The Awards and Recognition Committee has reviewed nominations for the second year of the Research Officer/Research Council Officer (RO/RCO) Awards and Recognition Program. The Committee is pleased to present awards to the following members:
- An award for Contributions to the RO/RCO Community to Zouina Karkar
Dr. Karkar has established herself as a valuable member of NRC-RO/RCO community. Zouina has organized numerous activities for members to raise funds for the GCWCC campaign and has used these opportunities to raise awareness and connect with members. At National Research Council Canada (NRC), she is part of the committee of the Early Career Research Network at Advisory Committee, where she helps organize several knowledge transfer events, advocate to the challenges faced by the new employees, trying to find solutions and transfer the problems to the management.
Zouina is a dedicated researcher co-leading projects on Next-generation materials for solid-state batteries and Critical Battery Materials Initiative. She is actively involved in co-supervising and mentoring students (uOttawa, uClermont-Fd, UWaterloo) on various projects. She also played a significant role in building and maintaining collaboration with industrial on different projects to use and improve her electrochemical expertise in addressing the challenges of different technologies developed by the NRC. Her proposal was recently approved for funding for Canada-Germany 3+2 collaborative research on battery material discovery and processing. Zouina continues to contribute on the professional community by publishing and presenting her research findings in peer reviewed journals. Zouina is a strong advocate and an internal audit campaigner of health and safety at workplace.
- An award for Appreciation of an Exceptional Effort to Simon Drouin.
2024 was a significant transition period for all Human Health Therapeutics (HHT) employees, who were transferred to Medical Devices (MD). This changeover generated uncertainty, and Simon made it his personal duty to respond proactively to any concerns. Before, during and after the change, he showed exceptional leadership in taking the initiative to meet every member, not only of his own team, but also of the Cell Models and Antibody Technologies team, to find out about their apprehensions, find ways of addressing them, clarify their role in the new entity with their input, and draw up a plan to make the change work for them personally as well as professionally (over twenty people in total).
He preferred to put all the spotlight on his team and gave himself too little credit for this successful transition. His work during this decisive period deserves recognition. Simon’s leadership enables his team members to stand out from the crowd and pursue their professional development in a positive way.
- An award for Promoting of Health and Safety in the Workplace to Scott Baker.
Scott has been an active member of the M-32 COSH for over 15 years and has been the employee co-chair for over 13 years. Scott has led numerous COSH initiatives for improving health and safety at M-32 and has participated in 50+ workplace inspections. Scott is also the coordinator for the Occupational Health Monitoring program and the Safety Training program. Scott's efforts have fostered a strong health & safety culture at M-32.
- An award for Contributions to the RO/RCO Community to Cindy Charbonneau.
For 7 years now, Cindy has been one of the main pillars of the Social Committee for NRC employees in Boucherville. Thanks to Cindy’s leadership, the Social Committee has organized dozens of social activities for our colleagues at the Boucherville site, including annual picnics and annual Christmas lunches. She has also initiated and organized themed activities over the years, such as game sessions, midday movie screenings, pumpkin contests, BBQ lunches, jewelry-making workshops, happy hours and many more. In addition, in recent months, Cindy has overseen the implementation of the Social Committee’s coffee machine and vending machine, including all the organization, ordering and budget management efforts. Finally, she is also at the heart of the organization of themed lunches, which consist of ordering off-site meals for site employees every two weeks.
In short, without Cindy’s contribution, social activities at the Boucherville site would be non-existent. All our employees greatly appreciate Cindy’s efforts. It’s a volunteer contribution to the RO/RCO community (and others!) that can hardly be quantified in dollars, but is undoubtedly of great value.
- An award for Appreciation of an Exceptional Effort to Prakash Chandra Patnaik.
Dr. Prakash Chandra Patnaik is an outstanding scientist and international research leader and played a vital role in advancing the position of Canada's aerospace industry and defence forces through his valuable work in numerous advanced materials and related aerospace technologies. Dr. Patnaik is recognized for his ground-breaking research and contributions in Advanced Materials for High Temperature Applications, Gas Turbine Technologies, Military Fighter Air Vehicle and Life Extension Concepts and Methodologies, which have had a significant impact on aircraft sustainment, cost savings, environmental protection, safety, and security in Canada and abroad.
His research has advanced human understanding and technologies in ranging from high temperature materials, environmental effects such as sand, salt, volcanic ash, ice & thin films, and protective coatings to sensing systems and overall air vehicle health through an approach of Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM). This work has drawn many national and international recognitions to him including Fellowship in American Society of Materials(ASM) International (1998), the first-ever government scientist to be appointed as a Research Fellow of Pratt & Whitney Canada (2008), Fellowship in the Canadian Academy of Engineering (2009), and several Canadian-First honours from NATO including the Alliance's STO-AVT(Science & Technology Organisation-Applied Vehicle Technologies) Panel Achievement Award for Lifetime contributions (2018), and the highest Scientific Award of NATO (Canada First), the NATO-STO Scientific Achievement Award (2019).
The Awards and Recognition Committee congratulates our award winners for their significant contributions, and for earning the recognition and admiration of their peers. In February 2025, the Committee will present each winner with a $100 gift card and a certificate.