Green Division

Hello! My name is Marissa Clapson. I am an assistant professor at the University of Prince Edward Island. I also currently hold the position of Chair in the CIC Green Chemistry Division as well as Vice Chair of the CIC Pride Resource Group. I am deeply passionate about sustainability in chemistry and the workplace. I believe that sustainability, EDI-A, and green chemistry go hand-in-hand and allow us to create a better global future.

I completed my BSc. at the University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Dennis Hall and Dr. Eric Rivard. I also had the opportunity to­ work as an undergraduate co-op student at NOVA Chemicals resulting in a patent. I completed my PhD thesis at the University of Calgary, working with Dr. Warren Piers [Thesis Title: Organocobalt PCP Carbene Complexes for Small Molecule Activation & SoTL Explorations in the Gamification of Learning in General, Organic, and Polymer Chemistry]. Extending from that work, I established my company ChemEscape Consulting Inc. focused on developing gamified learning materials for applications in STEM classrooms. I completed my postdoctoral work with Dr. Marcus Drover at the University of Windsor focusing on the application of boranes into the secondary coordination sphere of Nickel complexes.

I am thankful to have received several awards and accolades throughout my research career including NSERC (CGS-D), the Alberta Graduate Excellence Award, the NOVA Chemicals Graduate Scholarship, the QEII Graduate Research Scholarship, the Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Award (Teaching Assistant) and the University of Calgary Teaching Award for Graduate Assistants (Teaching).

Chris Kozak is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is a member of the Department’s Green Chemistry and Catalysis Group and his research concerns catalysis with Earth-abundant metals for polymerization catalysis. He is also Chair of the CIC Newfoundland and Labrador Local Section. He is excited to be contributing to the leadership of the Green Chemistry Division of the CIC and promoting green and sustainable chemistry as the framework by which all chemistry is performed.

Barb Morra is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. Barb’s passion for chemistry and teaching translates into her pedagogical research and curriculum development initiatives which have resulted in a suite of research-based laboratory experiments, activities, and technological tools that help undergraduate students connect chemistry with research and applications. Barb’s interest in green and sustainable principles has led her to transform chemistry education within her department through a variety of initiatives that have been recognized through the Green Chemistry Commitment program. Her role within several international green chemistry programs has allowed her to foster a green chemistry education community that empowers global educators to make meaningful changes in their teaching. Examples include her roles as an assessment consultant for the Green & Sustainable Chemistry Education Module Development Project, curriculum developer for the Toxicology for Chemists Program, and advisory committee for the Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community online hub (join now!). Barb is excited to play a part in the very exciting new Green Chemistry Division of the CIC to foster change in the way chemistry is taught and practiced in Canada.

Greg Bannard is a chemist and science communicator who strongly believes that the future of chemistry lies in interdisciplinary, accessible and sustainable research. Her background is in material science, as she received a MSc. from the University of Calgary in 2022 on the aggregation behaviour of organic electronic materials and later joined the University of Windsor as a research assistant working on characterising metallised textiles. In the last two years, she has had the opportunity to work on several interdisciplinary teams supporting graduate students and research groups alike, including the Departmental Safety Committee, where she took a leading role in developing materials for use in emergency situations as well as the Societal Impacts in Inorganic Chemistry team to develop a hands-on activity to educate participants about their role in developing policy in Green Chemistry. By joining the CIC Green Division, she is excited to be able to advocate for more accessible and sustainable chemistry going forward.

Kevin De France joined Queen’s University as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering in May 2022. He is the recipient of the 2024 Queen’s University Undergraduate Research Mentorship Award for his efforts in encouraging and mentoring undergraduate scholars. His research focuses on the design of sustainable materials using building blocks from cellulose and proteins. Prior to his appointment at Queen’s, Kevin was an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow in The Cellulose & Wood Materials Lab at Empa – Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science & Technology. Kevin earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University (2019), under the supervision of Dr. Todd Hoare and Dr. Emily Cranston. He was awarded the Technical Association of the Pulp & Paper Industry (TAPPI) Nano Division Student Award in 2019 to recognize his research contributions and outstanding service to the Division.

Hélène Lebel received her Ph.D. from the Université de Montréal in 1998 (with Prof. André B. Charette) and was an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University (with Prof. Eric N. Jacobsen). She began her independent academic career at the Université de Montréal in 1999 and has been a full professor since 2010. Former Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Organometallic Catalysis (2006-2016), her research program addresses the development of novel green catalytic processes and innovative continuous flow processes, as well as the discovery of novel organic electroactive molecules for redox flow batteries. She has published >100 publications/book chapters and given >100 invited lectures worldwide, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2022 Boehringer Ingelheim Lecture. She is an active member of the FQRNT Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis (CGCC).

Kylie Luska is an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. His passion for chemical education stems from providing students with classroom and laboratory resources to develop the skills and tools that are needed for them to be successful upon graduation. Kylie believes that incorporating the practices of green and sustainable chemistry into the undergraduate curriculum will provide students with the capabilities required to solve the challenges facing our society.  In particular, he has focused on the development of course and lab resources for organic chemistry courses, as well as being involved at McMaster University in the development of Canada’s first undergraduate degree program in Sustainable chemistry. He is very excited to see the creation of the Green Chemistry Division at the CIC and is looking forward to working towards a future in which sustainable chemistry is not a stand-alone subject, but an attitude by which all chemists approach their work.

Jonathon (he/him) is a passionate scientific researcher and professional with a keen interest in chemistry education and advancing sustainability and green chemistry across all levels of pedagogy and learning. He received his B.Sc.H. from Queen’s University in 2010 and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 2016 in Inorganic Chemistry with a focus on Nanomaterials and Electrochemistry.

During his doctoral studies, Jonathon was a founding member of the Green Chemistry Initiative (GCI), a group of graduate students dedicated to promoting green chemistry principles and practices within the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. In addition to co-leading the GCI’s regular green chemistry seminar series and its 2015 annual symposium, Jonathon redeveloped a third-year undergraduate organic chemistry lab in collaboration with Professor Andy Dicks to include more concepts related to green chemistry, and later attended the ACS Green Chemistry Summer School in 2016. Following graduate school, Jonathon transitioned to the not-for-profit sector, where he has helped manage and support the development of international, interdisciplinary research programs, scientific projects, workshops and symposia as well as a national scholarship program in Canada for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows pursuing research in Canada’s Arctic and northern regions.

Jonathon is currently Senior Program Manager at Beyond Benign, a non-profit dedicated to transformation chemistry education for a sustainable future, and leads the management, development and ongoing growth of the new Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC) online platform. Jonathon currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, enjoys sports of all kinds including skiing, swimming, rowing, cycling and weightlifting.

Galen Yang is currently a Ph.D. candidate at McGill University, supervised by Prof. Audrey Moores. He focuses on developing green methods for biomass side-stream valorization, particularly in solid-state polysaccharide modification and functionalization for bio-derived materials. His interest in green chemistry began during his undergraduate studies at Queen’s University, where he conducted research on CO2-responsive amines and green chemistry education. At McGill, Galen co-founded the student group Green Chemistry McGill. In this role, he and a group of students have actively implemented initiatives within the McGill community to improve the sustainability metrics of teaching and research activities. They have also promoted green chemistry-related research originating from the university. Galen is honoured to be a member of the new Green Division of the CIC. He will continue to advocate for a shift towards more holistic and sustainable chemistry and is excited to share his perspectives on green chemistry as he advances in his career.