News Archive - 2018


Chemistry's 4th Year Thesis Poster Presentations

This year’s 4th year thesis poster presentations, held on November 29th were a huge success! Thank you to everyone who came to the event and great job to the 4th years on their projects.

 


Endowed Lectureship in honour of Dr. Stan Brown

Photo: Dr. Stan Brown

We are pleased to announce that we have established and endowed a lecture series in Dr. Stan Brown's honour. Stan Brown has been a colleague, mentor and friend to faculty, staff and students at Queen’s University for many years. Stan is an outstanding researcher with over 180 peer-reviewed publications and ten patents. His ground-breaking work in physical-organic chemistry work was recognized with numerous scientific awards, the Killam Research Fellowship (2004), and the Fellowships of the Chemical Institute of Canada (1991), the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (2008), and the Royal Society of Canada (2009). Please join us by giving back to future generations by honouring Stan Brown in the Department of Chemistry at Queen's. The first $25,000 of support that is donated by alumni and friends will be matched dollar for dollar. Please visit the Give to Queen's page to donate today.

 


Homecoming Open House in Chernoff Hall

On Saturday October 20th, 2018, the doors of Chernoff Hall were open to welcome back alumni. We were honoured to have students, staff, families, and alumni all in attendance to celebrate this year’s Queen’s homecoming. The day was filled with food, fun conversations, and tours of Chernoff Hall!

Photo: Dr. Loock chats with alumniPhoto: Homecoming Event


A recent Perspective by P. Andrew Evans and Ben W. H. Turnbull was featured on the cover of The Journal of Organic Chemistry

Photo: Perspective by Ben W. H. Turnbull and P. Andrew Evans

A recent Perspective by Ben W. H. Turnbull and P. Andrew Evans (J. Org. Chem. 2018, 83, 11463−11479) was featured on the cover to highlight the impact of the groups work on the development of the asymmetric rhodium-catalyzed allylic substitution reactions. The background picture signifies two enantiomers from the reflection in the ocean and the lighthouse emulates the impact of how knowledge guides the way forward in science. To view the article, please visit the ACS website.


Queen’s Chemistry Innovation Council returns to the Department

Photo: QCIC Event

Many members of our QCIC came to Queen’s on Sept 5th-6th to participate in career coaching for senior students, and hold a day-long meeting with departmental representatives on the state and future of the chemistry department. The QCIC was founded in 2001 as an advisory board to our chemistry department. Consisting mostly of alumni who have, since their graduation, progressed into positions of influence, the QCIC has been supporting our department in countless ways – some deliver courses, others coach graduate students, or make substantial donations. In the most recent meeting, the QCIC decided that they would provide an information session on intellectual property and patenting to graduate students and faculty. Also the possibility of industrial internships for graduate students was discussed. The social program such as the Teaching Assistant awards presentation, the reception and dinner gives students, faculty and QCIC members an informal way to build relationships. This year, the dinner was held in the phenomenal Isabel Bader Centre for Performing Arts. The after-dinner speech by Josephine Tsang (Ph.D. 2016) was introduced by a fanfare of 4 trombones and was the highpoint of a classy and fun evening.

Photo: QCIC Event at the Bader Centre


Dr. Crudden won the 2019 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award, Congratulations!

Photo: Dr. Cathleen Crudden

Congratulations to Dr. Cathleen Crudden on winning the 2019 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award! This national ACS award is given “to recognize and encourage excellence in organic chemistry.” The recognition of Cathy’s contributions is especially remarkable because non-Americans typically don’t receive this award. Another recent exception was Andrew Evans winning this award in 2017 as one of the first Canadians in the 32-year history of the award. Also, in 2001 Victor Snieckus was the second Canadian Arthur C. Cope Scholar (after Keith Ingold, 1992). Read more on the Queen's Gazette.


Introducing Dr. Zhe She to the Department of Chemistry

Photo: Dr. Zhe She

We would like to welcome Assistant Professor, Dr. Zhe She to the Department of Chemistry. Dr. She carried out his postdoctoral research work at the University of Toronto, where he was a research associate and Calian contractor jointly with Royal Military College of Canada, in developing new portable analytical tools for pathogen detection in water samples. The She Lab will focus on developing new analytical methods for environmental monitoring and clinical diagnostics, and providing cross-disciplinary teaching opportunities for students and postdoctoral fellows to study nanotechnology, biosensors, chemistry and instrumentations.


Congratulations to Derek Esau, PhD student in the Jerkiewicz Group

Congratulations to Derek Esau of the Jerkiewicz Research Group on winning the Second Prize in the Best Poster Presentation Competition at the International Symposium on Electrocatalysis 2018 in Szczyrk, Poland. Derek deliver a presentation entitled “Influence of Scan Rate and Temperature Variation on Rhodium Spherical Single Crystal Electrodes in Aqueous Acidic Media”.


Introducing Dr. Chantelle J. Capicciotti, Queen’s National Scholar in Precision Molecular Medicine

Photo: Dr. Chantelle Capicciotti

We would like to welcome Dr. Chantelle J. Capicciotti to the Department. Dr. Capicciotti joins the Departments of Chemistry, Biomedical and Molecular Sciences and Surgery in July 2018 as a Queen’s National Scholar in Precision Molecular Medicine. Her areas of teaching are in organic chemistry, biochemistry, and chemical biology with specialization in carbohydrate chemistry and glycobiology. Her research interests are in the field of glycobiology focusing on understanding how glycans/glycoproteins interact with proteins on a cellular level to elicit biological responses, as well as on developing glycan-based approaches for biomarker identification, disease diagnosis, imaging techniques, and cell-based therapies.


Congratulations to Morgan Lehtinen on receiving the Best Presentation/Paper at the 256th ACS Conference

Photo: Morgan Lehtinen receiving the Best Presentation/Paper at the 256th ACS Conference

Morgan Lehtinen, PhD Student in the Liu Group, was awarded the “Best Presentation/Paper” in the Colloidal and Interfacial Science in Separation Mechanisms Division presented by ACS publication’s Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research at the 256th American Chemical Society Conference in Boston, MA. Congratulations!


Introducing Dr. Peng Wang to the Department of Chemistry

Photo: Dr. Peng Wang

We would like to welcome Dr. Peng Wang who joined the Department as an Assistant Professor. After the completion of his Ph.D. work, Dr. Wang spent his time as a postdoctoral researcher investigating materials for detecting and identifying radioactive sources. Before starting at Queen’s University, Dr. Wang held a scientist position in Canadian semiconductor industry. Dr. Wang will be focusing his area of teaching around inorganic material chemistry, while the overarching theme of my research is the electrical and optical properties of novel crystalline compounds.


Dr. Snieckus and three Baltic Expatriates organized an International Conference

Photo: Dr. Snieckus at an International Conference

This photo shows the participants at the BOS 2018 conference in Tallinn, Estonia, organized by Victor Snieckus and three other Baltic expatriates. 22 countries were represented at BOS 2018 of over 250 attendees and included an address at the Opening Ceremonies by the President of Estonia, Kirsti Karjulaid.


Queen's Chemistry alumna part of successful startup company

Photo: Alumna Alyssa Brewer at the successful start up

Alyssa Brewer (M.Sc. 2015) has joined Chinova Bioworks, a start-up company in Fredericton, NB, as a Process Development Scientist. The company just secured a seed financing round of investment of $2M to develop a natural preservative based on a mushroom extract. Please read the press release for more details.


Queen’s University received two new NSERC CREATE grants, each for $1.65M

Photo: NSERC CRSNG Logo

On July 16th the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, announced that Queen’s University received two new NSERC CREATE grants, each for $1.65M. The CREATE program will provide teams led by Queen’s associate professors Stephen Brown (Chemistry) and James Fraser (Physics) with support for the training of graduate and undergraduate students through the development of two innovative training programs, (1) in water and watershed sustainability, and (2) in materials for photonics and sensing, respectively. In total, 7 research chemistry groups (Brown, Crudden, Loock, Nunzi, Oleschuk, Stamplecoskie, and Wang) are benefitting directly from this support.

 


Congratulation to PhD Student, Soren Mellerup for being awarded the Banting PDF!

Photo: Soren Mellerup

Congratulation to PhD Student, Soren Mellerup for being awarded the Banting PDF! The fellowship will be held at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg in the working group of Prof. Dr. Holger Braunschweig. The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program, funded by the Government of Canada, provides funding to the best postdoctoral applicants who will positively contribute to the country's economic, social and research-based growth.


Departmental Staff Enjoying an Afternoon Cruise

Photo: Lyndsay, Cole & Michael on an afternoon cruise

The Departmental Staff enjoyed an afternoon cruise following our departmental strategic plan retreat held on Wednesday, June 13, 2018.


Congratulations to David Simon who won First Place in the Graduate Student Poster Award Competition!

Photo: Richard Oleschuk and David Simon

Congratulations to David Simon, PhD student in the OIeschuk group, who won 1st place in the Graduate Student Poster Award Competition! This award was presented by the Analytical Chemistry Division of the Chemical Institute of Canada at the 101st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition held in Edmonton, Alberta.


Dr. Jessop's Water Purification Technology is Closer to Commercial Reality

Photo: Dr. P. Jessop

Dr. Philip Jessop's water purification technology, also known as forward osmosis, is one step closer to commercial success. This highly energy efficient technology removes many pollutants and impurities from waste water. The technology could be of great interest to the chemical industry, municipalities, factories, etc. and would change the waste water to fresh water available for re-use or discharge. Dr. Jessop's technology was featured in the Queen's Gazette and to learn more about this technology, please visit the Forward Water website.


Congratulations to Diane Beauchemin on receiving the Gerhard Herzberg Award!

Photo: Dr. Beauchemin receiving her award

The 2018 Gerhard Herzberg Award is given to a Canadian spectroscopist in recognition of distinguished scientific contributions to the field of spectroscopy, either fundamental or applied. It is typically awarded to recognize the career achievements of a prominent scientist. Dr. Beauchemin is the first woman to receive it, congratulations! Diane Beauchemin received the 2018 Gerhard Herzberg Award from the Canadian Society for Analytical Sciences and Spectroscopy held on June 11 to 13, 2018 in Toronto. Along side Dr. Beauchemin's award, her students received recognition and awards as well; Ph.D. student Lily Huang received the 2018 Glass Expansion Graduate Student Travel Award; M.Sc. student Calvin Palmer got the 2nd poster prize, and M.Sc. student Andrew Williams got the 1st poster prize!


Congratulations to Dr. Crudden on receiving the CIC Catalysis Award!

Photo: Dr. Crudden receiving the CIC Catalysis Award

Dr. Cathy Crudden receives the CIC Catalysis Award from Neil Burford, the CIC president, at the Award Ceremony of the 101st Canadian Society for Chemistry Conference and Exhibition. At the same ceremony, Dr. Peter Loock became a Fellow of the CIC.


Congratulations to Suning Wang on receiving the Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision and the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship!

Photo: Dr. Suning Wang

The Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Supervision is to recognize those outstanding supervisors who demonstrate excellence in advising, monitoring and mentoring graduate students through their training. Dr. Wang is the inaugural winner of the CAGS Award for Outstanding Graduate Mentorship; this award was instituted to highlight and celebrate mentors who exemplify excellence in this form of pedagogy; please visit the CAGS website to read and watch a video of Dr. Wang's achievement. Dr. Wang has supervised 23 PhD and 15 Masters students while maintaining an active research profile as a Professor, Queen's University Research Chair and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Dr. Wang inspires her students to have an inquisitive mind and independent spirit in the research and exploration of chemical science. In the words of one of her students, "it is this combination of personal and professional investment in her students as individuals that make Dr. Wang a truly exceptional graduate supervisor." Dr. Wang's achievements were also featured in the Queen's Gazette.


Science Rendezvous happening Saturday, May 12th!

Photo: Science Rendezvous Advertisement

Science Rendezvous took place on Saturday, May 12th at the Rogers K-Rock Centre! Indeed there was a lot going on, in addition to the magic show (featured on CKWS), there will be laser demonstrations from the Loock group, some hands-on events for kids, drones, robots, police shows, ASAP science, and much much more!  Click here (PDF, 11.2 MB) to view the full event flyer. Science Rendezvous was featured in the Queen's Gazette.


Congratulations to Dr. Jerkiewicz, who has recently been conferred with the title of Professor of Chemical Sciences for life by the President of Poland

Photo: Dr. Jerkiewicz recently been conferred with the title of Professor of Chemical Sciences for life by the President of Poland

Congratulations to Dr. Gregory Jerkiewicz, who has recently been conferred with the title of Professor of Chemical Sciences for life by Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland. Dr. Jerkiewicz is an international-leading researcher in the fields of electrochemistry and electrocatalysis. He is renowned for his contributions to hydrogen, platinum and nickel electrochemistry and electrocatalysis. He leads the “Engineered Nickel Materials for Electrochemical Clean Energy” project supported by the NSERC of Canada through its prestigious Discovery Frontiers program. In the picture, Dr. Gregory Jerkiewicz, and Dr. Nicholas Mosey (Associate Dean Research) with President of Poland at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw on April 25th, 2018. To read more, click here.


Dr. Guojun Liu's Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Materials Science has been renewed

Photo: Dr. Guojun Liu

Guojun Liu (Chemistry) has been renewed at the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Materials Science. Dr. Liu’s research is focused on the development of nanostructured polymer materials for various applications, including the refinement of filters that may be able to separate water from organic solvents. To read more about the Queen's faculty named Canada Research Chairs, please visit the Queen's Gazette.


Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Evans who will be the Editor-in-Chief of Organic Reactions, Inc. in August of 2018!

Photo: Dr. Andrew Evans

Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Evans on being named the Editor-in-Chief of Organic Reactions, Inc. In August of 2018, Dr. Evans will replace Scott E. Denmark and he will be the first Editor-in-Chief outside of the United States. Originating in 1942 and having sold over 365,000 volumes, Organic Reactions is recognized as a distinguished source of trusted, comprehensive chapters that accentuate the practical aspects of synthetically useful chemical reactions. Dr. Evans will join the line of distinguished predecessors including Scott E. Denmark, Roger Adams, Arthur C. Cope, William Dauben, Leo Paquette, and Larry Overman.


Staff Participate in Sustainable Kingston's 2018 Pitch-In Week

Photo: Staff Participate in Sustainable Kingston's 2018 Pitch-In Week

Our main office staff took some time to help clean the garbage around campus during Sustainable Kingston’s Pitch-In week!


Sir Fraser Stoddart presents at the Inaugural Walter A. Szarek Lecture

Photo: Sir Fraser Stoddart presents at the Inaugural Walter A. Szarek Lecture

The Inaugural Walter A. Szarek Lecture, hosted by Dr. Peter Loock, was held on Friday, April 13th in Chernoff Hall. The 2016 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, Prof. Sir Fraser Stoddart was able to speak to graduate students, professors and staff on “Materials beyond Cyclodextrins”. Sir Fraser Stoddart did his Postdoctoral Fellowship here at Queen’s University with Dr. Walter Szarek as his mentor. The President of NSERC, Dr. Mario Pinto, was a graduate student of Dr. Szarek and was honoured to be the one to introduce our main speaker. It was wonderful welcoming everyone back to Queen’s! The Gazette featured a story about the inaugural Walter A. Szarek lecture, to read more click here.


Graduate student Jaddie Ho, in the Jessop and Cunningham groups, has developed a "green" paint and his work was recently published in Green Chemistry!

Photo: Jaddie Ho showing his published work

Graduate student Jaddie Ho, (Jessop and Cunningham groups) has developed paints that work like high performance oil-based paints but are as “green" as water-based paints. His paints, which use carbonated water as a solvent, have just been published in Green Chemistry and covered as a news item in Chem & Eng News. Jaddie's research was also featured in the Queen's Gazette.

The photo on the left shows the new paint (the white strip on the right side) is more resistant to water than a commercial latex paint (the white strip, bubbling on the left). In the photo with the two test strips shows the normal oil-based paints that are flammable and smog-forming (left), but Jaddie Ho's new paints (right) work the same way as oil-based paints without using any organic solvent.


Congratulations to undergraduate students Vanessa Romano and Rebecca Modler for their award winning 4th year research projects!

Photo: Dr. Peter Loock, Vanessa Romano, Rebecca Modler and Dr. Gang Wu

Vanessa Romano (Macartney Group) won the Walter MacFarlane Smith Prize in Chemistry for her thesis "Cucurbit[7]uril complexation of aza- and oxa,azaspirocycles and aza- and oxa,azabicycles in aqueous solution". Rebecca Modler (Kontopoulou Group) won the M. Sullivan and Son Limited Scholarship for her thesis "Development of an X-ray microcomputed tomography technique to study the microstructure of polyamide/graphite composites".


Dr. Philip Jessop, along with a panel of experts, help the Government of Canada

Photo: The cover of A 200-page report on The State of Science and Technology and Industrial R&D

A 200-page report on The State of Science and Technology and Industrial R&D in Canada was released on the 10th of April. Why does research in Canada have difficulties in translating to market success? This report, commissioned by the Government of Canada, was prepared by a panel of experts including Philip Jessop. To view the report, please visit the Science Advice website: http://new-report.scienceadvice.ca


Congratulations to Abouzar Toubaei on receiving the Christopher Knapper Teaching Award!

Abouzar Toubaei is the recipient of the Christopher Knapper Teaching Award for the Fall semester of the 2016-2017 academic year presented by the Teaching Awards Committee of the Alma Mater Society (AMS). Congratulations Abouzar!

To view the all the Teaching Award recipients, please click here.


Mike Chernoff visits Chernoff Hall

Photo: Mike Chernoff stands in front of his sign of Chernoff Hall

We had the pleasure of hosting Mike Chernoff on Monday March 19th. We are very grateful for his contribution in making Chernoff Hall what it is today!


Introducing Chemistry's new Surface Facility Instrumentation Manager

Photo: Kevin McEleney

We would like to welcome Dr. Kevin McEleney who joined the Department April 2, 2018 as the new Surface Facility Instrumentation Manager. Kevin obtained his undergraduate and graduate degrees here at Queen’s. He received his PhD in 2009 under the supervision of Dr. Cathy Crudden and Dr. Hugh Horton. Kevin, we are happy to have you back in the department!!


Congratulations to Dr. Crudden who has been awarded the International Precious Metals Institute (IPMI) Carol Tyler Award!

Photo: Dr. Cathleen Crudden

The IPMI Carol Tyler Award recognizes the achievement of a woman in the field of precious metals in academia or industry. Dr. Crudden has been recognized for her leading work on palladium catalyzed cross-coupling with enantioenriched organoboranes, as well as on formation of monolayers on gold surface with N-heterocyclic carbenes. Dr. Crudden is the first researcher from a Canadian University to receive this award!


Queen’s researchers receive federal funding for novel, patient-oriented cancer treatments

Featured in the Queen's Gazette, Dr. Allingham along with co-investigators P. Andrew Evans (Department of Chemistry) and Andrew Craig (The Queen's Cancer Research Institute), will receive $497,500 over the three years. The federal financing will fund the development and pre-clinical testing of new cancer fighting drugs that disturb a key protein required for cancer cells to spread; 90% of cancer-related deaths occur by the spread of cancer cells within the body and new therapies like these will greatly improve the survival rates of cancer patients. For more information on the CHRP grants, please visit the website.


Five leading researchers recognized by Queen's will have an engaging panel discussion on Tuesday, April 3rd in the BioSciences Complex Atrium

Photo: Five leading researchers recognized by Queen's attending the panel discussion

The panel discussion entitled, “In Conversation with the Prizes for Excellence in Research Recipients.” The panel will feature the 2017 Prizes for Excellence in Research recipients: Denis O’Donnell (Medicine), Cathy Crudden (Chemistry), Liying Cheng (Education), Sam McKegney (English Language and Literature), and Pascale Champagne (Civil Engineering). The panel will be moderated by Scott White, Editor-in-Chief of The Conversation Canada. A short description of Scott’s career is available below, and an article published in the Queen’s Gazette describes the recipients’ many research accomplishments.


Cathleen Crudden and her collaborators win the 2017 SYNLETT Best Paper Award

Photo: Dr. Cathleen Crudden and collaborator

Congratulations to Cathy Crudden and her collaborators for being awarded with the award for the best paper in 2017 by SYNLETT. Benjamin List, Editor-in-Chief of SYNLETT, noted: "Nambo, Yim, Fowler, and Crudden have developed an elegant synthesis of tetraarylmethanes that involves an acid-catalyzed oxidative coupling of an arene with triarylmethanes, which became readily accessible in previous studies by the authors. The reaction proceeds via trityl-type cations and enables the formation of fascinating products, in which four different arenes are connected via a single stereogenic carbon atom."


Chemistry welcomes Dawn Free our new Financial Coordinator

Photo: Dawn Free

Dawn Free joined the Department of Chemistry as Financial Coordinator on January 8th, 2018. With over 8 years of financial and administrative support experience working at Queens, Dawn has been successfully overseeing and managing a large number of research projects for Drs. Philip Jessop and Michael Cunningham in addition to providing project management support. Dawn has extensive financial and system skills working with PeopleSoft finance (FAST), ERS, acQuire, etc., and, over the years, has actively participated in various University Administrators focus groups and committees. From preparing/monitoring budgets and developing in-year and multi-year forecasting to reconciling and procurement activities, Dawn has a robust multifaceted portfolio of experience to bring into this challenging role.


Congratulations to Randa and Lily, two PhD students, on winning a poster prize at the 2018 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry!

Photo: Randa at the 2018 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry

Two Ph. D. students from the Beauchemin group each won a poster prize at the 2018 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, which was held in Amelia Island, Florida, January 7-13, 2018. Randa Althobiti's poster is entitled Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry with On-Line Leaching: A Method to Assess the Maximum Bio-Accessibility of Toxic and Essential Elements in Wheat from Saudi Arabia and that of Lily Huang is Trace Analysis of Lead-Tin Solder Using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry.

Photo: Lily at the 2018 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry