Nominated and elected by peers, MECH professor and interim dean James Olson, PEng, was inducted as a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) in recognition of his “distinguished achievement and career-long service to the engineering profession.”
Olson joined 49 other new fellows and two new international fellows who were welcomed by the CAE on June 26, 2017 at a ceremony in Ottawa, in conjunction with the CAE’s 2017 Annual General Meeting and Symposium. The CAE is an independent, self-governing and non-profit organization established in 1987 to serve Canada in matters of engineering concern.
Olson’s CAE citation reads as follows:
Dr. James Olson is a visionary leader, pioneering researcher, and inspiring educator who has made transformative contributions to the forest products sector of engineering. As a direct result of Dr. Olson’s innovative research and patented inventions, the pulp and paper industry can produce premium pulp using half the energy, has access to more effective fibre separation and refining processes, and is able to measure key properties of fibres more accurately and efficiently. Dr. Olson’s honours include two NSERC Synergy Awards, two NSERC Discovery Accelerator Supplements, an APEGBC Meritorious Achievement Award, the BC Lieutenant Governor’s Innovation Award, and nine best papers.
Three other UBC faculty members were also among those inducted in the 2017 ceremony — Perry Adebar, PEng (Civil Engineering), Choon (Jim) Lim, PEng (Chemical and Biological Engineering), and ex-dean Marc Parlange, PEng (Civil Engineering). You can read their CAE citations here.