Claire Deschênes

Claire Deschênes (born 1954) is a Canadian mechanical engineer, an engineering professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering Université Laval, and a member of the Order of Canada. She is the first female professor of engineering at the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Laval University, and is an expert in hydraulic turbine technology, hydrodynamics, and fluid mechanics.

Early life and education While she was in a CEGEP program, Deschênes' father died and her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Upon receiving a scholarship to study abroad, Deschênes pursued a PhD at the Institut National Politechnique de Grenoble in France, where she studied computational fluid dynamics in hydraulic turbines, and completed her degree in January 1990 before returning to her Université Laval to become the first female professor of engineering at the Faculty of Science and Engineering. Deschênes and the Consortium have received support from industry and federal grants (including those from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and NSERC Collaborative Research and Development grants) to purchase equipment and carry out collaborative research, such as analysing 3D turbine flow patterns with computer simulations, and investigating factors which influence durability of low-head turbines. She has co-founded three non-profit organizations to support and promote women in science and engineering: the International Network for Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES), the Association de la francophonie à propos des femmes en sciences, technologies, ingénierie et mathématiques (AFFESTIM), and the INWES Educational and Research Institute (ERI). She is a fellow of Engineers Canada (2015), and been named a Le Soleil and Radio-Canada laureate twice (in the science and research category). She was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2020.

On September 21, 2019, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Université de Sherbrooke.