2010 Award Winners

Congratulations to the five winners of the 2010 CNC-IUPAC Travel Awards:

Michel Gravel, University of Saskatchewan
Michel Gravel received his B.Sc. from the Université de Sherbrooke in 1997, and his Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in 2004 under the supervision of Professor Dennis Hall. Following a NSERC postdoctoral fellowship with Viresh Rawal at the University of Chicago, he joined the faculty at the University of Saskatchewan in August 2006. His research interests focus on the discovery of new organocatalytic reactions. Current efforts are devoted to the design of domino reactions mediated by N-Heterocyclic Carbenes (NHC), and to the development of novel chiral NHC catalysts. With the support of the CNC/IUPAC Travel Award, he will attend the 18th International Conference on Organic Synthesis in Bergen, Norway in August 2010.

Christian Pellerin, Université de Montréal
Christian Pellerin received his Ph.D. in 2002 at Université Laval under the supervision of Michel Pézolet and Robert E. Prud'homme, and completed post-doctoral training at the University of Delaware with John F. Rabolt and D. Bruce Chase (DuPont). He joined the Department of chemistry at Université de Montréal in 2005, where he studies the structure and properties of polymer complexes, biopolymers, and electrospun nanofibers. Pellerin received the 2009 Meggers Award from the Society for Applied Spectroscopy for his work on the development of new spectroscopy techniques for the dynamic characterization of materials. With the support of the 2010 CNC-IUPAC Travel Award, he will attend the 8th International IUPAC Conference on Polymer-Solvent Complexes and Intercalates in Strasbourg, France.

Michael Serpe, University of Alberta
Michael J. Serpe received his B.Sc. at the University of Central Florida in 2000. He received his Ph.D from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2004, working in the group of Professor Andrew Lyon. There he developed novel polymeric materials for applications in drug delivery, microoptic arrays, and photonics. After conducting research in industry, he joined the group of Professor Stephen Craig at Duke University in 2006. There he used single-molecule force spectroscopy to investigate the time and distance dependence of reversible polymer bridging between surfaces. He joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta as an Assistant Professor in 2009. The Serpe Group is studying various aspects of colloid, polymer and surface science, with emphasis on polymer mediated surface-surface interactions. He will use the CNC/IUPAC Travel Award to attend the 18th International Conference on Polymer Characterization; World Forum on Advanced Materials in Siegen, Germany in April 2010.

Michael Shaver, University of Prince Edward Island
Michael Shaver received his PhD in 2004 from the University of British Columbia under the supervision of Prof. Mike Fryzuk. He then spent two years working as an NSERC post-doctoral fellow at Imperial College London under the direction of Prof. Vernon Gibson before joining the faculty of the University of Prince Edward Island in 2007. In September 2009, Dr. Shaver was named the UPEI Research Professor in Green Materials Chemistry. His past experiences in ligand design, catalysis and polymerization shape his current research interests under the umbrella of green organometallic chemistry. Current research projects include polymeric systems with tunable biodegradation profiles, new mechanisms in controlled radical polymerization and biomass conversion. With grateful acknowledgment of a CNC/IUPAC Travel Award for 2010, he will attend the IUPAC World Polymer Congress 2010 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Hongbin (Tony) Yan, Brock University – Hongbin (Tony) Yan received his PhD in 2001 at King’s College London, UK, under the supervision of Colin Reese. After two year’s post-doctoral training in the same group, he moved to the Institute for Biological Sciences of the National Research Council in Ottawa as a research associate in Harold Jennings’ group. He began his independent career at Brock University in 2005. His research focuses on the chemistry and applications of molecules of biological importance, particularly nucleic acids, carbohydrates and bioconjugates. With the support from the CNC-IUPAC Travel Awards, Yan will attend the 25th International Carbohydrate Symposium in Chiba, Japan in August 2010.