 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
2018 Award Winners
Congratulations to the four winners of the 2018 CNC-IUPAC Travel Awards:
Sophie Rousseaux, University of Toronto - St. George Campus
Dr. Sophie Rousseaux obtained her PhD in 2012 from the University of Ottawa working in the area of palladium catalysis under the guidance of Prof. Keith Fagnou and Prof. Stephen L. Buchwald (MIT). In 2012, she moved to the University of Oxford to work with Prof. Harry L. Anderson on the self-assembly of porphyrin nanorings as an NSERC postdoctoral fellow and Glasstone Research Fellow. During her time at Oxford, Sophie was also a Junior Research Fellow at St John’s College. In July 2015, Sophie joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor where she is also a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair since 2016. Her group’s research interests include the development of nickel-catalyzed reactions and the use of homoenolates as reactive intermediates in organic synthesis. With the support of the CNC/IUPAC travel award, Sophie will attend the 22nd International Conference on Organic Synthesis in Florence, Italy from 16-21 September 2018.
Michael Katz, Memorial University of NewfoundlandThe research program of Dr. Katz is centered around porous material. Presently, the focus within the research team is on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). MOFs are porous materials formed via the reaction of an inorganic clusters/cations and an organic bridging ligand. The scaffolding formed from this reaction leaves unused space inside the material. The overarching goal of the research team is to form MOFs that will be featured in separation science. To achieve this goal, the team examines the synthesis of MOFs, the properties of MOFs, and the interaction of MOFs with guest molecules. A recent example of our work examines how a new class of photo-switching MOFs exhibits a change in retention time depending on the state of the photo isomer. With the 2018 CNC/IUPAC Travel Award, Dr. Katz will travel to the 43rd International Conference on Coordination Chemistry in Sendai Japan.
Jeff Warren, Simon Fraser University
Jeff Warren earned a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Washington State University before undertaking Ph.D. research at the University of Washington with James M. Mayer. Following completion of his Ph.D. in 2010, he moved to the California Institute of Technology to carry out postdoctoral research with Harry B. Gray. From 2010 to 2013, Jeff was a U.S. National Institutes of Health Ruth Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellow. In 2013, he began his independent career at Simon Fraser University. The Warren group is investigating the redox chemistry of small molecules for applications in renewable energy and artificial protein models for reactions of redox active amino acids. Jeff is delighted to be a CNC-IUPAC Travel Awardee and he will use this award to attend the 27th IUPAC International Symposium on Photochemistry in Dublin, Ireland.
Yuri Bolshan, University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT)
Dr. Yuri Bolshan received his BSc Honours Co-op at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He then investigated transition metal-catalyzed transformations in Prof. Robert Batey’s group at the University of Toronto. After completing his PhD, Dr. Bolshan joined the laboratory of Prof. Tohru Fukuyama at the University of Tokyo as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral fellow. In Japan Dr. Bolshan worked on the total synthesis of oxycodone. Subsequently, he joined the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) where he was involved in the design of chemical probes for epigenetic proteins. After a brief term at Dalton Pharma Services Dr. Bolshan started his independent academic career at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) in 2012. His current research is focused on the development of novel Brønsted acid-catalyzed reactions of organoboranes. Yuro will attend the 22nd International Conference on Organic Synthesis in Florence, Italy from 16-21 September 2018 with the support of CNC-IUPAC.
