Chemistry at Western

05/15/2026

Prof. Marcus Drover is a recipient of a New Frontiers in Research Fund grant. Congratulations! Read more about it here: https://news.westernu.ca/2026/05/western-nfrf-mobility-agriculture-technology/

04/22/2026

We are pleased to share that two of the eight Western faculty recognized for Teaching Awards by the University Senate this year are from chemistry!

https://news.westernu.ca/2026/04/western-awards-excellence-teaching-2/

Felix Lee was awarded the Edward G. Pleva Award – our university’s highest honour for teaching.

Christina Booker was awarded the Marilyn Robinson Award – for outstanding contributions to classroom, laboratory and/or clinical teaching early in their career.

We are fortunate to have these outstanding educators in Chemistry, especially involved in our introductory chemistry classes.

Congratulations Christina and Felix and the other six awardees!

Eight faculty members are being recognized for their contributions to students’ academic development, with the Western Awards for Excellence in Teaching.

04/22/2026

04/10/2026

Exciting news! The Department of Chemistry is thrilled to welcome Dr. Melanie Sanford (University of Michigan) for the 2026 Fred Pattison Lecture Series.

Join us at the 3M Center, Room 3250 for two incredible seminars:

Thursday, April 30 (2:30–4:00 PM): Synthetic Methods for C–F Bond Formation.

Friday, May 1 (2:30–4:00 PM): High Valent Transition Metal Organometallic Complexes.

03/24/2026

Professor Marcus Drover has been awarded the 2025 UWO Chemistry Research Excellence Award. Congratulations! You can read about the awards here: https://www.uwo.ca/research/support/awards/wrea.html

Join us for his seminar in ChB 115, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Biography: Marcus W. Drover was born in St. John’s, NL and earned a B.Sc. (Hons.) from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2012. Four years later, he completed his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of British Columbia under the supervision of Laurel L. Schafer and Jennifer A. Love (2016). During his Ph.D., he held a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship and conducted research with Andrew Weller at the University of Oxford as a Michael-Smith awardee. From 2017–2019, he was a Banting/Resnick Sustainability Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology with Jonas C. Peters. Drover began his independent career at the University of Windsor in 2019 and moved to Western University in 2023, where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2025. His research focuses on the synthesis and properties of organometallic and main-group compounds for sustainability-driven applications. He has co-authored more than 80 publications and received research funding from agencies and partners including NSERC, ACS-PRF, MITACS, Imperial Oil, and ExxonMobil. His honors include the Polanyi Prize in Chemistry (2020), the Ontario Early Researcher Award (2024), and Western’s Chemistry Research Excellence Award (2025). He was additionally recognized as an Emerging Investigator by the Royal Society of Chemistry journals, Chemical Communications, Chemical Society Reviews, and RSC Advances (2023), named a Rising Star in Organic and Inorganic Chemistry by ACS Organic Inorganic Au (2023), and featured in a special EurJIC Talents issue by the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry (2022). He currently serves on the Editorial Boards of Organometallics and the Journal of Coordination Chemistry, and on the Early Career Advisory Boards of JACS Au and Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers. Outside the lab, he enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife, Nicole daughter, Emmy and French Bulldog, Cookie.

https://www.uwo.ca/chem//people/faculty/drover.html

Western University, in vibrant London, Ontario, delivers an academic and student experience second to none.

03/06/2026

Prof. Jamie Noel has received the 2026 Metal Chemistry Award from the Metallurgy and Materials Society of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum, recognizing his outstanding scientific contributions to metal chemistry and his distinguished service to the Canadian metal chemistry community.

About the Award:
Established in 1988 by Professor H. Hancock of the Technical University of Nova Scotia, the Metal Chemistry Award honours exceptional contributions to metallurgical chemistry, beginning with its inaugural recipient, Professor L.M. Pidgeon of the University of Toronto. Over the decades, awardees have come from universities, industry, and government laboratories, with research spanning hydrometallurgy, molten salt chemistry, corrosion, and the fundamental physical chemistry underlying smelting and refining processes.

Jamie will receive a plaque of recognition and deliver a keynote address at the 37th Canadian Materials Science Conference in Québec City this May. Previous Western recipients include Stewart McIntyre (1998) and Dave Shoesmith (2019).

Congratulations, Jamie!

02/14/2026

Power On! Chemistry Professors Samantha Gateman and Jamie Noel discuss their work advancing nuclear technology as part of a segment on how researchers are developing safer and more effective nuclear power for the future. Their interview is part of a Quirks and Quarks episode. Find the link here and scroll down.

Alaska beluga whales have swinging s*x lives, mission to Thwaites glacier ends in disappointment, near-infrared light therapy offers hope to football players with brain injuries and nuclear power is making a comeback.