Member Directory

Alexis Ksiazkiewicz is the Associate Vice-President of Government and Community Relations at the University of Alberta. An accomplished leader and advocacy expert, she develops and executes stakeholder engagement strategies, provides strategic counsel, builds and sustains institutional relationships and works within complex legislative and funding frameworks to secure support for the university and the post-secondary education sector.

Alexis is a passionate community builder and volunteer. She serves on the Women United Cabinet of the United Way of the Alberta Capital Region, the Steering Committee of the Downtown Revitalization Coalition and the External and Government Relations Committee of the Zebra Child and Youth Advocacy Centre. She is also a member of the Rotary Club of Edmonton and serves as the Past Chair of the Canadian Universities Government Relations Officers Network.

Her community engagement work has been recognized internationally with a Circle of Excellence Award (Gold) from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. She is an alumnus of Edify Magazine's Top 40 Under 40 program and was honoured to receive the Gillian A. Wood Award for Excellence in Government Relations from the Canadian Universities Government Relations Officers Network.

Dr. Michael Gänzle is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Food Microbiology and Probiotics at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2023. In 2021 to 2024, he was recognized as Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher. His research links microbial physiology and ecology to food quality and host health. His research interests include the development of novel technologies for food preservation, aiming to understand mechanisms of bacterial resistance to pathogen intervention technologies, and the characterisation of lactic acid bacteria for use as starter cultures or probiotics in food.

Janet Riopel is a lifelong Edmontonian with a passion for our city and province. As President & CEO of TREYL Communications, she has deep roots in our community and considerable experience in managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects. Janet is a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors with an ICD.D designation, and has a lifelong commitment to excellence in the boardroom. She is currently a director on the boards of Melcor Developments and Alberta Innovates. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum.

Janet's community service has brought her much recognition. She was honoured with both the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Medal and the Golden Jubilee Medal, has twice been named one of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People, and was a Global TV Woman of Vision. Janet has received UDI’s Merit Award and the City of Edmonton’s Outstanding Service Award.

Brooke Rose is a self-professed charity nerd with more than 15 years working in health care philanthropy as an experienced fundraiser. A highly passionate, enthusiastic and driven professional skilled in healthcare philanthropy. She excels at creating partnerships with internal and external stakeholders and sharing compelling stories of impact. With a CFRE designation and a Masters of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, her passion is helping innovative research come to life and bringing partners along that journey. When not working, she can be found at the bowling alley, on stage with an improv troupe, competing in dodgeball or being Aunty B.

With a PhD in Health Sciences and an MBA from Queen's University, Riya has almost a decade of experience in technology transfer, new venture development, and research facilitation across various academic institutions and regions. She has successfully negotiated and executed multiple licenses, contracts, and agreements, as well as coached and mentored numerous entrepreneurs and innovators. Riya is also a Top 40 under 40 recipient (2022) and completed her ICD.D, aiming to enhance her governance and leadership skills.

Dr Constantine (Dean) Karvellas is a Professor in the Department of Critical Care Medicine at the University of Alberta and is involved with the Liver Transplant program. Dr Karvellas has been active within the Society of Critical Care Medicine (co-chair of recently published liver management guideline) and the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease (Chair of the Acute on Chronic Liver Failure SIG and co-chair of recently published ACLF Clinical Practiced Guidance). He is an associate editor of the Journal of Hepatology. Dr Karvellas is a co-investigator of the recently completed NIH-funded US Acute Liver Failure Study Group. His research has focused on ALF, acute chronic liver failure, liver transplantation and extracorporeal liver support.

Sarah Smyth (She/Her) is the Manager, Quality Communications and Operations with Research and Academic Innovation at NorQuest College in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Sarah has worked in post-secondary education for 24 years. With over 10 years managerial experience within NorQuest College she has led the business operations within faculties and in partnership with other service areas of the college. A certified business analyst, and experienced project manager, she is an initiator and leader, connecting business areas across the college to support efficiencies, different skills sets and levels of ability, ensuring process sharing and fostering peer training. Sarah is results focused and has overseen the delivery of a number of events such as the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) and Open Education Global (OE Global) conferences, as well as provided experience and advice for the LTLT- (Western Canada) Language Training Learning conference and C2U Expo 2025. She has also coordinated a large number of college wide events and initiatives.

Dr. Amit Kumar is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta and a global leader on energy systems. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Assessment of Energy Systems (Tier 1). He is also the Cenovus Energy Endowed Chair in Environmental Engineering. Dr. Kumar serves as the Deputy Director of Future Energy Systems, a $75 million-dollar initiative at the University of Alberta. He currently leads a large research program in assessments of energy systems which develop information for policy formulation and investment decisions. Dr. Kumar also serves as the Associate Director for the National Science Foundation-USA Global Center for Sustainable Bioproducts, a six country joint initiative.

Dr. Kumar’s research is internationally recognized. He has served on several international and national expert review panels and steering committees including the European Commission, National Science Foundation (USA), Natural Resources Canada, California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), Environment and Climate Change Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and others. Dr. Kumar is Alberta’s representative on the Energy Council’s Center for Legislative Energy and Environmental Research (CLEER) University Advisory Board which is represented by governments of 14 US energy-producing states and 2 Canadian provinces (AB/SK) and helps develop energy and environmental policies. He has been an expert witness to the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada for his expertise on energy issues. He has served on expert panels for the development of the Clean Fuel Standard (CFS), climate change legislation that will govern energy consumers and industries in Canada. Dr. Kumar helped the Alberta Government model hydrogen energy systems for the Alberta Hydrogen Roadmap. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) and the Canadian Society of Bioengineering (CSBE). He was recently listed by Reuters in the “The Reuters Hot List,” a list of the world’s top climate scientists according to how influential they are. He has received several awards/recognitions including the 2020 Research Excellence Career Award from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA). He has co-authored more than 220 peer-reviewed journal publications and 180 technical reports. He has also been a part of more than 590 conference and other presentations. Dr. Kumar holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta, Canada. For more information, please visit: http://www.ualbertaenergysystems.ca

Dr. Kim-Meneen challenges herself to develop educational programs that allow personal growth and opportunities to go forward in life. Additionally, she enjoys bringing people together to make connections and collaborate and bring forth an environment that promotes acceptance and support people to reach their potential. Thus, she co-led the organization of the historic National Gathering of Elders calling all Indigenous elders of Canada to celebrate culture, language and have a dialogue on key topics that affect Indigenous people today. She understands that no single approach is the right one for every individual, so she is a committed individual who does what it takes to fulfill what is needed. Currently, she is a wife, a mother to two beautiful girls and a son, President/CEO of Treaty 8 Polytechnic. Dr. Kim-Meneen advocates for those who needs to be heard especially the youth, elders, and women.

I am a Registered Psychologist with 13 years of experience, and an interest in mental health of children. I currently work for a non-profit where I have worked as a mental health therapist, a clinical lead, and a clinical manager. I worked in Infant and Preschool Services for 9 years and most recently supported therapists in our Core program who worked with children ages 3-17. I currently work as a mental health consultant supporting therapists who worked with children and youth. I am also on the board of the Alberta Association for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health where we are devoted to improving education, research and clinical practice for infant mental, emotional, and physical health locally and around the world through multidisciplinary collaboration, annual symposiums, publications, and knowledge translation to serve infants and their caregivers.

Ehsan Hashemi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta (since 2021). He earned his PhD in Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Waterloo (Canada). He has large- and small-scale projects with Canadian and International industry partners on autonomous navigation, networked control systems, robot perception, and explainable AI with several technology transfers. Dr. Hashemi is an IEEE senior member, Chair of IEEE ITSC 2024 conference (in Edmonton), and his expertise is in control theory, cyber-physical systems, distributed estimation/diagnosis, robot learning, and human perception.