For many years, I looked for the opportunity to honour Professor Dullien … to recognize an exceptional student-professor relationship.
MOHAMED AZZAM (MASc ’71, PhD ’75)
For many years, I looked for the opportunity to honour Professor Dullien … to recognize an exceptional student-professor relationship.
MOHAMED AZZAM (MASc ’71, PhD ’75)
HONOURING A MENTOR
Decades after graduating from Waterloo Engineering, an alumnus is honouring the supportive relationship he had with his doctoral supervisor by funding a professorship in both their names.
Mohamed Azzam (MASc ’71, PhD ’75) has launched the Azzam-Dullien Endowed Professorship in recognition of Francis Dullien’s commitment to him while he was a PhD student and post-doctoral researcher.
Mohamed describes Dullien, a Waterloo chemical engineering professor from 1966 until his retirement in 1994, as his mentor, motivator, educator and friend. Dullien, a world-renowned authority and pioneer in the study of transport in porous media, passed away in April 2022.
“He guided my research every step of the way and encouraged me to perfect every aspect of my projects,” says Mohamed.
Dullien chose Howard Brenner, the world’s foremost authority on computational fluid dynamics at the time, as the external examiner for the oral defense of Mohamed's thesis on a topic related to the Carnegie Mellon University professor’s research expertise.
Sensing Mohamed’s reluctance to have Brenner as part of his thesis examining committee, Dullien purchased his student a plane ticket to Pittsburgh so he could personally deliver his work to Brenner.
“I knew he wanted to calm my nerves and spare me the shock of facing Professor Brenner for the first time on the day of the oral defense,” says Mohamed. “It is a memory and a favour I never forgot.”
Mohamed says Brenner’s involvement brought significant recognition to his research and made it easier to have it published in top engineering journals. He also feels Brenner’s participation in the defense of his thesis helped him receive a National Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellowship.
Mohamed Azzam and his mentor and friend Professor Francis Dullien.
“For many years, I looked for the opportunity to honour Professor Dullien to show my appreciation of the wonderful, productive years I spent at Waterloo and to recognize an exceptional student-professor relationship,” says Mohamed. In September 2021, the two men were able to celebrate the award in person.
That November, Jeff Gostick, associate professor of chemical engineering, received the inaugural Azzam-Dullien Endowed Professorship. This four-year appointment supports Gostick’s vision to advance sustainable development goals through rational design of porous materials.
Adapted from a story by Carol Truemner
