Professor Robin Armstrong

Higher education leader and physicist Robin Armstrong, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics at the University of Toronto, has had a long and distinguished academic career. He has co-authored almost 200 publications and conference proceedings in condensed matter physics, in most cases with his many PhD graduate students.

He served as chair of the Physics Department and dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science at U of T before becoming president of the University of New Brunswick, where he initiated its most ambitious fundraising campaign to date and attracted a state-of-the-art MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) centre on the strength of his scholarly reputation.

Armstrong has served on numerous federal and provincial research committees, including as vice-chair of the National Science and Engineering Research Council. He was a founding director of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. He is currently chair of the Canadian Arthritis Network.

His achievements have been recognized by the Royal Society of Canada, of which he is a fellow; by the Canadian Association of Physicists with its Herzberg Medal and Medal of Achievement; by the University of Cordoba with its Vistante Distinguido award; and by the University of New Brunswick with an honorary doctorate.