Page 9 - Eureka-2013

hemical education at Carleton is the Spectroscopy Society of Canada,
Cpretty much as it always has been, and the Royal Society and the Killam
even if the undergraduate program has fellowships.
doubled and new programs in food “Many chemistry students will
science and nutrition and nanoscience remember Karl Diedrich,” says Wiles.
(joint with electrical engineering) and “He worked as the storekeeper in the Chemistry
Chemistry Wiles, a nuclear chemist and one of through the mid-1990s. He knew
chemistry department from 1961
nanochemistry have been added.
Former chair (1979 to 1988) Don
everything about the department
and nearly everything about the
the longest-serving members of the
chemistry department, having arrived
at Carleton in 1959 in the wake of the university,” recalls Wiles. “He ran the
department and was the only one who
department’s move to the new campus, didn’t know that.”
agrees with Burk’s assessment of the Wiles notes how Diedrich could
department’s holistic approach. identify any chemical by its smell and
“The philosophy of Jim Holmes would work into the wee hours of the
(who first became chair in 1957) was morning to help students with their
to cover all of chemistry, rather than research, particularly the third-year Former chair Don Wiles is still active in the
focusing on a few experts in one organic students who were required to department, documenting its history.
field. This built the philosophy of the identify an unknown substance. “Many
department.” students owe their degrees to Karl,” location in the research-centred
He reminisces about some of the Wiles believes. “He did many things capital.
famous graduates such as Dr. Peter beyond any job description.” The department was further
Grünberg, who worked in professor Before the Steacie building opened strengthened with the introduction
Arnold Koningstein’s chemistry lab in 1965, chemistry students studied in of the NSERC Canada Research
as a post-doctoral fellow from 1969 laboratories on the fourth floor of the program in 2000, and within the last
to 1972, and went on to win a Nobel Tory Building, including a makeshift decade, the Canadian Foundation
Prize for Physics in 2007. Other faculty one in Wiles’s office. for Innovation has provided strong
members have been highly cited for Carleton’s chemistry department support for infrastructure, including
their research, winning such prizes was perhaps fated to grow into a research laboratories for the new
as the Gerhard Herzberg Award from flourishing one, given its unique appointments.

he Chemistry program, as
Tcurrent master’s student
Christopher Mattice will attest, is
lab-intensive. From their first year,
students are practicing hands-on
chemistry. In fact, eighteen hundred
students go through Carleton’s lab-
based first-year chemistry course
every year. Mattice was one of them,
beginning his biochemistry studies
in 2008.
“I’m really happy with the choice I
made,” says Mattice, who graduated
this June with an undergraduate
degree in biochemistry and a perfect Mattice is also impressed with the
GPA, one of an unprecedented six newer faculty, such as DeRosa, who
Carleton students who accomplished are bringing with them their novel
this feat this year. research (DNA aptamers in DeRosa’s
“I have done research in all case). “The chemistry department In June 2013, Marilyn Stock, who held the
the chemistry labs, all the way is evolving as we merge with newer position of Departmental Administrator
through, so I have plenty of hands- fields and branch off into more in the Chemistry department for many
on experience” says Mattice. “And obscure areas,” according to Mattice. years, retired from Carleton. “It’s almost
the labs are amazing,” he continues. “I feel I am part of something special.” impossible to think of our office without
her,” says Burk. “A lot of students and
“They’re very organized. It’s a very faculty have passed through these doors
cohesive unit.” and Marilyn was a huge help to a lot of
them.”

EUREKA 9