Sponsored by: Canadian Journal of Chemistry and Canadian Science Publishing (CSP)
The Canadian Journal of Chemistry Best Paper Award recognizes the “best paper” published in the volume year of the Canadian Journal of Chemistry (CJC) by a scientist residing in Canada.
View the Terms of Reference and list of Past Winners
View a collection of the papers published in Canadian Journal of Chemistry authored by the CSC and CIC Award winners from the past 10 years, including the winners of the CJC Best Paper Award.
2025 Canadian Journal of Chemistry Best Paper Award
Amer El-Samman
University of New Brunswick
Amer El-Samman is a computational chemist whose journey began when he was awarded the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Internship focused on density functional theory (DFT) modeling. Building on this foundation, he completed a Master’s degree in the development of DFT methods, before pursuing a PhD at the University of New Brunswick. There, his research centered on the intersection of chemistry and machine learning, spanning explainable AI, predictive modeling, and generative algorithms in chemical systems.
Amer’s work emphasizes the development of transparent, interpretable models that can uncover deep patterns in molecular behavior. He is passionate about bridging traditional quantum and experimental chemistry with cutting-edge AI tools to drive innovation in sustainable materials and molecular discovery. His research has been recognized through prestigious awards, including the Frank J. and Norah Toole Scholarship and the Toole Speaker Award.
Stijn De Baerdemacker, MCIC
University of New Brunswick
Dr. Stijn De Baerdemacker [he/him/his] is a T2 CRC in Theoretical Chemistry at the University of New Brunswick (Canada), PI of the QuNB quantum chemistry group. The main research focus of the QuNB group is the design of quantum many-body techniques that will empower computational chemistry software packages in their quest to elucidate and predict chemical processes, relevant to materials, drug discovery and renewable energy. Research in the QuNB lab rests on three major pillars: mathematical physics, quantum computing and machine learning. Dr. De Baerdemacker’s education has been firmly rooted in quantum-many body theory with a PhD in theoretical nuclear structure physics from Ghent University (Belgium) in 2007. Shortly afterward, he became an early adopter of quantum computing approaches, shifted his focus to quantum chemistry, and recent began digging deeply into the “unreasonable effectiveness” of machine learning approaches. He has served as the Canada Research Chair in Theoretical Chemistry at UNB since 2019, and is associated research director of the research institute of data science and artificial intelligence (RIDSAI) at UNB since 2024. He has held visiting research positions at the University of Toronto (Canada), Notre Dame (US) and Amsterdam (The Netherlands).
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