Alper, Mouftah: Distinguished University Professors

Daniel Drolet

Two University of Ottawa scientists have been given the rare honour of being named Distinguished University Professors.

The awards were given to Howard Alper, a professor of chemistry and vice-president, research, and Hussein Mouftah, Canada Research Chair in Optical Networks and professor at the School of Information Technology and Engineering (SITE).

Alper

Over the course of his career, Alper has combined solid work in chemistry with passions for poetry, music and chocolate. His research in both organic and inorganic chemistry has potential applications in the pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and commodity chemical sectors of industry. He has published 486 papers, has 37 patents, and has edited several books.

The award is yet another feather in Alper’s cap: he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1999 and was president of the Royal Society of Canada from 2001 to 2003. In 2000, he received the first Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal, the most prestigious award for science and engineering in Canada.

Mouftah

Hussein Mouftah, who joined SITE in 2002, is the author or co-author of five books, 22 book chapters and more than 700 technical papers. He also holds eight patents.

An internationally recognized scholar, his area of specialty is telecommunications networks. His current research deals with the design of more cost-effective, efficient and reliable telecommunications networks for the next-generation high-speed multi-service Internet.

Mouftah was recently awarded the prestigious Julian C. Smith Medal by the Engineering Institute of Canada, as well as the McNaughton Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. As a teacher, he has garnered praise from his students as “extremely kind, intelligent and helpful.”

The Distinguished University Professor Award has been given annually since 2000 to faculty members who have attained unusual scholarly achievement at the University and pre-eminence in a particular field or fields of knowledge—all while maintaining a solid teaching record. The award is accompanied by a $10,000 research fund for the first five years of the ten-year appointment. Only ten such professorships can exist at one time.