SoE Alumni Honours and Awards

Stephen Bacchus completed his Environmental Engineering degree in 2015. Studying at the University of Guelph has provided Stephen with the knowledge and experience to assume significant responsibilities across various organizational levels early on in his career. Since the age of 19, he was a people leader, and was accountable for major engineering and financial programs at a number of large-scale private and public sector organizations.

Today, Stephen stands as a visionary leader who makes influential decisions that directly benefit the residents of his community. He has diverse expertise in infrastructure asset management, engineering design, and finance. Stephen's continued comitment to prioritizing climate action and spearheading fleet decarbonization initiatives has paved the way for cleaner and more sustainable future in public transportation.

Within the industry, Stephen has had a profound impact, and serves as an inspiration for aspiring future young leaders as they embark on their own journey.

Dr. Pascale Champagne joined the NRC as the Director General of the Energy, Mining and Environment Research Centre in 2021. Prior to her appointment, she was the Scientific Director at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique in Quebec. During her career, she has held various roles in the private sector and as a faculty member in academia. As a researcher, her studies focus on the development of alternate water and waste management strategies and environmentally sustainable approaches, and on integrated bioresource management. She has collaborated and evolved synergistic relationships with several researchers to develop new integrated bioresource management practices to introduce alternate aqueous and solid waste management approaches, as well as to create unique opportunities for the bioenergy and bio products sectors. Dr. Champagne earned a Bachelor's degree in Biology from McGill University and a Bachelor’s degree in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Guelph. She also holds a Master’s and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Carleton University. She is the author and co‑author of over 265 peer-reviewed publications.

Aimée graduated from Guelph’s Environmental Engineering program in 1998.  She then went on to complete a Master’s degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering in Ottawa.  Immediately following the defense of her Master’s thesis, she was hired by RWDI, a world-renowned engineering consulting firm located in Guelph.  Over the past 22 years at RWDI, she has worked on laboratory and healthcare projects across the globe to deliver on highly specialized building performance requirements. Outside of her work on projects, Aimée is the Director of Technical Excellence at RWDI providing oversight for all of the technical practice areas within the company and currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors.  Being located in Guelph has allowed Aimée to stay connected to the School of Engineering. She actively provides support through participating in activities such as alumni/industry focus groups, judging 4th year capstone projects, speaking at student conferences and events and she is a Warden of Iron Ring Camp 17. She is passionate about supporting the school, mentoring the next generation of engineers, and influencing gender diversity within the profession.      

Naif Siddiqui graduated from Biological Engineering at the University of Guelph. He started his career managing and establishing rehabilitation clinics before venturing into the nuclear industry in 2016. Presently a Section Manager in the Project Management Office at Kinectrics of a team that provides proposal and project management/controls services to company projects and programs. Naif continues to lead world changing innovation projects in the nuclear industry such as medical isotopes, small modular reactors and proper nuclear waste disposal. Naif also volunteers for North American Young Generation in Nuclear where he was elected to serve on the board of directors as the Public Information Officer. Naif has been involved with developing young leaders to energize the future of nuclear with many youth initiatives. He continues his efforts to be involved in helping Canada and the US in achieving Net-Zero emissions. Naif has published a children’s book for Nuclear Science Week and will be speaking in Japan for International Youth Nuclear Congress in December 2022.