Alejandro Adem

Professor Alejandro Adem was appointed president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) in October 2019.

As a highly accomplished researcher in the field of mathematics and a faculty member at the University of British Columbia, Professor Adem has significant leadership experience in the research and innovation ecosystem. Before joining NSERC, he was Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director of Mitacs.

As CEO of Mitacs, Professor Adem oversaw an unprecedented expansion of its programs, with the goal of delivering 10,000 research-based internships annually across Canada and abroad. He worked closely with stakeholders to launch the Mitacs Canadian Science Policy Fellowship in 2016, which places talented academics in science policy roles in both federal and provincial governments. Other important milestones under his leadership include an Indigenous engagement initiative, an innovative entrepreneurship program, and a number of global mobility agreements with partner countries across the world.

Professor Adem obtained his PhD at Princeton University and has authored over 70 articles as well as two books, delivered over 360 invited research lectures around the world, and has held postdoctoral or visiting positions at Stanford University, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the ETH-Zurich, the Max Planck Institute in Bonn, the University of Paris VII and XIII, and Princeton University. His distinctions include a Sloan Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (1985), a USA National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award (1992), Romnes Faculty Fellowship (Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, 1995), a Vilas Associate Award (University of Wisconsin, 2003), Canada Research Chair at UBC (2004), Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (2012), Ten Most Influential Hispanic Canadians (2015), the Canadian Mathematical Society’s Jeffery-Williams Prize (2015), and Corresponding Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences (2017). Professor Adem served as Director (2008-2014) and Deputy Director (2005-2008) of the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences. From 1989 to 2004 he was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA).

Professor Adem has served on a variety of scientific, editorial, and governance boards for the worldwide mathematical sciences community, including the Advisory Board for the Association for Women in Mathematics and the International Mathematical Union’s Committee for Women in Mathematics.