Science Atlantic Chemistry Conference
2025 Award Winners
The 2025 Chemistry Conference (ChemCon) was held May 22 to 24 at University of Prince Edward Island.
Canadian Journal of Chemistry: Best Student Presentation Award
First Place
Oral
Rachael Ball
Saint Mary's University
Multiresidue Analysis of Fungicides in Produce Items Using Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography (2D-LC)
First Place
Poster
Hadil Hamza
St. Francis Xavier University
Etude de nanostructures à base d’étain pour la réduction électrochimique du dioxyde de carbone en formate
Cape Breton University Cameron Forbes Memorial Award
First Place
Stephen Silliphant
University of New Brunswick, Fredericton
Engineering alkaloid biosynthesis in yeast using CRISPR-Cas9
Science Atlantic Science Communication Award
First Place
Oral
Brandon MacDonald
Cape Breton University
Surf and Turf to Save the Earth, Turning Crab Shells and Wood Chips to Biochar
Science Atlantic Undergraduate Research Award
First Place
Oral
Gazi (Anika) Bushra
University of New Brunswick, Fredericton
Immobilizing Giant Unilamellar Vesicles with Metal Organic Frameworks
CIC Best Undergraduate Presentation in Analytical Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Jamey Toney-Gagne
Cape Breton University
Phytochemical Analysis of Cornus canadensis (L.) Leaves Used in Indigenous Healing Practices: A Two-Eyed Seeing Approach
First Place
Poster
Amaya Giraudier
St. Francis Xavier University
Investigation of Copper-Based Catalysts for the Electroreduction of Nitrate to Ammonia
CIC Best Graduate Presentation in Analytical Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Lauren Grant
Saint Mary's University
Linking Regional Yeasts to Wine Metabolite Profiles in Nova Scotian Natural Wines
CIC Best Undergraduate Presentation in Environmental Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Heath Patterson
Mount Allison University
Production of Dissolved Iron from Atmospheric Aging of Iron Oxides: Governing Factors
First Place
Poster
Sydney Palmer
St. Francis Xavier University
An Enlightening Approach to the Dementia Epidemic: Visible Light-Mediated Pollutant Remediation
CIC Best Graduate Presentation in Environmental Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Rin Takai
Mount Allison University
Factors Controlling Water-Soluble Iron in Fine Particulate Matter Air Pollution in Saint John, NB
CIC Best Undergraduate Presentation in Inorganic Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Liah Christie
Saint Mary's University
Exploring the coordination chemistry between bismuth (III) salts and N-Heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) derived from imidazolium salt-based pincer ligands
First Place
Poster
Ali Nasoudi
University of Prince Edward Island
Leveraging Secondary Coordination Sphere Lewis Acid Inclusion on PCP Pincer Frameworks for Reducing CO2 to Formate
CIC Best Graduate Presentation in Inorganic Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Deana Symes
Saint Mary's University
Carbene-stabilized pnictogen-based radicals
First Place
Poster
Jay Tang
Dalhousie University
Phosphino(silyl) Nickel Complexes for Alkene Hydroboration Catalysis: Steric Tuning of Pre-Catalyst Provides High Regioselectivity
CIC Best Undergraduate Presentation in Macromolecular Science and Engineering
First Place
Oral
Olivia Van Hul
University of Prince Edward Island
Fluorescence-Based Investigations of Cyclodextrin Inclusion Complexes of Antimalarials
First Place
Poster
Lauren MacDougall
Cape Breton University
Crabs to Crude: Repurposing Marine Waste into Bio-Oil
CIC Best Graduate Presentation in Macromolecular Science and Engineering
First Place
Oral
Cyler Vos
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Synthesis of Sustainable Polyesters, Polycarbonates and Terpolymers via Mononuclear Chromium(III) Diamino-bis(phenolate) Catalysts and Multinuclear Zinc Catalysts
CIC Best Undergraduate Presentation in Materials Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Samuel Levesque
Mount Allison University
Towards the Tunable Bifunctionalization of PEGylated Gold Nanorods with Terphenyl Dithiol
First Place
Poster
Lauren Gatto
St. Francis Xavier University
The Design and Application of Light-Activated Nanomaterials for Sustainable Hydrogen Evolution
CIC Best Graduate Presentation in Materials Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Pinelopi Tsami
Dalhousie University
Phosphaza-Adamantane Cages as Modular Ligands for Soft and Hard Materials
CIC Best Undergraduate Presentation in Organic Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Kathryn (Katie) MacLean
Acadia University
Finding the Goldilocks Zone for Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer (ESIPT)
First Place
Poster
Anna Mulak
St. Francis Xavier University
Optimizing Solvent Selection for Enhanced Photochemical Hydrogen Generation
CIC Best Graduate Presentation in Organic Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Leah Baylis
St. Francis Xavier University
Photoreduction of Nitroaromatics via In Situ Hydrogen Evolution
First Place
Poster
Lauryn Mason
Saint Mary's University
A Synthetic Investigation of Haloalkyne Iminium Cation Chemistry
CIC Best Undergraduate Presentation in Physical, Theoretical, and Computational Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Stefano De Castro
University of New Brunswick, Fredericton
Analysis of Differently Trained Graph Convolutional Neural Networks using Diels-Alder Reactions
First Place
Poster
Allison Clark
St. Francis Xavier University
1-D and 2-D NMR Investigations of Hydrophobic Counterions in Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) Micelles
CIC Best Graduate Presentation in Physical, Theoretical, and Computational Chemistry
First Place
Oral
Emma Ramsay
University of Prince Edward Island
Synthesis and Fluorescence Studies of the Host Properties of a Water-soluble Pillar[5]arene
First Place
Poster
Kogie Esteban
Dalhousie University
Benchmarking and Accelerating the Discovery of Earth-Abundant Electrocatalysts for Water Splitting with Data-Driven Tools
CIC Best Presentation in Chemistry Education
First Place
Oral
Tanner George
Saint Mary's University
Coordination Chemistry Of Bismuth and Cation Dependent Complex Polyanion Formation
Previous Award Winners
2024 Chemistry Award Winners
The 2024 Chemistry Conference (ChemCon) was held May 23 to 25 at Cape Breton University. Congratulation to the award winners!
2023 Chemistry Award Winners
The 2023 Science Atlantic-CIC Chemistry Conference (ChemCon) was held May 25 to 27, hosted by Dalhousie University.
2022 Chemistry Award Winners
The 2022 Science Atlantic-CIC Chemistry Conference (ChemCon) was held May 26 to 28, hosted by St. Francis Xavier University.
Best Biochemistry Presentation
First Place Tie - Oral
Laura Pickett
Acadia University
Common Yarrow (Achillea Millefolium L.) Essential Oil as a Potential Repellent and Acaracide Against Ticks (ACARI: IXODIDAE)s
First Place Tie- Oral
Amelia Williams
Mount Allison University
Vape Pen Toxicity and Possible Causes
Second Place - Oral
Lydia Zamlynny
Acadia University
Green Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles using Plant Extracts and Encapsulated Plant Essential Oil as Tick Management Tools
Third Place - Oral
Andrew Rideout
Mount Allison University
Immunotitration Analysis of the Methionine Aminotransferase from the Ulva Dimethylsulfoniopropionate Biosynthesis Pathway
First Place - Poster
Shafkat Ahmed
Mount Allison University
The Characterization of a Novel Methionine Dehydrogenase in the First Step of the dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) Biosynthesis Pathway in the Red Algae Polysiphonia japonica.
ChemCon 2022 Award Winners
The Annual Science Atlantic-CIC Chemistry Conference (Chemcon)
Hosted virtually by St. Francis Xavier University, May 26 to 28, 2022
Science Atlantic Undergraduate Research Award
Sarah Englehart
University of New Brunswick
A Luminescent Triarylboron Solid-State Sensor
Science Communication Award
Kate Leslie
Saint Mary’s University
Induced Self-Assembly of AuNP Monolayers at Oil-Water Interfaces guided by a Thermodynamic Model
Best Analytical Chemistry Presentation
First Place - Oral
Na Yung Seoh
Cape Breton University
Identifying urinary biomarkers to quantify omega-3 consumption, using multi-segment injection-capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry
Second Place - Oral
Sam Julien
Saint Mary's University
Challenges in Developing an Electrochemical Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Aptasensor for Early Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction
Third Place - Oral
Gloria Simmons
Mount Allison University
Acid-Catalysed Dissolution of Iron In Brake Wear Aerosol
Best Inorganic Chemistry Presentation
First Place - Oral
Emily Traver
Dalhousie University
The Effect of Synthesis Conditions on the Formation of Dispersible Plasmonic Zirconium Nitride Nanoparticles
Second Place - Oral
Padmapriya Srivinasan
Mount Allison University
Synthesis, Reactivity and Computational studies of Redox Active Indium Benzenethiolate Complexes
Third Place - oral
Jacob Hoare
Saint Mary's University
Synthesis and characterization of novel first-row transition metal-N-heterocyclic carbene complexes
First Place - Poster
John Lee
Mount Allison University
Synthesis and Characterization of a Novel Cyclic Diindane
Second Place Tie - Poster
Allison Clark
Memorial University
Formation of Metal Ionic Liquid Catalysts for the Perfectly Alternating Copolymerization of Epoxides and Anhydrides
Second Place Tie - Poster
Grace Leech
Mount Allison University
Synthesis of Indium Compounds Containing Redox Active Amidophenolate Ligands
Best Organic Chemistry Presentation
First Place - Oral
Emily Sabean
Acadia University
The Photogeneration and Cycloaddition Reactions of tert-Butyl Substituted Quinone Methides
Second Place Tie - Oral
Megan Ethier
St. Francis Xavier University
Visible Light Mediated Refinery Waste Degradation using Noble Metal Nanoparticle Composites
Second Place Tie - Oral
Maggie LeClair
St. Francis Xavier University
Probing the Biosynthetic Potential of Streptomyces sp. RKND-216
Third Place - Oral
Olivia Roland
Cape Breton University
An Examination of Pyrolysis-Syngas Adsorption Using Biochar, Activated Charcoal and Dried Biomass
First Place - Poster
Caylee MacDonald
Saint Mary's University
Ionic Bis-Thiourea Organocatalysis
Second Place - Poster
Liah Christie
Saint Mary's University
Sonochemical N-demethylation of Alkaloids
Best Physical Chemistry Presentation
First Place - Oral
Mary Stackaruk
Saint Mary's University
Copper-based scaffolds for Electrochemical Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (EC-SERS)
Second Place Tie - Oral
Jillian Downey
Mount Allison University
Connecting Antioxidant Depletion and Reactive Oxygen Species Production by Aerosol-Borne Quinones
Second Place Tie - Oral
Incé Husain
University of New Brunswick
Understanding Machine Learning Generated Molecular Representations
Third Place - Oral
Elisha Bennett
Saint Mary's University
Polarization-sensitive Second Harmonic Generation Microscopy for Characterizing the Ultrastructure of A- and B-type Crystallized Maltodextrin Particles
First Place - Poster
Grace Mercer
Memorial University
Understanding the effects of neuroprotective agents to prevent brain injury from preterm birth
Second Place - Poster
Nikitia Harvey
Memorial University
Does exposure to nanoplastics impact pregnancy outcome and fetal development?
Best Graduate Presentation
First Place - Oral
Reza Moshrefi
memorial University
Electro-generation of a nanocomposite thin films at a micro liquid/liquid interface
Second Place - Oral
Ziyi Chen
Dalhousie University
Site-specific X-ray Spectroscopy Study on Ag25(SR)18 Nanoclusters
Third Place Tie - Oral
David Morris
Dalhousie University
Structure and Properties of High Entropy Alloy Nanoparticles with Varied Composition
Third Place Tie - Oral
Yashodha Pangodage
Dalhousie University
Investigating the Photocatalytic Activity of Gold Nanoparticle Semiconductor Supported Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8
First Place - Poster
Oforbuike Egbe
Dalhousie University
Supramolecular fluidic structure of ionic liquids probed by NMR diffusion and single entity electrochemical detection of ionosomes
Second Place - Poster
Nauman Nazeer
University of Prince Edward Island
Self-Assembly Behaviour of Synthetic Antimicrobial Peptide Analogues