Education professor Peter Jaffe and Engineering professor Andy Sun have been awarded the 2019 Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research. The honour recognizes faculty members with outstanding international reputations for their contributions in research – one of the defining hallmarks of a university. Two prizes are offered annually, one in the area broadly defined as the natural sciences and engineering, one in the social sciences and humanities.
Peter Jaffe
Education
Peter Jaffe has been part of research discovery and the integration of new knowledge for almost half a century at Western. The Education professor and Academic Director of the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women & Children has more than 45 years of experience in research on domestic violence and its impact on women and children.
His work is pioneering for its focus on children exposed to domestic violence, implementation of justice and community responses to such violence, and international efforts to prevent domestic homicides.
Jaffe’s research on children exposed to domestic violence has led to a broader public and professional understanding of how children are affected by growing up with violence. It has informed prevention programs in schools as well as public education initiatives and helped to shape government policy and legislation.
Xueliang (Andy) Sun
Engineering
Andy Sun is a globally renowned authority in nanotechnology and materials engineering for clean energy. His work is internationally recognized for his innovative solutions for critical and long–standing problems in clean energy using nanotechnology and creative engineering in both Lithium ion batteries and fuel cells to revolutionarily reduce cost and increase life-time.
In particular, Sun’s original and novel work has recently resulted in the successful establishment of Joint Laboratory with China Automotive Battery Research Institute Co. (CABRI) to investigate next-generation allsolid-state batteries (with $3.35 million funding support for five years from CABRI).
Consequently, CABRI has set-up a Canadian-based company (GLABAT Solid-State Battery Inc.) at the Western Research Park with an additional $10-million investment.
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A PROUD TRADITION
Previous winners of the Hellmuth Prize for Achievement in Research include:
1997 – Alan Davenport, Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Ian Steele, History;
1998 – William Fyfe, Earth Sciences, and Tom Lennon, Philosophy;
1999 – Michael Bancroft, Chemistry, and David Laidler, Economics;
2000 – Richard Puddephatt, Chemistry, and Regna Darnell, Anthropology;
2001 – Michael Locke, Biology, and Tilottama Rajan, English;
2002 – Grant McFadden, Microbiology and Immunology, and Angela Esterhammer, Modern Languages and Literatures;
2003 – Peter Norton, Chemistry, and Marilyn Randall, French Studies;
2004 – Robert Hegele, Medicine & Biochemistry, and David Bentley, English;
2005 – Ian Mitchell, Physics, and Richard Vernon, Political Science;
2006 – Mel Goodale, Psychology and Physiology and Pharmacology, and Joy Parr, Faculty of Information and Media Studies;
2007 – William Fisher, Psychology, and Rajni Patel, Electrical and Computer Engineering;
2008 – Aaron Fenster, Robarts Research Institute, Schulich, and Patrick Mahon, Visual Arts;
2009 – Brian Feagan, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and John Whalley, Economics;
2010 – Gregor Reid, Lawson Health Research Institute, and Heather Laschinger, Health Sciences;
2011 – Ann Chambers, Lawson Health Research Institute, and Michael Groden, English;
2012 – John Meyer, Psychology, and Terry Peters, Medical Imaging and Medical Biophysics;
2013 – Paul Beamish, Ivey Business School, and Adrian Owen, Psychology;
2014 – Stewart Harris, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, and Charles Weijer, Arts & Humanities;
2015 – Robert Young, Political Science, and Shiva Singh, Biology;
2016 – John Leonard, Arts & Humanities, and Jesse Zhu, Engineering;
2017 – Kathryn Brush, Visual Arts, and Tsun-Kong Sham, Chemistry;
2018 – Gail Atkinson, Earth Sciences, and Maya Shatzmiller, History; and
2019 – Peter Jaffe, Education, and Xueliang (Andy) Sun, Engineering.