People

Dr. Brad Cowie - Ph.D. degree received in October 2015 (External examiner Prof. Joshua S. Figueroa, UCSD)
Thesis: "Late transition Metal Complexes of Group 13 Lewis Acid-Containing Ambiphilic Ligands".

Brad obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry from McMaster, and obtained his Ph.D. from the Emslie group. His research focused on the synthesis, study and reactivity of late TM complexes bearing borane- and alane-containing ambiphilic ligands. He has 12 publications from McMaster: 1 from undergrad research in the Greedan group, and 10 from our group (10 on ambiphilic ligand complexes including in Angew. Chem., 1 review and 1 book chapter). Brad was a 2013/14 winner of the Dr. Ronald J Gillespie Prize for outstanding scholastic achievement and innovative research in Inorganic Chem.

In Nov 2015, Brad completed a PDF (NSERC) in the group of Polly Arnold at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is currently a PDF in Organometallic Chemistry and Nanomaterials Catalysis at Oxford University. 

Dr. Carlos Cruz - Ph.D. degree received from the Emslie group in 2010 (External examiner Prof. William J. Evans - UC Irvine).
Thesis: "Rigid Non-Carbocyclic Ancillary Ligands in Organothorium Chemistry".

Carlos obtained his B.Sc. degree in Chemistry from McMaster in 2004, and he obtained his Ph.D. from the Emslie lab. His research resulted in 5 first-author publications (1 Dalton Trans., 3 Organometallics, 1 JOMC), 1 non-first-author paper in Dalton Trans., and 1 book chapter. He was Chemistry Graduate Student President from 2006-2007, and he held OGS from 2006-2008, and an NSERC PGS-D for 2008-2010. He was also the recipient of Morrison (2005) and Lock (2006 and 2007) Scholarships.

Carlos was a Senior Research Chemist in the Polyolefins Catalyst and Product Development Group at Chevron Phillips Chemical Company in Oklahoma. In 2021, he became a Licensing Manager at Chevron Phillips, and is now basted in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Edwin Wong; Postdoctoral Research Fellow: 2013-2015

Edwin obtained a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the U. Alberta and then completed B.Sc.and Ph.D. (Leznoff group) degrees in Chemistry at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Vancouver. Edwin then worked for 1 year as a PDF in Prof. Cameron Jones' group at Monash University in Australia before joining the Emslie group in April 2013. Edwin's research focused on the development of new rigid pincer ligands and their application in the development of f-element organometallic chemistry, particularly olefin polymerization catalysis.

Edwin is now working at E-One Moli Energy (Canada) Limited.

Dr. Todd Whitehorne; Postdoctoral Research Fellow: 2013-2015

Todd obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry from Carleton U. in 2007 and then completed an M.Sc. in the Barry group at Carleton U.; " Au(I), Au(III), Ag(I) Amidinate, Guanidinate and Xanthates applied to CVD/ALD deposition of metallic thin films". In 2009 he moved to the Schaper group at Université de Montréal where he completed his Ph.D. entitled "Novel M(II) β-Diketimines for the stereoselective polymerization of lactide". Todd 's research in the Emslie group was focused on the development and study of new precursors and reaction chemistry for metal Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD).

In March 2015, Todd started a position at Digital Specialty Chemicals. In November 2015, he moved on to a position as a Research Scientist at Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. (AECL).

Dr. Preeti Chadha; Postdoctoral Research Fellow: 2011-2013

Preeti obtained her B.Sc. (Hons) in Chemistry in 2002 from Banaras Hindu University (BHU), and an M.Sc. degree in Chemistry from IIT Roorkee. She then worked for 2 years with Prof. B. D. Gupta at IIT Kanpur. In 2011 Preeti received her Ph.D. from the Ragogna group at UWO: "Exploring the Chemistry of Cyclopentadienyl-Cobalt-Cyclobutadiene (CpCoCb) Complexes and Synthesis of Side-Chain CpCoCb Polymers". Preeti joined the Emslie group in Sept 2011, and her research focused on the development and study of new reaction chemistry for metal Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). She has 1 review and 2 papers from her time in the group.

Preeti worked as a Research Chemist at Green Centre Canada (2013-2017) and is now a Research Scientist at DowDuPont in Kingston, Ontario (2017-current).

Dr. Bala Vidjayacoumar; Postdoctoral Research Fellow: 2007-2010

Bala obtained his M.Sc. in Chemistry in 1999 from Pondicherry University in India, and his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2005 from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur in India. Upon completion of his Ph.D. degree, Bala worked for 7 months as a research associate in the group of Prof. R. Mukherjee at IIT Kanpur. He then moved to a position as a PDF with Prof. S. Gambarotta (U Ottawa) in September 2005, and in March 2007, Bala joined the Emslie research group. During this time, his research focused on the development and study of new methods for late transition metal atomic layer deposition (ALD) and he also mentored various students in the area of organouranium chemistry.

He has 5 papers from his research in the group and is now a Lead Scientist at SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corporation).

Dr. Sougandi Ilango; Postdoctoral Research Fellow: 2007-2008

Sougandi obtained her M.Sc. in Chemistry (1999), an M.Phil. in Bioinorganic Chemistry (2000) and a Ph.D. in Chemistry (2003) from Pondicherry University in India. From January 2004 to December 2005, Sougandi worked as a PDF in the group of Prof. Jean Marc Latour in Grenoble, France. This postdoctoral work focused on protein purification and EPR titration of metalloproteins. In March 2006, Sougandi moved to a position as a PDF in the group of Prof. S. Gambarotta (U Ottawa), and this was followed by a position as a PDF in the Emslie group (August 2007 to May 2008). During this time, her research focused primarily on organometallic and low valent uranium chemistry and she has 2 papers from this work.

She is now an Award Specialist at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia

Dr. Venkat Ramalingam; Postdoctoral Research Fellow: 2008-2009

Venkat obtained his B.Sc. (1999) and M.Sc. (2001) degrees in Chemistry from Madurai Kamaraj University, India. He then completed a Ph.D. in chemistry with Prof. Maravanji S. Balakrishna at IIT Bombay, India. The title of his thesis was "Phosphorus Based Multidentate Ligands: Synthesis, Organometallic Chemistry and applications". In July 2007 he joined the group of Prof. W. Malisch as a PDF at the University of Würzburg, Germany. In December 2008, Venkat joined the Emslie group as a PDF; his research focused on the development and study of new methods for late transition metal atomic layer deposition (ALD).

At the end of October 2009, Venkat moved to a faculty position at the PSG Institute for Advanced Studies in Coimbatore, India.

Dr. James Blackwell; Visiting Research Scientist for 4 months in 2003

James obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Toronto. He then completed an M.Sc. with Prof. M. Lautens (U Toronto), followed by a Ph.D. with Prof. W. Piers (U Calgary), and a postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. C. Cummins (MIT).

Before moving to a position as a research chemist at Intel Corporation in Oregon, James worked for 4 months in the Emslie lab as a visiting research scientist. During this time, his research focused on attempted synthesis of our ambiphilic phosphine-thioether-borane ligand, TXPB.