Christy Miller

Christy Miller is the Director of Alumni & Donor Engagement and the Executive Director of the Alumni Association at the University of Saskatchewan. A proud USask graduate, Christy’s work in higher education, advertising, and the nonprofit sector took her across Canada and into the US, eventually leading her back to Saskatchewan to pursue a career at her alma mater that has spanned across communications, fundraising, and alumni relations over the past 16 years. Together with her team, Christy helps ensure that individuals experience high-quality interactions with the University of Saskatchewan fostering meaningful, long-term engagement, building relationships, and promoting investment in the university. 

Dr. Zsuzsa Papp

Dr. Zsuzsa Papp is the Saskatchewan representative for Mitacs, a national not-for-profit network, and funding agency. She facilitates applied research collaborations across all disciplines: meeting professors, companies, students, and postdocs about their projects and needs, helping with proposal drafts, and promoting programs.  Prior to joining Mitacs, she was a project manager at Environment and Climate Change Canada, and before that conducted postdoctoral research and extensively published in the fields of life and environmental sciences. She is a Ph.D. of the U of S. Besides being committed to lifelong learning in sciences, her personal interests include arts and culture, science education and outreach, habitat/wildlife conservation, gardening, languages, sports, and outdoor activities.

Dr. Sumith Kahanda

Dr Sumith has graduated with Ph.D. in Agriculture and Bioresources Engineering from the College of Engineering, the University of Saskatchewan, M.Sc. in Water Resources Engineering from Katholieke University, Belgium, and B.Sc. in Agriculture (Major: Agriculture Engineering) from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Dr. Sumith is currently working as a Project Manager at SaskWater. He has over 15 years of industry experience, as an Engineer, Project Manager, and Leader.  He is the current President, Saskatoon Engineering Society (SES), and Past President,  American Society for Quality (ASQ), Saskatchewan Chapter.

Dr. Tate Cao

Dr. Tate Cao was born and raised in China. Now he lives in Saskatoon Canada. Most recently, He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, and the La Borde Chair in Engineering Entrepreneurship. His goal is to develop entrepreneurship education for the students here, so the brilliant engineers do not have to make the same mistakes as he has done.

Up to now, he has experience as an engineer, evangelist, patent attorney, project manager, entrepreneur before becoming a professor.

Other than that, he spends his spare time playing soccer.

Margaret Kuzyk

Margaret Kuzyk is a retired professional engineer from Saskatoon. She holds a diploma in architectural technology from SAIT in Calgary and a degree in civil engineering from USask. She worked primarily for municipal, provincial and federal governments, in the areas of building codes and regulation, project management and facility planning, and served as the Chief Building Official for the Province of Saskatchewan.

Margaret’s involvement in APEGS (Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan) includes being a life member, past president, former USask Senate representative and award winner. She is a Fellow of Engineers Canada, a Fellow of Geoscientists Canada (Hon.), a life member of the Saskatchewan Building Officials Association, and winner of a codes-related award from the National Research Council of Canada. Margaret has served the community as a public representative on the Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and a patient-family partner for the Saskatchewan Health Authority. Margaret has served as chair of the USask Engineering Advancement Trust and a warden for the Engineers’ Iron Ring Camps in Regina and Saskatoon, and is currently an alternate warden for the Camps’ national corporation.

Dr. Mohsen Shakouri

Dr. Mohsen Shakouri is a staff scientist and the beamline responsible for the Soft X-ray Microcharacterization beamline (SXRMB) at the CLS. Mohsen has more than 10 years of professional experience in developing and synthesizing structured nanomaterials catalysts, designing and fabricating lab-scale test set-ups to evaluate catalyst performance, and handling various characterization and analytical instruments. He is also experienced in investigating materials' chemical structures using X-ray spectroscopy, microscopy, and crystallography techniques. Mohsen likes to conduct hands-on experimental work, from designing the experiments, building the setups, to completing the runs and interpreting the results.

Mohsen obtained his Ph.D. and MSc degrees in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at the University of Saskatchewan in 2018 and 2012, respectively, and his BSc. in Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the Sharif University of Technology in 2008.

When he needs a break, he likes to cook. He is also a huge fan of soccer and volleyball and has played in various tournaments here in Saskatoon.