Archive for the ‘Conferences’ Category

2023 Recap from RSC Brazil

As the effects of the pandemic continued to fade, 2023 began with some uncertainty about scientific meetings in and around Brazil. Nevertheless, last year saw a resurgence of in-person events for Brazilian researchers. Despite facing constrained budgets, the community made it a priority to resume hosting the most important meetings in the region.

To this end, the Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ) Annual Meeting returned to Sao Paulo in 2023. RSC President, Prof. Gill Reid, had the opportunity to attend along with the head of the RSC Americas office, Zhengzheng Zhang. At the meeting, they presented RSC’s plan for the future of Open Access and familiarized themselves with the vibrant local community. In addition to chatting with authors, students, and Editorial Board Members from Brazil, Prof. Reid gave a scientific talk.

The conference also served as a venue to celebrate continued partnership between RSC and SBQ. RSC hosted a session during the meeting to recognize the re-signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two societies and to announce the winners of the 2023 JP-RASBQ-RSC award. The MoU seeks to encourage deeper connections between the RSC and SBQ by fostering collaboration in programs and events. The JP-RASBQ-RSC award, originally launched in 2021, honours early career researchers in the chemical sciences and offers prizes to help them overcome the effects of the pandemic on their research progress.

   
Left: Prof. Gill Reid and SBQ President, Prof. Dr Shirley Nakagaki, displaying the MoU along with incoming SBQ President, Prof. Dr Rossimiriam Freitas; Right: JP-RASBQ-RSC award winners Dr. Rayane Cristian Ferreira Silva (UFMG) and Dr. Caio Machado Fernandes (UFF) with Prof. Gill Reid

 

   
Left: Dr. Zhengzheng Zhang (RSC Americas) discussing Open Access and RSC’s vision for the future at the 2023 SBQ Annual Meeting; Right: Profs Marcia Mesko (UFPel and JAAS EBM), Camila Abbehausen (UNICAMP and RA ABM), Gill Reid (RSC), Izilda Bagatin (UNIFESP and DT Council group), Zhengzheng Zhang (RSC Americas), Breno Netto (UnB and RA ABM), Rodrigo Souza (UFRJ and RA ABM) and Erico Flores (UFSM and  JAAS AE)

 

Then, Spring ushered in a high season for bigger meetings. Our RSC Brazil manager, Beth Magalhaes, attended a number of them seeking to grow the RSC brand, commission article submissions, spread our forward-looking Open Access policy, and promote new journal launches. Importantly, we wanted to highlight RSC as one of the most active scientific societies concerned with topics like DEI and sustainability.

The first Spring conference we sponsored was the 22nd CBCat Brazilian Congress on Catalysis 2023. Important names in the field of Catalysis were present, such as RSC member Prof. Liane Rossi (USP). The event was held near vineyards located in the south of Brazil.

 
Prof. Liane Rossi giving her talk at the event at the 22nd Brazilian Congress on Catalysis

 

   
Left: student prize winners during MRS-B 2023; Right: the beautiful Maceio landscape

 

Next, Beth attended the Brazilian Materials Research Society (B-MRS) Annual Meeting in Maceio-AL, Brazil, where she gave a “How to Publish” talk and the RSC sponsored awards for poster and oral presentation prizes.

Travelling to Campinas, only 100 km from the RSC Brazil office in São Paulo, Beth next attended the Brazilian Society of Biophysics (SBBf) 47th annual meeting. The conference venue was also the location of Sirius, the new synchrotron light source and most complex scientific infrastructure ever built in Brazil. Researchers at the meeting presented their work in the fields of physics, chemistry, and biology. RSC had the opportunity to talk with authors about Open Access and familiarize them with journals applicable to their research.

   
Left: exhibition booth at SBBf; Right: general view of the event attendance

 

Seeking to meet with researchers in all disciplines of the chemical sciences, Beth next attended a theoretical meeting for the first time: the XXII Brazilian Symposium of Theoretical Chemistry (SBQT) 2023. The RSC supported the symposium by facilitating the presence of Prof. Sir Richard Catlow (University College London and Cardiff University), a long time engaged FRSC who gave a fantastic research talk and delivered poster prizes on behalf of the RSC. A highlight at SBQT was the panel discussion about women in theoretical sciences, emphasizing a commitment of the community to change the landscape with respect to gender equity.

Poster prize winners with FRSC Prof. Catlow at the XXII Brazilian Symposium of Theoretical Chemistry

 

     
Left: Prof. Catlow asking a question at SBQT 2023; Right: the Women Panel discussion at SBQT 2023 attracted a great audience

 

As noted, this was a busy season for Beth – after the theoretical meeting, she moved on to the 11th BrazMedChem/9th BCNP. These two groups, representing Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, respectively, hold many mutual interests and thus their meetings were held together in Salvator, BA.  Both were supported by SBQ divisions and the RSC. On our end, Beth chaired a Women in Chemistry discussion with Júlia Monteiro (Eurofarma), Lori Ferrins (Northeastern University) and Gemma Turon (Ersilia – UK). We also sponsored both events via poster prizes to recognize students’ hard work.

     
Left: Prof. Marcelo Castilho, BrazMedChem Chair, delivering an RSC poster prize alongside Prof. Eliane de Oliveira Silva, BCNP chair; Right: the closing presentation, delivered by Prof. Jairo Kenupp Bastos (FCFRP-USP), on synergies where natural products and new drugs strategies could meet

 

Further seeking to connect with new communities, RSC supported the 17th Brazilian Conference on Polymers (CBPol), organized by the Brazilian Polymer Association (ABPol). This community has a long relationship with the plastic industries; one focus of Beth’s attendance at the conference was to feel out the association’s attitudes on topics such as new uses for polymers and regulation and environmental issues. The RSC was very well received at the conference, and for some attendees this was their first contact with several of our publications, including Polymer Chemistry. To support this meeting, the RSC had an exhibition booth, delivered poster prizes, and gave a “How to Publish” talk. One of our MSDE Editorial Board Members, Prof. Linda J. Broadbelt (Northwestern University), attended the conference as well.

Prof. Luiz Mattoso (Embrapa) discussing circular economy in agrobusiness at CBPol

 

Finally, Beth returned to southern Brazil, in Bento Gonçalves, where the 7th Brazilian Meeting on Chemical Speciation (7th EspeQBrazil) and the 16th Rio Symposium on Atomic Spectrometry (16th RSAS) were hosted. The events combined workshops, courses, presentations, and networking opportunities, including a Meet the Editor session and poster prizes sponsored by RSC journals. RSAS was chaired by JAAS Associate Editor, Prof. Erico Flores, and the JAAS team was further represented by JAAS Editor-in-Chief, Heidi Goenaga-Infant, in addition to other editorial board members and engaged authors. JAAS is a top journal in the community, so these appearances made a strong impression.

     
Poster prize award ceremonies at EspeQBrazil and RSAS

 

Wine tasting celebration in Bento Gonçalves with JAAS authors, editors, and local organizers

 

So, after many trips around the country, 2023 was finally over, and now we must wait to see the results in 2024. With so many authors being invited to submit their work, researchers making their first contact with the RSC, students engaging with the community, and different interest groups represented, it’s safe to say that 2023 was a productive year in Brazil!

 

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2024 Catalysis Science & Technology Symposium – Attend In Person or Virtually

Registration is now open for the upcoming 2024 Catalysis Science & Technology Symposium, on April 3rd, 2024. This one-day hybrid event will be held both in person and virtually in Burlington House in London, and will feature speakers from across the many areas of catalysis, highlight several RSC Editorial Board members and a number of outstanding early career researchers.

The event will feature invited research talks, including Catalysis Science & Technology Associate Editor Will Medlin (University of Colorado Boulder), as well as many other impactful speakers (and more to be announced soon). The program also includes a poster session, for which submissions are now open.

To find out more information about the symposium, the speakers, early bird registration, and more, click here to view the RSC Events page.

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Highlighting WesTEC 2023: Advancing Possiblities

For the seventh year, the Royal Society of Chemistry was delighted to support the Western Canada Operations Science and Technical Excellence Conference (WesTEC), hosted by Dow Canada. This year marked the 32nd WesTEC, which showcases and recognizes outstanding developments and achievements within Dow Canada. This year’s theme of “Advancing Possibilities” serves to recognize the challenges the world faces, and the vital role of the chemical sciences in meeting those challenges.

Dow’s dedication to create the world’s first net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions ethylene and derivatives complex, as well as their commitment to transition completely to net-zero emissions by 2050, demonstrates their determination to build a more sustainable planet. The Royal Society of Chemistry is proud to support Dow’s efforts and play a role in highlighting the outstanding achievements of the scientists working there.

As in previous years, the Royal Society of Chemistry was thrilled to sponsor the Best Presentation and Best Exhibit awards at the 2023 WesTEC. This year, the Best Presentation award was given to Ramadan Ahmed and the Best Exhibit award was given to Jenny Boutros and Steven Stack. Congratulations to the winners, and we look forward to next year!

Best Presentation: Ramadan Ahmed

From left to right: Tonya Stockman (R&D/TS&D Director), Ramadan Ahmed, Rida Al-Horr (Regional Analytical Director)

 

Best Exhibit: Jenny Boutros and Steven Stack

From left to right: Jenny Boutros, Ron Huijsmans (Global Mega Project Director), Steven Stack, Orlando Castellanos Diaz (TS&D Scientist)

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Congratulations to the RSC poster prize winners at the 2023 Tri-Institutional Chemical Biology Symposium

The Royal Society of Chemistry was once again proud to sponsor several poster awards at the 2023 Tri-Institutional Chemical Biology Symposium, held on September 6th, 2023 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This year, three RSC journals sponsored four separate prizes, with each award winner receiving a £50 book voucher. Congratulations to the poster prize award winners!

Chemical Science:

Alex Meyer (Lehigh University)

RSC Chemical Biology:

Thomas Murphy (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)

Gabriella Chua (The Rockefeller University)

Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry:

Adam Rosenzweig (The Rockefeller University)

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Highlighting the 19th Annual Tri-Institutional Chemical Biology Symposium

The Royal Society of Chemistry is proud to once again sponsor the 19th Annual Tri-Institutional Chemical Biology Symposium, being held on Wednesday, September 6th, 2023 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in New York, New York. The symposium is sponsored and organized by the Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Chemical Biology, a graduate program jointly offered by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Rockefeller University, and Weill Cornell Medicine.

Chemical Science, RSC Chemical Biology, and Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry are each sponsoring poster prizes at the event, highlighting the graduate student and postdoctoral rising stars in chemical biology.

The featured keynote speakers will be Prof. Danica G. Fujimori (University of California, San Francisco), Prof. Viviana Risca (Rockefeller University), Prof. Brian K. Shoichet (University of California, San Francisco), and Prof. Jorge Z. Torres (University of California, Los Angeles). The symposium is free to attend, so if you are interested in attending please click here to register in advance.

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Updates from the Brazil Office for RSC Americas

Written by Elizabeth Magalhaes

A satellite office of RSC Americas, the Brazilian office in São Paulo, has been operating since 2012 and represents the whole portfolio in the region including all of South America. Now, after the worst (we hope) of the pandemic, we are re-assessing our approach in the region. The main partner in the community is the Brazilian Chemical Society, SBQ. At the beginning of 2022, RSC president Tom Welton gave a webinar to SBQ to reflect on Sustainability, which has become a prominent subject from 2022 onwards in the Brazilian Community.

Most of our publications in Brazil come from the local chemistry community, totalling nearly 500 at RSC. More and more, research in this area has become multidisciplinary, so following Biochemistry, Materials, Food Engineering, and Energy topics has played an important role in pursuing submission leading to publications locally. This movement has been essential in times where national funding has become an issue in Brazil and other Latin American countries. Other sources of funding, such as applications through innovation, are paving initial steps to enable research despite major cuts in governments’ science budgets.

Our goal in the region is to keep RSC relevant and to continue to be a trustworthy source for quality publications. To perform best in our aims, we support the most important local meetings in our communities, general or specific, to better understand the local environment. We look for opportunities to find engaged authors and editors, as well as to enlighten the future generation. We recently came back from one of the largest events in the area, the 45th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Chemical Society. This conference was an opportunity to showcase our portfolio in full, including journals, books, databases, and other campaigns on Diversity and Inclusion. Our marketing stand attracted attention and was an effective point of contact for researchers.

 

At the conference, we presented a How-to-Publish talk with 3 of our local editorial board members in an interactive section. A highlight of the trip was the second annual awarding of the so-called JP RSC RASBQ prize, organized in partnership with SBQ. This award recognizes two young researchers for their scientific competence and quality of work, providing them with funding to attend international conferences and to boost their initial careers as professionals by covering research costs. More about the award and this year’s recipients can be found here (in Portuguese).

 

Yet there is still more to come, and this year we will sponsor and/or attend focus events and meetings in Materials, Analytical, Inorganic, Medicinal, and Organic Chemistry, including ICCST 15 – the International Conference on the Chemistry of Selenium and Tellurium. Watch this space!

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PAN-NANO-2020: a unique event before the crisis

The second Pan-American Nanotechnology Conference

PAN-NANO-2020 happened Mar 4-7, 2020 in Águas de Lindoia-SP, just before the Covid-19 crisis struck Brazil. During that week, we were aware of the situation spreading in the world, but Brazil had just a few cases and social distancing was only a distant idea. Águas de Lindoia has hot springs where people normally go to relax and is attractive due its mild climate. The organizers prepared for the uncertainties (with masks and alcohol-gel), and around 200 attendees, in total, were present. This conference was a joint effort between several engaged institutions with common interests and the same continent, the Americas.

Being “Pan-American”, related to North, South and Central America collectively, the organizers used their common scientific subject, NANO, to create the PAN-NANO event. The purpose was to develop useful and sustainable applications of nanotechnologies throughout the Pan-American region by understanding nanotechnology and nanoparticles’ behavior in biological, chemical and environmental systems.

The Royal Society of Chemistry had already sponsored its first edition, and the journals Nanoscale, Nanoscale Advances, Nanoscale Horizons and Environmental Science: Nano saw a good opportunity to get involved with a such variety of communities, which include Physicists, Chemists and Engineers. 

RSC supported Prof Rebecca Kapler (U. Wisconsin-Milwaukee), who gave a plenary talk on Interactions at the Nano-Bio Interface Across Biological Systems. The talk showed the significant variation in these interactions due to differences in the biological characteristics of organisms and the environments where they are found. She highlighted how it is necessary to probe the molecular interactions that occur at the interface of the nanomaterial and the places where the material comes in contact with the organism. In addition, she discussed the molecular interaction of nanomaterials across species. On the same day, RSC promoted a special Meet the Editor event, in a “Pint-of-Science” like format, to attract the audience and encourage them to have a beer and relax during the discussions. 

Elizabeth and Rebecca gave an overview of RSC, promoted the main RSC journals in the area, as well databases and books. Finally, Prof Rebecca gave general tips on how to submit and write, giving inside information on the article life cycle. Some slides supported the talk, but the audience got involved in a vivid discussion on publication motivation; Editors’ expectations; and the importance of showing novelty, comparing with the existing work and including backup citations.

Finally, at the end of the conference, RSC awarded two poster prizes, each consisting of £100 book voucher and certificate from Nanoscale and Environmental Science: Nano. We would like to congratulate the winners shown below receiving their prizes at the closing ceremony:

Poster prize winners with Prof Debora Frigi Rodrigues (Houston University), the winners Kayla Kurtz (University of Rhode Island) and Izaac Sit (University of California, San Diego), and also Profs Rebecca Klaper (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Isabel C. Escobar (University of Kentucky) and Ademar Benevolo Lugão (IPEN/CNEN).

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Wrapping up BRAZIL 2019: Theory, Materials, Microfluidics, She/Her, Natural Products and SBQ-Sul in 2019

 

Copacabana Beach landscape during the 2019-2020 New Year´s Eve

The year of 2019 left us some time ago. In the Southern Hemisphere, end of the year celebrations are different: outdoors, hot and part of the summer holiday season. The Northern Hemisphere still finds it difficult to understand that if it is summer, it is our time of the year to take big holidays. As yet, I will tell you a  secret: the water spins around in the sink in an counterclockwise direction. For us, down here, it is time to wrap up our thoughts, hope for a better year and begin the next one slowly (always keeping an eye on Carnival).

So, to show you all how we closed the year, here are our last events of 2019.

Similar to at the Brazilian Chemical Society Meeting in 2019, where a Women’s Hub was created and a prize named after Prof Dr Vanderlan Bolzani awarded, sections discussing Women in Science issues were held at the BrazMedChem symposium and at the 20th CBCat. Discussion included numbers from Academia (data from CNPq) to show how women are progressing as whole in Chemistry (or Science) but are not achieving as many higher decision-making positions as men. The big question: why is that? There are multiple answers and still lots of discussion to be had.

Prof. Marisa Orth gave a nice overview at the CBCat with numbers from a CNPq database and Prof Heloise Pastore moderated a friendly discussion with the audience. One thing was obvious: men have to take part in this as an important agent to change the future. These numbers corroborate with our recently launched Report on Gender Bias in Publishing.

Later on in September, in a different location (Federal University of Pelotas-UFPel-RS), our recent recipient of the JAAS Lectureship, Prof Marcia Mesko, with the RSC Brazil office’s support, coordinated a panel discussion totally dedicated to diversity and inclusion of women, the “She/Her on Science”, with lectures and panel discussions dedicated to the subject.

With experienced and young female researchers in the discussions [Profs Drs Márcia Barbosa (UFRGS), Maysa Furlan (CAPES and UNESP), Ethel Wilhelm, Lucielli Savegnago,  Márcia Mesko, Mariana Vieira, Rosélia Spanevello (all from UFPel), Laura Fonseca (UFSM), Vanderlan Bolzani (UNESP), Fernanda Staniscuaski (UFRGS), Hellen Stulzer (UFSC), Marina Prigol (UNIPAMPA), Paola Mello (UFSM), Marina Trevisan (UFRGS)], the subjects varied between challenges for young female scientists in the South, parenthood in science, gender equity, awards’ impact, institutional action on gender inclusion and perspectives from new young female talent. We still have a long way to go, but those discussions, happening over and over again, will wake up the world, and especially will wake up women to be present and active in discussions and acts. Support to get support, that is how things change, little by little, grain by grain!

Finally the year ended with five meetings in a row. The RSC office supported them in different ways and the organizers did a very good job in raising awareness of the RSC and our journals. The Brazilian Materials Research Society (B-MRS) organized its annual meeting, the XVIII Brazilian MRS, involving the community of materials research.  It was held in Balneário Camboriú-SC,  September 22-26th, 2019. Parallel sections with varied subjects covering Physics to Chemistry, mixed with Engineering, had the participation of several Latin American Materials Research Societies. RSC promoted J. Mat. Chem. A, J. Mat. Chem. B, J. Mat. Chem. C, Mat. Horizons, Nanoscale and Nanoscale Horizons  and their respective prizes and lectureships there. As a pre-meeting promotion, the RSC organzied a Virtual issue on Materials with authors from Latin America

 

Cristie Luis Kugelmeier-UFSCar (Soft Matter + Biomaterials Sci + Molecular Systems and Design & Engineering £100 cash prize and certificate) for his symposium presentation on “Advances in steel metallurgy and applications”;
Maya Alencar Medeiros-UFSCar (ChemSci £100 book voucher) for her poster  on “Materials and Fabrication Processes for Aeronautic and Space Applications”;
Danilo Waismann Losito-UNIFESP (NanoscaleNanoscale Horinzons + Nanoscale Advances £100 cash prize and certificate) for his symposium presentation on “Molecular Sieves: synthesis and applications”;
Julia Andrea Carpenter-ETH, Switzerland (J. Mat. Chem. A, J. Mat. Chem. B, J. Mat. Chem. C, £100 cash prize and certificate) for his symposium presentation on “Biological, biopolymer-based and bio-inspired materials”; from left to right

 

 

The Microfluidics Workshop that celebrated the long term collaboration between Brazil and Argentina happened in Cordoba, Argentina.

Then the XX Brazilian Symposium on Theoretical Chemistry was held in the Northeast of the country, João Pessoa-PB, where we also provided RSC lanyards as promotional items. The community is broad, varying from calculations for Inorganic/Organic Chemistry and data handling to Analytical Chemistry, in addition to pure Physical Chemistry.

As one of the last events we attended in 2019, the 7th Brazilian Conference on Natural Products was held at a military facility-IME. The Brazilian Army is well known for its intense research on flora and fauna of the country, for surveillance reasons and biodiversity security. So, vast knowledge is held by the military in the natural products area. During the conference, we had an RSC table with lanyards and Prof Peter Leadlay from Cambridge University as one of the highlights of the meeting.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

                 

 

Discussions on local biodiversity and the future of science with the expected budget constraints were important for the future of the area, which was once pioneering when Brazil was considered a sub-developed country. Now, we have to protect biodiversity and change the way natural products are seen.

The Rio landscape certainly helped:

Finally, at the end of the year, RSC and the British Government joined forces and presented two seminars during the Regional South Meeting of the Brazilian Chemical Society. The meeting was held a UCS (University of Caxias do Sul) a community university. The region is well known for its regional development linked to basic industries and crops, and also a huge German-Italian immigration community.

RSC contributed a How to Publish seminar, talking about the mission and vision of RSC, as well as what our journals can offer for authors in the country, along with other offerings, such as Chemistry World and our databases such as ChemSpider and MarinLit. Afterwards, the Chevening director in Brazil, Dr James Edward, presented the Chevening Brazil program, how these scholarships work and its objectives: to find leaders coming from the hard sciences, who normally don´t apply. The SBQ-Sul was a good audience for both RSC and Chevening. 

Watch our space for 2020!

 

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Congratulations to Prize Winners at the 28th Annual WesTEC

Among the many events that the Royal Society of Chemistry supports in North America is the Western Canada Operations Technical Excellence Conference , or WesTEC, which is an internal technology conference, held annually by Dow Canada, and has been showcasing research and development in the industrial sector for nearly three decades. In the fall of last year, the 28th Dow Canada WesTEC conference was held in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta on October 24th, 2019. This year’s event was attended by the president of Dow Canada, Global Technology Center Director, Director of Core R&D, and Dow Canada Vice-president of manufacturing, along with about 200 colleagues.

Pictured from left to right: Dr. Billy Bardin, Global Tech Center Director, Dr. Tonya Stockman, Associate Director, Analytical Science, and Best Poster Award Winner, Ms. Sanny Chan at the 28th WesTEC in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, on October 24th, 2019.

As in previous years, the RSC sponsored prizes for Best Poster and Best Lecture. This year, the Best Poster prize was awarded to Ms. Sanny Chan, and the Best Lecture prize was awarded to Mr. Dan Thompson. The winners received their awards from Dr. Billy Bardin, Dow Global Tech Center Director and Dr. Tonya Stockman, Dow Associate Director of Analytical Science. Congratulations to the prize winners for their accomplishments!

Pictured from left to right: Dr. Billy Bardin, Global Tech Center Director, Dr. Tonya Stockman, Associate Director, Analytical Science, and Best Lecture Award Winner, Mr. Dan Thompson, at the 28th WesTEC in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, on October 24th, 2019.

The conference was underpinned by Dow’s new SEEK TOGETHER™ brand platform, which reflects the company’s deeply held belief in the power of partnerships. The partnership between WesTEC and the Royal Society of Chemistry was initiated through the efforts of former Analytical Methods Editorial Board member, Dr. Jim Luong. The conference proceedings also included a congratulatory letter from Professor Dame Carol Robinson, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Dr. Deborah Nicoll-Griffith, President of the Canadian Society for Chemistry, to recognize Dow Canada’s commitment to sustainable innovation and to diversity and inclusion. Both societies are pleased to support this ongoing partnership with Dow as it strives to be a customer-centric, sustainable, innovative and inclusive materials science company and look forward to the continued advancement of science and technology through industry. 

 

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Highlighting the 6th Annual Alberta Nano Research Symposium

NaNoTeCH: Elements of the Periodic Table in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

The Alberta Nano Research Symposium is co-hosted by the University of Alberta Nanotechnology Group and the University of Calgary nanoGroup, and this year it was held at the Shaw Convention Center in Edmonton, Alberta. The interdisciplinary nature of nanoscience and nanotechnology brings together researchers from a wide variety of backgrounds, which makes the Alberta Nano symposium attractive to individuals with backgrounds in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Engineering, and Computer Science who were encouraged to share knowledge, develop collaborations, and celebrate their accomplishments with fellow experts in the nanotechnology field. The theme of this year’s symposium, NaNoTeCH: Celebrating the Periodic Table, was chosen to coincide the International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT), and continued to highlight the diverse and collaborative nature of the field.

Alberta Nano Poster Prize Winners

Taylor Lynk, winner of the Chemical Science poster prize at the 2019 Alberta Nano Research Symposium

To recognize some of the outstanding research presented at the Alberta Nano symposium, the Royal Society of Chemistry sponsored two poster prizes to be awarded to the young researchers that presented their fascinating research and most impressed the judges. The winner of the Chemical Science poster prize was Taylor Lynk, an MSc Candidate in the McDermott Group at the University of Alberta, where she is focusing on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for the detection and quantification of natural plant products. Her poster showcased the application of this technique to cannabinoid and terpene detection as a method to provide chemical fingerprints for target molecules. Her poster, cleverly titled ‘The Hunger Games: In-Process Quality Control of Cannabis-Based Consumables,’ surely caught the attention of many attendees, as the recent legalization of cannabis in Canada and upcoming legislation processes has presented a clear unmet need for more advanced analytical tools for this rapidly-growing market. Before coming to Alberta, Taylor worked in the research lab of Prof Christa Brosseau at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Prof Brosseau’s lab focuses on sustainable chemistry and materials, and Taylor co-authored one of the group’s papers that was published in Analytical Methods earlier this year. You can follow Taylor on Twitter @taylorlynk and you can follow Mark McDermott on Twitter @MarkTMcDermott for more updates from the group. 

Nidhika Bhoria, winner of the Nanoscale Horizons poster prize at the 2019 Alberta Nano Research Symposium.

The winner of the Nanoscale Horizons prize was awarded to Nidhika Bhoria, an MSc student in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Calgary, where she works with Prof Md Golam Kibria. Prof Kibria’s research group focuses on electrocatalysis and photocatalysis for the sustainable synthesis of hydrogen and ammonia, as well as carbon fuels or feedstocks, including CO2 conversion to high-value chemicals, which is the focus Nidhika’s work. She presented her poster on ‘Nanostructured MOF Catalysts for Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon dioxide.’ Her poster illustrated the selectivity for 2-carbon and higher products of carbon dioxide reduction, which could provide a basis high-throughput industrial-scale conversion. We look forward to seeing more of the research that both Taylor and Nidhika will be working on over the coming year and wish them the best in all of their endeavors. We will be happy to see the Alberta Nano Research Symposium return again next year and are excited to see how this unique and high-quality meeting continues to grow.  

Highlighting Elements in Nano and Materials Research

The Royal Society of Chemistry has also been celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Mendeleev periodic table, and with the addition of elements 113, 115, 117, and 118 to the 7th row of the periodic table in 2016 we were able to complete our beautiful ‘Visual Elements’ interactive periodic table; among our many IYPT-themed activities in the community, we have fun and informative educational resources, new funding and grant opportunities, and special collections we have been putting together from within and across our journals. Just as the Alberta Nano symposium encourages collaboration and diversity, we too have promoted further collaborative efforts across our journals. Many of our various IYPT-themed collections, like the Elements for Next Generation Batteries collection, feature international collaborations and cover rich and diverse aspects of the elements from multiple journals. This particular collection highlights the elements lithium, sodium, zinc, among other elements contained in new battery materials. Thanks to the teamwork and guest editing by Zhiqun Lin, Journal of Materials Chemistry A Associate Editor, from Georgia Institute of Technology, and Xiaodong Chen, Nanoscale Associate Editor from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, it features papers from across the Materials and Nano journal portfolios, including Materials Horizons, Nanoscale Horizons, Journal of Materials Chemistry A and Nanoscale. We hope that you enjoy this and our other special collections as part of the International Year of the Periodic Table!

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