News

In Memoriam of Dr.Peter WassellJuly 1952 to April 2014

Born in Wolverhampton, England in 1952, Peter received his B.Sc (Honours) Chemistry from Exeter University, England in 1973.  He then earned his PhD from UBC in 1981. He later went on to teach chemistry to our first year students, and run the inorganic laboratories. Peter was also an enthusiastic member of the Chemistry Magic Team in the late 90’s.  Peter was a long time and valued member of the UBC Department of Chemistry. 

2014 Killam Research Fellowship

Congratulations to Dr. Stephen Withers for being awarded the 2014 Canada Council for the Arts Killam Fellowship. 

Dr. Stephen Withers is a world leader in the emerging field of engineering carbohydrate-modifying enzymes. He proposes a creative and original approach in his project, Development and use of ultra-high-throughput screens for directed evolution and metagenomics. He will go beyond the...

Drum roll please....The 2013 Chemistry Department TA Award recipients are:  
Zhengu Chen, Leanne Racicot, Amber Shukaliak, Andrea Terpstra and David Weekes.

Congratulations! 

The 2014 winner of the CIC Environment Division R&D Award

William R. Cullen received a PhD from Cambridge University in 1959. He joined the Department of Chemistry at University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1958. He was promoted to professor in 1969 and received the CSC Noranda Award in 1974. In 1998, he became professor emeritus at UBC and adjunct professor at the Royal Military College of Canada in 2000. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His research has focused on...

The Chemistry Department is delighted to announce a special Lecture on March 21st, 2014 at 4:00 pm in B250 with our renowned guest, Dr. Akira Suzuki, Nobel Laureate. This event is part of the Consulate General of Japan in Vancouver 125th Anniversary Lecture Series and in association with our Department.

Dr. Akira Suzuki (Professor Emeritus at Hokkaido University in Japan) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2010 for his work on Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling...

University of British Columbia researchers have discovered the genetic machinery that turns a common gut bacterium into the Swiss Army knife of the digestive tract – helping us metabolize a main component of dietary fibre from the cell walls of fruits and vegetables.

The findings illuminate the specialized roles played by key members of the vast microbial community living in the human gut, and could inform the development of tailored microbiota transplants to improve intestinal...

Moshe Shapiro, who was a research pioneer in the area of quantum control of molecular dynamics, passed away on December 3, 2013 in Israel. He was 69 years old.

Moshe did his PhD under the guidance of Professor Raphael D. Levine, in Theoretical Chemistry at the Hebrew University, working on photodissociation and molecular collisions. This was followed by a postdoc at Harvard University during the years 1970-1972, where Moshe worked with Martin Karplus, the 2013 Nobel laureate in...

Chemistry graduate student, Marcus Drover, was recently awarded a 2013 NSERC Vanier Scholarship for his project, entitled “Understanding Acetylene: Alkyne Functionalization via a Rhodium(I) Complex.” A vast number of chemical compounds contain nitrogen, including those required for everyday life e.g., amino and nucleic acids. In a laboratory setting, these chemicals are often generated through synthesis. Unfortunately, many synthetic procedures are replete with non-efficient, toxic...

Considering UBC for graduate school? Consider applying for the NSERC CGS-M.

http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/students-etudiants/pg-cs/cgsm-bescm_eng.asp

Please contact any member of our recruitment committee for assistance on this competitive fellowship opportunity. The application deadline is December 1, 2013.