Royal Society of Canada Honors Prof. Somasundaran

The Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada have elected Professor Ponisseril Somasundaran a Foreign Fellow. Out of a class of 71 new fellows, Somasundaran was the only foreign fellow named this year.

Somasundaran, the LaVon Duddleson Krumb Professor of Mineral Engineering in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, was recognized by the Society for “his groundbreaking contributions towards unraveling complex nanoscale structures and energetics of surfactant self-assemblies and polymer-surfactant hybrids at interfaces. His seminal work continues to be vital for meeting today’s environmental and sustainability needs.”

The Society named in its Sept. 6 announcement 71 new fellows, including one honorary fellow and one foreign fellow.

Somasundaran says this honor for his career achievements leaves him amazed and humbled.

“Coming from a middle class Indian family in a remote village from which nobody had even gone to a college at that time, I could not even have dreamed that I would reach this far. I believe that constant support and inspiration from my parents and teachers combined with hard work and a good dollop of luck got me where I am today. My father, a freedom fighter, taught me that with dedicated effort one can climb any mountain one chooses.”

This honor adds to the many accolades Somasundaran has won over the years. Recently, in 2010, the President of India awarded him Padma Shri, one of the country’s highest civilian honors. The premier chemical engineering group in the U.S. – the American Institute of Chemical Engineers – inducted Somasundaran as a fellow in 2009.

The author of 15 books and more than 700 scientific publications, Somasundaran is a 1985 inductee of the National Academy of Engineering. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the international journal Colloids and Surfaces, as well as the editor of the Encyclopedia of Surfactant and Colloid Science.