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Science Atlantic Chemistry Conference

2025 Award Winners

The 2025 Chemistry Conference (ChemCon) was held May 22 to 24 at University of Prince Edward Island.

Chemistry Awards Descriptions

Canadian Journal of Chemistry: Best Student Presentation Award

First Place
Oral

Rachael Ball

Rachael Ball

Saint Mary's University

Multiresidue Analysis of Fungicides in Produce Items Using Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography (2D-LC)

First Place
Poster

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Heath Patterson

Mount Allison University

Production of Dissolved Iron from Atmospheric Aging of Iron Oxides: Governing Factors

First Place
Poster

Sydney Palmer

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

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

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

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

Deana Symes

Saint Mary's University

Carbene-stabilized pnictogen-based radicals


First Place
Poster

Jay Tang

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

Olivia Van Hul

University of Prince Edward Island

Fluorescence-Based Investigations of Cyclodextrin Inclusion Complexes of Antimalarials

First Place
Poster

Lauren MacDougall

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

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

Samuel Levesque

Mount Allison University

Towards the Tunable Bifunctionalization of PEGylated Gold Nanorods with Terphenyl Dithiol

First Place
Poster

Lauren Gatto

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

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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

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Kathryn (Katie) MacLean

Acadia University

Finding the Goldilocks Zone for Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer (ESIPT)

First Place
Poster

Anna Mulak

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

Leah Baylis

St. Francis Xavier University

Photoreduction of Nitroaromatics via In Situ Hydrogen Evolution

First Place
Poster

Lauryn Mason

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

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

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

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

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

Tanner George

Saint Mary's University

Coordination Chemistry Of Bismuth and Cation Dependent Complex Polyanion Formation