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Two outstanding professors from Dalhousie's Department of Mechanical Engineering have been recently honoured with prestigious 2025 Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering (CSME) technical awards.

The awards recognize their exceptional contributions to mechanical engineering research and innovation in Canada.

Dr. Ya-Jun Pan: Advancing Mechatronics and Robotics

Dr. Ya-Jun Pan has been awarded the CSME Mechatronics Medal for her exceptional research and innovation contributions to the field of mechatronics. Over the years, she has established herself as an internationally renowned researcher in control, mechatronics, and robotics.

Her work focuses on robust nonlinear control and cyber-physical systems, with applications spanning tele-robotics, cooperative autonomous systems, intelligent robotics, rehabilitation, and industrial automation. Over her career, she has published over 200 research articles in top journals and conferences and trained more than 100 graduate students and research associates.  
 
Recognized as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), the CSME, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), she has also received a Humboldt Research Fellowship and a Research Excellence Award. Pan was also recently elected Vice President (VP) of Membership Activities for the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, becoming only the second woman to hold the VP role in the society’s history. 

Dr. Dominic Groulx: Pioneering Thermal Science and Engineering

Dr. Dominic Groulx is the recipient of the CSME Jules Stachiewicz Medal, the oldest technical award from the society, established in 1978. This medal celebrates his excellence in heat transfer and his contributions to thermal science and engineering.

Head of Dalhousie’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, Fellow of the CSME and recent Fellow of ASME, Dr. Groulx founded the Lab of Applied Multiphase Thermal Engineering (LAMTE) at Dalhousie where he has trained over 90 highly qualified personnel in the last 18 years and received over $5M of research funding.

A global leader in solid-liquid phase change heat transfer and its application to latent heat-based thermal energy storage and thermal management, he has published over 200 academic works and delivered keynote lectures at international conferences and research centers all over the world. 

Over his career, he has played an influential role as the senior Canadian representative on the Assembly for the International Heat Transfer Conference (AIHTC) and the International Center for Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT).

The CSME awards will be presented during the CSME International Congress on May 27, 2025, in Montréal