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2022 Award Winners
Congratulations to the seven winners of the 2022 CNC-IUPAC Travel Awards:
Stefania Impellizzeri, Ryerson University
Dr. Stefania Impellizzeri is Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biology of Ryerson University. An expert in contemporary physical organic and materials chemistry, Impellizzeri studies the discovery of new strategies to couple molecules and nanostructured materials, and original applications of single-molecule fluorescence microscopy techniques (tools that are traditionally employed in the biological sector) for the study of chemical phenomena, materials properties, chemical reactions, and catalysis. Her applied research is focused on the design and synthesis of switchable fluorescent molecules and nanoparticles for bioimaging, digital processing and communications with molecules, sensing, nanoengineered textiles and coatings. She has been recognized by the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) as a rising star in her field by being awarded the 2021 PCCP (Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics) Emerging Investigator Lectureship. She will be presenting at the 28th IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry (July 2022, Amsterdam). Twitter: @SfnImpellizzeri
Andrew Beharry, University of Toronto Mississauga
Dr. Andrew Beharry obtained his Ph.D. in 2012 from the University of Toronto where he developed azobenzenebased photoswitches under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Woolley. He then moved to Stanford University as a Human Frontiers Science Program Postdoctoral Fellow where he worked with Prof. Eric Kool on the development of fluorescent chemosensors for DNA repair enzymes. In 2016, Andrew joined the Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences at the University of Toronto Mississauga as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry. He has a multidisciplinary research program that employs organic chemistry, photochemistry, biochemistry, and cell biology, to develop photoactive molecules for clinical applications. Specifically, his lab is interested in small molecule fluorescent chemosensors for predicting anticancer drug resistance, and photoresponsive molecules for photopharmacology, specifically in photodynamic therapy against cancer and infectious diseases. With the CNC/IUPAC travel award, Andrew will attend the 28th IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry in Amsterdam.
Danielle Tokarz, St. Mary's University
Danielle Tokarz obtained her H.B.Sc. degree in 2008 and Ph.D. in 2014 from the University of Toronto where she studied the nonlinear optical properties of conjugated molecules. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in 2015 at the University Health Network, and undertook an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, using nonlinear optical microscopy for biomedical applications. In 2017, Danielle started as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at Saint Mary's University. Her current research program is geared towards characterizing ultrastructural alterations during natural as well as artificial synthesis and degradation reactions in carbohydrate- and protein-dense model systems viadevelopment of nonlinear optical microscopy imaging analysis techniques. With the support of the 2022 CNC-IUPAC Travel Award, Danielle will attend the 49th World Polymer Congress (IUPAC-MACRO 2022) to be held this upcoming July 2022 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Amanda Bongers, Queens's University
Dr. Amanda Bongers is an Assistant Professor at Queen's University and leads the Queen's Chemistry Education Research (QCER) Group. Her team studies how people learn chemistry with the goal of bringing evidence-based practices into classrooms. This work bridges chemistry and the natural sciences with cognitive science, education research, and the social sciences. Amanda completed her B.Sc. in Biochemistry at the University of Waterloo and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Ottawa. She stepped into Chemistry Education Research for her postdoctoral position with Dr. Alison Flynn at the University of Ottawa and Dr. Georg Northoff at Royal Ottawa Mental Health Institute. With the support of the CNC-IUPAC travel award, Dr. Bongers will attend the 26th IUPAC International Conference on Chemistry Education(ICCE) in Cape Town, South Africa, in July 2022. She will present research on how cognitive learning theories and methods can apply to chemistry education. Twitter: @AmandaBongers
Huck Grover, Memorial University Newfoundland
Dr. Grover is an Assistant Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland whose research interests include: i) the development of novel synthetic transformations, in particular, C-H activation, photoredox reactions, radical processes, and heterocycle/carbocycle annulations, for the rapid construction of structural frameworks present in natural compounds and pharmaceuticals. ii) The application of new synthetic methods toward the synthesis of bioactive natural products (alkaloids, terpenes, and polyketides). Concise, well-designed approaches not only allow for the synthesis of these molecules in useful quantities, but also allow for modular synthetic derivatization of these targets for potential structure-activity relationship studies. iii) Medicinal chemistry - library preparation of structurally complex organic target molecules via strategic design and late-stage functionalization of therapeutic drug derivatives (and natural products) for collaborative high-throughput screening against a variety of different disease states. With the CNC-IUPAC Travel Award, Dr. Grover will be attending the 31st International Symposium on the Chemistry of Natural Products and 11th Congress on Biodiversity in Naples, Italy.
Anita Nivedha, Molecular Forecaster, Inc.
Dr. Anita K. Nivedha is a Scientist at Molecular Forecaster Inc., Montreal, Canada, and her expertise lies in Computational Biophysical Chemistry. She completed her undergraduate degree in Bioinformatics at Vellore Institute of Technology University, Tamilnadu, India. She obtained her PhD in Computational Carbohydrate Chemistry in Prof. Robert J. Woods' Laboratory in the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, University of Georgia, Georgia, USA. As part of her doctoral thesis, she developed Vina-Carb, an adaptation of AutoDock Vina for docking carbohydrate ligands. She conducted her postdoctoral research in Prof. Nagarajan Vaidehi's Laboratory at the City of Hope National Medical Center, California, USA, studying the conformation and dynamics of proteins, understanding allosteric communication networks and in the design of ligand-based pharmacophores for drug discovery. With support from the CNC/IUPAC award, Dr. Nivedha will attend the 12th Triennial Congress of the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC) in Vancouver, Canada in July 2022 where she will be giving an invited talk. Dr. Nivedha's award is sponsored by the CNCIUPAC Company Associates program.
Nikolay Kornienko, Université de Montréal
Professor Nikolay Kornienko is an Assistant Professor at the Université of Montréal. His overarching motivation is to discover and implement the chemistry necessary to transition to a sustainable energy-based society. Specifically, he is developing materials to convert solar energy to chemical fuels as an energy storage media. Currently, catalysts that utilize solar-derived electricity to generate chemical fuels lack the performance necessary to render this technology practical. Within this framework, the Kornienko lab research entails both the design of novel electrocatalytic materials and in situ spectroscopic investigations. The aim here is to establish an iterative cycle where novel materials are first synthesized and systematically tested then subsequently probed through spectroscopic methods to develop a comprehensive understanding of the materials' structure-activity relationships. Prof. Kornienko will be attending the 28th IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry in Amsterdam to present his team's latest exciting results. Dr. Kornienko's award is sponsored by the CNC-IUPAC Company Associates program.
