January 12, 2016 — Professor Emeritus Andrew Goldenberg is the 2016 recipient of the IEEE Canada A.G.L. McNaughton Gold Medal.
The award is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) highest honour, recognizing outstanding Canadian engineers for their exemplary contributions to the engineering profession.
Professor Goldenberg is the founder of the field of Robotics at University of Toronto, where he has been a Professor at MIE since 1982. He has supervised the largest number of graduate students at U of T Engineering (46 PhD and 64 MASc), and has an exceptional publication record with over 4,500 citations. The citations count is the highest at MIE, and one of the highest in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.
Though now a Professor Emeritus, since 2011, he maintains a full-time load of graduate students and research. He is currently involved in technology development projects that include: mobile and modular robots, medical surgery robots, robots for hazardous environments, smart materials, and expert systems.
In addition to being a world-class researcher, Professor Goldenberg is a successful entrepreneur. He is the founder and President of Engineering Services Inc. (ESI), established in 1982. ESI is a high-technology company involved in the development of robotics-based automation. Under his leadership, the company has achieved significant growth and a leading role in a wide range of industrial sectors.
From 2000 to 2001, Professor Goldenberg was also the President of Virtek Engineering Science Inc. (VESI), a high-technology company formed after the acquisition of part of ESI by Virtek Vision International Ltd., a publicly-listed company. He is also President of Anviv Mechatronics Inc. (AMI), which he founded in 2006. Anviv is a high-technology company involved in the development of mechatronics products. In May 2015, ESI was acquired by a Chinese consortium located in Shenzhen, China.
Professor Goldenberg is a Life Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), a Fellow of The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEng), and a Designated Consulting Engineer in Ontario. He is the recipient of the 2010 PEO Engineering Medal for Entrepreneurship and the 2013 EIC Sir John Kennedy Medal for Outstanding Merit in the Engineering Profession.
“On behalf of the Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, I congratulate Professor Emeritus Andrew Goldenberg on this richly deserved honour,” said Jean Zu, Chair of MIE. “Professor Goldenberg has made tremendous contributions to the research of robotics, and has been a force of entrepreneurial innovation, bringing his research into the market place for the benefit of all Canadians.”
