Plenary Speakers
Conference Opening and Plenary Lectures
Saturday, May 29, 2010
John H.W. Bassett Theatre, Metro Toronto Convention Centre
18:30–20:00 (Doors open at 18:00)
John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto
Abstract: Diversity in Chemistry
John Polanyi, educated at Manchester University, England, was a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University and
at the National Research Council of Canada. He is a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto with a research group of 9 currently pursuing studies in the molecular-motions underlying chemical reaction at surfaces, examined a-molecule-at-a-time by STM. His awards include the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and the Royal Medal of the Royal Society of London. He has written extensively on science policy, the control of armaments, peacekeeping and human rights.
Richard B. Silverman, Northwestern University
Abstract: Drug Discovery: Ingenuity or Serendipity?
Professor Silverman received his B.S. degree in chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University in 1968 and his Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from Harvard University in 1974 (with time off for a two-year military obligation from 1969-1971). After two years as a NIH postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of the late Professor Robert Abeles in the Graduate Department of Biochemistry at Brandeis University, he joined the chemistry faculty at Northwestern University. In 1986 he became Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology. In 2001 he became the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence for three years, and since 2004 he has been the John Evans Professor of Chemistry. He is the inventor of LyricaTM, a drug marketed by Pfizer for epilepsy, neuropathic pain, and fibromyalgia. His recent awards include the 2009 Perkin Medal and induction into the American Chemical Society Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame.
CIC Medal Award Lecture
Sunday, May 30, 2010
John H.W. Bassett Theatre, Metro Toronto Convention Centre
10:20–11:20
Tom Ziegler, University of Calgary
Abstract: Approaching Chemistry from First Principle with Density Functional Theory
Tom Ziegler, FCIC, was raised in Denmark and graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1972 with a Cand.Scient degree in theoretical chemistry. He obtained a PhD from the University of Calgary (1978) where he has been a full professor since 1991 and currently holds a Canada Research Chair in theoretical inorganic chemistry. In the last 30 years, he has worked with the development of density functional theory as a practical tool in transition metal chemistry and homogeneous catalysis. This has lead to computational methods of use in spectroscopy, thermochemistry, structure determination, and molecular dynamics. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Danish and Royal Canadian Societies as well as the CIC and has received the Schrödinger Medal from the World Organization of Theoretical Chemists. Ziegler was recently elected to the International Academy for Quantum Molecular Science.
Montréal Medal Award Lecture
Sunday, May 30, 2010
John H.W. Bassett Theatre, Metro Toronto Convention Centre
11:20–12:20
Joseph Schwarcz, McGill University
Abstract: Chemistry in the Crosshairs
Joseph A. Schwarcz, known to his students, and many via his science popularization efforts as Dr. Joe, has a PhD in chemistry and is a professor at McGill University in Montreal, QC. He is the director of McGill's Office for Science & Society which is dedicated to demystifying science for the public. He earned a Ph.D. at McGill in 1973. He is known through his many books, weekly column in the Montreal Gazette, weekly radio show on CJAD 800 in Montreal and CFRB 1010 in Toronto, and frequent segments on the Discovery Channel Canada. He has also had a show on Discovery Canada in the past (Science to Go). Dr. Joe is of Hungarian birth. He is well known for his informative and entertaining public lectures on topics ranging from household chemicals to the chemistry of love. Dr. Joe formerly taught at Vanier College, and there established a series of courses designed to bring chemistry to the common student, and later to the general public through public lectures. This was then replicated at McGill University. Dr. Joe is an amateur magician and often describes how "supernatural feats" can be done by ordinary means, with a scientific explanation to boot. He is the winner of the American Chemical Society's James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for interpreting chemistry to the public. In 1992, he was the co-winner of the Royal Society of Canada's McNeil Medal, awarded for public awareness of science.
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