimately, to launch a Hamilton-based consulting company, Hydromantis.
Returning to the University of Ottawa as dean of the Faculty of Engineering in 1993, Dr. Patry became vice-president (academic) in 1997 and served as president and vice-chancellor from 2001 to 2008. He is now professor and president emeriti at the University of Ottawa. In 2010, Dr. Patry was appointed president and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, a position he held until July 2017.
Dr. Patry is a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario, and a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Canada. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Waterloo (2008), McMaster University (2009), the University of Lyon (INSA-LYON) (2016), Western University (2017) and Carleton University (2018). He was named executive of the year in 2004 by the Regroupement des gens d’affaires of the National Capital Region. In 2009, he was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade by the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie.