Inside this Issue: Faculty and Staff Awards 2 New Faculty 4 Retirements 6 Helium Ion 8 Microscope Chem 13 News 11 Periodic Table Project Seminars 12 Editors: Dr. John Honek Janice Campbell Julie Shikaze 200 University Avenue West Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 Spring 2011 Volume 3, Issue 2 We are looking for submissions for upcoming issues of “Chemistry Matters”. If you have an idea for an article that you would like to submit for a future issue of “Chemistry Matters”, please contact Dr. John Honek at [email protected]. Welcome to the Spring 2011 issue of Chemistry Matters. In this issue, we highlight the many awards and achievements of faculty, staff and students in the Department of Chemistry. We feature an article on Dr. David Cory, one of our newest faculty members who is working in the Institute for Quantum Computing. We extend our congratulations to our newest retirees, Dr. Morris Tchir and Bev Winkler, two long-time members of our department. Dr. Tong Leung has provided us with a look at the Helium Message from the Chair of Chemistry Ion Microscope that has been recently installed in WATLab. The Helium Ion Microscope is the first of its kind in Canada and one of only 22 in the world. The undergraduate students of our Chemistry Club organized a very successful Southern Ontario Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference. Some of the highlights of this event are provided by one of the presidents of the Chemistry Club, Amanda Bongers. The Chem 13 News Periodic Table Project has been completed. Free copies of the periodic table were provided to all participants of the Canadian Chemical Society meeting in Montreal in June. Jean Hein, editor of Chem 13 News, has provided some of the tiles that were created by various people associated with the Department of Chemistry. The article includes a link to the Chemistry Website where the entire project can be viewed. Dr. John Honek Chair Department of Chemistry
Transcript
Inside this Issue:
Faculty and Staff Awards 2
New Faculty 4
Retirements 6
Helium Ion 8 Microscope
Chem 13 News 11 Periodic Table Project
Seminars 12
Editors: Dr. John Honek Janice Campbell Julie Shikaze
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, ON
N2L 3G1
Spring 2011 Volume 3, Issue 2
We are looking for submissions for upcoming issues of “Chemistry Matters”. If you have an idea for an article that you would like to submit for a future issue of “Chemistry Matters”,
Welcome to the Spring 2011 issue of Chemistry Matters. In this issue, we highlight the many awards and achievements of faculty, staff and students in the Department of Chemistry. We feature an article on Dr. David Cory, one of our newest faculty members who is working in the Institute for Quantum Computing. We extend our congratulations to our newest retirees, Dr. Morris Tchir and Bev Winkler, two long-time members of our department. Dr. Tong Leung has provided us with a look at the Helium
Message from the Chair of Chemistry
Ion Microscope that has been recently installed in WATLab. The Helium Ion Microscope is the first of its kind in Canada and one of only 22 in the world. The undergraduate students of our Chemistry Club organized a very successful Southern Ontario Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference. Some of the highlights of this event are provided by one of the presidents of the Chemistry Club, Amanda Bongers. The Chem 13 News Periodic Table Project has been completed. Free copies of the periodic table were
provided to all participants of the Canadian Chemical Society meeting in Montreal in June. Jean Hein, editor of Chem 13 News, has provided some of the tiles that were created by various people associated with the Department of Chemistry. The article includes a link to the Chemistry Website where the entire project can be viewed.
Alf Rudin, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, died on April 13, 2011, at his home in Toronto. He came to UW in 1967 after a career at C.I.L. that focussed mostly on polymers. At Waterloo, he extended his research into polymers quite broadly, working on every aspect of them from polymerization through to processing and property characterizations, thus becoming one of the most outstanding and prolific polymer chemists in Canada.
Above all, Alf was also an inspiring teacher, often motivating students to excel
far beyond what they thought they could. His introductory polymer text, Elements of Polymer Science and Engineering, was widely adopted for both graduate and undergraduate courses, probably because when you read that book, you could hear Alf talking – and he was a very interesting, creative talker, who made you think about what he was saying.
Given his industrial background and great teaching skills, it is not surprising that Alf managed to blend them by being a founder of the Institute for Polymer Research, which for
more than 30 years now has served as a connecting link between the chemical industry and UW’s polymer research scientists and engineers.
This short tribute to Alf can end in no better way than to quote one of his former students: “Alf will never be gone - he lives on in the lives of his family and the many students that he taught over the years.” I count myself as one of those students.
Dr. Ken O’Driscoll Distinguished Professor Emeritus Chemical Engineering and Chemistry
In Memory of Dr. Alfred Rudin by Dr. Ken O’Driscoll
Dr. Alfred Rudin
Dr. David Cory became a faculty member with the Department of Chemistry in 2010. Dr. Cory was awarded the prestigious Canada Excellence Research Chair in Quantum Information Processing. The program awards the Chairholder and their research teams up to $10 million over seven years to establish ambitious research programs in Canada. Please see the article titled, “Tools to Harvest the Quantum Universe”, in this issue of Chemistry Matters for more information on Dr. Cory’s work.
Dr. Eric Fillion began his UW faculty position in Chemistry in 2000. He was promoted to Full Professor in Chemistry this past year. Eric has a major national and international impact in the
area of organic chemistry. Eric’s group has developed several highly creative and efficient asymmetric synthetic approaches to a variety of chemical structures, many of which are the scaffolds for medicinal agents and/or extremely complex natural products. Eric’s group has developed a number of transition metal- and Lewis acid-catalyzed carbon-carbon bond forming methods; including enantioselective conjugate alkylation, alkenylation, and alkynylation reactions, as well as intramolecular Friedel-Crafts acylation and alkylation reactions. His synthetic insight has allowed for facile chemical fabrication of extremely complex molecules, and along the way, his group has developed
a number of extremely useful synthetic approaches to the introduction of specific chemical groups into molecules. Because of these numerous contributions, Eric was awarded the prestigious 2011 Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research Award by the Canadian Society for Chemistry. This award is presented to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguished contribution to medicinally relevant organic or biophysical chemistry while working in Canada.
Dr. Jake Fisher is a superb lecturer and laboratory coordinator and is one of our front line members engaging our students. Dr. Fisher goes out of his way to accommodate and solve (continued on page 3)
Faculty and Staff Awards and Achievements by Dr. John Honek
Chemistry Matters Page 3
Faculty and Staff Awards and Achievements (continued from page 2)
student academic problems and improve their learning experience. Dr. Fisher will take the time and effort to deliver quality training and lectures and follow through with exceptional after-hours interactions with students to further improve their understanding of Chemistry and Science material. His contagious enthusiasm for learning is readily conveyed to our students and this is likely a critical factor in retaining many of our students past the difficult first and second years of our degree programs. In his approaches to education, Dr. Fisher instills an excitement for knowledge in our undergraduates and, along with his kindly and supportive demeanor, provides a superb mentoring environment in our department. The Department of Chemistry considers itself honored to have Dr. Fisher as one of its educators. Jake is one of two winners of the 2011 Excellence in Science Teaching (ESTA) Award. This award is given to two individuals who have demonstrated sustained, high quality teaching in their courses.
Dr. Linda Nazar has numerous research interests and several of them are: construction of new materials, determination of their chemical structures and the investigations of the resultant properties of the material. Her group is particularly interested in ionic and electronic transport in materials since
these properties can be applied to the development of specific devices. In the numerous distinctions that Dr. Nazar has garnered over the years on her research program, one can summarize the essence of her research focus and her contributions by these comments: “Dr. Linda Nazar is at the helm of a multidisciplinary, internationally-recognized group studying the solid state electrochemistry of inorganic materials, with a specific focus on structural, inorganic-synthetic and physical property studies of new materials for energy storage and conversion.” Dr. Nazar’s article titled, “Nano-network electronic conduction in iron and nickel olivine phosphates” published in the March 2004 issue of Nature Materials was selected to be included in a collection of peer-reviewed articles entitled “Materials for sustainable energy”. Dr. Nazar continues to win national and international awards. Dr. Nazar has been awarded the prestigious 2010 Rio Tinto Alcan Award by the Canadian Society for Chemistry, the International Battery Association Research Award, and the 2011 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering Award. The Rio Tinto Alcan Award is presented to a scientist who has made a distinguishing contribution to the fields of inorganic chemistry or electrochemistry while working in Canada. The IBA Research Award is given to individuals whose basic
research contribution in the field of materials for batteries, supercapacitors and fuel cells has significantly impacted the understanding of relationships between materials characteristics and properties or behaviors. The 2011 Distinguished Woman in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering award is part of the ACS Challenge Grant-International Year of Chemistry Celebration.
Dr. Janusz Pawliszyn: The primary focus of Dr. Pawliszyn’s research program is the design of highly automated and integrated instrumentation for the isolation of analytes from complex matrices and the subsequent separation, identification and determination of these species. An important objective is the development and application of state-of-the-art, integrated and automated analytical methods and instrumentation, for on-site analysis and monitoring. Dr. Pawliszyn has been awarded the prestigious Dal Nogare Award for 2011, presented by The Chromatography Forum of Delaware Valley (CFDV), for his outstanding work in the field of chromatography. Awardees are chosen on the basis of their contributions to the fundamental understanding of the chromatographic process. Established in honor of Stephen Dal Nogare, who died in 1968 after serving six months as President of the Forum, the CFDV Award recognizes Dr.
Pawliszyn’s development of SPME, Solid Phase Micro-Extraction technology. Dr. Pawliszyn has also been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and is considered to be Canada’s highest academic honour. The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada is the senior national body of distinguished Canadian scholars, artists and scientists. The primary objective of the RSC is to promote learning and research in the arts and sciences. The Society's three academies collectively consist of nearly 2,000 Fellows selected by their peers for outstanding contributions to the natural and social sciences, in the arts and in the humanities.
Dr. Robert Le Roy is internationally recognized for his discovery and implementation of theoretical methods to quantitatively describe the near-dissociation behaviour of diatomic molecules and for the development of mathematical methods for inverting bound→continuum spectroscopic data to determine the underlying intermolecular forces and transition moment functions in these systems. Further outstanding contributions have been made by Dr. Le Roy and include his impressive theoretical studies on the chemical properties of polyatomic Van der Waals dimers, and his development of a novel approach to improve our understanding of the kinetics of tunneling-(continued on page 4)
Chemistry Matters Page 4
Professor of the Year Award: Dr. Robert Le Roy by Amanda Bongers
The University of Waterloo Chemistry Club is a student run organization that provides a study and social environment for students in Chemistry and Biochemistry. One of our goals is to promote professor/student relationships, in the form of “Student Prof Nights” and our Professor of the Year Award.
At the end of each fall term, members of the club will nominate and vote on professors and instructors who, in the past year, have made an outstanding contribution to teaching in their courses. The nominee should positively influence the students’ education as well as their life and career. The recipient of the award has their name and ‘element symbol’ engraved on the Periodic Table of Teaching Excellence, outside of the club lounge in C2-172.
The recipient of the award in 2008 was Prof. Morris Tchir (symbol Mt). For 40 years, Professor Tchir was devoted
to teaching students organic and polymer chemistry as well as first year general chemistry. He is known for his sense of humour, entertaining his students during class with clever chemistry jokes.
In 2009, the award was given to Dr. Dozia Rudensky (symbol Dz), the senior analytical laboratory demonstrator and supervisor for 33 years. Dr. Rudensky retired in September of 2009, and the students who voted felt that she made an enormous contribution to undergraduate education.
Dr. Robert Le Roy (symbol Lr) is the recipient of the 2010 teaching excellence award. Professor Le Roy is known for his open door policy, always being available to help his students with course material and career decisions. He has also been committed to developing the research minds of undergraduate students as part of his research group, studying quantum mechanical theory.
Testimonial from Professor Le Roy’s students:
Professor Le Roy is an inspiration to his students in and out of the classroom. Not only does he wish his students to perform well in their studies, he takes time out of his own day in order to make it happen. When tests are picked up in his office, he demands that the student sits with him for as long as it takes to make sure that all mistakes are corrected and then understood. In the classroom, you can hear his enthusiasm in his voice. He answers any question swiftly and accurately, even if it can be a little above the required level of learning. Not only does he teach in writing and word, but also physically by making examples of vibrational energy by flailing his arms in “molecule dances”. Having created equations and concepts in his field, Le Roy is truly an inspiration to many students by being the person we all work so hard to be.
Dr. Robert Le Roy
dominated chemical reactions. In addition to these critical contributions to the discipline of chemical physics, Dr. Le Roy has contributed powerful computational code to address molecular data simulations. His software has been distributed worldwide and is currently in use in hundreds of laboratories
throughout the world. His insightful research, focused on the in-depth understanding of the nature of intermolecular forces, has also led to numerous international collaborations with experimental physical chemists and chemical physicists. Dr. Le Roy was awarded the title University Professor at the University
of Waterloo. This designation is the university's highest academic honour and is to recognize the exceptional scholarly achievement and international pre-eminence of an outstanding faculty member. The faculty member retains the designation for life.
Faculty and Staff Awards and Achievements (continued from page 3)
Chemistry Matters Page 5
Inside his new, 10,000-square-foot laboratory at the Institute for Quantum Computing, David Cory is developing tools for navigating and harnessing the quantum universe.
Called quantum sensors and actuators, these devices will allow unprecedented control over nature’s smallest building blocks, leading toward computing and communication technologies that operate at the atomic scale.
A pioneer and innovator in experimental quantum physics and quantum engineering, Cory’s research has already led to a range of patented applications, spanning from medicine to oil exploration.
Cory joined IQC in 2010 as a Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC), a federal initiative bringing top international scientists to Canada with funding of $10 million per chair over seven years. Of only 19 such positions granted across
Canada, the University of Waterloo was awarded two — Cory and Philippe van Cappellen, a renowned expert in ecohydrology.
Cory, during his prior tenure as a professor of nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, made significant breakthroughs in quantum information processing by advancing nuclear magnetic resonance methods.
He has a long history of collaboration with IQC scientists and describes Waterloo as “a wonderful environment” in which to pursue leading-edge research.
“The reason I was excited to come to the University of Waterloo and the Institute for Quantum Computing was to surround myself with people who share my passion,” said Cory. “There are individuals with great vision pushing
Tools to Harness the Quantum Universe by Colin Hunter
these technologies.”
The technologies Cory is developing in his lab will have immediate applications within quantum science, and will eventually lead to the world’s first generation of practical quantum devices. Such technologies, by harnessing the power of quantum mechanics, promise to far exceed the capabilities of the classical technologies we have today.
Explained Cory: “The beneficial outcomes of this community’s work in quantum information processing is that a decade from now there will be quantum devices that will enable us to solve problems we can’t solve today.”
David Cory at IQC
Reprinted with permission from: http://science.uwaterloo .ca/research/profiles/david-cory
Anniversary Milestones for Faculty and Staff
Congratulations to the following Department of Chemistry faculty and staff who are celebrating milestone anniversary years of service this year:
Janet Venne, 30 years John Honek, 25 years Mario Gauthier, 20 years Vassili Karanassios, 20 years Jean Duhamel, 15 years Elizabeth Meiering, 15
years Cathy van Esch, 15 years Michael Palmer, 10 years Jonathan Baugh, 5 years Eric Prouzet, 5 years Pavle Radovanovic, 5 years Shirley Tang, 5 years
Dr. Morris Tchir retired in December after 40 years of teaching organic chemistry to thousands of undergraduate and graduate students. Morris was a key contributor to the Chemistry Department and will be fondly remembered by the many students whom he positively influenced and by the staff and faculty who were fortunate to enjoy his good humor for so many years. He joked that he knew it would be time to retire when some of his former students’ grandchildren began showing up in his classes. The time came.
During his years at UW, Morris taught nearly every general chemistry and organic chemistry course offered by the Chemistry Department including Chemistry 026, 028, 038, 120, 123, 124, 126, 264, 265, 266, 267, 360, 368, and 464. He was a passionate and animated lecturer who engaged his students and entertained them with insightful anecdotes. Many students will remember his lessons on cyclohexane conformations using extra large molecular models, stories on real-life analogies to SN2 reactions, and the resolving power of NMR, amongst many others. He also taught innumerable students outside of classrooms with many undergraduates and graduate students seeking out his advice on all manner of
chemistry (especially photochemistry, polymers, and organic spectroscopy) and aspects of life. He always gave freely of his time. Morris enjoyed a reputation as an excellent lecturer and was formally recognized by the university with a UW Distinguished Teacher Award in 1984.
Aside from his contributions in the classroom, Morris also helped with outreach programs to bring chemistry to younger students. He was a perennial participant in the Science Spectacular show staged for high school students on Campus Day. He also regularly took part in Chem Lab Days which saw high school students from across southwestern Ontario come to UW to take part in chemistry experiments. He also kept the Staff Lounge luxuriant with his green thumb and will be remembered for his elaborate doodling during Departmental meetings.
Morris was born in Edmonton, and received his B.Sc. from the University of Alberta in 1965. He migrated east to Ontario and carried out his Ph.D. studies at the University of Western Ontario with Paul de Mayo (the de Mayo of the de Mayo reaction). After postdoctoral work at University College, London (England) with George Porter (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1967), he began his academic career at UW as an Assistant Professor on January 1, 1971. He was promoted to Associate
Professor in 1981. He served as the Faculty of Science Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs from 1996-2005.
We wish Morris well in his retirement and hope that he is able to spend many years of quality time with his wife Jiri, his children Peter and Darka, and his grandchildren. Perhaps he will show them the joys of carbon-based chemistry!
Bev Winkler By Janice Campbell
It is always difficult to know exactly what one should say about someone who is retiring after so many years working in the Department of Chemistry, but I will try my best to convey my sentiments about Bev Winkler and her stellar service to one and all over the past 25 years.
On August 17, 1964, Bev joined the Department as a secretary in the Chemistry Office. She remained here for the next ten years until motherhood called her name and she left for a ten-year period to raise her family. As luck would have it, we were able to convince her to return, initially on a temporary basis to fill a pregnancy leave, and then on a part-time basis from July 1984, and finally back to full-time status in 1998.
Bev was the first friendly face many students would encounter when they entered the Chemistry office. They were treated
(continued on page 6)
Retirements in the Department of Chemistry
Bev Winkler and Dr. Morris Tchir at their retirement party in December 2010
Chemistry Matters Page 7
respectfully and courteously, and she ensured that all queries were dealt with tact and diplomacy. As a seasoned professional, Bev maintained very positive relationships with all she encountered. She was a friend and a mentor to all. Her years of outstanding service were officially acknowledged by the University in 2006 when she was a recipient of the “Special Recognition Award for University Support Staff”, and in June 2011, she will be invested as a member of the “25-Year Club”.
At Bev’s retirement party in December 2010, I was asked to say a few words and upon some reflection I remembered a conversation we had had a few years ago about retirement and what some of our plans would be for that impending time in our life. I remember clearly what Bev said her plans would be. They included a warm climate with a sandy beach where she could dabble her toes in the sand, relax in the every so stylish and comfortable muumuu, while reading something totally
frivolous. Perhaps there would be a cocktail in hand or better yet, she would be enjoying one of her favourites, pecan pie. So to that end, I ensured that her retirement started off on the right note….Bev was presented with a “sandy beach”; a muumuu; a bottle of prepared cocktail mix; ; frivolous reading material; and last but not least a very decadent pecan pie! In addition to this and as a thank you for her many long years of service, the Department presented Bev with a gift certificate to a local jewellery store which will enable her to choose something of her liking as a memento of her time spent in the Department of Chemistry.
I know Bev looks ahead with anticipation of greater adventures as she embarks on this next chapter of her life. She wants to sink a few balls at the golf course, invest some time in other interests, but last but not least spend more time with her husband Brian, her sons, Peter and Mark, and her
granddaughter, Alliyah. I think that I speak for all of us that her family’s gain is our loss. As a friend and co-worker, I want to say that Bev’s warmth, energy and her spirit will be missed around the office. She has been an important part of this department and it won’t be the same around here without her. She has worked hard and now deserves every moment of fun and happiness that her retirement will bring. I am confident that she will keep in touch and allow us the privilege of continuing to be part of her life! May the good wishes so beautifully expressed in the following Irish Blessing be every present in her life:
May you always have work for your hands to do. May your pockets always have a coin or two. May the sun shine bright upon your window pane. May a rainbow follow each rain. And may the hand of a friend always be near you.
Happy Retirement Bev!
Retirements in the Department of Chemistry continued from page 5
Dr. T. Dieckmann and Co-Applicants: Gradient capable thermocycler
Dr. J. Honek and Co-Applicants: Departmental single crystal x-ray diffractometer
Dr. H. Kleinke: Hot press for thermoelectric materials
Dr. E. Meiering: Low pressure chromatography system
Dr. J. Pawliszyn: Scanning mobility particle sizer for use with needle trap and cold fiber devices
Dr. S. Taylor and Co-Applicants: Multiport freeze dryer
Congratulations to NSERC Equipment Grant Recipients 2011
Chemistry Matters Page 8
In 2009, WATLab was most fortunate to be awarded a Helium Ion Microscope (HIM) by Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Province of Ontario, as part of the Smart Materials Ontario Project. In a HIM, a He atom is field-ionized by a cryogenically cooled sharp needle, and the He+ ion is then accelerated and scanned across the sample by appropriate ion optics, while the secondary electrons generated by the He+ ion impact provide an image with exquisite topographical and materials contrast. The ORION Plus HIM, manufactured by Carl Zeiss Nano Technology Systems Division, is a revolutionary microscope that provides two major advantages over a conventional Scanning Electron Microscope
(SEM):
•Significantly better spatial resolution (down to 0.35 nm) than that of SEM for sub-Angstrom imaging: Using a fast He+ ion beam with a de Broglie wavelength ~100 times smaller than that of an electron, diffraction effects that limit the resolution of a SEM to 1 nm can be significantly reduced, resulting in a much smaller probe volume. As the He+ beam enters the material, there is also less scattering, reducing the blurring effect as in a SEM and significantly extending the depth of view. These have led to considerably better spatial resolution, with the ultimate resolution limit predicted at 0.25 nm (approx. size of one gold atom).
•Considerably less sputtering and high fidelity in probe volume definition for nanomachining and nanofabrication: Helium is much less massive than gallium, the ion commonly used in a Focussed Ion Beam micromachining system, so that there is negligible sputtering or subsurface damage, which substantially reduces the beam-substrate interaction volume. This has also provided superior precision in defining the beam-substrate interaction location, which enables machining at the nanoscale and advanced nanofabrication
applications using direct-write lithography and ion-beam-induced chemistry.
Canada’s first Helium Ion Microscope (one of just 22 in the World) has been successfully commissioned in C2-080 on 19 April 2011 and is now fully operational. Machine physics studies conducted in early May have confirmed the outstanding achievable imaging quality, particularly for oxide materials, and the extraordinary imaging power of this new tool in the nano-world. Very recent testing of employing the HIM as a nanomachining tool has shown great promise.
Canada’s First Helium Ion Microscope Now Commissioned at WATLab by Dr. Tong Leung
Sub‐millimetre‐long n oxide nanowires grown by catalyst‐assisted Pulsed Laser Deposi on at WATLab.
Zeiss ORION Plus – Canada’s first Helium Ion Microscope commissioned at WATLab.
Chemistry Matters Page 9
Southern Ontario Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference by Amanda Bongers
The 39th Southern Ontario Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference (SOUSCC) was held at the University of Waterloo on Saturday, March 26th. The conference was organized by our undergraduate Chemistry Club. The conference included 118 presentations (a record high) from students from universities all across southern Ontario. Students were able to showcase their research in all areas of chemistry and exchange ideas with students from other campuses. Students were excited to spend the day learning about research from across Ontario, and many became engaged and participated by asking questions in the seminars. They were also treated to a
rousing and inspiring talk by Dr. Jean Duhamel, from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo on "Bubbly Chemistry: An optimistic look at what the future may hold for young scientists." Dr. Duhamel left the audience with an optimistic view of the field of chemistry today. At the banquet, 24 outstanding students from the different divisions were awarded with monetary and textbook prizes, as well as many more honourable mentions. We also announced the location of next year's conference, the University of Guelph.
Waterloo students not only hosted the event but presented talks as well. Talks were adjudicated by
judges from academia and industry. Waterloo award winners included: Carl Haugen, honourable mention, Physical, Theoretical, and Computational Chemistry; Natalie Koay, honourable mention, Organic Chemistry; Duncan MacKenzie, honourable mention, Biological and Medicinal Chemistry; Michelle Revoy, third prize, Inorganic Chemistry; and Blake Ziegler, first prize, Physical, Theoretical, and Computational Chemistry.
A complete list of award winners can be found at: http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~souscc11/awards.
Speed Networking 2.0: A Date with Your Future by Bonnie Fretz
On Tuesday, November 16, 2010, over 200 graduate and undergraduate students met 40 UW Science alumni in a dynamic, fast-paced career exploration event. The evening was modeled after Speed Dating—a popular social networking phenomena. Small groups of students were introduced to alumni working in traditional and non-traditional Science fields as well as students and faculty in graduate and professional programs.
At seven minute intervals curious students connected with alumni where career-related questions were posed and answered, job experiences shared, and work-place anecdotes flourished. The event, sponsored by SciSoc and FSF and organized by Alumni Services, was the second of its kind this year—back by popular demand after the inaugural March 2010 event.
A special thank you to UW Chemistry alumni who
participated in the event: Adrien Côté, Jean Hein, Isabelle Henderson. Chris and Terry McCurdy, Enrico Seminerio, Greg Sprah, David Tait, Carey Bissonnette, Martin Smith, Mike Makahnouk and Laura Ingram.
On February 15, 2011, a group of faculty, students and staff from the Department of Chemistry attended a tour at Apotex Pharmachem Inc. in Brantford, hosted by 2010 Distinguished Alumni for the Faculty of Science, Stephen Horne, Vice President Research and Development (far left). The
group is shown here suited up for a tour of the manufacturing plant, led by Martin Ehlert, Vice President Manufacturing (far right). The group included Dr. John Honek and Dr. Guy Guillemette (Chemistry Professors).
At the University of Waterloo, we know how important it is to get students excited about chemistry. The Department of Chemistry has created a new outreach program targeting both high school teachers and students from grades nine to twelve. Our outreach program aims to support teachers and inspire high school students in various ways, including:
•Promoting chemistry through classroom visits with exciting demonstrations and activities that are relevant to the Ontario high school curriculum
•Providing additional support for high school teachers by offering up-to-date, real world chemistry lessons and activities to integrate into the class curriculum
•Creating a “Chemistry Community” to enhance the communication between the Department of Chemistry educators and local teachers through meetings and discussions of relevant topics in chemical education
I have developed a selection of hands-on laboratory exercises and demonstrations for grades nine to twelve including: The chemistry of hot and cold packs; The synthesis of Nylon-6,10; Liquid light (chemilumin-escence); Forensic investigations; and Spectacular combustion. Each laboratory exercise is designed to specifically fit into the high school curriculum, and promote Chemistry at the University of Waterloo. Thus far, we have worked with 11 different groups,
and our outreach program has involved over 190 students (and counting). I am still scheduling classroom visits for the spring, and am looking forward to the visits that have already been scheduled for the fall term.
As this program is just getting off the ground, I am always looking for new activities and challenges, and thus welcome any feedback or information pertaining to chemistry topics from grades 9-12. If you are interested in our program, or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected]
Chemistry Outreach at Waterloo by Dr. Laura Ingram
Chemistry faculty, students and staff on a tour at Apotex Pharmachem Inc.
Always at the forefront of innovation, the University of Waterloo initiated a collaborative student-design project to celebrate 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry. Chem 13 News together with the Chemistry Department and the Faculty of Science encouraged chemistry educators and enthusiasts worldwide to adopt an element and artistically interpret that element to eventually be brought
together in a mosaic of science and art. Chem 13 News readers signed up their students to create one elemental tile for the periodic table. A year later, with the project complete, we have designs by chemistry students from all Canadian provinces and territories, 20 US states and 14 different countries. Each element captures a unique and creative spark but together they ignite. The whole table is breathtaking!
Please visit chemistry.uwaterloo.ca/iyc/periodic-table-project to see how amazing the tiles all look together.
Now that the website is live, we are turning our focus to producing a poster, which we hope will hang in classrooms throughout the country. We are also working on ways to share this project with even more educators and enthusiasts. And we won’t stop there; there are a few other
surprises in store and as soon as details are finalized we will post them at our website chemistry/uwaterloo.ca/iyc/periodic-table-project.
Featured below are elemental tiles created by students, alumni, instructors and faculty from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo. Go to the website to learn about the creative process behind each of the tiles: chemistry.uwaterloo.ca/iyc/periodic-table-project.
The Chem 13 News Periodic Table by Jean Hein
1, H, Hydrogen, Anna Sinicki, UW Alumnus, Member of University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team, Waterloo ON 3, Li, Lithium, Brian Ellis, UW alumnus, Member of Linda Nazar’s group at UW Department of Chemistry 8, O, Oxygen, Angela Swartz, UW alumnus, Teacher at Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School, Waterloo ON 9, F, Fluorine, John Honek, Chair of UW Chemistry Department 13, Al, Aluminum, Jean Hein, UW alumnus, Editor of Chem 13 News, UW Chemistry Department, Original artwork by Munjyot Jaswal, a UW co-op student assisting with IYC project. 19, K, Potassium, Vetura Jeyandran, UW Student, UW co-op student assisting with IYC project 44, Ru, Ruthenium, Andy Cherkas, UW alumnus, Head of Science at Stouffville District Secondary School, Stouffville ON 51, Sb, Antimony, Allan Van Brunschot, UW alumnus, Teacher at Kitchener-Waterloo C.I. & V.S., Waterloo ON 53, I, Iodine, Michelle Revoy and Sabrina Stanley, UW Students, Members of UW Chemistry Club 75, Re, Rhenium Steven Westcott, UW alumnus, Professor at Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB 96, Cm, Curium, Sue Stathopulos, UW alumnus, First Year Chemistry Lab Instructor, University of Waterloo 99, Es, Einsteinium, Jeanne Honsberger, UW alumnus, Teacher at Port Credit Secondary School, Port Credit, ON
IBMB Seminar Series January 18, 2011 Decoding the Neural Basis of Planning in the Rat Dr. Matt van der Meer January 25, 2011 Towards Controlling Cells: Combined Experimental and Computational Work in Synthetic Biology Dr. David McMillen February 8, 2011 Functional Genomic Studies of Fish Stress and Immune Responses Dr. Matthew Rise March 1, 2011 SAM Domains - A Versatile Platform for Protein-ligand Interactions Dr. Logan Donaldson March 8, 2011 Contextual Synthetic Lethality and Hypoxic Cells: New Ways to Target Cancer Cells via Defective DNA Repair Dr. Robert Bristow March 15, 2011 Antimicrobial resistance in the clinical microbiology laboratory Dr. Dyllan Pilai March 22, 2011 Variants of Cardiac Actin in Heart Disease Dr. John Dawson March 29, 2011 Molecular Simulations of Peptides and Proteins in Biological Membranes Dr. Régis Pomés
April 5, 2011 Computational Insights into Enzymes Relevant to Porphyrin Biosynthesis Dr. James Gauld April 12, 2011 Engineering Synthetic Control Over Rho GTPases Using Calcium and Calmodulin Signaling Dr. Kevin Truong April 19, 2011 Design of Complex Nanoparticulate Carriers for Oral Delivery of Insulin Dr. Ronald Neufeld April 26, 2011 Specificity Profiling of Signaling Proteins through Combinatorial Chemistry Dr. Dehua Pei May 3, 2011 Punching Holes into Membranes: How pro-apoptotic proteins cooperate to form channels in lipid bilayers Dr. Cecile Fradin May 16, 2011 Novel Active Site Inhibitors of Prenyl Synthase Enzymes as Potential Therapeutics Dr. Youla Tsantrizos June 14, 2011 Glycomics: Exploring the Sugary Side of Biology Dr. Anne Dell Chemistry Seminar Series August 19, 2010 Use of Organotin Intermediates for Selective Substitution of Polyols Dr. T. Bruce Grindley
September 17, 2010 Metals in Negative Oxidation States Dr. Arthur Mar November 3, 2010 Tailoring Spin and Magnetism in Quantum Dots Dr. Igor Zutic November 11, 2010 Getting More out of Gas Phase Separations Dr. James Harynuk February 22, 2011 Tales of Macromolecular Self-assembly: Design, Characterization and Application Dr. Yan Geng April 14, 2011 The Total Synthesis of Heterocyclic Natural Products Dr. Michael Kerr May 4, 2011 Designing, Measuring and Controlling the Surface Chemistry of Materials Dr. Byron Gates May 12, 2011 Matching our Curriculum to our Planet Dr. Catherine Middlecamp May 18, 2011 Folding and Assemby of Helical Nano-Architectures Dr. Ivan Huc June 7, 2011 Syntheses in Molten Metals - Good for Borides and Surprises Dr. Harald Hillebrecht June 13, 2011 Mass Spectrometric Strategies for Glycomics and Glycoproteomics Dr. Anne Dell
Seminars in the Department of Chemistry
Dr. Anne Dell was the Department of Chemistry’s honorary degree recipient at Spring 2011 Convocation. She presented two seminars during her visit to UW; a Chemistry Seminar on June 13 and an IBMB Seminar on June 14.
Dr. Dell is an internationally respected biochemist focusing on the chemistry and biochemistry of carbohydrates. She has made and continues to make major discoveries in the biological and medical sciences due to her research investigations on the structure and function of glycoconjugates and the study of cellular glycomics. Glycomics is the comprehensive study of a cell’s entire complement of sugars, including their genetic, physiologic, pathologic, and other intra- and extra-cellular functions. Cell-cell recognition is extensively mediated by molecular interactions between proteins and surface sugars. Dr. Dell’s studies have contributed in a major fashion to our fundamental understanding of how cell-cell communications occur in living systems. These critical studies are quintessential to medically important topics such as bacterial infection and cancer. Photo credit: Chris Hughes, creative services. Photo compliments of the Registrar's Office
Chemistry Matters Page 13
Congratulation to Chemistry students who have won the following awards in the Department of Chemistry. (Supervisors in brackets) The University of Waterloo Alumni Gold Medal
Ilia Droujinine
Dean of Science Award (M.Sc.)
Javed Akbar (Dr. Wettig)
(GWC)2 2011 Award Recipients Bruker BioSpin Graduate Scholarship Sanja Risticevic (Dr. Pawliszyn)
David Holden Memorial Scholarship Nafiseh Moghimi (Dr. Leung)
Charles S. Humphrey Graduate Fellowship in Chemistry Jarrod Johnson (Dr. Dmitrienko)
Copyright Rules and Regulations The following links provide information about copyright rules and regulations. The second link is for thesis regulations in which copyright issues related directly to completing your thesis are addressed.
Graduate Student Directory You may wish to check the "People" list on the department website. The Graduate Student list is up to date and readily available. If you see something that needs to be corrected, contact Cathy van Esch, Administrative Co-ordinator for Graduate Studies.
Web site aimed at immigrants to K-W By Steve Smith, Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies
"For those that may be new to our community, whether a student, a postdoc or faculty, I have a website that may be of immense help to you. It contains information on immigrating, employment, education, housing, health, community, transportation etc., all of which can overwhelm a newcomer. I have included a small portion of an article as well as the link to the portal. Please check it out and pass it on to those whom it may benefit:
"Winter, health cards, bus routes, unemployment, Canadian currency, childcare, housing, education, all these and more are familiar to long-time
Waterloo Region residents but can be utterly baffling to a new immigrant or refugee...... Recognizing these needs, the Waterloo Region Immigrant Employment Network (WRIEN), the Region of Waterloo, and the Waterloo Public Library, in partnership with the federal and provincial governments as well as numerous local agencies, collaborated to create a newcomers information portal for Waterloo Region. The site serves three groups: those considering immigrating to Canada, immigrants in Canada considering relocating, and immigrants and refugees already in the Region....."
http://www.newwr.ca /Pages/Home.aspx
Safety Training in the Department of Chemistry by Ken Gosselink
All faculty, staff, working students (whether paid or unpaid), grad students, post doctorate fellows, and visiting professors in the Department of Chemistry must complete: Employee Safety Orientation, Workplace Violence Awareness, and WHMIS for Employees. Please note that anyone working within a
laboratory must also, at the very least, complete: Laboratory Safety. People working with specific hazards must complete the necessary training prior to working with the hazard. Hazard specific training includes: BioSafety, Cryogenic and Compressed Gas Safety, Radiation Safety Laboratory, Radiation Safety Logging sources and
Moisture Gauges, Radiation Safety Transportation, X-Ray Safety, and Laser Safety. Please follow this link and log in to proceed with the training. http://www.safetyoffice.uwaterloo.ca/hse/training/training.html
