As an NSERC Industrial Research Chair since 2003, Professor Zhang is a world leading expert in applying image processing to process monitoring and performance evaluation in oil sands mining, an industry of vital importance to Alberta and Canada's economy. In the international robotics community, Professor Zhang is well known for his seminal work in collective robotics mapping behaviors of social insects to control algorithms of robots, and an exceptional record of service . His outstanding contributions have been recognized through prestigious awards including IEEE Fellow and Millennium Medal , Syncrude/ASTech Innovation in Oil Sands Research Award , and Canadian Information Processing and Pattern Recognition Society Award