A University of Winnipeg chemistry professor has a new title to add to his growing list of honours and accolades.
Dr. Chris Wiebe, Professor in the Department of Chemistry, has been named a 2025 Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS).
The fellowship was bestowed in October in recognition of Dr. Wiebe’s “pioneering work on the synthesis of new magnetic materials and for leadership in the promotion of science literacy, political engagement, and underrepresented groups in physics.”
I couldn’t have got this far without the wonderful students and colleagues that worked with me over the years.
Dr. Chris Wiebe
Founded in 1988, the APS is a nonprofit membership organization devoted to advancing physics in science and society. It has more than 50,000 members around the world.
“It was very humbling to receive this honour,” Dr. Wiebe said. “Only one half of one percent of the APS membership can be nominated.”
An APS fellowship is reserved for members “who have contributed to the advancement of physics by independent, original research or who have rendered some other special service to the cause of the sciences,” the APS constitution states.
“It is one of my greatest accomplishments and I was shocked to get the news,” Dr. Wiebe said. “I couldn’t have got this far without the wonderful students and colleagues that worked with me over the years and I am grateful.”
Dr. Wiebe is an expert in materials science, including high-temperature superconductivity, magnetism, neutron scattering, and quantum materials.
“Our research group synthesizes new magnetic materials that are used in modern technologies such as MRI machines and other electronics,” he said. “We also test various ideas in quantum mechanics to understand magnetism at a fundamental level.”
Dr. Wiebe is also known for championing science literacy, promoting under-represented groups in science, and for political engagement.
“I’ve spent a large part of my career in science outreach and also writing popular science articles,” Dr. Wiebe said, including two highly read pieces for The Conversation.
He has served on UWinnipeg’s Board of Regents and Senate, and held seats on the Winnipeg Labour Council and numerous science committees. Dr. Wiebe also ran for office in the 2023 Manitoba election.
Dr. Wiebe has been an APS member for 30 years, reaching back to his days as a student at UWinnipeg, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in 1996. Master’s and doctoral-level studies followed at McMaster University in Ontario.
A post-doctoral fellowship took him to Columbia University in New York, followed by teaching positions at Ontario’s Brock University and Florida State University. He returned to UWinnipeg in 2009 to become Canada Research Chair in Quantum Materials Discovery.
Over the last 15 years, Dr. Wiebe has built a unique crystal growth and low-temperature property measurement lab at UWinnipeg that rivals labs at much larger universities. He has received over $60 million in external research funding and produced over 130 research publications.
Dr. Wiebe’s previous accolades include a four-year fellowship with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (Quantum Materials Division). In 2019, he was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK.
He has served as President of the Canadian Institute for Neutron Scattering, and has chaired the User Committee of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida, the largest and highest-powered magnet lab in the world.
