Dr. Zhang was previously the Director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Frontier Research Center for Energy Dissipation to Defect Evolution. In 2005, she was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honour bestowed by the US federal government and conferred by the White House. She also holds two PhD degrees: one in science from Beijing Normal University and one in nuclear physics from Lund University in Sweden.

"The CERC is an extremely competitive program. We are proud to have secured another Chair for Queen’s and recruit a leading researcher to Canada," says Nancy Ross, Vice-Principal (Research). "Queen’s is already recognized globally for expertise in nuclear materials research, and Dr. Zhang will catapult this strength to new levels. The mission of the CERC is to do just this – increase Canada’s competitiveness on the world stage in areas where there is already significant momentum."

Advancing Canada’s energy transition

Nuclear reactor systems support approximately 15 per cent of Canada’s overall energy production. In Ontario, that number is 60 per cent, and demand for nuclear energy is growing. The deployment of safer, longer-lasting production facilities, however, hinges on advancing our understanding of how alloys perform in nuclear reactor components, such as the cladding that protects reactor fuel.

Dr. Zhang’s research seeks to predict the degradation of alloys in the high-intensity environments of nuclear reactors. Her goal is to uncover insights into "self-healing" mechanisms, structural stability, and deformation tolerance under high stress, temperature, radiation, and other extreme material conditions. Critical to this research will be Queen’s Reactor Materials Testing Laboratory (RMTL), a state-of-the-art proton and helium accelerator that mimics the changes to materials occurring in a nuclear reactor.

Through collaborative efforts with the Nuclear Materials Group at Queen’s, partners, national labs, and the nuclear industry, this work has the potential to impact various sectors. It will also enhance the efficiency, reliability, safety, and cost-effectiveness of nuclear energy systems and is vital to ushering in a new era of safe, resilient, and high-performing nuclear energy.

"For nearly three decades, I have dedicated my work to understanding defect dynamics and radiation effects in materials," explains Dr. Zhang. "I am excited to be continuing this research at Queen’s – a university with a long history of expertise in materials science and a commitment to advancing research to combat climate change."

Dr. Zhang will begin her term in Spring 2024. To learn more about the CERC program, visit the Tri-Agencies website.

An internationally leading expert in immunology, Dr. Paul Kubes will join Queen’s as the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Immunophysiology and Immunotherapy, this Spring. Dr. Kubes has received $8 million to advance his research program, which is at the forefront of real-time imaging of the immune system. His work aims to elucidate how changes in a person’s immune cell biology can alter the stability of the body’s chemical and physical state leading to diseases, including cancer.