Two Carleton professors, Paul Van Oorschot and Diana Nemiroff, will officially become fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) at this year's annual inauguration ceremony Nov. 25.

The RSC’s purpose is "to recognize academic excellence, to promote Canadian intellectual culture, and to advise governments and organizations,” according to their website.

The award as “the highest honour that scholars, artists and scientists can achieve,” according to the Daily Exchange.  

Van Oorschot and Nemiroff will join 24 other fellows, who according to the  RSC's website, are officially affiliated with Carleton — among them, Carleton’s president Roseann Runte.

“I'm very honoured,” said Nemiroff. “It's a small enough number of fellow Carleton professors for me to feel quite startled.”

Nemiroff, director of the Carleton University Art Gallery, said she was nominated by her much-respected colleague Ruth Philips sometime last year.

“It was quite a long and thorough process,” Nemiroff said.

“Fellows are elected by existing members of the RSC, based on contributions according to the RSC criteria,” said Van Oorschot, a computer science professor, in an email.

Van Oorschot was recognized by the RSC for his work in computer security and applied cryptography, as well as his leadership of Canada’s university research network on internet security, NSERC and ISSNET,” according to the RSC website.

Nemiroff, who said she was pleasantly surprised to be nominated for such an “academic award,” said that her nomination was a reflection on the excellent work of Carleton’s art gallery, as well as a demonstration that visual arts has a place in the RSC.

Van Oorschot and Nemiroff were elected based on their excellent work and contribution to their respective fields in science and humanities. Having received this prestigious fellowship, Nemiroff said she plans to retire from Carleton at the end of June 2012 to pursue her own research.