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Group Picture - April 2020
Rohith, Michel, Tianqi, Karn, Mehrdad, Hemkalyan, Mehran
Absent: Venkata Krishna
News
March 2020 - COVID-19 forces our lab to shut down. Everyone becomes a computational chemist.
January 2020 - Michel visits the Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.
October-December 2019 - Michel is visiting professor at Justus-Liebig-Universität in Giessen, Germany.
September 2019 - Our paper in collaboration with the Houk group is accepted in J. Org. Chem.
September 2019 - Rohith and Mehrdad join the group as Ph.D. students. Welcome to the group!
August-September 2019 - Michel gives a series of lectures in Scotland and Ireland.
July 2019 - Michel begins a sabbatical leave for 2019-2020.
July 2019 - Karn receives the Gerhard Herzberg Thesis Acceleration Award. Congratulations!
June 2019 - Steven is awarded the 2019 Taube Medal as the top graduate in the Department of Chemistry. Congratulations!
June 4-6, 2019 - Michel co-organizes the symposium 'Advances in Catalysis and Synthesis' as part of CCCE 2019 in Québec, QC.
May 9, 2019 - Mehran successfully completes his comprehensive examination on the Hajos-Parrish ketone. Congratulations!
April 24, 2019 - Karn successfully completes his comprehensive examination on cyclostreptin. Congratulations!
March 8, 2019 - Venkata successfully completes his comprehensive examination on dehydrogenative coupling reactions. Congratulations!
January 2019 - Steven, Karn, Myron, and Michel's book chapter on the benzoin reaction is finally published!
October 2018 - Michel reads Linus Pauling's "The Nature of the Chemical Bond". Order in the universe has been restored. His faith in the valence bond model is now unshakeable.
September 24, 2018 - Venkata's manuscript is accepted in Organic Letters. Congratulations!
September 2018 - Tianqi Ji joins the group as a masters student. Welcome to the group!
July 12, 2018 - Solène's last day in the lab. We will miss you, as well as the food you have been bringing!
July 1, 2018 - Michel is promoted to full professor. Thanks to all students past and present for their help in achieving this career milestone!
June 15, 2018 - Steven successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis. Congratulations!
June 5, 2018 - Christa and Sydnie convocate and receive their M.Sc. and B.Sc., respectively. Congratulations!
 
May 27-31, 2018 - Michel, Mehran, and Karn attend CSC 2018 in Edmonton, Alberta. Great job guys!
 
May 2018 - Brianna Lukan joins the group as a summer student. Welcome to the group!
May 2018 - Sydnie completes her B.Sc. and starts working at the Saskatchewan Research Council. Make sure to come visit us once in a while.
April 2018 - Solène Pacquet arrives for a three-month stay as a visiting student from the Université de Versailles. Welcome to the group!
April 2018 - Hemkalyan successfully completes his Ph.D. Qualifying examination. Congratulations!
December 2017 - Major lab cleanup and inventory. We are now using the structure-searchable inventory system from findmolecule.com.
November 21, 2017 - Congratulations to Sydnie on receiving the Patricia Currie award, a recognition of her involvement in extra-curricular activities.
October 2017 - Pouyan flies back to Saskatoon for Fall convocation.
October 31, 2017 - Happy Halloween from the Gravel group! No pumpkin prize this year. :(
October 27-30, 2017 - Mehran and Karn attend the Banff Symposium on Organic Chemistry.
 
October 2017 - Karn obtains the prestigious Harold Ross Saddington Memorial Award for 2017. Congratulations!
October 19, 2017 - Christa successfully defends her M.Sc. thesis titled 'Studies Towards the Synthesis of [10]-Annulenes'. Congratulations for this great accomplishment!
September 2017 - Hemkalyan Ballav joins the group as a doctoral student. Welcome to the group!
September 2017 - Sydnie starts her honours project in the group.
August 24, 2017 - Team Diene for that Triene wins the 10th synthetic challenge. Congratulations!
August 15, 2017 - Pouyan successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis titled 'Synthesis of Amino Ketones Using N-Heterocyclic Carbene-Catalyzed Transformations'. Congratulations for this great accomplishment! He is now off to Montreal to work at Paraza.
July 2017 - Former Ph.D. student Eduardo Sánchez-Larios gets a promotion to Laboratory Supervisor at Toronto Research Chemicals.
June 2017 - Former Ph.D. student Myron Wilde goes for a postdoc in Rennes in the laboratory of Prof. William Erb.
May 27 - June 1, 2017 - Steven, Venkata Krishna, and Michel attend the CSC conference in Toronto.
May 4, 2017 - Karn receives an oral presentation award at the 2nd Saskatchewan Chemistry Graduate Students Symposium. Congratulations!
 "The molecule was this big, I swear!"
May 2017 - Sydnie Gengler joins the group as a summer student. Welcome to the group!
April 10, 2017 - Karn successfully completes his Ph.D. Qualifying examination. Congratulations!
January 2017 - Our e-EROS articles are finally available online here, here, and here. Well done Pouyan, Steven, and Myron!
November 2016 - Michel is the recipient of the Chemistry Students' Society's Undergraduate Teaching Excellence Award for a second time.
November 2016 - Pouyan's communication is accepted in The Journal of Organic Chemistry. Congratulations!
November 2016 - Pouyan and Steven's account is accepted in Synlett. Congratulations!
October 31, 2016 - The Gravel group once again earns second place in the Halloween pumpkin carving contest. Well done pokemons; now it's time to go back to the lab!
October 2016 - Christa is the recipient of a Middleton Graduate Bursary. Congratulations!
September 2016 - Christa and Karn participate in the Western Canadian Medicinal Chemistry Workshop. Karn wins a poster award. Congratulations!
 
August 2016 - Michel's 2nd paper from his postdoctoral stint is published.
August 2016 - Geoff's summer work comes to an end. It was great having you around and good luck in your courses.
August 2016 - Pouyan's manuscript is finally accepted in Organic Letters. Congratulations for your perseverance!
August 18, 2016 - Team Newbies wins the 9th synthetic challenge in a close call. Congratulations! Team 'The Phenol Countdown' wins the best name portion of the event.
July 2016 - Steven's single-author review article on imidodiphosphoric acid catalysis is accepted in Tetrahedron. Congratulations!
May 2016 - The group welcomes Geoff Sweatman as a summer student in a collaboration with Prof. Azita Haddadi. Welcome to the group!
May 2016 - Former graduate student Li Wang takes up a position at Gilead Alberta. Congratulations!
May 2016 - Myron takes up a position at TC Scientific Inc.. Congratulations!
April 2016 - Karn is the recipient of a Saskatchewan Innovation & Opportunity Scholarship valued at $16,000. Congratulations!
April 5, 2016 - Myron successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis titled 'Preparation of Novel Carbenes and their Catalytic Application to the Cross-Benzoin, Aza-Benzoin and Stetter Reactions'. Congratulations for this great accomplishment!
 
January 29, 2016 - Steven successfully completes his comprehensive examination on imidodiphosphoric acid catalysis. Congratulations!
December 15-20, 2015 - Steven and Michel attend the Pacifichem conference in Honolulu.
October 30 - November 2, 2015 - Pouyan, Steven, Venkata Krishna and Christa attend the Banff Symposium on Organic Chemistry.
September 8-11, 2015 - Michel participates in the symposium Dominocat-1 (on domino organocatalysis) in Aachen, Germany.
September 2015 - Welcome to our two new group members Mehran (Ph.D. program) and Karn (M.Sc. program).
 
August 27, 2015 - Team 'Bend It Like Lactam' wins the 8th synthetic challenge. Congratulations!
July 30, 2015 - Matt, Christa, and Steven win the Department's annual JM Pepper golf tournament. Congratulations!
July 2015 - Steven's PGS D NSERC Scolarship was upgraded to a CGS D. He will soon be earning more money than an assistant professor.
June 13-17, 2015 - Michel and Pouyan attend the CSC conference in Ottawa.
May 29, 2015 - Steven receives an oral presentation award at the 1st Graduate Student Symposium in our department. Congratulations!
April 2015 - Christa is the recipient of an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS M). Congratulations!
March 2015 - Steven is the recipient of an NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship (PGS D). Congratulations!
February 25, 2015 - Steven's massive full paper in collaboration with Claude Legault is accepted in The Journal of Organic Chemistry. Congrats!
December 12, 2014 - Pouyan successfully completes his comprehensive examination on palladium walking reactions. Congratulations!
October 31, 2014 - The Gravel group wins the second prize in the department's annual Pumpkin Carving Contest. Well done.
 
September 26, 2014 - Riley wins the 1st prize for his poster during the annual Chemistry Research and Awards Day. Congratulations Riley!
September 26, 2014 - Myron's manuscript on BAC catalyzed aza-benzoin reactions is accepted in Organic Letters. Congratulations Myron!
September 2014 - Steven is awarded the Gerhard Herzberg Doctoral Promotion Award for 2014-2015. The award is made to one student in the M.Sc. program in chemistry who chooses to promote to the Ph.D. program. Congrats!
September 2014 - Christa Blaquiere joins the group as a new graduate student. Welcome to the group Christa!
September 2014 - The One Man Empire team wins the 7th Synthetic Challenge. Congratulations!
August 2014 - Former PhD student Karen Thai accepts a job offer from Paraza Pharma. She will join Eduardo who is already working there. Congratulations!
August 2014 - Our JACS paper was highlighted in Synfacts.
June 1-5, 2014 - Michel and Myron attend the CSC conference in Vancouver.
May 2014 - Steven receives a Graduate Research Fellowship for 2014-2015. Congratulations!
May 8, 2014 - Steven, Myron, and Karen's manuscript is accepted in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Congratulations everybody!
April 2014 - Myron receives the Dr. C.C. Lee Bursary. Congratulations!
March 21, 2014 - Myron gives a departmental seminar to present his research over the last four years.
January 14, 2014 - The first PhD graduate from the group, Eduardo, accepts a job offer from Paraza Pharma. Congratulations!
December 2013 - Fromer group member Li Wang accepts a job offer from Phenomenome Discoveries. Congratulations!
November 25, 2013 - Myron receives the Gerhard Herzberg Thesis Acceleration Award. Congratulations!
October 31, 2013 - The lab's pumpkin obtains a third place in the annual pumpkin carving constest. Great job guys!
 
October 1, 2013 - Pouyan is awarded the Johannson Scholarship for his achievements as a teaching assistant. Congratulations!
September 2013 - Myron and Michel's communication is declared a "Hot Paper" by the editors of Angewandte Chemie.
September 12, 2013 - Myron and Michel's communication on bis(amino)cyclopropenylidenes is accepted in Angewandte Chemie. Congratulations!
September 2013 - Venkata Krishna, Riley, and Xiaomeng join the group. Welcome to the group!
September 5, 2013 - Michel becomes a member of NSERC's Scholarships and Fellowships Selection Committee for Chemistry.
August 2013 - The Lord Of The Fumehoods team wins the 6th Synthetic Challenge. Congratulations!
July 2013 - Michel and his family move back to Saskatoon after one year in Sherbrooke, QC. The year-long party in the lab is over.
June 23-27, 2013 - Myron and Steven attend the National Organic Symposium in Seattle.
May 26-30, 2013 - Michel and Pouyan attend the CSC Meeting in Quebec City.
May 14, 2013 - Michel gives a talk at Delmar Chemicals in Montreal.
May 7, 2013 - Michel gives a talk at the University of Ottawa.
April 26, 2013 - Li wins the prestigious National Volunteer Award from Let's Talk Science. Congratulations!
April 12, 2013 - Karen, Steven, François, and Michel's communication "Highly Chemo- and Enantioselective Cross-Benzoin Reaction of Aliphatic Aldehydes and α-Ketoesters" is accepted in Organic Letters. Well done everyone!
February 21, 2013 - Myron and Michel's article on 2-(acetylamino)propanedioic acid is accepted in the Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis (e-EROS).
February 1, 2013 - Michel gives a talk at Concordia University.
February 2013 - Janice and Michel's chapter on the Stetter Reaction is accepted in Comprehensive Organic Synthesis II.
January 2013 - Li starts in an education certificate program to teach the next generation of scientists. Good luck Li!
December 25, 2012 - The group gets into the spirit of the season by making a chemistry Christmas tree.
December 21, 2012 - Myron successfully completes his comprehensive examination on intramolecular cyclopropanations. Congratulations!
December 7, 2012 - Michel, Myron, Li, Pouyan, and Sida visit TC Scientific in Edmonton.
December 3, 2012 - Michel gives a talk at the Université du Québec à Montréal.
November 21, 2012 - Michel gives a talk at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.
November 14, 2012 - Michel gives a talk at the Université de Sherbrooke.
October 31, 2012 - The Gravel Group is awarded the second prize in the pumpkin carving contest!
 
October 15, 2012 - Karen, Eduardo, and Michel's chapter is accepted for publication in Comprehensive Enantioselective Organocatalysis.
September 28-30, 2012 - Myron and Steven each present a poster at the Western Canadian Medicinal Chemistry Workshop.
 
September 28, 2012 - Steven wins the People's Choice Award for his poster at the Chemistry Research and Awards Day. Congratulations!
September 3, 2012 - Karen starts her postdoc at the University of Bristol in the lab of Varinder K. Aggarwal.
August 24, 2012 - After two years in our group, Sida goes to the University of Alberta for his graduate studies. Good luck in Edmonton!
August 17, 2012 - Michel gives a talk at the University of New Brunswick.
August 13, 2012 - Going away party for Karen and Sida.
 
August 9-10, 2012 - Michel is an invited speaker at the SOCCER conference at Memorial University in Newfoundland.
July 9-10, 2012 - Michel gives talks at The University of Chicago and at Northwestern University.
July 1, 2012 - Michel begins a one-year sabbatical leave. He will be a visiting professor at the Université de Sherbrooke.
June 27, 2012 - Janice successfully defends her M.Sc. thesis titled 'The Stetter Reaction: Synthesis of Complex Spiro Bis-Indanes and Studies on Quaternary Centre Formation'. Congratulations for this great accomplishment!
June 22, 2012 - Karen successfully defends her Ph.D. thesis titled 'NHC-Catalyzed Transformations: Stetter, Benzoin, and Ring Expansion Reactions'. Congratulations for this great accomplishment!
June 7, 2012 - The Bazinga! team wins the 5th Synthetic Challenge. Congratulations!
June 5, 2012 - Steven and Sida convocate and receive their B.Sc. Congratulations!
 
May 26-30, 2012 - Michel attends the CSC Conference in Calgary.
May 23-26, 2012 - Michel co-organizes with Jeremy Wulff the 11th Organic and Bioorganic Workshop for Leading Young Canadian Chemists in Banff.
 
May 2012 - Steven receives a Spinks award and Sida receives a Nixon award to support their summer research. Congratulations!
April 20, 2012 - Pouyan and Li pass their Ph.D. qualifying examination. Congratulations!
April 2012 - Steven is awarded a Saskatchewan Innovation and Opportunity Graduate Scholarship. Congratulations!
March 26, 2012 - Eduardo starts his postdoc at the Université de Montréal in the lab of Stephen Hanessian.
March 7, 2012 - Sida and Eduardo's manuscript is accepted in The Journal of Organic Chemistry. Congratulations!
December 7, 2011 - Eduardo successfully defends his Ph.D. thesis titled 'Enantioselective and Domino Intermolecular Stetter Reactions'. !Felicidades Eduardo por tu logro!
November 10-13, 2011 - Karen and Myron attend the Banff Symposium on Organic Chemistry.
 
October 28, 2011 - The Gravel Group is awarded the first prize in the pumpkin carving contest! Nice progression over the years guys!
  
September 29, 2011 - Annual Chemistry Research and Awards Event
- Steven and Sida are awarded Armstrong Awards for their scholastic achievements.
- Sida is awarded the People's Choice Award for his poster.
- Michel is awarded the Chemistry Students Society's Teaching Award, shared with Prof. Ian Burgess.
- Eduardo is awarded the Johannson Scholarship for his achievements as a teaching assistant.
Congratulations Everyone!
  
September 22, 2011 - Myron is awarded the Gerhard Herzberg Doctoral Promotion Award for his performance in courses and progress in research. Congratulations Myron!
September 2011 - Following a two-year stint as assistant professor at Sichuan Normal University, Li Wang comes back for his PhD studies. Welcome back Li!
August 2011 - Pouyan joins the group as a graduate student. Welcome to the group!
August 17, 2011 - Team Synthetic MegaMind wins the Synthetic Challenge 2011.
August 4, 2011 - Eduardo and Karen's manuscript is accepted in Organic Letters. Congratulations!
July 17-22, 2011 - Michel attends the Gordon Conference on Organic Reactions and Processes in Rhode Island.
June 5-9, 2011 - The two summer students (Sida and Steven) are left alone in Saskatoon!
June 5-9, 2011 - Myron attends the National Organic Symposium in Princeton.
June 5-9, 2011 - Michel, Eduardo, and Karen attend the CSC Meeting in Montreal.
May 2, 2011 - Steven joins the group as a summer student. Welcome to the group!
April 22, 2011 - Karen leaves for her three-month internship at Boehringer Ingelheim in Laval, QC. She forgot to hide her glassware before leaving!
April 18, 2011 - The Gravel and Burgess groups celebrate their supervisors' tenure by having a paintball massacre. The students did not miss their opportunity for revenge!
April 15, 2011 - Michel receives the 2010-2011 Division of Science Teaching Excellence Award from the College of Arts & Science. Thanks to everyone who wrote a supporting letter!
April 3, 2011 - Eduardo, Janice, and Crystal's invited full paper is accepted in Synthesis as part of a special issue on organocatalysis. Congratulations!
March 2009 - Congratulations to Margot for obtaining an NSERC CGS M !
March 18, 2011 - Michel is awarded tenure and promotion to associate professor. Thanks to all students past and present for their help!
February 3, 2011 - Li's thesis is now available online.
December 17, 2010 - Karen gives a talk at the Pacifichem conference in Hawaii. Who knew grad school involved lying on the beach!
December 8, 2010 - Karen successfully completes her comprehensive examination on the topic of stereoselective formation of quaternary centres. Congratulations!
November 12, 2010 - Eduardo, Janice, and Crystal's manuscript is accepted in Organic Letters. Congratulations!
November 9, 2010 - Karen and Li's manuscript is accepted in Organic Letters. Congratulations!
September 26, 2010 - Congratulations to Karen for her 1st prize-winning poster at the 2nd Western Canadian Medicinal Chemistry Workshop.
September 2010 - Mike and Margot join the group for their CHEM 486 projects. Welcome to the group!
August 31, 2010 - The Gravel group survives a very rainy summer in what is normally the sunniest province.
August 1-6, 2010 - Michel attends the 18th International Conference on Organic Synthesis in Bergen, Norway.
June 15, 2010 - Team LWF wins the Synthetic Challenge 2010.
May 3, 2010 - Eric and Sida join the group as summer students.
April 13, 2010 - Karen's manuscript is accepted in Tetrahedron: Asymmetry. Congratulations!
April 6, 2010 - Eduardo successfully completes his comprehensive examination on the topic of transition metal-catalyzed cyclopropanation. Congratulations!
March 2010 - Michel obtains a second NSERC Discovery Grant. We can keep going for another 5 years!
February 2010 - Michel is awarded a CNC-IUPAC Award. Thanks to this award
(and to his students!), he will be attending the 18th International Conference on Organic Synthesis in Bergen, Norway, in August 2010.
December 4, 2009 - Li successfully defends his M.Sc. thesis. Congratulations Master Li!
November 1, 2009 - Eduardo receives the third prize at the Banff Symposium on Organic Chemistry. Congratulations!
October 29-November 1, 2009 - Michel, Eduardo, Karen, and Janice attend the Banff Symposium on Organic Chemistry.
September 2009 - Myron joins the group as a graduate student. Welcome to the group!
September 3, 2009 - Karen and Craig's manuscript is accepted in Tetrahedron Letters. Congratulations!
August 25, 2009 - Team Hogwarts wins the Synthetic Challenge 2009.
August 21, 2009 - Eduardo's manuscript is accepted in The Journal of Organic Chemistry. Congratulations!
July 8, 2009 - Janice and Andrea's manuscript is accepted in The Journal of Organic Chemistry. Congratulations to both of you!
June 25, 2009 - Eduardo receives an award for his presentation at the CSC meeting. Congratulations Eduardo!
June 8, 2009 - We finally received our CFI instruments! (See March 2008 news notice)
May 30-June 3, 2009 - Michel, Eduardo, Li, and Karen attend the CSC meeting in Hamilton.
May 25, 2009 - Karen is awarded the
Boehringer Ingelheim Industrial Cooperative Research Scholarship in Synthetic Organic Chemistry. Congratulations Karen for
this prestigious scholarship!
May 13, 2009 - Nicolas Gravel is born. Congratulations Darcie!
April 2009 - Congratulations to Karen for passing her Ph.D. qualifying examination.
April 2009 - Congratulations to Janice for obtaining an NSERC CGS M ! She will be starting her M.Sc. in our group this September.
March 2009 - Congratulations to Janice for obtaining an NSERC USRA two years in a row!
March 2009 - Our Organic Letters paper was highlighted in Synfacts.
January 2009 - Our first paper was accepted in Organic Letters. Good work Li and Karen!
September 2008 - Congratulations to Li and Eduardo for their awards at the 1st Western Canadian Medicinal Chemistry Workshop.
September 2008 - Craig and Crystal join the group as undergraduate students. Welcome to the group!
August 26, 2009 - Team Alchemists wins the Synthetic Challenge 2008.
May 2008 - Congratulations to Andrea for her award at the Western Canadian Undergraduate Chemistry Conference.
May 2008 - Janice joins the group as an undergraduate student. Welcome to the group!
March 2008 - Congratulations to Janice for obtaining an NSERC USRA.
March 2008 - We celebrate in anticipation of new equipment obtained through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
September 8, 2007 - Émilie Gravel is born. Congratulations Darcie!
September 2007 - Li and Karen join the group as graduate students. Andrea joins as an undergraduate students. Welcome to the group everyone!
May 2007 - Anne-Marie joins the group as a summer student. Welcome to the group!
April 2007 - Congratulations to Eduardo for passing his Ph.D. qualifying examination and TOEFL!
April 2007 - We celebrate our first NSERC Discovery Grant and Research Tools & Instruments Grant.
September 2006 - Eduardo joins the group as a graduate student. Li and Vanny join as undergraduate students. Welcome to the group everyone!
August 2006 - Michel and Darcie arrive in Saskatoon. Lab set-up begins.
June 2006 - Website is launched. Michel and Darcie are still in Chicago!
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