Jun 2004: ACCN, the Canadian Chemical News

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canadienne June ■ juin

2004Vol. 56, No./no 6

Canadian

Infrastructure Renewal Canadian Light Source Synchrotron

Building BlocksBuilding Blocks

• Guest Column/Chroniqueur invité 2 The Right Tools for the Job Martin Cowie, MCIC

• Letters/Lettres 3

• Personals/Personnalités 3

• News Briefs/Nouvelles en bref 4

• Chemputing 8 Return to Sender Marvin D. Silbert, FCIC

• Chemfusion 9 Pop Quiz Joe Schwarcz, MCIC

• Local Section News/Nouvelles des sections locales 24

• Division News/Nouvelles des divisions 25

• Student News/Nouvelles des étudiants 26

• Events/Événements 27

• Employment Wanted/Demandes d’emploi 27

• Careers/Carrières 27

• Professional Directory/Répertoire professionnel 27

20105

Table of contentsTable des matières

L’Actualité chimique canadienne ■ Canadian Chemical News

2004Vol. 56, No./no 6

June ■ juin

Page Page Page

A p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h e C I CU n e p u b l i c a t i o n d e l ’ I C C

Cover/CouvertureHow is Canada constructing the firm foundation required to compete in the international arena? What improvements are being made to buildings, laboratories, equipment, and database s? What more do we need?

Photo by Jeff Prieb

Feature Articles/Articles de fond

Foundations of Innovation 10CFI’s commitment to help transform Canada into one of the top nations in R&D

Carmen Charette

Open for Business 12NRC-IRC Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure Research

Mixing It Up 14A winning approach to stewardship of undergraduate lab programs creates a laboratory Dream Team

David Wardlaw, MCIC

Windows of Opportunity 17Synchrotron opens new windows in chemical analysis

Michael Robin

2 L’Actualité chimique canadienne � juin 2004

There i s reason for Canad ian

scientists to be op-timistic about the future. Our prime minister appears to have a healthy appreciation of the importance of science and technology in building Canada’s

future, and in recognition of this, has appointed Arthur Carty, HFCIC, a distin-guished researcher and chemist, as the national science advisor. This promises to build upon two important previous federal initiatives: the Canada Research Chairs (CRC), and the Canada Founda-tion for Innovation (CFI). These programs have finally enabled Canada to compete internationally in recruiting and retaining outstanding researchers.

However, all is not rosy in Canadian science. NSERC, the core funding agency for science and engineering, is chronically under-funded and is in danger of losing those parts of the Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) programs that support the purchase of large instruments (RTI-2 and RTI-3 programs). This funding crisis has resulted from the enormous pressures exerted by the unprecedented increases in the number of new applicants—by a factor of almost three in the last seven years. Currently, new researchers comprise over one-third of all applicants. Despite increases to NSERC’s budget, there remains a shortfall, which has necessitated some redistribution of funds from other programs into the Discovery Grants program.

Among the programs hardest hit are the RTI competitions, which has seen a two-year moratorium on categories 2 and 3 (formerly the Major Equipment and Major Installation competitions). It is difficult to foresee how these vital programs can be reinstated in the near future under the cur-rent NSERC budget.

The lack of NSERC programs supporting the purchase of large research instruments is beginning to have a devastating effect on all research disciplines, particularly in chemistry, which has been the largest par-ticipant in the RTI programs. Certainly, the continuing absence of the RTI-2 and RTI-3

programs will mean that chemistry will be at a major disadvantage and unable to effectively compete internationally.

There is a widespread misconception that CFI programs fulfil the equipment needs of researchers. Certainly, through the CFI New Opportunities program and the Canada Research Chairs Infrastructure Fund, new Canadian researchers and CRC awardees are able to acquire important pieces of instrumentation . The CFI Innovation Fund also provides research infrastructure in priority areas identified in the institutions’ strategic research plans. However, these CFI programs do not address the desperate need to replace major pieces of aging equipment, such as high-field NMR spectrometers, mass spectrometers, and X-ray diffractom-eters, that are critical in support of modern chemistry research, or to upgrade to state-of-the-art instruments necessary to keep our researchers at the forefront in their fields. Such needs do not fit the CFI criteria, but are part of the necessary infrastructure of all chemistry departments. Moreover, the need for matching funds in the CFI programs is not uniformly met by all provinces, leading to serious inequities across the country. Al-though the CFI programs complement the NSERC RTI programs, under no circum-stances do they duplicate them.

NSERC’s Discovery Grants competition is its flagship program, supporting the ongoing and evolving research programs of our researchers. However, this impor-tant program cannot function effectively without the support of other programs such as scholarships for talented students and postdoctoral fellows, and RTI programs for the purchase of equipment—necessary both for carrying out the research and for train-ing future generations of highly qualified personnel. NSERC recognizes the impor-tance of these supporting programs and has recently moved to restore the minor equip-ment program to its former level. However, the current budget has not allowed the reinstatement of the programs in support of large instruments. If this doesn’t happen soon, the damage to the university research community may be irreparable.

Section headGuest Column

Chroniqueur invité

Editor-in-Chief/Rédactrice en chefMichelle Piquette

Managing Editor/Directrice de la rédactionHeather Dana Munroe

Graphic Designer/InfographisteKrista Leroux

Editorial Board/Conseil de la rédactionTerrance Rummery, FCIC, Chair/Président

Catherine A. Cardy, MCICCathleen Crudden, MCIC

Milena Sejnoha, MCIC

Editorial Office/Bureau de la rédaction130, rue Slater Street, Suite/bureau 550

Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2613-232-6252 • Fax/Téléc. 613-232-5862

[email protected] • www.accn.ca

Advertising/Publicité[email protected]

Subscription Rates/Tarifs d’abonnementNon CIC members/Non-membres de l’ICC : in/au Canada CAN$50; outside/à l’extérieur du Canada CAN$75 or/ou US$60. Single copy/Un exemplaire CAN$8.

Canadian Chemical New/L’Actualité chimique Canadienne (ACCN) is published 10 times a year by The Chemical Institute of Canada / est publié 10 fois par année par l’Institut de chimie du Canada. www.cheminst.ca

Recommended by The Chemical Institute of Canada, The Canadian Society for Chemistry, the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering, and the Canadian Society for Chemical Technology. Views expressed do not necessarily represent the official position of the Institute, or of the societies that recommend the magazine. Translation of any article into the other official language available upon request.

Recommandé par l’Institut de chimie du Canada, la Société canadienne de chimie, la Société canadienne de génie chimique et la Société canadienne de technologie chimique. Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement la position officielle de l’Institut ou des sociétés constituantes qui soutiennent la revue. La traduction de tous les articles dans l’autre langue officielle est disponible sur demande.

Change of Address/Changement d’[email protected]

Printed in Canada by Gilmore Printing Services Inc. and postage paid in Ottawa, ON./Imprimé au Canada par Gilmore Printing Services Inc. et port payé à Ottawa, ON.Publications Mail Agreement Number/No de convention de la Poste-publications :40021620. (USPS# 0007-718)

Indexed in the Canadian Business Index and available on-line in the Canadian Business and Current Affairs database. / Répertorié dans la Canadian Business Index et à votre disposition sur ligne dans la banque de données Canadian Business and Current Affairs.

ISSN 0823-5228

The Right Tools for the JobHow will the equipment needs of Canadian researchers be met?

Martin Cowie, MCIC

Martin Cowie, MCIC, is a professor and Chair of the chemistry department at the University of Alberta. He is currently the

NSERC Group Chair for Chemistry.

June 2004 � Canadian Chemical News 3

Monkey BusinessWilliam E. Rees wrote an informed and disturbing article about our energy future in the April 2004 issue of ACCN. Historically , it gave me a sense of déja vu.

About 100 years ago, in-formed and disturbing articles were written, foreseeing a world food crisis; population was growing fast while the supply of fertilizer was limited and non-renewable.

At that time, fertilizer was largely obtained by digging up deposits of guano on tropical

islands. But within a few short years, the Birkeland-Eyde process and the Haber process hadpaved the way for synthetic fertilizers . Exit the food crisis.

Now we need the energy equivalent of the synthetic fertilizer processes. Canada may have an advantage here in terms of its large temperature variations between winter and summer, typically between 250 K and 300 K. As any chemi-cal engineering student should know, a Carnot engine working between these temperatures has an efficiency of 16.7 per-cent. An actual heat engine

might have only 5–10 percent efficiency, but huge amounts of renewable energy are avail-able at no cost other than the capital cost of the engine and the energy storage system. In the 1960s, there was a spate of research interest in the use of inorganic eutectics for heat storage. Interest seems to have faded, but presumably the knowledge gained is still there, somewhere in the literature.

Research today is a huge source of employment that dwarfs the humble research community of 100 years ago. According to ISI statistics,

20 million scientific papers have been written in the past 30 years and the rate of pub-lication must now be over a million papers per year. Surely an effort of this magnitude can lead to a solution of the per-ceived energy crisis.

Bob Newhart once did a sketch based on the idea that if enough monkeys were put to work at typewriters, the entire works of Shakespeare could be written. With good research leadership we should be able to do better than the monkeys.

Malcolm Baird, FCIC

Letters / LettresSection head

PersonalsPersonnalités

Distinction

Jillian Buriak, MCIC, senior researcher at the National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) and a professor in the department of chemistry at the University of Alberta (U of A), was named to the 2003 edition of “Canada’s Top 40 Under 40TM.” The annual listing of exceptional young Canadians was featured in the latest issue of Report on Business maga-zine. Canada’s Top 40 Under 40TM is a national program founded and managed by The Caldwell Partners to celebrate leaders of today and tomorrow, and to honour Canadians who have reached a significant level

of success but have not yet reached the age of 40.

Originally from the Toronto area, Buriak returned to Canada last year to head the Materials and Interfacial Chemistry Group at NINT and teach chemistry at the U of A. Previously, she worked at Pur-due University and the Scripps Research Institute. Buriak has been the recipient of many academic and professional awards, including the Ameri-can Chemical Society Pure Chemistry Award in 2003.

Simon Fraser University’s Fiona Brinkman is on a roll. At the age of 36, the assistant pro-fessor of molecular biology and biochemistry has collected her third major career achievement award for work that often takes a lifetime to perform. Brinkman has become the third Simon Fraser University researcher to make Canada’s Top 40 Under 40TM list since its inception nine years ago.

A pioneer in bioinformatics, Brinkman uses high-powered computers to unravel the DNA of living creatures. Brinkman’s

research previously garnered her a Science Council of BC Young Innovator award and a spot on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s list of the world’s top 100 young innovator .

Personal experience with infectious diseases has made the Ontario-born scientist a relentless hunter of the pro-teins that build disease-causing bacteria. “My aunt died of meningitis at the age of two, antibiotics saved me from suc-cumbing to it at the same age, and now I want to protect my 16-month-old son,” explains Brinkman. Like a hunter, armed with an evolving ge-netic map, Brinkman isolates proteins that turn harmless microbes into disease spread-ing bacteria or make them drug resistant.

In the last few years, Brink-man has pioneered a number of developments. They include inventing the world’s most precise program for predict-ing which proteins are on the surface of bacteria, and could be primary candidates for pro-ducing vaccines.

Jillian Buriak, MCIC

Theodore P. Schaefer, FCIC, has been appointed Member of the Order of Canada. An eminent researcher and scholar in the field of spectroscopy, Schaefer is University Dis-tinguished Professor at the University of Manitoba. His many seminal papers helped to establish nuclear mag-netic resonance as one of the most important tech niques available in chemistry and structural biology. The recipi-ent of numerous awards and honours, he is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Canada and The Chemical Institute of Canada. Generous with his time, he served on numerous committees of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. His commitment and passion for chemistry have inspired countless young scientists.

The Order of Canada was established in 1967 to recog-nize outstanding achievement and service in various fields of human endeavour. Ap-pointments are made on the recommendation of an advi-sory council, chaired by the


Section headPersonals

Personnalités

Chief Justice of Canada. The motto of the Order is Desider-antes meliorem patriam —They desire a better country.

The Order of Canada recog-nizes people who have made a difference to our country. From local citizens to national and international personali-ties, all Canadians are eligible for the Order of Canada, our country’s highest honour for lifetime achievement. Three different levels of membership honour people whose accom-plishments vary in degree and scope: Companion, Officer, and Member.

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General of Canada, presided at the investiture cere-mony held Friday, May 14, 2004.

Gregory Scholes of the University of Toronto’s chemistry department has won the highly sought U.S.-based Sloan Research Fellowship. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

of New York awards 116 fellowships annually to the very best young faculty mem-bers in seven specified fields of science . Scholes joins a prestigious group of winners for 2004, most of whom hail from U.S. universities includ-ing Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and the University of California at Berkeley. Scholes is explor-ing new materials for the generation, control, and manip-ulation of light. His work brings together the chemistry of

nanocrystal growth, chemical physics of semiconductors, and self-assembly of liquid crystal-line substances.

P. (Sundar) Sundararajan, FCIC, is the winner of the Materials Chemistry Award of the 16th Canadian Materials Science Conference that was held June 5–8, 2004 in Ottawa, ON. He delivered the Award Lecture on carbon nanotube/polymer composites. Sunda-rarajan is an NSERC-Xerox Industrial Research Chair and a professor of chemistry at Carleton University.

Mary Anne White, FCIC, has been appointed to the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Canadian Light Source (CLS). The CLS is a third-generation, national synchrotron facility in Saskatoon, SK.

She has also been selected as this year’s winner of the APIC/Canpolar Award for a sci-entist who best communicates

scientific research to the public. This award, presented by the Atlantic Provinces Council on Sciences and sponsored by Can-polar East, recognizes White’s contributions to the public awareness of science at places such as the Discovery Centre, on the Discovery Channel, on CBC Radio, many public lectures, and in print. She has written many newspaper columns, con-tributed to ACCN, and created chemistry activity booklets for elementary school children.

P. (Sundar) Sundararajan, FCIC

In MemoriamThe CIC offers its condolences to the families of:

Pierre Desjardins, MCICDimitrios V. Favis, FCICM. Lucien Girouard, MCICYung-Cheh Lu, MCICDouglas E. Ryan, FCIC

Canada Ranks No. 1 for R&D CostsIn February 2004, KPMG released the latest edition of its international cost compari-son study, “A CEO’s Guide to International Business Costs.” The study models the cost of investing in a new facility in 11 countries, including all of the G7 plus Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Austra-lia. City-by-city comparisons are also presented. The model compares costs for land andconstruction, salaries and benefits, transportation, utili-ties, financing costs, and taxes across a variety of industry sectors —one of which is

specialty chemicals—and then ranks countries compared to the U.S. which serves as the baseline. The comparisons were done with an exchange rate of CAN$1 = US$0.75.

The study found:• Canada has the lowest

overall costs, followed closely by Australia;

• Aggregate costs in Canada are 9 percent lower than in the U.S.; – For R&D, Canada again ranks no. 1 and has a 21 percent cost advantage over the U.S.

Looking only at the results for chemicals:• Canada comes out being

the lowest-cost location in the study;

• Costs are 6.1 percent lower in Canada than comparable costs in the U.S.

The KPMG report, along with sector-specific promotional brochures , includingone for chemicals, can be downloaded from: http://investincanada.ic.gc.ca/ipc/cms/browse?IPC_Lang=e&IPC_PageAction=view.

A public version of the model can be used to develop your own comparisons between cities within the study. The model can be accessed at: www.competitivealternatives.com/.

Industry Canada

News BriefsNouvelles en bref

Mary Anne White, FCIC


Pulp and Paper Pumped UpThe federal government will invest $8.7 million to help develop environmentally friendly pulp and paper manu-facturing technologies. This Technology Partnerships Can-ada (TPC) investment is part of a $29-million research and development project being un-dertaken by Honeywell ASCa to produce technologies that will

Evolution in a BeakerScientists at North Carolina State University have discovered that RNA can be used to create tiny, novel, inorganic particles.

Daniel Feldheim, associate professor of chemistry, Bruce Eaton, professor of chemistry, and doctoral student, Lina Gugliotti , used a new technique to coax specific sequences of lab-manufactured ribonucleic acid to catalyze the synthesis of an inorganic material—in this case palladium—into hexago-nally shaped particles less than a millionth of a metre in size.

Particles like these cannot be easily produced by other known methods, the researchers say. The research could speed the discovery of new materials for many applications, including electronic devices and fuel cells. The research appears in the April 16, 2004 issue of Science.

The NC State researchers found that these particle formations occurred rapidly,

with most forming within one minute. They also discovered that only very small amounts of metal—and even smaller amounts of RNA—were re-quired for particle growth.

Feldheim and Eaton say the technique allows them to “harness evolution in a beaker.”

“The method exploits the ability of RNA to evolve in re-sponse to selection pressures,” Feldheim said. “In this case we forced RNA sequences to evolve to form palladium nanoparticles that cannot be formed in the absence of RNA.”

“This research shows RNA as a ‘smart’ catalyst because it can be replicated,” Eaton said. “Most other catalysts can’t be replicated.”

The researchers have applied for a provisional meth-ods patent on the technique used to form the inorganic par-ticles. Future work will centre on explaining how the process works and creating particles with other inorganic materials.

NC State News Services

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Chemical CruiseA chemical once used in pesti-cides in Asia has accumulated thousands of miles away in Canada, according to a Univer-sity of Toronto (U of T) study. High concentrations of alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) were detected in the atmosphere of Sable Island off the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, said Frank Wania of the U of T chemistry department. The chemical was last used about 15 years ago in countries such as China and India but followed atmospheric and water flows across the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic oceans to end up in eastern Canada. Frigid northern temperatures slowed its evapo-ration and degradation rate and trapped the chemical until it hit warmer waters where it will eventually evaporate.

“The Arctic Ocean has a ‘lid’ on top in the form of an ice

cover,” Wania said. “Over the last 20 years, it acted as a sort of refrigerator preserving the chemical that is now flowing into Atlantic Canada.”

In the study, Wania and his team established a network of air sampling stations on a north-south route from the Arctic to Central America, and east-west from Newfound-land to Vancouver Island. The sampling stations consist of polymer resins—pellets of a lightweight plastic material—that absorb pollutants like a sponge, allowing researchers to monitor alpha-HCH and other chemicals across the continent. The study, which appears in the February, 2004 issue of Environmental Science and Technology, was funded by the Toxic Substances Research Ini-tiative by Environment Canada and Health Canada.

By Karen Kelly. Reprinted with permission from the University

of Toronto Bulletin

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result in reduced production costs for the pulp and paper industry and fewer negative environmental impacts.

The investment will support the research, development, and refinement of technolo-gies to help reduce the amount of materials required in the production of pulp and paper. These technologies will allow pulp and paper mills to convert trees more efficiently to pulp, and, in turn, more efficiently convert pulp to paper.

Camford Chemical Report

Section headNews Briefs

Nouvelles en bref



Nouvelles en bref

SemBioSys signs with DowSemBioSys Genetics Inc., a Canadian biotechnology com-pany, has signed a feasibilityagreement with Dow Agro-Sciences LLC, of Indianapolis, IN, for the StratosomeTM Biolog-ics System and its application to animal health biologics. Under the terms of the agree-ment, SemBioSys and Dow AgroSciences will engage in collaborative research with the aim of determining if the Stra-tosomeTM Biologics System can enable the commercialization of a Dow AgroSciences plant-made vaccine . Under the terms of the agreement, SemBioSys will receive upfront and mile-stone payments. Further terms of the agreement were not disclosed .

Calgary-based SemBioSys Genetics Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company focused on the development of therapeutic proteins and oils using its proprietary oilbody-based technology. It spun out of the University of Calgary one decade ago.

Redouble Recycling EffortsThe Associaton of Postcon-sumer Plastic Recyclers (APR) has begun an urgent campaign to reverse the waning North American plastic container recycling rate. The association is responding to a membership declaration that the continued critical shortage of bottles col-lected for recycling will soon cause the collapse of the North American plastics recycling infrastructure .

“We are dangerously close toirreversibly losing significant amounts of recycling capacity. Many, including the largest plastic reclaimers, are at risk. Business as usual cannot

SemBioSys scientist working with the proprietary Stratosome™ Biologics System

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“We believe that our Strato-some™ Biologics System, with its economic and functional benefits, makes it an outstand-ing platform for animal health products. We are extremely pleased to be working with Dow AgroSciences in develop-ing their vaccine,” said Andrew Baum, president and CEO of SemBioSys.

“We are very pleased to be working with SemBioSys in evaluating the Stratosome™ technology and its application to plant-made biologics for the animal health industry,” stated Butch Mercer, Global Business Leader, Animal Health and Nutrition for Dow AgroSciences.

This is the third funded development agreement an-nounced by SemBioSys in the last six months. In December, SemBioSys announced that it had executed a develop-ment agreement with Martek Biosciences Corporation to co-develop value-added specialty oil products (DHA containing safflower oil) with potential pharmaceutical and nutraceuti-cal applications.

Ruder Finn

Perc has PeakedAt one time, the largest market for perchloroethylene (perc) in North America was for use in dry cleaning. Increasing regu-latory pressure has seen its use for this purpose decline sub-stantially as new dry cleaning practices and alternative prod-ucts have come into play.

An estimated 30,000 dry cleaners in North America still use perc. In Canada, dry clean-ers have been reducing their need to purchase new product by incorporating the most available “next generation” dry cleaning equipment. Usu-ally, new dry cleaning systems employ a closed loop where the solvent is recycled and cleaned for re-use. The federal government recently put new regulations into place that will limit the use of perc at dry cleaning facilities.

Anscott Industries reports that it has seen marked success for its new product, Hydroclene dry cleaning solvent. It is available through Anscott’s distribution

channels and began its industry rollout last month. Hydroclene is a hydrocarbon solvent made by Shell Chemical.

Other alternatives to perc in dry cleaning include carbon dioxide, wet cleaning methods, and alternative solvents.

Perc is also used in industrial degreasing operations. The proposed solvent degreasing reg-ulations, expected to be finalized this year, will impose a three-year freeze on the use of perc in Canada. The use of perc in sol-vent degreasing operations will then be reduced to 65 percent .

Perc use for the production of alternative fluorocarbons and chemicals in North America will continue to be the largest market for the chemical. Phaseout regulations for fluoro-carbons produced using perc are not foreseen until around the year 2020.


continue ,” says Robin Cotchan, APR’s executive director.

An export surge to China, exceeding 35 percent of the U.S. PET bottles collected, has aggravated the supply shortage and inflated market prices. To meet the suppressed demand of the plastics recycling industry in North America and the expected ongoing exports to China, the collection of recyclable HDPE and PET plastic bottles needs to double in the next two years.

Locally funded curbside collection and traditional deposit/redemption systems in the U.S. have been insufficient to supply the needed growth in post-consumer bottles. Pro-gressive and creative collection programs that have been suc-cessful in Canada, Australia, and Europe need to be evaluated.


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Nouvelles en bref

Helpful HempIf Mohini Sain, MCIC, had his way, cars of the future may be fitted with tough, durable, and completely biodegradable bumpers made of hemp.

Sain is a professor in Uni-versity of Toronto’s faculty of forestry and department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry. He creates biocomposites from processed plant fibres. His latest research describes a way to create a material from hemp (a member of the cannabis family) and other agro-fibres such as flax, kenaf, wheat straw, and root crops that are both strong and lightweight. “We hope to develop this technology for automotive parts like instru-ment panels and bumpers, as well as structural applications for buildings and sports equip-ment and, ultimately, medical devices such as cardiac devices and blood bags,” says Sain.

His team treated stalks of hemp with chemicals to break down the “glue” that holds clumps of fibres together. The plant material was then combined with synthetic plas-tics and exposed to heat and pressure. This compresses the material into a variety of shapes, producing a consistent, durable product with significant resistance to environmental factors such as sunlight and temperature. However, if the plant material is mixed with plastics made from soy beans, corn-based bioplastics, or any other natural polymers, the researchers can create tough biocomposites that are com-pletely biodegradable. While these studies used hemp and flax, the process also works with kenaf, jute, wheat, and corn straws.

The plant material is meant to compete with tough synthetic materials such as glass fibres, and Sain hopes to create a plant-based biocomposite

that is as strong as steel by incorporating micro- and/or nano-sized natural fibres in diverse plastics. In the case of hemp, it has a “springy” characteristic that allows it to absorb energy, making it ideal for applications where crash-resistance is required. The team is already exploring research involving “nanobio-composite” technology that could someday be used in tissue engineering.

As a founding member of the newly formed Canadian Natural Composites Council, Sain says these green materials could ultimately help Canada reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. “One of the great-est benefits of this technology is that we will not harm our environment by overpro-ducing these natural fibres. It’s a step towards reducing petrochemical -based material consumption and living in a bio-based economy.”

Sain will be the director of the Centre for Biocomposites at the University of Toronto, slated to open this fall, which will educate people, improve awareness of biomaterials and their applications, and create a hub for biocomposite and bio-materials research in Canada. Scientists will collaborate with eight universities and more than 40 researchers from coast to coast, as well as more than two dozen private sector com-panies and the public sector.

Sain’s research is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation , the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the AUTO 21 Network of Centres of Excellence, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and Materials and Manufacturing Ontario, along with several industry partners.

By Nicolle Wahl. reprinted with permission from Edge magazine,

University of Toronto

Bioprocesses Upstage “Plain Old” ChemistryExciting advances in bio-technology are driving the increasing acceptance of biotech products in several industries—especially pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and chemicals. Bio-processes sometimes eliminate conventional steps in chemical synthesis while enabling cost-effective manufacturing.

“The pace of bioprocess adoption in different industries will depend on the economic viability of the process and the influence of regulations,” says technical insights analyst, Miriam Nagel. “Additionally, the difficulties associated with biotech adoption are likely to vary and the concerns of one industry may not be significant for another industry.”

For instance, the intensity and high cost of R&D is expected to weigh down the development of biopharmaceutical drugs, whereas political uncertainties and public pressure for safe and sustainable development are critical factors in the chemicals industry.

Agriculture will be another key sector confronting two primary challenges—public apprehension over genetic engineering processes and the

subsequent enactment of com-plex regulations. These factors are likely to slow down the adoption of bioprocesses.

However, if the launch of blockbuster biopharmaceuti-cal drugs for hepatitis, cancer, diabetes, and hemophilia (and the subsequent revenue surge for pharmaceutical companies in 2003) is any indication, more industries are likely to step up the deployment of bioprocesses.

The gradual increase in adoption rate is distinctly evident for the development of biopolymers—particularly biodegradable plastics—de-rived entirely from renewable resources, and the introduction of applications such as biode-gradable cutlery and disposable compact discs.

“Innovation is the key for biotechnology advances in health care, agriculture, industrial production, and environmental management,” says Nagel. “Keeping this in mind, biotech companies are reinvesting more than 50 percent of revenue in R&D.”

These sustained efforts are paying off as more than 155 biotechnology drugs and vaccines have recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. alone. Seventy-five percent of the approvals have come in the last six years.


Something caught your eye?Send your comments to [email protected]


Section head

Chemputing

My wife got an e-mail with a virus attached to it. I took one look and telephoned my son to give him

real (expletive deleted) for sending a virus to his mother. Of course he denied it and while we were talking, I did some check-ing. He was right. He hadn’t sent it. But who had? To get that information, I used two very useful Internet utilities. I rely on them whenever I see anything even the slightest bit suspicious—whether it’s from someone I know or a complete stranger.

With the number of viruses whizzing around in cyberspace today, every com-puter user has a responsibility to do his or her share to help stop them from spreading. There are estimates that up to a third of all e-mail traffic may originate from infected computers. As a start, don’t even consider operating a computer with a virus program that hasn’t been updated within the last few days. Don’t count on your Internet Service Provider’s (ISP’s) propaganda that claims they will protect you. I have my own private domain that I access through Sympatico. I get loads of e-mail carrying viruses sent to my Sympatico address in spite of never having used that address and never having given it to anyone. Here are a couple ways to protect your self from incoming e-mail attacks.

First, look at the e-mail header and check that all the information in it is cor-rect. If it’s someone you know, is that their actual address? Is the time consistent with their location . We were on EST when my son’s (?) e-mail arrived and that should put a –0500 after the time in the header. Had it been from Alberta, it would be –0700. Now that Daylight Savings Time is in effect, those values drop to –0400 and –0600 respectively . But that infected e-mail showed +0200. It obviously didn’t origi-nate from anywhere nearby.

My next step was to copy the full header to e-mailTracker Pro (eMT). In a few sec-onds, I learned that it came from Israel, not Toronto. It’s quite simple to fake an e-mail address. Mine are sent from Sympatico with my silbert.org address. As part of my testing of eMT, a University of Toronto colleague

sent me some e-mails as he travelled. They all had the same utoronto.ca address, but eMT told me one was sent from Kinkos and another from Columbia University. Recently, Barclay’s Bank sent me a most convincing investment opportunity. It looked great, but why would the bank send me such a request? eMT found that it originated from Nigeria.

Be very careful. Some of these hackers are getting extremely good. Be particularly vigilant for those e-mails that claim to come from Microsoft offering you a patch to update your Windows to reduce its

vulnerability . They really look authentic with their reproduction of a Microsoft Web page. Run that patch and your next com-mand will be a format C: as you get ready to start all over. So far, all of these I’ve received have a hotmail address. They’ll fix that.

My second step is to run the companion program VisualRoute (VR) to trace the route that message would follow on its way to me. Take the ISP address you find in the header, the one with the format 142.150.72.189. Enter it into VR and in about a minute, you will have a table with all the steps between the sender and you, plus a map with the route drawn on it. I have been using VR since version 6 and really like the way ver-sion 8 now lets you customize the way the map and table. Most of the time, VR can tell you the country from which it origi-nated and frequently the name of the ISP. In some cases you may also get a company

affiliation . The above address was identified as the University of Toronto. 132.206.205.49 in another e-mail was identified as McGill University.

VR rarely narrows it down to a single user. My son’s (?) e-mail was one of those cases where it had. I didn’t know anyone with that name, but it suddenly dawned on me that my son and I are both on someone’s bad-joke list. I telephoned this guy to ask if he knew someone with that name. “Sure I know him. He lives on a kibbutz in Israel.” We then had a rather heated argument about this guy’s level of competence and whether he was the type who would send around a virus.

Just remember one thing: e-mail viruses don’t necessarily come from your enemies. Your friends do a fine job circulating infected e-mails and are unlikely to know that they have.

Both programs—e-mailTracker Pro and VisualRoute—are available from www.visualware.com. You can try some live demos, get some useful freebie utilities, and purchase the software on-line. These programs are no longer just perks—they’re practically a necessity with the number of viruses floating around today and all the scam artists out there. The programs cost US$29.95 and US$49.95 respectively, and that’s a bargain compared to the time and effort required to reformat a hard drive!

Remember the Boy Scouts’ motto and “Be prepared!” You can trust your friends, but not their e-mail.

You can reach our Chemputing editor , Marvin D. Silbert, FCIC, at Marvin Silbert

and Associates , 23 Glenelia Avenue, Toronto, ON M2M 2K6; tel: 416-225-0226;

fax: 416-225-2227; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: www.silbert.org.

Return to SenderBeware of e-mail viruses sent from false friends

Marvin D. Silbert, FCIC

?


Chemfusion

1. What medical procedure was Queen Victoria the first British monarch to undergo?

Anesthesia with chloroform. In 1853, the Queen’s personal physician, Dr. John Snow, dripped an ounce of chloroform on a handkerchief, which he held next to the royal mouth as Prince Leopold was delivered. Her Majesty was very happy with the experience and endorsed the use of chloroform as an anesthetic. Many women followed suit, sometimes even naming their newborn children “Anesthesia.”

2. What common feature characterizes the fruit-eating bat, the guinea pig, and the red-vented bulbul?

Most animals can biosynthesize vitamin C and can live happily without its presence in the diet. Like humans, these three animals, (the bulbul is a bird), require a source of vitamin C in their diets. Primates, of course, cannot make vitamin C and must have a dietary supply. The main role of vitamin C is to prevent scurvy, but we do not need very much to do this. About 10 mgs a day is sufficient. But a higher intake of vitamin C is appropriate because of its antioxidant effect.

3. What role does lithium hydroxide play aboard the Space Shuttle?Respiration by astronauts aboard the Shuttle results in the build-up of carbon dioxide in the air. This is removed by circulating the air through canisters of lithium hydroxide that neutralize the carbon dioxide by converting it to lithium carbonate. Lithium hydroxide is used instead of other cheaper hydroxides because it weighs less—always a critical feature in space travel!

4. The inhabitants of the Valley of Hunza in Pakistan appear to have unusual longevity. The average adult male’s diet includes 50 grams of protein, 36 of fat and 354 of carbohydrates. About how many calories does this correspond to?

Since a gram of protein, like a gram of carbohydrate, yields four calories, and a gram of fat yields nine, the total works out to about 2,000 calories. This is considerably less than the North American average, and according to some researchers, accounts for the unusual longevity. In many populations around the world, low calorie intake has been found to parallel longevity.

5. What were researchers trying to accomplish by adding hydrogen peroxide to martinis?

Almost everyone knows that James Bond liked his martinis “shaken and not stirred.” The science behind this strange request was examined in a study published in the British Medical Journal. The idea was to examine the rate at which added hydrogen peroxide was decomposed as martinis were shaken or stirred. Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizing agent and more rapid loss means the presence of more antioxidants. Shaken martinis were more effective in deactivating hydrogen peroxide although there was no clear indication of why this was so. But the study may explain how James Bond has managed to live through 22 movies.

Popular science writer, Joe Schwarcz, MCIC, is the director of McGill University’s Office for Science

and Society. He hosts the Dr. Joe Show every Sunday from 3:00–4:00 p.m. on

Montréal’s radio station CJAD. The broadcast is available on the Web at www.CJAD.com. You can

contact him at [email protected].

Pop QuizSummer’s here! And class is done. So put down your pencils and pick up something far more challenging—Dr. Joe’s quiz on chemistry trivia. Joe Schwarcz, MCIC


Foundations of InnovationCFI’s commitment to help transform Canada into one of the top nations in R&D

Carmen Charette

Canada has developed a global repu-tation as a place where outstanding research and training is being con-

ducted. Although this new reputation is well deserved, it’s no coincidence. In fact, it’s the result of a planned transformation that has taken place across Canada, em-powering our country’s researchers and research institutions to reach for the high-est levels of excellence, participate in the new knowledge-based economy, and com-pete with the best from around the world.

The Government of Canada has made a commitment to transform this country into one of the top research and development nations by 2010. It has put in place the tools needed to attract and retain the best faculty and students, including the creation of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). Since 1997 the CFI’s funding programs have helped provide research infrastructure to 2,200 new researchers in all parts of the country.

Armed with the knowledge that there is support for new initiatives and state-of-the-art infrastructure, institutions have been able to enhance their commitment to long-term research planning—many for the first time—and set priorities for establishing new facilities, recruiting new talent, training, and fundraising. As a result, institutions are now in a better position to pursue new ideas and plan faculty renewal, attract and retain faculty members and researchers, and compete more effectively for research funds from various sources. These institutions are increasingly seen as the core of rapidly evolving clusters—large and small—across the country, each working in their own communities.

But no single institution or organization acting alone can make such a positive im-pact on Canada’s research community. This transformation of the research landscape would not be possible without one vital and essential element: partnerships. By supporting the institutions, they are being employed to develop partnerships with each other, with their provincial and municipal governments, as well as with the private

and volunteer sectors in order to implement Canada’s Innovation Strategy.

The overall result? Research is more cut-ting-edge and is conducted faster, with more multidisciplinarity and collaboration—and Canada’s research agenda is emerging as institutions identify priority areas and invest in projects that are producing long-term benefits for countless Canadians. This means a better quality of life due to improved health care and drug treatments; cleaner forms of energy; technology that’s faster and better; agriculture techniques that produce safer, more nutritious food; and cleaner soil, air, and water.

Along the way, we are creating a more innovative society—moving ideas from the lab to the marketplace, achieving a reputa-tion for excellence and opportunity, and ensuring a brighter future for generations of Canadians.

For more information about the CFI, visit the corporate Web site: www.innovation.ca.

For examples of some of the most excit-ing research taking place across this country, visit the free on-line magazine: www.InnovationCanada.ca.

Carmen Charette joined the CFI in July 1997 as vice-president of programs. In 1998, as the

CFI’s scope and influence grew within Canada’s science and innovation community, she was appointed senior vice-president of programs

and operations. She is currently interim president and CEO.


CFI fast facts• The CFI is an independent corporation

created in 1997 by the Government of Canada to fund research infrastructure.

• The CFI’s mandate is to strengthen the ability of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and other non-profit institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development that will benefit Canadians.

• The CFI funds up to 40 percent of research infrastructure costs, with an additional 60 percent coming from re-search institutions and their provincial, private-sector, and non-profit partners.

• Research infrastructure consists of state-of-the-art equipment, facilities, laboratories, and databases.

• The CFI has been entrusted with $3.65 billion. Combined with other funding contributions, to date the CFI has triggered a total research investment of close to $5 billion. By 2010, this will likely exceed $11 billion.

• The CFI has funded over 3,400 projects at 118 institutions in 10 provinces and 59 municipalities. Funding competitions are merit-based and Canada-wide.

• The CFI funds all areas of research

• Over the past year, over 6,000 researchers have been recruited or retained as a re-sult of the availability of state-of-the-art research infrastructure.

• CFI programs have had a significant impact on the attraction of thousands of students. More than 20,000 postdoc-toral fellows and other trainees have advanced their training and improved its quality because of the CFI’s investments .

• CFI investments have led to the creation of over 16,000 direct and indirect jobs.


The space has been leased, the offices have been furnished, the laboratories are waiting, a number

of staff are in place, and the research connections are beginning to gel. The stage has been well set for the NRC-IRC Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure Research (CSIR) to get up and running. And now, the planned technology cluster in sustainable infrastructure in Regina, SK, should really begin to take off, with benefits for the community and for the whole country.

The first CSIR projects will focus on water and wastewater infrastructure, including performance of water mains, life-cycle management, and risk-based decision modelling. So far, CSIR is involved in one project on the condition and maintenance management of asbestos-cement pipes, which form a significant portion of the water distribution system for Regina and many other Western cities, and another on the use of robotics for determining the condition of water mains.

This choice of projects reflects the needs expressed in a number of town hall meet-ings in Regina and an NRC-led innovation round table held in cities across Canada in May 2003. It is also in line with the findings of the Civil Infrastructure Systems Technology Road Map, a document that outlines Canada’s infrastructure challenges over the next ten years.

An integrated research effort

Since CSIR’s announcement more than a year ago, NRC-IRC has been working on the time-consuming realities involved in establishing a world-class research facility: recruiting highly qualified personnel, leas-ing a suitable home for the facility, liaising with local industry, and exploring potential projects. This process is now wrapping up—although recruiting continues—and the Centre is open.

CSIR will be at the heart of an inte-grated research effort with the University

of Regina’s Centre for Sustainable Communities , the City of Regina, and Regina’s local industry. All partners will work closely on projects, optimizing their chance of success.

“We’ve leased office space in a build-ing adjacent to the university campus to facilitate the free flow of staff and ideas,” says Don Taylor, director of CSIR and IRC’s Urban Infrastructure Program. “CSIR researchers will become adjunct profes-sors at the university and involve students in their projects. In some cases, CSIR and university researchers will share laboratory space to encourage collaboration.”

Going even further, CSIR staff will be charged with finding projects—and cham-pions for them—among Regina’s local

industry. As part of the process, the City of Regina will serve as a kind of “living laboratory,” ensuring that the technologies resulting from the projects move readily into practice. Regina’s supportive local government is expected to play a key role in enabling the infrastructure research to take place.

Communities of Tomorrow

In addition, as part of the partnership , Regina is now home to the “Communities of Tomorrow: Partners for Sustainability”(CT) a not-for-profit corporation for research on sustainable communities. This new orga-nization will initiate and fund research, demonstrations and commercialization projects, and collaborations that meet the requirements of sustainable development by improving quality of life, while also producing environmental and economic benefits.

Communities of Tomorrow’s board of directors oversees the cluster’s research and project selection committee and approves planned projects. The board

also oversees all partnership activities. To achieve balance , the board includes members from each of the groups involved in the research effort, as well as from Saskatchewan Industry and Resources and Western Economic Diversification.

Expanding the board to include private sector members is currently under consideration .

Photo courtesy of the Saskatchewan Research Council

Funding for the Regina sustainable infrastructure cluster

• Federal funding through the NRC-IRC Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure Research (CSIR) $10 million over five years

• The University of Regina with the creation of its new Centre for Sustainable Communities $5 million over five years

• The City of Regina as a “living laboratory ” $5 million over five years

• Saskatchewan Industry and Resources $5 million over five years

• Western Economic Diversification $5 million over five years

TOTAL: $30 million over five years

Open for BusinessNRC-IRC Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure Research


The NRC model of cluster development

Knowing that successful clusters are built upon teamwork and a common purpose, NRC has developed a process that encourages local strengths while leveraging the NRC’s national and international capabilities and partnerships .

It’s easy to see this process at work in the new Regina cluster in sustainable infrastructure. Members of Regina’s business, university and government communities have come together with the NRC to develop a vision and a plan to make the cluster a reality.

But Regina is not the first community in Canada in which this process has played out. The NRC’s Plant Biotechnology Institute in Saskatoon, SK, recently opened its Industry Partnership Facility to support Saskatoon’s world-class agrifood biotech cluster. The NRC’s Institute for Ocean Technology in St. John’s, NL, is establishing a cluster in ocean engineer-ing. And the NRC’s new National Institute for Nanotechnology in Edmonton, AB, promises to create a cluster in nanotechnology around one of the most technologically advanced research facilities in the world.

“It’s been a whirlwind year, but it’s been rewarding ,” says Taylor. “With our partners we’re creating an entirely new entity in Regina, and it’s exciting that we are really starting to move forward.”

For more information on CSIR or the Regina technology cluster initiative, please contact David Hubble, manager of CSIR, at 306-780-3208.

Learn more about Construction Innovation at http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/newsletter/toc.html

This article was first published in the June 2004 issue of Construction Innovation by the National Research Council’s Institute for Research in Construction (IRC).

14 L’Actualité chimique canadienne � juin 2004 Photo by Philippe Ramakers

There is no formula for determining the best mix of undergraduate lab personnel and there is no unique

model for the provision of effective lead-ership. It varies from department to department. Queen’s University has insti-tuted a dramatic change in the mix of lab personnel and it has had a very positive impact on the chemistry lab program. This article was written in the spirit of sharing “best” practices and is not intended to sug-gest that other models for the development and delivery of lab programs are less effec-tive in achieving the general objectives.

Criteria for success

The laboratory component of an under-graduate degree in chemistry (or any chemistry-based degree program) is enor-mously important. This is reflected in the requirement of a minimum of 400 hours of laboratory time in a chemistry degree program accredited by the CSC. The labo-ratory program has various complementary objectives. Students should apply what they have learned in the lecture compo-nent of their programs to understand why they are doing a particular experiment and to interpret the results. Students should become well versed in the techniques and instrumentation of the experimental chemist. Students should become exem-plary laboratory practitioners in all areas including safety, record keeping, labelling, and integrity. Students should acquire the ability to accurately and clearly write up and summarize an experiment. The lab program should also provide students with a realistic glimpse of life as a labora-tory chemist.

If these objectives can be met, the laboratory experience will provide a broad and rich learning environment. The basic ingredients in an undergraduate lab program are the laboratory facilities, the laboratory equipment, and the personnel associated with the lab program. All three are essential but, as in any organization

or operation, it is people who make the difference. Even with old facilities and a minimal amount of equipment, it is pos-sible to mount a very good lab program given motivated personnel and inspired leadership. It is important that the lab per-sonnel collectively have the required range of skills and training. It is equally impor-tant that there be consistent, dedicated academic leadership of the lab program.

Sharing the load

Historically, in the Queen’s chemistry department , course instructors in the regular faculty were responsible for the development, organization, and supervi-sion of the laboratory program associated with the course in which they delivered the lecture component. The lab program was delivered by five chemical technologists and an army of graduate student teaching assistants (TAs).

Faculty involvement declined over the years, particularly in the 1990s, when faculty numbers decreased due to bud-get cuts. These cuts led to an increase in teaching and administrative loads. Many experiments (and in some cases the entire lab component of a course) stagnated be-cause they relied on equipment no longer

used in research or industrial labs. There was also a loss of continuity and lack of coherence in the supervision of the lab component when instructors were periodi-cally reassigned to different courses. It was time for a change. The department realized that the change would come from a mix of personnel that would allow everyone to use his or her time and talents more effectively.

Yes, new lab equipment in a new undergrad facility would be wonderful! But these alone would not provide the solution that clearly called for an enhanced, ongoing stewardship of the department’s undergrad lab program.

Dawn of the ULC

The solution was the creation of a new position—the undergraduate laboratory coordinator or ULC.

The innovation that led to a breakthrough in stewardship emerged in the department of chemistry’s 1995 academic development plan. It is a long-range plan for the develop-ment of all areas of departmental activity. In the staffing section there is a section entitled, “Laboratory Coordinator” that contains a discussion of the various ben-efits to the students of creating such a new position. It concludes with the following recommendation:

“That a laboratory coordinator be hired for all first-year labs and for the second-year organic labs. The incumbent must have a PhD and will be responsible for all academic and safety aspects of these labs, overseeing shared instrument rooms, and supervising the chemical technologists. In addition the incumbent will be required to teach a total of two half-course units in an associated course(s), will sit on the Technical Resources Committee, and will be expected to be involved in, and be aware of, research in chemical education.”

The recommendation was approved at a faculty meeting in 1995 and the rest is history.

Mixing It UpA winning approach to stewardship of undergraduate lab programs creates a laboratory DreamTeam

David Wardlaw, MCIC

… a mix of

personnel would

allow everyone to

use his or her time

and talents more

effectively


Instant success

The first ULC was hired in the summer of 1996. Michael Mombourquette was assigned responsibility for the first-year lab program. The combination of the ULC position and its first incumbent was an instant success. It convincingly justified the conversion of a long-vacant faculty position to a continuing adjunct academic position—centred on teaching and not re-quiring research. The experience was so positive that the faculty members teaching the large second organic chemistry courses began lobbying for another ULC. Conse-quently, a second lab coordinator was hired on a part-time basis on soft money in 1997.

Henryka Tilk was assigned responsibility for the second-year organic lab program. This position and its first incumbent again provided immediate results in terms of improved operation and content of the lab program. A third ULC, Igor Kozin, MCIC, was hired on a part-time basis in 1999 on soft money and assigned responsibility of the second- and third-year analytical labs. Again, an instant success.

Making the dream team

In 2002, the department appealed to the Arts and Science faculty office for con-version of the two soft-money, part-time positions to full-time positions in the base budget. The case was easy to make on the basis of the demonstrated success of the ULC initiative. After an open competition in the spring of 2002, Henryka Tilk and Igor Kozin became full-time ULCs. They were re-sponsible for all organic/inorganic labs and all physical/analytical labs, respectively. They joined the first-year ULC, Michael

Mombourquette, to create the team of three ULCs who are principally responsible for the entire chemistry undergrad lab program at Queen’s.

This team of ULCs is but one compo-nent of the personnel responsible for the lab program. The other indispensable components are a team of four chemical technologists and a large group of TAs who serve as laboratory demonstrators. Chemical technologists and TAs are staple ingredients in any lab program. What matters is their quality.

At Queen’s we are fortunate to have excellent chemical technologists—col-lectively they won a 1998 Queen’s Staff Award for which they became known as the “Dream Team.” The chemistry TAs are continually improving as teachers due to their high participation rate in the two-year old TA training and develop-ment initiatives in chemistry and in the University. More chemistry graduate stu-dents than any other TA group on campus have obtained certificates in teaching and learning from the Instructional De-velopment Centre. Regular faculty also play a role—one that is better suited to them than before. It is now their respon-sibility to communicate with the ULCs, to be aware of the lab content, to provide concepts and possibly designs for new/revised experiments, to supply scientific expertise, and to provide collaborative academic leadership (with the ULCs) in the long-term development of the lab programs .

Filling the niche

The ULCs nominally spend about 60 percent of their time performing lab coordina-tor duties . About 30 percent of their time

is spent teaching the equivalent of two one-term courses. They perform adminis-trative duties about 10 percent of the time. Their primary laboratory-related responsi-bilities are:• Planning, development, and imple-

mentation of laboratory instructional programming (in consultation with course instructors);

• Development and testing of new experiments ;

• Identification of equipment to be added or replaced;

• Revision of lab manuals; • Direction of the activities of the

chemical technologists; and • Training and supervision of TAs.

Their teaching assignments are usually in courses whose lab programs they over-see. The classroom teaching provides an important link between lecture and lab material and brings them into contact with students in a different way than does lab supervision. Being subjected to the rigors of classroom teaching and the associated student course evaluations is an important step in the career development of a profes-sor. The administrative component brings them into contact with the department. Each of the three ULCs sits on one stand-ing departmental committee and together they form the core of our TA Assignment Committee.

Beyond the job description

Undertaking basic research is not part of the ULC job description—a feature that dis-tinguishes it from a regular faculty position. They are, however, encouraged to maintain a limited amount of research activity. It is a credit to our ULCs that they have managed to do so via collaborations with faculty in their department or elsewhere.

Each ULC has on his or her own initia-tive evolved a specialty that lies outside the original job description. Michael Mombourquette has created a flexible marks database that can be accessed by faculty, students, and TAs. Henryka Tilk has created an instructional CD to accom-pany selected lab programs. Igor Kozin has become our de facto undergraduate equipment manager. The ULCs are an active and valuable part of the faculty cohort—they attend faculty meetings and seminars, submit annual reports, and receive annual appraisals from the head of the chemistry department.

First of their kind: Michael Mombourquette (left), Henryka Tilk, and Igor Kozin, MCIC, comprise Queen’s University’s first team of full-time undergraduate laboratory coordinators.


Infrastructure renewalThe vast improvement in the quality of the chemical laboratory experience for undergraduates at Queen’s since 1997 is attributable to many factors. Infrastruc-ture renewal has brought Queen’s a new building, Chernoff Hall, and a $300,000 equipment renewal campaign. But the most significant factor is the creation of these three undergraduate laboratory coordina-tor positions. The positions, once filled by the right people, make a significant

difference. Without the ULCs, the depart-ment would not currently be developing its brand new third-year integrated labo-ratory course—scheduled to be launched in September 2004.Their commitment to students and their outstanding work make them our newest Dream Team.

David Wardlaw, MCIC, is a professor and head of the chemistry department at

Queen’s University in Kingston, ON.

Inorganic/organic synthesis undergraduate lab at Queen’s University

First-year lab with personal fume extractors

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Windows of OpportunitySynchrotron opens new windows in chemical analysis

Michael Robin

When Saskatchewan uranium mining companies Cameco and COGEMA Resources needed to

prove arsenic in their tailings treatment streams was being dealt with properly—they turned to synchrotron analytical techniques.

“The requirements of our tailings prepa-ration process are driven by satisfactory long-term performance,” says John Rowson, COGEMA’s director of McLean Regulatory Affairs.

“I’m talking about thousands of years in the future. There was really no other technique available in the world that would determine the structure of the arsenic precipitates .”

For Brett Moldovan, senior metallurgist with Cameco’s Key Lake mine and PhD candidate, the potential for synchrotron analysis of arsenic mine wastes began with an invitation in 1999 to participate in a col-laborative project with the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) and the Canadian

Light Source (CLS) in Saskatoon. The U of S-owned synchrotron project had just been launched, with a strong mandate to serve industry as well as academic and govern-ment research.

Moldovan worked with CLS staff scien-tists De-Tong Jiang and Jeff Cutler, MCIC, as well as U of S geology professor Jim Hendry at the Advanced Photon Source synchrotron in Chicago to work out the analytical tech-niques. They offer great advantages over existing methods.

“It’s orders of magnitude more sensitive than conventional techniques,” he says. “Cameco is using synchrotron light as a tool to understand the valence states and coor-dination chemistry of arsenic in uranium mine tailings. This information will ulti-mately be used to determine the long-term evolution of arsenic in the tailings.”

Analyzing environmental arsenic is one of many applications of the CLS, due to open this fall on the U of S campus.

Like the 40 or so other synchrotrons around the world, the CLS accelerates a stream of electrons. This hair-thin beam travels at nearly the speed of light around a ring-shaped vacuum chamber about as thick as a man’s wrist. Powerful electro-magnets built around this stainless steel pipe keep the electrons moving around the ring.

The electrons give off a brilliant flash of laser-like light every time they are forced to change direction. This synchrotron light is produced in all frequencies from infrared through visible light to X-rays. This light is guided through beamlines to end stations where scientists perform a wide range of experiments.

Synchrotron light allows scientists to study everything from molecules for better medicines to oil additives that will extend the life of vehicle engines. It can be used to find out if ancient artifacts are real or forger-ies, to study how food plants react to frost, or to track contamination in groundwater from livestock operations.

Aerial view of CLS. The Canadian Light Source synchrotron is located on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon. The National Research Council and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada maintain a large research presence on campus, and several major mining and manufacturing companies are based in the city.


This view facing northeast from the mezzanine of the main hall at the Canadian Light Source shows the booster and storage rings (background) and the spherical grating monochromator-plane grating monochromator (SGM-PGM) X-ray beamline under construction (lower right). The research facilities for the Far Infrared and Mid Infrared beamlines are also visible (lower left).

Photo by Canadian Light Source, University of Saskatchewan


University of Western Ontario (UWO) chemistry professor Michael Bancroft, FCIC, has been using and promoting synchrotrons for research for more than 30 years. He led the team that proposed the Canadian syn-chrotron be built at the UWO. His group threw their support behind a joint effort with the U of S once the Prairie proposal got the green light. Bancroft also served as CLS director and continues to serve as special consultant to the current executive director.

Bancroft recalls his first experience in 1975 with synchrotron-based X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, at the time a relatively new technique.

“Even then it enabled me to do higher resolution work than you could do in a lab,” he says. “As synchrotron light sources got better, we could do much higher resolution work.”

Protein crystallography is an example. In this field, researchers grow crystals of purified proteins. Then they use X-rays to examine their shape and structure. The information guides the design of new drugs and therapies for diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

Crystallographers have lab sources of X-rays to use in their work. But proteins are notoriously hard to get into crystal form, and bigger crystals are harder to make.

“To get atomic-scale resolution, or if you have very small crystals, you have to go to a synchrotron,” Bancroft says. “You can get crystal structure from a five by five-by-five micron crystal—that’s about a tenth the width of a human hair. You need a micro-scope just to see the things.”

The Canadian Macromolecular Crystal-lography Facility (CMCF), the CLS beamline devoted to this type of work, is slated for completion this fall.

Bancroft’s own research into the engine oil additive zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) shows that it decomposes to form a microscopic film of extremely durable zinc polyphosphate patches, providing excellent wear protection. The CLS X-ray line suited to this research is the spherical grating monochromator-plane grating monochro-mator (SGM-PGM) beamline, due to come on-line this spring.

U of S professor of physics and Canada Research Chair Alexander Moewes is also interested in getting a high resolution look at new materials, but for a differ-ent purpose. He uses synchrotron light to determine– electronic structure. This struc-ture governs, among other properties, how materials conduct or resist the flow of elec-trons—electricity.

An example is gamma silicon nitride, an exotic material that rivals diamonds in hardness. First synthesized in 1999, the compound is not easy to make, requiring extremely high temperatures and pressure. Analyzing it is also a problem, as most of it is in amorphous form—the opposite of the crystalline “pure phase” state that physi-cists normally need to determine electronic structure.

“It creates problems when you have the material as a powder but not in crystal-line form,” Moewes says. “Gamma silicon nitride is such a new material that there is essentially no crystal form available for analysis.”

Using synchrotron-based techniques, Moewes and his team successfully described the substance’s electronic struc-ture and how this structure could be tailored by “doping” the substance with aluminum oxide. Using this method, Moewes can test material characteristics at a very early stage, eliminating blind alleys and illuminating promising directions for applications such as ultra-durable electronic components.

The non-invasive nature of synchro-tron analysis is proving valuable to U of S Canada Research Chairs Graham George and Ingrid Pickering. The husband and

wife team, together with Australian chemist Hugh Harris, have found that we may have to rethink current models of mercury toxicity in fish.

Depending on its form, mercury can be relatively benign or extremely poisonous, as is the case with some types of meth-ylmercury. While fish is highly nutritious and an important source of nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, it can become con-taminated with mercury from industrial waste or other environmental sources. This is especially troubling for pregnant women, as mercury attacks the nervous system, and their developing babies are especially vulnerable.

The team examined samples of sword-fish and orange roughy bought at a local fish market near the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory in California, where both Pickering and George were based before their move to the U of S in 2003.

With conventional analysis, fish tissues need to be chemically pulled apart, which changes the sample. Using the synchrotron, the researchers could measure the intact sample and observe the mercury com-pounds directly, unaltered. In this case, they found the methylmercury was bound to a sulfur atom, likely making methylmercury

Gamma silicon nitride (-Si3N4) has a crystal structure where silicon forms tetrahedral and octahedral sites with nitrogen. The result is a ceramic that rivals diamond in hardness. Through synchrotron-based X-ray spectroscopy, it was determined that this exotic material is a large gap semiconductor that is believed to be tunable by doping with aluminum oxide.

Photo by S. Leitch, A. Moewes, W. Y. Ching


cysteine. This form is less toxic in some animals.

“There’s reason for cautious optimism that mercury in fish may not be as much of a concern as we thought,” George says, although he stresses that more work remains to be done.

Pickering is focusing synchrotron light on another element, selenium. Unlike mercury, which has no known metabolic function, selenium is an essential nutrient, necessary in small amounts but toxic at higher levels.

Pickering is looking at a hardy plant of the North American Plains known as locoweed for its effect on cattle who eat too much of it. The plant is a selenium hyperac-cumulator, that is, it takes the element from the soil and concentrates it in its tissues.

“These hyperaccumulators store a huge amount of selenium,” Pickering says. “That is of interest if you have a high selenium area and you want to clean it up.”

Using synchrotron-based X-ray absorp-tion fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS), Pickering is examining where the plant is storing selenium and in what form. The XAFS beamline at the CLS is due for com-pletion late in 2004.

Pickering’s work could lead to applications in the emerging field of phytoremediation—using plants to clean contaminants from soils. It could also lead to enhanced nutrition for areas in the world where people struggle with selenium-poor diets.

These applications may be years away. However, U of S assistant professor of chemistry Stephen Urquhart, MCIC, says applied research has to be balanced with purely “curiosity-driven” work.

A fundamental question Urquhart is pur-suing has to do with chiral molecules. Such molecules exhibit a “handedness.” Like our hands, the mirror image of these molecules is not superimposable.

“These molecules are important in both chemistry and biology,” he says. “For exam-ple, the amino acids that make up all living matter are nearly all of one handedness.”

Chiral molecules have been studied with infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. Urquhart wants to see what they look like in the X-ray range of the electromagnetic spectrum . The CLS soft X-ray spectromi-croscopy (SM) beamline, due to come on-line this fall, is suited for this work.

“What I’m curious about is what happens when you use circularly polarized X-rays. Is the physics different or the same at X-ray wavelengths? There are arguments for both, but until we look at this question, we just don’t know.”

There is much to be learned on the other side of the spectrum as well. This is the realm of Kathy Gough, MCIC, professor of chemistry at the University of Manitoba. She will work on the Mid IR beamline, one of two infrared beamlines at the CLS due to receive synchrotron light this summer.

Gough, a physical chemist, uses infrared light to look at scarring in various tissues such as that caused by heart attack, surgery, or burns. While there are bench top infrared sources for this work, they cannot match the speed and data quality possible with a synchrotron.

“The point of the synchrotron is that you get light about 1,000 times brighter and it is concentrated in a very small spot,” she says. “We can illuminate a five-micron spot on a tissue sample and get really good data in a matter of seconds.”

These five-micron scans can be combined into “pixels” of a bigger picture. Since the signal contains information from all mol-ecules in the sample, Gough can look for differences as she traverses this image.

The power and versatility of synchrotron light as a research tool has gained the CLS unprecedented support. All three levels of government—federal, provincial, and municipal —pooled their resources to get the project off the ground in 1999, and continue to do so today.

With the approval in March 2004 of $18 million in funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the $173.5-mil-lion national synchrotron facility is already

planning a $44.5-million round of expan-sion. This will add five new beamlines, bringing to 12 the number in progress or planned. The CLS has room for 30.

Most recently, the government of Canada beefed up the CLS operating budget with a five-year, $19-million grant.

“We’re delighted with the commitment we’ve seen from our country’s leaders to ensure the Canadian Light Source enters the global synchrotron community as a truly world-class facility,” says CLS executive director Bill Thomlinson. “These resources give us the capacity to recruit top scien-tists and provide the support national and international users need to perform leading research.”

Already, there is evidence of a “brain gain,” of researchers from Canada, the U.S. and abroad. When the CLS project was launched, only a handful of Saskatchewan researchers used synchrotrons. This group has grown to about 80 at the University of Saskatchewan alone.

27 universities across the country endorse the CLS project, and many Canadian researchers are already looking forward to using the facility, as it will reduce or eliminate the need to book time on foreign synchrotrons, or to move samples across international borders. The first call for research proposals will go out this fall.

To learn more about Canada’s synchro-tron or to book a tour of the facility, visit www.lightsource.ca.

Michael Robin is a science writer and communications strategist based in

Saskatoon, SK. He is currently a research communications officer with the office of

the vice-president research at the University of Saskatchewan. He can be reached at

[email protected].


Illustration by Canadian Light Source, University of Saskatchewan


Section headLocal Section News

Nouvelles des sections locales


look what’s up with local sections!Nanotechnology: Fun and Controversial!“Nanotechnology: Fun and Controversy” was the topic for the Edmonton CIC Local Section’s Annual General Meeting, held on May 11. Jillian Buriak, MCIC, Senior Research Officer for the National Institute of Nanotechnology at the University of Alberta was this year’s guest speaker.

The new elected executive members for 2004–2005 are as follows: Chair: Ken Schmidt, MCICVice Chair: Holly Bigelow, MCICTreasurer: Wendy Lam, MCICSecretary: Grace Strom

Passion, the Beta-5 Polymorph, and the Chemistry of Chocolate

A sold-out crowd of 120 sampled all three in a “tasteful evening of chemistry, music, and chocolate” held the week of Valentine’s Day. The chocolate-café styled evening was sponsored by the Edmonton CIC local sec-tion and The King’s University College. An “assortment” of presenters—Nutty (Dietmar Kennepohl, MCIC, Athabasca University), Chewy (Ken Schmidt, MCIC, Alberta Synchrotron Institute), and Minty (Peter Mahaffy, FCIC, The King’s University College)—served up food for the brain with short lectures on the history, rheology, and chemistry of chocolate.

Pianist Joachim Segger, saxophonist Charles Stolte, and vocalist Wendy Vanderwel from The King’s music department fed the soul with musical performances between the lectures. To ensure the crowd remained friendly, with cannabinoid receptors fully saturated, The King’s chemist Ken New-man then led the group in a tasting of fine white, milk, and dark chocolates. After all, chemistry is an experimental science!

The evening ended with a double bang: the combustion of a Smartie in molten sodium nitrate followed by award presenta-tions to the student winners of the crystal growing contest.

Forensics: A Hot Topic

The Ottawa CIC Local Section held their Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, May 5, 2004 at Algonquin College. Chair-person Fred Scaffidi, MCIC, highlighted local section events since May 2003 and recognitions of local members.

The Section executive for 2004-2005 is listed on their Web site at www.cheminst.ca/sections/ottawa/index.html.

The highlights of the evening were the (traditionally) fabulous meal and the pre-sentation given by Sgt. Carl McDiarmid of the RCMP Forensic Identification Research Service. McDiarmid delivered his speech on the “Chemical Aspects of Forensics” to a packed house. He spoke about new methods of detecting fingerprints to identify indi-viduals. A major focus of the presentation was how scientists’ “mistakes” have been major factors in developing new methods of identifying fingerprints. He encouraged the chemists in the audience to share any of their so-called “mistakes” with the RCMP who might find unexpected way, to utilize the accidental discoveries.

All heads turn to watch Peter Mahaffy, FCIC, work his magic on Chocolate Night.

CIC excutive director, Roland Andersson, MCIC, (left) with Jocelyn Paré, MCIC, at the banquet

Marcel Heming, MCIC, (Deep River) enjoys the Ottawa Local Section banquet with Ovie Ekewenu, MCIC, of Ottawa.

RCMP Sergeant Carl McDiarmid (right) and Ottawa Section Chair Fred Scaffidi, MCIC


Section headDivision News

Nouvelles des divisions


L’Expo-sciences régionale de l’outaouais 2004

Au total, quatre projets de chimie ont été récompensés par la section d’Ottawa à l’Expo-sciences régionale de l’outaoais 2004. L’évènement s’est déroulé du 12 au 14 mars à l’école Hormisdas Gamelin du secteur Buckingham. Parmi les 74 projets présentés, Vincent Barnabé-Lortie, élève en secondaire I à l’école St-Alexandre, a obtenu le premier prix avec « La radioac-tivité. » Vincent nous expliquait, avec une bonne maîtrise de son sujet, la décou-verte et les principes de la radioactivité. Le deuxième prix a été décerné à une présentation intitulée « La pollution atmo-sphérique. » Paule St-Pierre Charbonneau et Bianca Roussel de 5e primaire à l’école Mont Bleu s’étaient très bien préparées pour nous donner leur présentation sur les problèmes causés par la pollution atmo-sphérique. Le troisième prix a été attribué ex-aequo à deux équipes de niveau sec-ondaire I. Avec leur présentation intitulée « Les H2 autos de demain » , Pascal Sauvé et Guillaume Dufresne de l’école Hor-misdas Gamelin nous décrivaient des technologies et des carburants pour sau-vegarder l’environnement. De leur côté, Donathan Bernard et François Robinson de la même école nous décrivaient des tech-niques de datation de la matière avec leur projet intitulé « Datation au Carbone 14. »

Il faut aussi souligner que notre gag-nante de l’an dernier, Caroline Brassard, a aussi eu du succès à d’autres EXPO-SCIENCES avec sa présentation intitulée « Cycl-o bouteille thermos. » À la compé-tition nationale , à Calgary, elle s’est méritée une médaille de bronze. Elle a aussi été choisie pour représenter le Canada à la compétition internationale à Moscou. A son retour de Moscou, elle a aussi eu l’occasion de présenter son projet au 39e Congrès de l’IUPAC et 86e Conférence de la Société de Chimie du Canada tenue à Ottawa du 10 au 15 août 2003.

Denis Berubé, MCIC

2004 MSED/Bayer Graduate Award in Polymer Science

Each year, the MSED and Bayer Inc. jointly sponsor an award that recognizes research excellence by two graduate students work-ing in polymer science and engineering in Canada. This award has a value of $1,000 and provides up to $500 for travel to a Canadian conference for each winner. In 2004, the competition was quite fierce, with a large number of excellent applications having been received. The winners this year included Jason Masuda, MCIC, of the Uni-versity of Windsor (under the supervision of Douglas Stephan, FCIC), and George Vam-vounis of Simon Fraser University (under the supervision of Steven Holdcroft, FCIC).

Jason Masuda, a third-year PhD student, received his BSc and MSc degrees in chem-istry from the University of Lethbridge. His MSc work involved investigations into the effects of severe steric bulk on the synthesis and reactivity of common ligand systems. During his PhD studies under Stephan, he has been working on the development of novel catalysts based on sterically hindered imine-phosphinimine ligand frameworks that can be used in combination with late transition metals for olefin polymerization. The main goals of his work are to produce highly active catalysts that are fundamen-tally different from any of the known (and already patented) structures. Masuda has developed a strong interest in synthetic chemistry and is highly skilled in com-putational chemistry and crystallography. Upon completion of his PhD, Masuda is interested in pursuing postdoctoral studies abroad, where he plans to further broaden his knowledge of inorganic and organome-tallic chemistry in preparation for pursuing a faculty position in Canada.

George Vamvounis received his BSc from St. Francis Xavier University in 1998, and then joined the Holdcroft group, where he has remained. His current research interests lie in the area of synthesis, characterization, and device fabrication of novel organic macromolecules for application in elec-tronic devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), thin film transistors (TFTs), solar cells, capacitors, and actuators. During his PhD studies, he has been focusing on struc-ture-property relationships of conjugated polymers for polymeric LEDs in order to un-derstand the factors that control their solid

state emission in terms of both intensity and colour. He has found that, through site isolation of polymer-based emitters using bulky aryl groups or host-guest systems, it is possible to significantly reduce emis-sion quenching in the solid state. Not only has he been able to improve the solid state luminescence quantum yield of his poly-mers, but he has also found that the level of substitution with bulky aryl groups allows for control over the effective conjugation length within the polymers, providing colour tunability. Vamvounis is also inter-ested in obtaining an academic position in the future, where he plans to continue his adventures in organic electronics.

For further information about the MSED/Bayer Graduate Student Awards, please contact Alex Adronov, MCIC, depart-ment of chemistry, McMaster University , Hamilton, ON, L8S 4M1, or e-mail [email protected].

Announcing the Canadian Green Chemistry Medal

In order to promote the development of green chemistry in Canada, the Canadian chapter of the Green Chem-istry Institute have established the “Canadian Green Chemistry Medal” beginning in 2004. The Medal is to recognize annually the outstand-ing contributions of individual(s) to the promotion and development of green chemistry internationally and in Canada. The winner will be pre-sented with a citation recognizing the achievements.

Nominations of individual(s) worldwide are accepted and the deadline for nominations is April 1 each year. The Medal winner will be selected by the Canadian chapter of the Green Chemistry Institute and will be announced in May each year.

All nominations are to be sub-mitted to the coordinator of the Canadian chapter, T. H. Chan, FCIC, department of chemistry, McGill University, 801 Sherbrooke St. West, Montréal, QC H3A 2K6. E mail: [email protected].


2004 Pestcon Scholarship Winner

The Pestcon Graduate Scholarship supports the postgraduate work in pesticide and contaminant research of an individual. This year’s winner is Josephine Tsang of Queen’s University.

Josephine Tsang, MCIC, obtained her BSc Honours in chemistry at the University of Calgary. During that time, she spent a year at the University of Salford, England, as an exchange student and did her undergraduate thesis project with H. M. Colquhoun. Currently, she is a PhD student under the supervision of R. S. Brown, FCIC, at Queen’s University.

Certain transition metal ions and lanthanide metals have been shown to catalyze the hydrolysis of neutral phosphate and/or phos-phonate esters. Due to the solubility problems in water and in order to enhance reactivities, they have chosen methanol as an alternative solvent to water.

In their previous study, it was shown that the methanolysis of an RNA model, namely 2-hyroxypropyl-p-nitrophenyl phosphate (HPNPP), can be greatly promoted by La(OTf)3 under buffered condi-tions, with an impressive acceleration of billion-fold at near neutral pHMeOH of 8.0. Due to a series of current events and of environmental concerns, the effective methods for the decomposing of organo-phosphorus chemical warfare (CW) materials and toxic pesticides, such as activated organophosphate, phosphinate, and phosphonate esters, are in high demand. They have recently demonstrated that over billion-fold acceleration for the methanolysis of simulant for CW G-agents can be achieved by using La(OTf)3, which shows impressive turnover numbers and hence it is truly catalytic in nature.

Student NewsNouvelles des étudiants

Photo by Emanuel Lobeck

What’s new with YOU? Send us your news. [email protected]


EventsÉvénements

Canada

Seminars and courses

October 4–5, 2004. ICPES—Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectroscopy, Canadian Society for Chemical Technology, Calgary, AB. Tel. 888-542-2242; Web site: www.cheminst.ca/prof/dev.

October 4–5, 2004, Laboratory Safety, Canadian Society for Chemical Technology, Calgary, AB. Tel. 888-542-2242; Web site: www.cheminst.ca/prof/dev.

November 5–7, 2004. The 15th Quebec-Ontario Minisymposium in Synthesis and Bio-Organic Chemistry (QOMSBOC), Ottawa, ON. Contact: Louis Barriault or William Ogilvie; Tel.: 613-562-5800.

ConferencesAugust 15–19, 2004. 50th International Conference on Analytical Sciences and Spectroscopy (ICASS 2004), Halifax, NS. Web site: www.smu.ca/ACASS2004.

October 3–6, 2004. Energy for the Future—54th Canadian Chemica l Engineering Conference, Calgary, AB, Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE); Tel.: 613-232-6252; Web site: www.csche2004.ca.

U.S. and OverseasAugust 22–26, 2004. ACS Fall Meeting (2287th), Philadelphia, PA; Tel.: 800-227-5558; E-mail: [email protected]; Web site: www.acs.org.

October 18–22, 2004. Fifth International Congress on Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Cuban Chemical Society, Havana, Cuba. Web site: www.loseventos.cu/scq2004/.

November 7–12, 2004. AIChE Annual Meet-ing, Austin, TX; Tel.: 212-591-7330; Web site: www.aiche.org.

July 10–15, 2005. 7th World Congress on Chemical Engineering (WCCE7), IchemE and the European Federation, Glasgow, Scotland . Contact: Sarah Fitzpatrick ; E-mail: [email protected].

August 13–21, 2005. IUPAC 43rd General Assem-bly, Beijing, China. Contact: IUPAC Secretariat; Tel.: +1 919-485-8700; Fax: +1 919-485-8706; E-mail: [email protected].

Employment WantedDemandes d’emploi

CareersCarrières

Professional DirectoryRépertoire professionnel

Chemist/Geologist with several graduate level courses seeking a part-time Product Development position in the Calgary area. I possess relevant research experience pertaining to elastomeric paint, stucco, detergents, asphalt emulsions and drywall joint cement compounds. I plan on taking mining geophysics next fall. Please contact David at 403-280-7706 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Analytical & Environmental ChemistryBiological ChemistryInorganic ChemistryMaterials ChemistryOrganic Chemistry

Physical & Theoretical Chemistry

www.chemistry.mcmaster.ca

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