Distinguished Speaker Series

About the Distinguished Speaker Series

The Lassonde Distinguished Speaker Series aims to foster interdisciplinary learning and collaboration in engineering and science. Each department at the School hosts a thought-provoking research talk, led by a prestigious guest researcher who is working at the forefront of innovation in their field.

Upcoming Speaker

Professor Lionel C. Briand

Professor of Software Engineering, University of Ottawa & Lero Centre, University of Limerick

Topic: Test and Analysis of AI Software

Lionel C. Briand is a professor of software engineering and has shared appointments between the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, Canada and the Lero SFI Centre for Software Research, University of Limerick, Ireland. He is a Canada research chair in Intelligent Software Dependability and Compliance (Tier 1) and the director of Lero. He has conducted applied research in collaboration with industry for more than 25 years, including projects in the automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, financial, and energy domains. He is a fellow of the IEEE, ACM, and Royal Society of Canada. He was also granted the IEEE Computer Society Harlan Mills Award (2012), the IEEE Reliability Society Engineer-of-the-year award (2013), and the ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award (2022) for his work on software testing and verification.  His research interests include software testing and verification (including security and AI aspects), trustworthy AI, applications of AI in software engineering, model-driven software development, requirements engineering, and empirical software engineering. Further details can be found on Professor Briand’s website.

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Past Speakers

Professor Kathleen Connor Howell

Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University

Topic: Expansion into Cislunar Space: Building Orbital Infrastructure

Professor Kathleen Connor Howell is presently the Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics in the College of Engineering at Purdue University. In that capacity, she maintains an active research program that includes technical publications in support of Earth-based and interplanetary spacecraft missions, particularly in the areas of spacecraft trajectory design and optimization as well as maneuver strategies for transfers and on-orbit operations.

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Dr. Alfredo Soldat

Head, Institute of Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer, Technische Universität Wien, Austria

Topic: Why complex interface dynamics of drop-laden turbulence is relevant to our daily life?

Dr. Alfredo Soldati is a Professor of Fluid Mechanics at Technische Universität Wien, Vienna, Austria, who has received numerous research awards and is a member of numerous prestigious societies. Dr. Soldati is the editor-in-chief of International Journal of Multiphase Flow and was an associate editor for ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering. 

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Dr. John McCartney

Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of California, San Diego

Topic: Heat Exchange and Heat Storage in Urban Subsurface Infrastructure

Dr. John McCartney is a professor of Structural Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, who discussed his research focused on heat exchange and storage in urban surface infrastructure. Members of the Lassonde community attended this informative presentation to advance their knowledge, network with like-minded individuals and gain insights into civil engineering research.