Engineering professor elected as member of European academy

Nov 3rd, 2021

By Jackey Locke

Engineering professor elected as member of European academy

Dr. Octavia A. Dobre, professor, research chair and associate dean (research) of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, has been elected as a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA).

The EASA is a non-governmental, European association committed to promoting scientific and societal progress. It was founded in 1990 as a learned society with members who are leading scientists, artists and practitioners of governance dedicated to innovative research, interdisciplinary and transnational collaboration as well as the exchange and dissemination of knowledge.

“I am deeply honoured to be elected as a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in the Technical Sciences category,” said Dr. Dobre. “I hope that my membership will enable a much closer collaboration between our faculty and European colleagues, participation in transnational interdisciplinary projects of common interest and organization of joint technical events and conferences.”

Dr. Dobre became a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2005 and is the Research Chair in Subsea Communications.

In 2013, she was a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Memorial, she was a Fullbright scholar and a U.K. Royal Society scholar. Most recently, she became a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Since joining Memorial, Dr. Dobre has been instrumental in establishing new wireless and optical communications laboratories. She has secured more than $12 million in research funding and made significant research contributions to the fields of communications, specifically enabling technologies for 5G wireless networks, Internet-of-things and optical and underwater communications.

Her research findings have been disseminated through more than 350 referred international journal and conference papers and two patents, with more than 11,200 citations to-date.

“Congratulations to Dr. Dobre for this well-deserved international recognition,” said Dr. Greg Naterer, dean, faculty of engineering and applied science. “Dr. Dobre has been nominated by her peers in view of her research excellence and major impact of these contributions internationally. I am pleased that her membership will contribute to the Academy’s mission and vision.”