Green Chemistry @ MUN

This year it was 2 profs + 2 grad students at ChemCon from our group. Hopefully, we’ll have some undergrad students representing us at #ChemCon2019 in Acadia.

Saint Mary’s did an awesome job in organizing this event, which had a green chemistry theme with plenaries from John Warner and Philip Jessop…..and much more green chemistry and catalysis besides.

Congratulations to everyone involved from organizers to presenters and their supervisors 🙂

Our group at ChemCon….more to follow

Dr. Kozak at Peggy’s Cove

Dr. Kerton at Peggy’s Cove

We visited Peggy’s Cove and Lunenbury, NS after the conference was complete and enjoyed the sunshine and scenery.

Photos from a cruise on the Bluenose II (Lunenburg, NS – a UNESCO World Heritage Site)

• Reasonable tuition fees for international students ($6100-6500 pa) – full details on the department website: http://www.mun.ca/chem/Future_Students/Future_Graduate_Students/Financial_Support/
  • Note, Kerton and Kozak pay their students a stipend of at least $20k pa for MSc and $22k pa for PhD

Jen Murphy (Ph.D. Candidate, Kerton group) has been working with mussels for the past few years – the first in a series of papers has just been published in Green Chemistry. We expect several more to follow in the coming months. Congratulations Jen!

“Enzymatic processing of mussel shells to produce biorenewable calcium carbonate in seawater”, Green Chemistry, 2018, Accepted Manuscript, DOI: 10.1039/C8GC01274A

Congratulations to our students ….those in attendance and those that could not attend on your awards presented this afternoon.  Unfortunately, some of our students (and many colleagues) are at the CSC in Edmonton or even out of the country, but it was still a fun event!  The Provost (Prof. Noreen Golfman) was on hand to give out the certificates whilst the Dean (Prof. Aimée Surprenant) was M.C. and hosted this great, annual event.

A couple of photos from the group get-together at the ‘parents’.  Although it was a little too cool for a bonfire (about 10 degrees), we had a fun evening boiling up lobsters or grilling steaks, followed by very competitive Mario Kart races and a trivia quiz involving languages. Here’s to more fun events over the summer including the traditional Middle Cove beach bonfire.

Congratulations to Kori Andrea (PhD candidate, Kerton group) for receiving the Anderson Graduate Teaching Award for her work in the Inorganic Chemistry Labs. She was presented with her certificate by Prof. Brosseau (Canada Research Chair, Saint Mary’s University), who was this year’s Anderson Award Lecturer.

Further information on the award criteria can be found here.

Ju’s (PhD candidate, Kerton group) latest blog post on teamwork is available to read here: http://www.mun.ca/sgs/studentblog/team-work/

It has a very wintery photo of Ju in it….so we are not sharing that here, as spring has spring in Newfoundland.  Here are some photos taken on a hike along the coastline this past weekend. We are so lucky to live and work in such a beautiful province. For those interested in visiting or studying with us, you may want to watch Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown episode: https://www.cnn.com/videos/travel/2018/05/02/explore-parts-unknown-newfoundland-travel-minute.cnn

Hart Plommer is on the far left of this group photo from Pacifichem 2015

Hart Plommer (PhD Candidate, Kerton Group) was a guest of their Honours, Lieutenant Governor Frank Fagan and Patricia Fagan, at a Volunteer Week Reception at Government House (Newfoundland and Labrador) in recognition of his extensive volunteerism and leadership with the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association – he is the current vice-president of the Young Adults Network.  Keep up the good work Hart both inside and outside the lab!

Photo of Lieutenant Governor Frank Fagan speaking about volunteer work (Photo Credit: Volunteer Work NL)

Congratulations to Courtney (MSc candidate, co-supervised by Kozak and Kerton) for her latest SGS blog post. Courtney is off to the ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry and Sustainable Energy later in the summer! For those that weren’t selected this year, keep trying! It is a wonderful opportunity to learn more and build your network.

Congratulations to Jue Gong (BSc(Hons) St. FX, MSc candidate, Kerton group) who has been accepted to the PhD program at Western University. He will be working with Prof. Elizabeth Gillies from September onwards.

There is even more news to post and celebrate in our group BUT it is embargoed for now….so watch this space in the coming months.

Juliana (PhD candidate, Kerton group) has been blogging for the School of Graduate Studies about her experiences here. Her latest post “Always Ask” – great advice – is available here.

Kori (PhD candidate, Kerton group) is a co-author on an article just published in the RSC journal Environmental Science: Nano. It is on removal of waterborne pharmaceuticals using TiO2 nanoparticles.

Congrats to you both!