This national individual award, sponsored by GreenCentre Canada, is presented to an individual working in Canada who has made significant contributions to advance green chemistry and/or engineering, including the technical, human health and environmental benefits.
Laurel L. Schafer, MCIC
The University of British Columbia
Professor Laurel L. Schafer completed her B.Sc. at the University of Guelph before pursuing NSERC supported graduate studies at the University of Victoria followed by an NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship in metal-mediated organic synthesis with Don Tilley at the University of California – Berkeley. She began her independent career at UBC in 2001 and has since risen through the ranks to Professor. She is a leader in the field of early transition metal catalyst development with a focus on the atom-economic and selective synthesis of amine functionalized small molecules and materials of interest to the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, fine chemical and petrochemical industries. She has pioneered a new class of organometallic complexes with modular N,O-chelating ligands that have resulted in a commercialized catalyst for alkyne hydroamination, asymmetric cyclohydroamination, and patented catalysts for the amination of alkenes by hydroaminoalkylation. She is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Catalyst Development and she has received numerous awards for her research, teaching and mentorship. She serves on the executive of the Canadian Green Chemistry and Engineering Network and she initiated the CREATE Sustainable Synthesis training program at UBC.