The School community is mourning the recent passing of our colleague Professor Hind Al-Abadleh, one of our valued BSIA Fellows and an active member of the STEM for Global Resilience Research Cluster. Hind was generous with her time, having recently mentored a team of master’s students who wrote a policy brief for Global Affairs Canada on the use of satellite data to advance the Sustainable Development Goals.
Hind was a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Laurier for almost 20 years, before she accepted the role of department chair for Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences at the University of Texas in August 2024. She won numerous awards throughout her career, including the Gilead Award for Excellence in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion from the Canadian Society for Chemistry; the Women Who Inspire Award from the Kitchener-Waterloo Coalition of Muslim Women; the Hoffman-Little Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Service from Wilfrid Laurier University; and an Early Researcher Award from Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation.
“Hind brought such a valuable and interesting perspective to many of the BSIA’s STEM for Global Resilience cluster’s Thursday coffee lounges,” recalled BSIA Director Dr. Ann Fitz-Gerald. “Her intellectual contributions made even her non-STEM colleagues understand and appreciate ways in which the domain of chemistry could enrich policy-relevant discussions. We will all remember Hind’s unwavering enthusiasm and warm smile.”
Hind will be missed by her colleagues, students, and friends.
To read more about her career and impact, please visit Laurier’s website: https://www.wlu.ca/news/spotlights/2025/jan/laurier-mourns-the-passing-of-hind-al-abadleh.html