Sponsored by the Canadian Council of University Chemistry Chairs (CCUCC)
The CCUCC Chemistry Doctoral Award is presented to recognize outstanding achievement and potential in research by a graduate student whose PhD dissertation in chemistry was formally accepted by a Canadian university in the 12–month period preceding the nomination deadline.
View the Terms of Reference (EN and FR) and List of Past Winners
The 2025 winner of the CCUCC Chemistry Doctoral Award is:
Adam Cook
University of Ottawa
Adam was born and raised in Ajax, Ontario – that’s about 40 minutes east of Toronto (by GO Train, of course). He achieved a BSc from Ontario Tech University, where he discovered his passion for synthetic organic chemistry while working under the supervision of Prof. Yuri Bolshan. He enrolled in graduate school at the University of Ottawa in 2019, where he worked with Prof. Stephen Newman to utilize high-throughput chemical techniques to prod the ever-expanding world of nickel-catalyzed carbon–oxygen bond activation. As an undergraduate student, he was gracious to be able to spend a semester abroad conducting research with Prof. Rebecca Melen at Cardiff University; as a graduate student he was fortunate to spend another semester abroad learning the ins-and-outs of electrochemistry with Prof. Song Lin at Cornell University. He is currently a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University where he works under the supervision of Prof. Paul Wender on various projects related to drug delivery, HIV eradication and the development of RNA vaccinations. He has won >12 awards for communicating his research at conferences, prides himself on his ability to bring enthusiasm to the oft-mundane world of science and, outside the lab, is an avid painter.