Gilles G. Patry

Gilles G. Patry (born July 1950) is a Canadian engineer, academic researcher and administrator. He served as president and vice-chancellor of the University of Ottawa from 2001 to 2008, president and chief executive officer of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (2010–2017), and executive director of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities from 2017 to 2022. He is a member of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the Order of Ontario, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Early life and education Patry was born in Hull, Quebec (now part of Gatineau, Quebec) in 1950. While at McMaster, he created Hydromantis, Inc., a small boutique consulting firm specializing in wastewater treatment plant modeling. His research led to the development of GPS-X™, a modular multi-purpose modeling system for the simulation of wastewater treatment plant dynamics. In 2021, Hydromantis was integrated into Hatch Engineering water group. In 2006, his 1991 paper, titled "Dynamic Modeling of the Clarification-Thickening Process ", published with Imre Takács and Daniel Nolasco, was recognized as one of the ten most ground-breaking papers in the 40-year history of Water Research.

In 1993, he returned to the University of Ottawa as dean of engineering.

National research leadership In 2010, Patry was appointed president and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

From 2017 to 2022, Patry served as executive director of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities, representing the country’s leading research-intensive institutions. along with Frédéric Bouchard (Chair), Janet Rossant, Laurel Schafer, Yolande E. Chan, Baljit Singh and Vianne Timmons. Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne released the report in March 2023.

Currently, Patry is a member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Canadian Mint and a member of the Board of Trustees at Queen's University .

Honours and recognition

Member of the Order of Canada (2010) Chevalier, Ordre de la Pléiade (2009) Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2020) Honorary doctorates from Canadian and international universities, including the University of Waterloo, McMaster University, Western University, Carleton University, University of Ottawa, McGill University and INSA Lyon.