Dr. Martha Salcudean was born and educated in Romania where she obtained Bachelor's and post-graduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering. After twelve years in the Research Centre for Metallurgy, she came to Canada in 1976. She held the position of Professor at the University of Ottawa for nine years before moving on to the University of British Columbia as Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering where she is currently a Professor and Weyerhaeuser Industrial Research Chair in Computational Fluid Dynamics.

Dr. Salcudean has published extensively in the area of heat transfer and fluid flow and has had numerous industrial collaborations including Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Cominco, Weyerhaeuser Paper Company. Dr. Salcudean currently serves on the Defense Science Advisory Board for the Department of National Defense, is Chair of the Board of the Science Council of BC and is Chair of the Board of the Leading Edge Endowment Fund (LEEF).

Some of her many awards include: the Commemorative Medal for the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation, the Engineering Institute of Canada’s Julian C. Smith Medal for “Achievement in the Development of Canada”, APEG BC’s Meritorious Achievement Award, and the National Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prize in Engineering. She has received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Ottawa, University of Waterloo and UBC and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Dr. Salcudean was awarded and the Order of British Columbia in 1998 and became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2004.