Biography

Dr. Suzanne Fortier

Dr. Suzanne Fortier has served as President of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) since January 2006. She was re-appointed to this position in November 2010.

During her first five years, Dr. Fortier brought a renewed focus on excellence to the agency. Changes to NSERC’s funding structure ensure that the best researchers receive the funding they need to conduct world-class research. NSERC now engages more closely with industries to initiate research and development projects with academic partners. Dr. Fortier has also forged stronger relationships with other federal granting agencies and organizations to increase the number and scope of joint initiatives available to researchers. For example, a collaboration between National Research Council Canada, Business Development Bank of Canada and NSERC resulted in an ambitious new national initiative in nanotechnology.

Before her appointment to this position, Dr. Fortier held a number of senior research and administrative positions at Queen’s University. She joined Queen's University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry in 1982 after holding research positions at the Medical Foundation of Buffalo and National Research Council Canada. She then served as Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, Acting Vice-Principal (Research), and Associate Dean in the School of Graduate Studies and Research before being appointed Vice-Principal (Research) in 1995. Most recently (2000-05), she was Vice-Principal (Academic).

Dr. Fortier is a crystallographer by training, specializing in the development of mathematical and artificial intelligence methodologies for protein structure determination. She has also made contributions to the development of novel techniques in crystallographic data mining to gain new insights from the large and growing databases and correlate the structure of crystals to their properties.

During her time as an active researcher, she was a member of the Protein Engineering Network of Centres of Excellence (PENCE), the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) and Communications and Information Technology Ontario (CITO). She has authored or co-authored over 80 scientific publications and had made numerous invited presentations.

She has received the Clara Benson Award for distinguished contributions to chemistry by a woman (1997), the Entrepreneurship Award from Communications and Information Technology Ontario (1997) and the Queen’s University Distinguished Service Award (2005).

Most recently, she received an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia (June 2006). The degree recognized her combined scientific achievements and administrative gifts, which reflect her lifelong commitment to the power of learning as a means of enhancing quality of life.

Dr. Fortier served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Centres of Excellence Inc., the Board of Governors of the Royal Military College of Canada and the federal government’s Council of Science and Technology Advisors (CSTA). She is currently a member of the Ontario Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress, and the Board of Directors of the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

A frequent contributor to many NSERC committees as either member or chair, Dr. Fortier was a member of NSERC’s Council from 1996 to 2005. During this period, she also served a term as Vice-President of Council (1997-2002).

A native of St-Timothée, Quebec, she attended McGill University, where she received a BSc (1972) and a PhD in Crystallography (1976).