Page 11 - Eureka! Fall 2007

Faculty news Must be something in the water ever, their reactivity can also lead to Faculty news

irds sing. Painters paint. Research-
salary from the university.”
toxicity even at relatively low levels.
Bers research. It’s what they do. It is
Chakrabarti now supervises four
Currently, potentially toxic levels of
why, despite retiring in 1991, Chuni Lal
graduate students; his research labora-
metal, such as those from mine efflu-
Chakrabarti is still in his office and lab
tories in the Department of Chemistry
have been designated a National Centre
in the Steacie Building today.
of Excellence as part of the Canadian
using a method that presumes chemi-
cal activities or concentrations have
Water Network; and his research proj- ents, are measured in natural waters
ect on kinetic control of metal bio- no net change over time. However,
uptake in natural waters recently this chemical equilibrium is often not
received funding from the Natural achieved in dynamic water systems,
Sciences and Engineering Research resulting in erroneous estimates that
Council (NSERC) for five years. In fact, have health, environmental and eco-
Chakrabarti’s research has received nomic consequences.
continuous funding in Canada since Chakrabarti is working on a predic-
1965—when he joined Carleton’s chem- tion model that uses knowledge of the
istry faculty. metal distribution among the different
“It is a gamble for the government physical and chemical forms—the actu-
to invest in environmental research,” al chemical speciation—instead of the
With 42 years of continuous research funding from says Chakrabarti, “but it is weighed presumed chemical speciation based on
NSERC, Chuni Lal Chakrabarti was awarded an
additional five-year grant in March 2007. against the potential benefit to soci- the local equilibrium assumption. His
ety. I am willing to take the risk.” kinetics-based approach offers a more serving up food science
“Retirement is a dirty word,” says Chakrabarti’s research could im- precise tool for regulatory agencies.
the distinguished research professor, prove the health of aquatic organisms “The creativity of research motivates
who displays the motto aut invenium and humans by better predicting me,” says Chakrabarti. “It is natural to and nutrition
viam aut facium (I shall either find toxicity. Because of their versatility in seek fulfillment. You don’t ask a night-
a way or make one) in his laboratory. a variety of chemical reactions, many ingale to sing—it does it to cheer up in
“It means you relinquish your respon- trace metals are essential micronu- its solitude. I don’t have to be asked to
sibilities. I merely stopped drawing a trients in biological systems. How- do this, I find fulfillment here.”
top and consider what’s on your departments and the Institute of first food and nutritional science
Parting ways for particle physicist S plate tonight. Is the food nutri- Biochemistry, the program also adds program in Canada that provides this
statistical modelling courses from the
depth in the science and in the econom-
tious? Was it genetically modified to
withstand pests? How was it pre- Faculty of Public Affairs to create a ic, risk assessment and policy areas.”
t the Ottawa-Carleton Institute group since 1977, he and set the stage for the served and protected from decay and unique program of study with a solid After a general science first year,
Afor Physics Christmas Sympo- was a leader in the next generation of Large micro-organisms? Has it absorbed science base and an emphasis on as- enrolled students—expected to num-
sium in 2006, Richard Hemingway development and Hadron Collider experi- toxins? Suddenly, there’s a whole lot sessment, management and communi- ber 30 each year—will take courses
presented an overview of his 50 years strengthening of par- ments at much higher en- more to dinner. cation of risk in food safety. such as principles of nutrition, food
in physics. Among photographs, a ticle physics research ergy. The SNO experiment Students in a new honours Bachelor “The food industry needs people who chemistry, analysis, packaging, en-
telegraph of his first job offer in the at the university and showed that neutrinos of Science program will tackle those are knowledgeable scientists and who gineering and microbiology, quality
field, and remembrances of people throughout Canada. produced in the sun’s core questions and more when the program are able to assess risk and formulate control, and regulation of the food
and projects past, Hemingway in- During his time at oscillate to a different fla- in food science and nutrition begins in policy,” says Bob Burk, BSCHons/80, industry. After graduation, they’ll be
cluded a retirement prayer: “God, Carleton University, vour of neutrinos by the September 2008. Drawing on Carleton MSc/82, PhD/91, chair of the Depart- poised to fill the demand for food sci-
grant me the senility to forget the Hemingway partici- time they reach terrestrial University’s chemistry and biology ment of Chemistry. “This will be the entists in Canada’s food industry.
people I never liked anyway, the good pated in three ma- detectors. This solved an
fortune to run into the ones I do, and jor particle physics important and perplex-
the eyesight to tell the difference.” projects: studying the ing 30-year-old scientific A nobel pursuit
Given the unusually large number properties of a class of problem concerning neu-
of former colleagues in Europe and mesons containing a strange quark at trinos and how energy is generated
North America with whom he main- the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre; in the sun. Hemingway continues to n December 10, Peter Grünberg Grünberg had not yet discovered It wasn’t until 1988 that Grünberg
tains warm and strong friendships, leading collaboration work on software work at SNOLAB, to answer critical O will be presented with the 2007 the effect that allows hard disks to discovered GMR.
Hemingway is not likely to need the development, data analysis and phys- and fundamental questions behind Nobel Prize in Physics. He will share be miniaturized when he came to The Royal Swedish Academy of
prayer answered. ics analysis at the 21-year OPAL project the origin of the universe and the the honour with Albert Fert, as both Carleton in 1969. As a postdoctoral Sciences said in its citation that
When he retired from his positions at the CERN electron-positron collider nature of matter. men independently discovered giant fellow of the National Research Grünberg’s contribution “can also
as honourary research professor in LEP; and leading the Carleton University Along with other members of magnetoresistance (GMR)—that the Council of Canada, Grünberg worked be considered one of the first real
physics at Carleton University and se- group investigating solar neutrinos at the the SNO collaboration, Hemingway electrical resistance of thin magnetic for now-retired physical chemistry applications of the promising field of
nior research scientist of the Canadian Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). received the award of the inaugural layers can be greatly changed through professor J. Arnold Koningstein until nanotechnology.”
Institute of Particle Physics on July 1, The OPAL measurements tested Polanyi Prize in 2006 and the Benja- external magnetic fields. 1972. The pair was using a laser to
Hemingway left a career that spanned and confirmed current theories of min Franklin Medal of Philadelphia’s While ubiquitous laptop computers excite an ion in crystals, and studying
countries as well as decades. A mem- the electroweak and strong interac- Franklin Institute in 2007. and MP3 players today use GMR the small steps by which the ion
ber of the Carleton particle physics tions to extraordinary precision, With files from Carleton Now. to read magnetic bits and bytes, switches to a higher level of energy.

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