Sponsored by the Canadian Council of University Chemistry Chairs (CCUCC)
The Clara Benson Award is presented to recognize a woman who has made a distinguished contribution to chemistry while working in Canada.
View the Terms of Reference and list of Past Winners
The 2022 winner of the Clara Benson Award is:
Dongling Ma, MCIC
Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)
Dongling Ma, holder of Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Advanced Functional Nanocomposites, has been a professor at Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) since 2006. She was awarded NSERC Visiting Fellowships and worked at National Research Council of Canada (Feb 2004-June 2006). With both B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Zhejiang University (China), she studied for her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (USA; Sep 2000-Jan 2004). Her main research interests focus on the development of new and highly functional nanoparticles, which her team then incorporate into rationally designed multifunctional nanohybrids/nanocomposites. She orchestrates the materials so that they cooperate in concert together, and then applies them to some of the highest stakes problems and challenges facing humanity, including those involving renewable energy, pollution, and medicine.
As an internationally regarded scientist for her creative work in synthetic materials chemistry and nanoscience, she has been invited to talk around the globe (with >120 invited speeches) and serve on international scientific committee activities, grant selection panels, conference organization committees, and editorships on international scientific journals. Her tremendous interdisciplinary efforts have been incredibly successful as reflected from her more than 160 peer-reviewed articles published in high profile journals.