UNews - Dr. Paul Hayes

Hayes elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

caroline.zentner — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 15:50:28 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professor Dr. Paul Hayes has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. This is among the highest honours bestowed to chemists and a first for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

“It’s a humbling group to be a member of,” says Hayes. “I was surprised and honoured. The Royal Society of Chemistry is based in the United Kingdom and it has a very prestigious history that goes back 175 years.”

Fellowship in the Royal Society of Chemistry acknowledges significant achievement by professional chemists and outstanding contributions to the field of chemistry. Nominated from within the administration of the Society, Hayes was notified he was approved for election near the end of August.

“Paul is the first member of our department ever to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. This is a prestigious honour from one of the oldest professional associations in the world and we were very pleased to get this news. Paul has done excellent science at this institution and it is reflected in this recognition,” says Dr. Peter Dibble, Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Hayes is a synthetic organometallic chemist, and his work, he says, essentially boils down to designing and making new molecules. He works with compounds that contain both carbon and a metal to try to develop new chemical reactions or new types of molecules for a range of purposes, such as making a new material or developing a new pharmaceutical.

“If you can make a new class of molecule, you’re inevitably going to be able to see new types of reactivity, new types of chemical reactions and then, if you’re clever, you’ll ultimately be able to use that to make different kinds of molecules and do different types of chemistry that haven’t been accessible before,” he says.

Hayes creates new catalysts for various chemical reactions. Using a catalyst means a chemical reaction can be accomplished with less energy and under more mild reaction conditions. Hayes often works with molecules that are generally considered to be unreactive, like methane and nitrogen.

“One of our aims is to functionalize nitrogen into valued-added chemicals such as ammonia, which can be used as fertilizer,” he says. “Approximately one per cent of the world’s energy is used to convert nitrogen to fertilizer — that’s massive. We do this by a high-temperature, high-pressure procedure (the Haber-Bosch process) which is over 100 years old. It’s exceedingly energy intensive.”

Scientists like Hayes work to improve such processes and develop new methods that are more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Hayes joined the Department of Chemistry in 2006, following the completion of a post-doctoral fellowship at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of California, Berkeley. He grew up in the Maritimes and did his undergraduate work at Mount Allison ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Sackville, New Brunswick. He came west to do his doctoral degree with Warren Piers at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary before going to Berkeley.

When he started looking for a faculty position, only five openings existed and he applied for each one. His second interview was at the U of L.

“I was really impressed with the youth and energy of the department, particularly with their success at getting external funds for large and important pieces of equipment. The access to the facilities was really great and it still is,” he says.

He’s enthusiastically looking forward to the completion of the Destination Project where he’ll gain additional space, allowing him to advance his research at a much greater pace.

Hayes says he wanted to be a scientist before he even knew what that truly meant. Growing up, he loved being outdoors and, when his family spent summer vacations at their cottage in Cape Breton, he was fascinated by the chemical reactions in fireflies, campfires and roasting marshmallows.

“Really, I was always fascinated by chemical reactions and more so as I got older,” he says. “I definitely fit into that category of the mixing and the making. Very early on, I liked to bake and gradually I moved away from things that I could eat to growing crystals or making silly putty or my own fireworks.”

Hayes and his wife, Joanne, are parents to three children, aged seven, four and three.

U of L student honoured with national award for inorganic chemistry research

caroline.zentner — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 22:16:57 +0000

Chemistry research is play for Jackson Knott, and he talks about his work in the lab with as much excitement as someone who’s found buried treasure. His fire for chemistry research hasn’t gone unnoticed as he recently received a national honour from the Canadian Society for Chemistry (Division of Inorganic Chemistry) for his research work done at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Knott has been named the outstanding recipient of the 2015 Award for Undergraduate Research in Inorganic Chemistry (AURIC), signifying that his research work has been judged to be of exceptional quality.

“They only give out one of these a year so it’s an honour to get and be able to put that on your CV,” says Knott. “The first thing I did was call my mom. What that award actually fully entails was a lot to take in.”

Dr. Paul Hayes, a chemistry professor, and Dr. Matthew Zamora, a former post-doctoral fellow, nominated Knott because they considered his work of a sufficiently high calibre to compete for the award.

“As Jackson’s research supervisor since 2012, I am very proud of his growth as a scientist and the well-deserved recognition he has earned. The AURIC is a highly competitive national award and is a testament to both Jackson’s past research accomplishments, as well as his future potential,” says Hayes. “I am extremely excited he has elected to pursue graduate studies in my laboratory; I look forward to continuing to work with Jackson and the science we will do together.”

As part of the award, Knott will give an invited presentation on his research in June at the society’s annual conference, held this year in Halifax. A fifth-year student, Knott is in his final semester of a bachelor of science, after having taken a year off to work at a co-op placement at NOVA Chemicals in Calgary.

“I’ve gotten quite a bit of research experience in my five years of university and one-year of a co-op,” he says. “Now I’ve got an academic perspective and a little bit of the industrial perspective on the research.”

Inorganic chemistry is the study of metals and main group elements as found in the periodic table. Knott is also interested in organometallic chemistry, which is the study of compounds or complexes that have metal-carbon bonds.

“A lot of organometallic and inorganic complexes are used as catalysts for reactions,” says Knott. “Such catalysts can play a role in the formation of biodegradable plastics, for example. My far, hopeful dream is CO₂capture and conversion into commercially important small molecules, which has industrial and environmental applications. I really want to take a stab at that and see what I can do.”

Knott, from Coleman, graduated from high school in 2010 and started at the U of L that fall. He’d enjoyed all the sciences in high school and came to ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ prepared to take courses in physics, biology, chemistry and math to see what he liked best.

“I took organic chemistry with Dr. Greg Patenaude and that class just hooked me. It was the first time I saw an instructor get really passionate about what he or she was teaching and the line of thinking kind of clicked and made sense,” says Knott. “Of all the sciences, I would do homework for the other classes because I had to, but for chemistry, even once my homework was done, I would go back and do more just for fun.”

Knott got his first taste of research in Hayes’ lab in the fall of 2012 and he’s been doing it ever since.

“Research takes you down a lot of unexpected paths,” he says. “The science kind of unfolds, you have to be there and follow along with it and do some creative problem solving.”

Knott will start graduate school at the U of L in May. He has a few research projects in the works that he’d like to pursue as he completes a master’s degree. He will continue working in the lab under the supervision of Hayes.

“I’m not fully sure what I’ll do beyond school but I really would like to keep doing research, be it in an industrial or academic job,” he says. “Research is really a lot of fun. I like to say I’m good at it and I’ve developed a passion for it.”

UNews - Dr. Paul Hayes

Hayes elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

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U of L student honoured with national award for inorganic chemistry research

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