Pearl Sullivan

Sullivan was born in 1961 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and immigrated to Canada in the 1980s.^[1][2] She graduated from the Technical University of Nova Scotia, now part of Dalhousie University, in 1985 with a master's degree in Metallurgical Engineering.^[1] Following her time in Halifax, Sullivan completed a PhD in materials engineering at the University of British Columbia in 1990.^[1] Her doctoral studies were supervised by Anoush Poursartip.^[3]

Shortly after completing her studies she accepted a position at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 1991.^[4][1] Sullivan returned to Canada in 1994 after taking a position in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of New Brunswick, where she was twice awarded the university's Faculty Merit Award for Excellence.^[5] Sullivan joined the University of Waterloo in 2004 as a professor of mechanical engineering.^[6] She served as Chair of the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering from 2006 until January 2012.^[5] In 2012 Sullivan was named the Dean of Engineering, becoming the first woman to hold the position at Waterloo.^[7][5] She held the role until December 2019.^[8]

Professor Sullivan was a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.^[9]

In November 2025, after a $20 million donation by the Gloria Baylis Foundation, the University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering renamed its flagship Engineering building from Engineering 7 (E7) to Pearl Sullivan Engineering (PSE) in her honor, with Waterloo Engineering dean Mary Wells stating "Pearl was a force of nature ... Engineering 7 is thanks to Pearl."^[10]

Sullivan died on November 28, 2020, of cancer.^[1] At the time of her death she had been dealing with the illness for 12 years.^[8]