News

Sabrina Scott Receives Inflection Award

Congratulations to Sabrina Scott, a well-deserved recipient of the Inflection Award! Inflection is the first-ever awards program dedicated to identifying and empowering the young scientists of tomorrow—those working on ground-breaking solutions to combat climate change. Sabrina is among a select group chosen through a rigorous evaluation process, standing out for her unwavering ambition, and her remarkable potential to drive tangible...

Dr.'s Nichols and Hein Awarded UBC Killam Teaching Prize

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Eva Nichols and Professor Jason Hein for each being recipients of the 2025 UBC Killam Teaching Prize!

The Killam Teaching Prize is awarded annually to faculty nominated by students, colleagues and alumni in recognition of excellence in teaching. Meet all 2025 Killam Teaching Prize recipients...

Congratulations Dr. Kayli Johnson!

Congratulations to Associate Professor of Teaching Dr. Kayli Johnson for receiving the H5P Award for Impressive Use of Multimedia!

H5P is a widely used open-source tool to develop interactive content and is also used in the CHEM 123 eChIRP. The H5P Awards are an international award recognizing the best uses of H5P in 6 different categories. Dr...

Congratulations Katrina Bergmann!

Congratulations to PhD student Katrina Bergmann from the Hudson group who has been awarded the 2024 Science Excellence in Service Award in the student category! This award recognizes staff, students and faculty whose service contributions have had a significant positive impact in achieving UBC Science's mission.

See a full list of winners here.

Two Chemistry Faculty Members Awarded Prestigious Killam Research Prize

Congratulations to Associate Professor Tao Huan and Professor Takamasa Momose for being honored as recipients of the prestigious UBC Killam Research Prize, with Professor Huan recognized in the early-career category and Professor Momose in the established-career category. This esteemed award celebrates their exceptional research and significant scholarly...

Dr. Laurel Schafer Receives UVic Presidents' Alumni Award

Dr. Laurel Schafer has been named a recipient for the University of Victoria Presidents’ Alumni Award. This award is presented by University of Victoria's President and the President of the UVic Alumni Association (UVAA) to distinguished alumni. This award recognizes the outstanding lifetime accomplishments of alumni who have either:

earned national or international regard
had a significant local impact...

Hydrogen Molecule Becomes Superfluid: A 50-Year-Old Prediction Confirmed

Professor Takamasa Momose's group has revealed clear experimental evidence that the hydrogen molecule becomes superfluid at the nanoscale, confirming a 50-year-old prediction. Using advanced laser spectroscopy, the team observed unique rotational behavior in liquid hydrogen molecules, demonstrating their superfluid nature.

Their findings, published in...

Dr. Tao Huan Named 2024 Rising Star in Measurement Science

Congratulations to Dr. Tao Huan for being named a 2024 Rising Star in Measurement Science by the American Chemical Society!

ACS Measurement Science Au recognizes early-career scientists from across the globe who are making significant contributions to the field of measurement science. Dr. Huan's article "Closing the...

2024 Chemistry Alumni Award Winners

Congratulations to the 2024 UBC Chemistry Alumni Award winners, Dr. Miguel A. Garcia-Garibay (Alumni Award of Distinction) and Dr. Erika Siren (Young Alumnus Award)!

Alumni Award of Distinction | Dr. Miguel A. Garcia-Garibay, PhD '89

This award recognizes an alumnus whose accomplishments are of such excellence that they provide inspiration and leadership to students and other alumni. The recipient has shown significant leadership either in their...

Chemistry Welcomes Assistant Professor Ido Levin

Dr. Ido Levin will join the Department of Chemistry on Aug 1, 2025, jointly appointed with the Department of Mathematics.

Dr. Levin is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Keller Lab at the University of Washington. He attended The Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he completed his BSc, MSc and PhD. He is the recipient of a Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar Award in recognition of his academic and research achievements...

Dr. Hein Receives R. U. Lemieux Award

Congratulations to Professor Jason Hein for being awarded the R. U. Lemiuex Award from the Chemical Institute of Canada! The R. U. Lemieux Award is presented to an organic chemist who has made a distinguished contribution to any area of organic chemistry and who is currently working in Canada.

Dr. Hudson Receives Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring

Congratulations to Associate Professor Zachary Hudson for receiving the 2024 Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring!

The Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring recognizes outstanding mentorship of numerous graduate students over many years. A champion of his students, Dr. Hudson has been consistently recognized as an outstanding graduate student mentor. His unwavering support and infectious enthusiasm for science...

Dr. Huan Receives the Fred Beamish Award

Congratulations to Associate Professor Tao Huan for receiving the Fred Beamish Award from the Canadian Society of Chemistry.

The Fred Beamish Award is presented to an individual who demonstrates innovation in research in the field of analytical chemistry, where the research is anticipated to have significant potential for practical applications....

With ‘Beaker Mugs’ and Icicles, this Glassblower Raises Money for Charity in his Daughter’s Memory

In the Chemistry Department at UBC’s Point Grey campus, Brian Ditchburn, the Chemistry departments dedicated glassblower, works tirelessly on delicate glassware. His hands move with precision, customizing items and repairing about 90% of the glassware brought into his lab, with a skilled touch that had been honed over 25 years. “Brian is a key member of the department, and a rare one; few chemistry departments across the country have full-time glassblowers,” says...

Dr. Nichols Receives Two Peter Wall Research Awards

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Eva Nichols on being awarded two Peter Wall Research Awards!

The first project, led by Dr. Nichols, is titled “An Artificial Photosynthesis Device to Generate Green Methanol Fuel from CO2”. This innovative initiative is a collaborative effort with Dr. Alexander Uhl (UBC-O) and Dr. Eric Lees (UBC-V).

The second project, “Development of Organic Redox Flow Batteries for Clean Renewable Energy Storage Applications”, sees Dr. Nichols partnering...

Graduate Students Shatter Stress with Destructive Therapy

Chemistry graduate students smash their study stress away in “destructive therapy” sessions.

In-house glassblower Brian Ditchburn invites chemistry graduate students to his workshop to release tension by crushing unsalvageable glass lab equipment.

“Whether they’re behind or exams or their chemistry is not going as well as they want, it gives them a chance to release that stress by breaking something that looks expensive but is not,” said Ditchburn, who has an open door policy...

Welcome Associate Member Alannah Hallas

The Department of Chemistry welcomes new Associate Member, Alannah Hallas. Dr. Hallas is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of British Columbia and she heads a crystal growth laboratory, which is part of the Blusson Quantum Matter Institute. Her research group is focused on the design and...

Congratulations Raksha Kandel!

Congratulations to Raksha Kandel (PhD student in the MacLachlan group) for her communication as a VIP (Very Important Paper) in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.!

For this work, Raksha constructed a rotaxane where a platinum-containing macrocycle is threaded onto a molecular axle. When the platinum centre is oxidized, the rotation dynamics of the molecule are affected. When the molecule is oxidized to platinum(III), in...

Tao Huan Appointed Canada Research Chair

UBC Chemistry Associate Professor Dr. Tao Huan has been appointed to a new Canada Research Chair in metabolomics and exposomics. His research will focus on studying small molecules in biological systems, as well as the impact of environmental chemical exposures. Metabolomics is crucial for understanding disease biomarkers, drug discovery, and environment-gene interactions. Unlike genes and proteins, metabolites provide a direct...

Off-the-shelf Thermoelectric Generators Could Upgrade CO2 into Chemicals, a Key Step Toward Making Mars Colonization Possible

Readily available thermoelectric generators operating under modest temperature differences can power CO2 conversion, according to a proof-of-concept study by chemists at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

The findings open up the intriguing possibility that the temperature differentials encountered in an array of environments—from a typical geothermal installation on Earth to the cold, desolate surface of Mars—could power the conversion of CO2 into a range of useful fuels and...

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