Executive Team

Joe Apaloo

Dr. Joseph (Joe) Apaloo is the Dean of Science at St. Francis Xavier University (StFX) since July 2022, having served as the Interim Dean for the prior year. Joe joined StFX University in 1999 as an Assistant Professor and holds a faculty appointment as Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Dr. Apaloo received his PhD at the University of Montana in 1994. His primary research interest is in Evolutionary Game Theory with applications in evolutionary ecology.

Dr. Apaloo has been a member since 2025.

Christine DeWolf

Dr Christine DeWolf is Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at Concordia University. A full professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, she holds an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Saint Mary’s University and a PhD in Interfacial Phenomena from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (University of London).  Following completion of her graduate studies she undertook postdoctoral research at The Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Berlin.

She began her academic career at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST, now part of the University of Manchester) before returning to Canada in 2001 to join Concordia University.  She has served as Department Chair for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Vice-Dean for the Faculty of Arts and Science, and Chair of the Physical, Theoretical and Computational Division of the Chemical Society of Canada. She joined the CCDS as a member in 2026. Her research group uses an array of surface characterization techniques to understand biological and film self-assembly processes, with an emphasis on lipid-membrane composition-structure-function relationships and the design of biomimetic surface coatings.

Dr. DeWolf has been a member since 2026.

Jonathan Withey

Dr. Jonathan Withey held undergraduate and graduate degrees in Chemistry from the University of Oxford. He started his academic career in 2004 at MacEwan University (Edmonton). He has been Dean of the Faculty of Science & Technology at Mount Royal University (Calgary) since January 2017. The Faculty offers a Bachelor of Computer Information Systems program as well as a variety of majors within its Bachelor of Science degree. There are approximately 90 full-time faculty and 2,000 students in Science & Technology at Mount Royal.

Dr. Withey has been a member since 2019.

Kristin Baetz

Dr. Kristin Baetz is Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary and an award-winning biomedical scientist specializing in functional and chemical genomics. She champions interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation, and community engagement to advance scientific discovery.  

As Dean, she led the development of Get Science Done, a five-year strategic plan to strengthen research excellence, expand experiential learning, and deepen connections with Calgary’s innovation ecosystem. A key initiative is the $450-million Science District expansion, including a new multidisciplinary science building and space for 2,000 additional students.  

Dr. Baetz was previously the Director of the Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology and served as President of the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences. She holds a PhD from the University of Toronto. 

Dr. Baetz has been a member since 2024.

Travis Fridgen

Currently the Interim Dean of Science at Memorial University, Dr. Fridgen began his academic career in chemistry at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. His original plan was to teach high school chemistry and was accepted concurrently into Science at Trent and the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. After completing an Honours Thesis in Chemistry in Dr. J. Mark Parnis’ lab studying the reactions of O(¹D) with organic and inorganic molecules in argon matrices (1993) he finished his B.Ed. (1994). His thirst for both research and teaching set him on a slightly different trajectory and he began graduate studies at in the Chemistry Department at Queen’s spectroscopically characterizing matrix isolated products of electron bombardment of organic species (1999).

Following his Ph.D., Dr. Fridgen began postdoctoral studies (1999-2003) in the Chemistry Department at the University of Waterloo.  Prior to arriving at Memorial Dr. Fridgen was an Assistant Professor at Laurier where he first began spectroscopically characterizing trapped gaseous ions in collaboration at the Centre Laser Infrarouge d’Orsay (CLIO) just outside Paris, France.

Dr. Fridgen has been a member since 2024.

Brooke Milne

Dr. Brooke Milne is dean of the College of Arts and Science and a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Saskatchewan. As an anthropological archaeologist, she is renowned for her interdisciplinary work exploring the long-term human occupation of the Canadian Arctic. Dr. Milne has published on diverse topics in high impact journals and is renowned for her work in the areas of lithic (stone) technology, novice skill apprenticeship, geochemical provenance and technological organization, and the reconstruction of long-term human land use patterns in the Canadian Arctic. Her academic leadership record includes recent roles as associate dean, and dean and vice-provost at the University of Manitoba and the University of Alberta, respectively. Dr. Milne began a five-year term as dean of the College of Arts and Science on 1 August 2023.

Dr. Milne has been a member since 2026.

Angela Brooks-Wilson

Dr. Angela Brooks-Wilson is a Professor of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, and the Dean of the Faculty of Science, at Simon Fraser University. She is also a Distinguished Scientist at the BC Cancer Research Institute and the Genome Sciences Centre. Her research is focused on the genetic basis for cancer susceptibility, particularly lymphoid cancers, which include Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia and myeloma. Her cancer research is complemented by work on healthy aging, studying “Super Seniors”—individuals 85 to 110 years old who have never been diagnosed with cancer, cardiovascular disease, major pulmonary disease, diabetes or dementia.

Dr. Brooks-Wilson has been a member since 2026.

Cláudio Verani

Dr. Cláudio Verani got his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Bioinorganic Chemistry at UFSC in Brazil, a  Ph.D. degree from the Max-Planck Institute and Ruhr Universität in Germany and a postdoctoral training from Johns Hopkins University in the USA. He spent the last 20+ years at Wayne State University, in Detroit, US, as Professor of Chemistry conducting research in physical-inorganic chemistry. His research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Petroleum Research Fund, and the Army Corps of Engineers on topics that include molecular electronics, renewable fuels, environmental research and drug development.

Cláudio served as Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2017-2024 on the portfolios of Undergraduate and Graduate Research, Space & Physical Infrastructure, Museums & Planetarium, Special Projects. He was part of the WSU COVID Task Force, as well as a liaison to the VP for Research, Computer & Information Technology, and Facilities, Planning & Management.

At the University of Windsor since July 2024, Cláudio is the Dean of the Faculty of Science where he is navigating the intricacies of Canadian higher education at a pivotal moment that will redefine the role of higher education for years to come in an approach focused on strengthening the connection between research, discovery, entrepreneurship, and teaching, and on integrating new generational values and emerging technologies that will shape the relevance of universities in the 21^st century. Cláudio remains active in research, and received recent support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Dr. Verani has been a member since 2025.