Former UBC President David Strangway has become the only non-Korean to win the First Order of Civil Merit from the government of South Korea.

The order is awarded to individuals who have contributed to Korea's international standing and its people's welfare.

Strangway was recognized for his contributions to the advancement of Korean studies in Canada, particularly for his leadership in establishing the Centre for Korean Research in the Institute of Asian Research.

The award ceremony took place in Seoul earlier this month.

Jim McEwen, a UBC adjunct professor of electrical engineering, has won the $100,000 Manning Award for the invention of a microprocessor-controlled surgical tourniquet.

McEwen, a biomedical engineer, designed the Automatic Tourniquet System after witnessing complications resulting from tourniquet use while he was director of biomedical engineering at Vancouver Hospital. The microprocessor-controlled tourniquet makes it possible to apply the lowest pressure possible needed to keep an area bloodless. McEwen estimates that versions of his device are being used daily in 16,000 surgical procedures around the world.

McEwen is president of Western Clinical Engineering Ltd. He received his doctorate from UBC in 1975.

The Manning Awards were set up in Alberta in 1982 with money raised from private donations to honour Canadian innovation. The awards were named for former Alberta premier Ernest Manning.

UBC neurologist Dr. Juhn Wada has received the Distinguished Research Recognition Award from the Japan Epilepsy Research Foundation in Tokyo.

Wada, a professor emeritus in the Dept. of Psychiatry, was honoured for his outstanding research achievements which include a diagnostic test, now known as the Wada test, to help brain surgeons assess speech and memory function. He also developed a new surgical treatment for epilepsy patients and identified genetic links in both epilepsy and human language development.

Wada is the first recipient of the award which commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Japanese Foundation.

Approximately 50 Japanese medical scientists have trained with Wada at UBC. Many have gone on to become leaders in the fields of epilepsy, neurology and neurosurgery in Japan.

Wada is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and its equivalent in Japan, the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Star.