From 1954 to 1955 he was the president of the Canadian Association of Physicists. From 1980 to 1989 he was President of the National Research Council of Canada and was the first president of the Canadian Space Agency and coined the term Canadarm. In 1982 he received the Gold Medal from the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers. In 1987 he was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award of the Public Service of Canada. In 1989 he was president of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. Kerwin also served at an international level, he was president of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) from 1987–1990.