8. NSERC EWR Steacie Memorial Fellowship
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Dennis Hall |
Recipient: Dennis Hall, Chemistry
The EWR Steacie Memorial Fellowships are awarded to enhance the career development of outstanding university
faculty who are earning a strong international reputation for original research.
This award is one of Canada’s premier science and engineering research awards, and up to six are presented annually.
Dr Hall works on a group of compounds called boronic acids and esters, with applications that range from medicine to industrial uses.
He recently discovered that certain boronic acids are very good catalysts for making amides (which are used in more than a quarter of all pharmaceutical drugs).
Traditional methods for making amides are complicated and produce a lot of waste, some of it toxic.
Dr Hall uses a new method that can be carried out easily at room temperature and leaves only water as a byproduct—a way to make this chemical process both much more efficient and environmentally friendly.
In 2008, Dr Hall also received the prestigious National Research Council of Canada Steacie Prize and Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research Award, and he became a University Professor.
Find out more about Dr Hall: www.international.ualberta.ca/prospective/news.cfm?story=75356