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1999 winners of the Distinguished Academics Awards

Meet the winners and learn how their work is making an impact in the non-academic world, demonstrating the vitality of university-based research and scholarly activity.

The Distinguished Academics Awards promote the value of university research in advancing the public good. Nominees hail from various institutions and disciplines, often working in very different domains—yet they’re united by a passion for meaningful research that fuels our economy, democracy, and intellectual life.

WINNERS

  • Ehor Boyanowsky Academic of the Year Award

    Dr. Luciana Duranti

    University of British Columbia

    Dr. Duranti’s recognition as Academic of the Year stems from her ground-breaking work in the authentication and preservation of electronic records. Using techniques pioneered by 17th-century Benedictine monks, Dr. Duranti has developed methods to ascertain whether electronic data have been tampered with, who has had access to the data, and what modifications have been made to the data. Her work with these techniques—know as “diplomatics”—has garnered the attention of her peers, the media, governments and even the Pentagon. Some of her work is expected to be incorporated into the U.S. government standard for authentication of electronic records.

    Dr. Duranti is also largely responsible for transformation of UBC’s small Archival Studies Program into a high-quality, academically rigorous program on the cutting edge of archival scholarship. As one of her referees for promotion noted, Dr. Duranti’s arrival in Canada was “like a breath of fresh air, sweeping in very elaborate and sophisticated concepts that have spawned a whole flurry of literature in archival theory and practice in Canada.”

  • Paz Buttedahl Career Achievement Award

    Dr. Fred Cooke

    Simon Fraser University

    Dr. Cooke, who is considered one of Canada’s leading ornithologists, specializes in the study of bird populations and holds the Canadian Wildlife Service/NSERC Chair in Wildlife Ecology at SFU, which has a mandate for integrating basic research with the more applied interests of Environment Canada. His projects include seabird research on B.C.’s Triangle Island, waterfowl population studies in the Interior of B.C., and various studies of birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway.

    Through Dr. Cooke’s leadership, the budget of the Chair has increased from the initial $300,000 to $1.2 million annually, which supports the work of 21 graduate students. Dr. Cooke has received many academic honours during his career, including the prestigious Brewster Medal from the American Ornithologists Union in 1990 for “the most outstanding contribution to ornithology over the previous decade.” His work has contributed greatly both to the advancement of his academic field, and in informing policy makers on environmental issues and wildlife conservation.