Meet Ted Hsu

By Zoe Dickson

Physicist and politician Ted Hsu is the keynote speaker for QGEC’s Fall Taster this Thursday. A Queen’s and Princeton alumni, he currently advocates for science and innovation in government and society.    

Born in 1964, Dr. Theodore “Ted” Hsu grew up in Kingston & graduated from Queen’s University in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Physics. A talented man of Chinese heritage, Hsu is fluent in English, French, and Mandarin and is a gifted pianist and chess player.

Ted completed his Ph.D in Physics at Princeton University in 1989. He has authored and co-authored 25 research papers as well as completing post-doctoral research in British Columbia, Ontario, and France.

Throughout his nine-year career in finance, Ted has worked as a researcher and trader for the Banque Nationale de Paris in France, and as an executive director in Morgan Stanley in Tokyo,

Ted has worked in the US, France, Japan & Canada, and spent three years as a stay-at-home father to his two daughters.

For three years Ted was the co-chair of the Kingston Financial Advisory Forum, a committee in place to advise the council on environmental matters. He is also currently a member of the board of directors for the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences and is an advisor to SYNG Pharmaceuticals, a female health and biotech start-up.

From 2007-2010 Ted was executive director of SWITCH. SWITCH is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to increase energy literacy, provides support to the sustainable energy sector and to shift the Canadian economy away from fossil fuels.

In May 2011, Ted Hsu was elected as MP for Kingston, one of only two new Liberal MP elected in the country in the party’s worst showing in history. This followed four years as treasurer for the Kingston and the Islands Federal Liberal Association. In 2013, now-prime minister Justin Trudeau appointed Ted Hsu as the Liberal Party’s critic for Science and Technology, as well as Post-Secondary Education, Natural Resources & Federal Economic Development in Ontario. In November 2013, Ted won the Maclean’s Parliamentarian of the Year Award, awarded to the MP who “best represents constituents”.

Ted now lives in Kingston with his family and continues to advocate passionately for STEM education, climate change mitigation and electoral reform.

Come along to the QGEC taster on Thursday, November 15^th in the ILC Atrium at 7pm to hear Ted Hsu present, get a sneak peek into the conference and enjoy some free pizza!