Dr. El-Salakawy is a Professor of Structural Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering and former Associate Dean for Natural Sciences and Engineering in the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Manitoba. He was a Canada Research Chair in Durability and Modernization of Civil Infrastructures (2006-2016) in the same department. He carried out his Ph.D. research work and post-doctoral training in Structural Engineering at the University of Waterloo, ON, Canada (1996-2001) and then worked as a Research Professor at the University of Sherbrooke, QC, Canada for five years (2001-2006) before joining the University of Manitoba in 2006. Dr. El-Salakawy is an internationally renowned researcher and world-class leader in the field of structural engineering. Dr. El-Salakawy's research interests are in the field of concrete structures, particularly the durability, construction, design, seismic performance, large-scale laboratory testing and numerical analysis of Fiber-Reinforced Polymers (FRP)-reinforced concrete structures. He has published over 400 research papers in leading journals, international conferences, and book chapters on various aspects of reinforced concrete and composite materials. He supervised and trained more than 100 graduate students and highly qualified personnel (HQP). He is one of the highly cited researchers in his field with h-index of 44 (i10-index of 100) with more than 6,300 citations (on google scholar). Dr. El-Salakawy has also delivered keynote lectures at various national and international conferences. Dr. Ahmed Elshaer is a faculty member and founder of the Structural and Wind Engineering Research Laboratory (SWERL), specializing in enhancing the resilience and sustainability of built environments against natural hazards, particularly wind and climate impacts. With extensive academic and professional experience across multiple universities and engineering firms in Canada and abroad, Dr. Elshaer leads innovative research on climate impacts on structures, Indigenous housing, modular structures, and the application of AI in structural engineering. As an active contributor to the field, Dr. Elshaer has served as Vice-Chair of the Structures Division at the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (CSCE), Chair of the CSCE Structures Specialty Conference for more than four years, and as an evaluating committee member for prestigious funding bodies including NSERC, FRQNT, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), and the Ministry of Economic Development. He has also served as a board member (Councillor) at Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO). Dr. Elshaer’s dedication and achievements have earned him numerous awards, including the Lakehead Merit Award (2024), the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Initiative Competition (2022), the Year of Climate Action Award (2021), and the Alan Davenport Award of Excellence in Wind Engineering (2016). Dr. Ayman El Ansary is an Associate Professor and Acting Chair at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Western University, and a registered professional engineer in Ontario. He is also an executive member of PEO London Chapter and the chair of PEO London Chapter Scholarship Fund committee. He received his BSc and MSc from Alexandria University, Egypt and PhD from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Dr. El Ansary has vast experience in teaching, research, and consulting in the area of structural engineering in Canada and overseas. His main research interests include; finite element analysis, structural dynamics, fluid-structure interaction problems, and optimization techniques in structural design. Dr. El Ansary has several publications in refereed journals and conferences and he serves as a reviewer for several structural engineering journals. He is the recipient of a number of awards including; MITACS Postdoctoral Scholarship Award, Ontario Graduate Scholarship Award, and Graduate Thesis Research Award. He is also an active member of several professional associations including the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (CSCE), American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Egyptian Syndicate of Engineers (ESE). He is also a Vice-Chair in the CSCE Steel Structures Committee under the Structures Division.
