{"id":111619,"date":"2026-09-17T16:30:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=111619"},"modified":"2026-09-17T16:39:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:39:49","slug":"curiosity-propels-distinguished-profs-exceptional-research-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2026\/09\/curiosity-propels-distinguished-profs-exceptional-research-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Curiosity propels Distinguished Prof\u2019s exceptional research career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brock University\u2019s Distinguished Professor designation is a lifetime appointment recognizing full professors who have demonstrated exceptional research, scholarship or creative activity. Read more about the award and its recipients\u00a0<\/em>on The Brock News<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

As a university student, Stephen Cheung was determined to figure out how to cycle faster<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That goal led him from his original path, studying oceanography, to a career exploring how the human body responds to extreme conditions.<\/p>\n

In recognition of his contributions as a researcher, leader and mentor, the Professor of Kinesiology and environmental physiology expert recently received Brock\u2019s Distinguished Professor designation. The lifetime appointment is the University\u2019s highest honorary academic designation.<\/p>\n

A prolific researcher, Cheung has published 165 scientific articles and was ranked among the top two per cent of international scientists with the most citations by Stanford University in 2025. He served as Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Environmental Ergonomics from 2007 to 2017 and received Brock\u2019s 2017 Distinguished Research and Creative Activity Award, the 2023 Michael Plyley Graduate Mentorship Award and the 2023 Faculty of Applied Health Sciences Research Excellence Award<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the International Conference on Environmental Ergonomics\u00a0and the Editor of the\u00a0International Journal of Sports Physiology & Performance<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But for Cheung, recognition is not a finish line. It is another reason to keep asking questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never look at any of these awards as \u2018I have made it,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cThis is just that extra bit of motivation, extra catalyst to really say, \u2018I can do more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Driving his research is a fascination with the body\u2019s ability to adapt.<\/p>\n

Leading the Environmental Ergonomics Lab (EEL)<\/a>, Cheung examines how environmental stress like heat, cold and altitude affect human physiology and performance<\/a>, combining fundamental questions about how the body works with applications aimed at making work and recreation in extreme settings safer. The lab\u2019s research has supported work with military personnel, miners, search-and-rescue teams, elite\u00a0athletes\u00a0and clothing manufacturers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big thing I\u2019ve learned is that that the human body is incredibly adaptable, and that we can do a lot more than what we assume is possible in challenging environments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Calling himself a \u201cspecialized generalist,\u201d\u00a0Cheung\u00a0follows ideas that capture his interest, moving across\u00a0many\u00a0areas of physiology as new questions\u00a0emerge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happily\u00a0chasing\u00a0one idea to another within the overall field of environmental physiology,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cThis\u00a0also\u00a0allows me to\u00a0work with a much bigger pool of collaborators and to learn new things from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cheung applies that same philosophy to his role as a mentor, encouraging students to bring their own interests and ideas to the lab.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents\u00a0are not there to be clones of me\u00a0or to do my work for me,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u00a0bring their own ideas and talents, and I want to foster them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cheung compares his role as a mentor to that of a mountaineering guide: providing the support and resources students need to pursue ambitions they\u00a0can glimpse but\u00a0may not yet believe are possible while\u00a0fostering\u00a0a lab culture\u00a0that\u00a0encourages\u00a0initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re never\u00a0the finished product,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can always learn and take that opportunity to try to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cheung\u2019s impact extends beyond academic spaces. His interest in knowledge mobilization<\/a> has\u00a0reached\u00a0media\u00a0all through North America and included almost 25 years of writing about cycling science, including\u00a02 books. He has also served as\u00a0the\u00a0Sport Science and Training editor for\u00a0PezCyclingNews and as Chief Sport Scientist and part owner of a cycling data analytics company.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t communicate your research,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you don\u2019t get it out there to the right audience,\u00a0to the people who can actually benefit from it,\u00a0what impact have you made?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a university student, Stephen Cheung was determined to figure out how to cycle faster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":111625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[41,1],"tags":[996,13675,7488,3258,5505,14713,2998],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111619"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111628,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111619\/revisions\/111628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}