Catherine Mulligan is a professor of Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering and the Research Chair in Geo-environmental Sustainability at

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

. She is also the founding director of the Concordia Institute for Water, Energy and Sustainable Systems. Mulligan's work focused on the decontamination of water and sediments.

Biography

Mulligan credits a conversation with her mother for triggering her interest in engineering. Mulligan completed a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Bache ...

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

and a Master of Engineering from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. She then pursued a PhD in Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering also at McGill University. Mulligan has been a professor at

since 1999. Her research focuses on developing and characterizing novel processes for sustainably purifying soil, sediment, and water that have been contaminated by metals, hydrocarbons, or other pollutants. She served as director of the CREATE program at Concordia from 2012 until the program's end in 2018, leading the project's interdisciplinary investigations into solutions for environmental sustainability. Mulligan was the vice president of communications for the

Canadian Geotechnical Society Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

from 2013 to 2014. In 2017, Mulligan was featured in a book by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum titled ''Women of Innovation: The Impact of Leading Engineers in Canada''. In 2020, Mulligan became the third woman to be president of the

Canadian Society for Civil Engineering The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) ( French: Société canadienne de génie civil) was founded in 1887 as the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, renamed in 1918 as the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), and re-established in Ju ...

. As of January 2021, Mulligan has authored or contributed to over 175 publications. In September 2022, The Royal Society of Canada recognised Mulligan's academic achievements and inducted her as Fellow of the Royal Society. This recognition came from her three decades of work in researching ways to decontaminate the environment.

Awards and recognition

* 2020 Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering * 2019 Provost's Circle of Distinction, Concordia University *2018 John B. Stirling Medal, Engineering Institute of Canada * 2017 Fellow, Engineering Institute of Canada * 2017 feature in ''Women of Innovation'' book, Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum * 2004 Young Innovator Award,

Petro-Canada Petro-Canada is a retail and wholesale marketing brand subsidiary of Suncor Energy. Until 1991, it was a federal Crown corporation (a state-owned enterprise). In August 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, with Suncor shareholders rece ...

* 2002 Young Innovator Award,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulligan, Catherine Living people Academic staff of Concordia University McGill University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian women engineers Canadian chemical engineers Fellows of the Engineering Institute of Canada Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Engineering Environmental engineers Women chemical engineers