Ivar Ekeland, an internationally renowned mathematical economist, and Curtis Suttle, a researcher who has changed our fundamental understanding of biological oceanographic processes, have been elected to the Royal Society of Canada.
Ekeland, Canada Research Chair in Mathematical Economics and former director of the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, is cited not only for his work as a researcher, but also as a "dedicated educator, and a prolific writer and disseminator of sciences". Ekeland is the author of over ten books, two of the most recent being Cat in Numberland (Cricket Books, 2006) and The Best of All Possible Worlds (Chicago University Press, 2006). He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences, and has received prizes from the French Academy of Sciences, the French Mathematical Society and the Belgian Academy of Sciences.
Suttle, an expert in marine virology and microbiology, is lauded for "being among the first to recognize the abundance of viruses in seawater and their importance as major agents of mortality and drivers of global biogeochemical cycles." Cross appointed to Earth and Ocean Sciences, Botany and Microbiology and Immunology, Suttle’s work has influenced a broad range of disciplines, from biological oceanography, through microbial diversity to virology.
He also serves as the Faculty of Science’s Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies and has been recognized with a departmental Faculty Teaching Award.
The Royal Society of Canada elects 72 new Fellows every year, and represents Canada’s highest academic accolade available to scientists and scholars. Five UBC researchers are among this year’s selectees. The Fellows will be inducted at a ceremony this November in Ottawa.
