Dr. Ricardo Izquierdo

Dr. Ricardo Izquierdo is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Ecole de Technologie Superieure (ETS) in Montreal since June 2016 after 11 years as a professor in the microelectronics engineering program of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Previously to occupy those academic positions, he worked for seven years in the industry as Director of R&D at Technologies Novimage and OLA Display Corporation, where he contributed to the emergence of a cluster of research activities in the field of organic electronics in the Montreal area. At UQAM, he participated in the creation of two institutional research centers, one in nanomaterials and energy (NanoQAM), where he was adjunct director from its creation in 2007 until 2010, and the research center in Co-design and fabrication of microsystems (CoFaMic), which he has been directing from its creation in 2010 until now. He has large experience in photonic and electronic applications of nanomaterials, organic semiconductors, deposition and characterization of electroactive materials as well as in micro- and nano-fabrication technologies and the development of micro-devices (MEMS, OLEDs, sensors, solar cells, etc.).

Topic of Keynote: Combination of Nanomaterials and Organic Semiconductors for Electronic and Pptoelectronic Device Fabrication

Keynote Abstract

Dr. Naomi Matsuura

Dr. Naomi Matsuura, PhD, P.Eng., is currently an Associate Professor in Materials Science and Engineering and the Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) with a cross-appointment in Medical Imaging at the University of Toronto. Dr. Matsuura is an alumnus of the Engineering Physics Department at Queen’s University (B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc.), and graduated with her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Toronto in 2003. She has extensive experience working in specialized chemistry, physics, materials science, and biophysics research labs, including at Chalk River Labs (AECL), CSIRO (Australia), ESPCI (France), and Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. She has been a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario since 1997.

Dr. Matsuura leads a research program at the intersection of nanoengineering and medicine, focusing on the design of new contrast agents to guide the imaging and treatment of disease. Her current research interests include engineering new agents with specific sizes and material properties to enhance their interaction with radiation, such that they can be remotely ‘activated’ using medical imaging sources, externally from the patient. Awards and recognitions include the John C. Polanyi Prize in Physiology/Medicine and Physics, an NSERC Discovery Accelerator Award, and the Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation.

Topic of Keynote: Nanoengineering New Multifunctional Contrast Agents for Medical Imaging of Cancer

Keynote Abstract

Dr. Simone Pisana

Dr. Simone Pisana received his B.A.Sc. in Engineering Science and M.A.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto in 2002 and 2004, respectively. He then moved to the University of Cambridge, where he received his Ph.D. degree in Engineering in 2008. His graduate studies focused on the electronic properties of carbon nanotubes, semiconducting nanowires, and graphene. In 2008, he joined Hitachi Global Storage Technologies as a Postdoctoral Researcher and continued on to become Research Staff Member in 2010 and Senior Research Manager in 2014. While in the industry, he worked on nanoscale magnetic field sensing devices and energy-assisted magnetic recording technologies.

Dr. Pisana joined the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University in 2014 as Associate Professor. His research explores transport phenomena in nanoscale devices & materials for energy efficient nanoelectronic device engineering. He is Senior Member of the IEEE, and has authored 39 refereed journal articles with over 5,000 citations. He received the Young Scientist Award at the European Materials Research Society 2007 Spring Meeting and participated as Outstanding Young Scientist at the 57th Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany.

Topic of Keynote: Nanoscale heat transport and magnetism in magnetic data storage applications

Keynote Abstract

Dr. Robert Wolkow

Robert Wolkow is a Professor in the Department of Physics, iCORE Chair of Nanoscale Information and Communications Technology at the University of Alberta and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is also the Principal Research Officer and Nanoelectronics Program Coordinator at the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT), AITF Industrial Chair in Atom Scale Fabrication and CTO of Quantum Silicon Inc. He received his BSc from the University of Waterloo, his PhD from the University of Toronto and did postdoctoral work at the IBM TJ Watson Research Centre before becoming a staff scientist at Bell Laboratories. He has received awards for outstanding achievement from almost every institution where he has worked; most recently the ASTech Outstanding Leadership in Alberta technology 2015, Innovation Makes Sense Patent Award 2015, Innovation Makes Sense Spin Off Award 2015 and the Innovation Makes Sense Patent Award 2016.

Topic of Keynote: Toward Atom Scale Ultra Low Power Classical Circuitry and Quantum Circuitry

Keynote Abstract