Three UBC professors and a member of the Board of Governors are among 14 people who will receive British Columbia's highest award for outstanding achievement on June 18 in Victoria.
The prestigious Order of British Columbia will be presented at a special ceremony at Government House to Mechanical Engineering Prof. Martha Salcudean, Electrical Engineering Prof. Emeritus Charles Laszlo, Board of Governors member Ken Georgetti, and Dr. Michael O'Shaughnessy, a clinical professor of Pathology.
"I am delighted that four members of the UBC community are receiving this recognition," said UBC President Martha Piper. "The nature of the Order of B.C. reflects the unique contributions that members of the campus community make beyond the university throughout the province."
Salcudean is regarded as a dynamic engineer and leader in the Canadian scientific community. In April, the Canada Council for the Arts awarded her a $50,000 Killam Prize for research excellence in engineering.
In 1996, Salcudean was appointed to UBC's $500,000 Weyerhaeuser Industrial Research Chair. Her work in computational fluid dynamics involves modelling the flow and heat transfer in industrial processes. Her research on recovery boilers in the pulp and paper process has been applied in several Canadian and American mills.
Laszlo, who is hard of hearing, has devoted his career to improving the quality of life for people with hearing difficulties. He was the director of the Institute of Hearing Accessibility Research at UBC.
His research objectives are always guided by consumer and community concerns. Laszlo developed numerous communication devices for hard of hearing people, five of which are commercially available. His portable infrared amplification system was a world-first and it is now used widely.
Although retired from UBC, Laszlo continues his research program into robotic devices that seek out speakers and can recognize telephone rings, fire sirens and other auditory alarms.
Laszlo was also the founding president of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, and served as the president of the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People.
Georgetti, a member of UBC's Board of Governors since 1995, will receive the Order for his achievements on behalf of working people.
Georgetti, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, is considered among the new generation of labour leaders adapting to the rapidly changing economy. He is noted for understanding the importance of the picket line and the bottom line and for bringing labour and management together without compromising trade union principles.
Georgetti also serves on the Dean's Advisory Committee in the Faculty of Law and works on behalf of literacy and adults with learning disabilities.
O'Shaughnessy is being honoured for his leadership in the fight against AIDS. The director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, O'Shaughnessy has an international reputation for tackling the broad scope of the AIDS dilemma, from research to the care of people living with HIV and human rights issues associated with the disease.
He is credited with a pivotal role in establishing B.C.'s response to HIV/AIDS which is respected around the world. O'Shaughnessy's leadership has played a part in the development of public health policy and also influenced the creation of phase three of the National AIDS Strategy.