Course Director: Dr. John Andraos.

PURPOSE OF DIRECTORY

This directory was created to serve as an on-line professional network for graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty members in Departments of Chemistry in Canada. It is an updateable database that highlights information useful for career management in the chemical sciences. Other available print directories such as the ACS Directory of Graduate Research do include major Canadian universities in their listings, however they do not give information on faculty-to-faculty interconnections or career information specific to the needs of future chemical scientists in Canada. Getting connected with the right people at the right time is the key to successful career development. This electronic compilation is the first of its kind in satisfying this goal by providing useful career-based information about chemistry departments in Canada in a single source. Both chemistry students and faculty members can use this directory to maximize their opportunities to link with the "right" people for various purposes. These include finding leading scientists in emerging areas of chemistry, locating alumni from a department or a particular advisor's group who were successful in obtaining academic positions in Canada and the United States, and revealing particular patterns of recruitment for faculty positions at Chemistry Departments in Canada.

Of particular importance is information about the scientific pedigrees of current faculty advisors. Consequently it is the key feature of this directory. Generally information of this kind is not given in departmental webpages. A notable exception is that of the Department of Chemistry at the University of British Columbia . One may be able to make educated guesses about scientific lineages for new faculty hires from their brief publication list that is included as part of their webpage information. For senior faculty this is not possible without a thorough literature search or inside knowledge from other sources. Moreover depending on limitations of resources at departments some of the information given in department webpages is either incomplete or outdated. As such they cannot be used as an exclusive source for learning about a particular department or faculty member.

AUDIENCE

•If You Are a Prospective or a Current Graduate Student or a Post-Doctoral Fellow
Information contained in this directory is vital for you in selecting your advisors wisely. The choice of faculty advisor is the single most important determining factor for success in pursuing both academic and industrial careers in chemistry.

Yet, students often find themselves so heavily focussed on their studies that they do not have the time to go out and investigate all available sources of information. Degree requirements get in the way and scholarship deadlines are often fast approaching. It is not surprising to learn then that this decision is often made with insufficient information and in restricted periods of time in a young person?s post-graduate education. A recent National Survey shows that students are often unaware of the important factors to look for in selecting a future research advisor, of what questions to ask, and of where to look for information about an advisor beyond a cursory literature search of recent publications. As a result they end up making their choice on surface information. Few pay attention to issues about career management particularly in the pursuit of academic careers. With few successes in this area these behaviours can explain the recent trend of students opting for non-academic careers in chemistry.

Again, like students, faculty members experience their own time limitations. They are constrained by the ongoing duties of academic life such as writing grant proposals, teaching service first and second year undergraduate courses, travelling to conferences, and carrying out administrative duties of all descriptions including being part of selection committees for hiring new faculty. Faculty may be surprised to learn of the scientific backgrounds of colleagues they work alongside with. The single best payoff for faculty members will be that they will be recruiting well informed students who have selected their advisors with definite career goals and who have decided that their chosen advisors will be the vehicles for achieving those goals. It is intended that this directory will facilitate the matching of "best students" with "best professors".

Prospective faculty members will find this directory invaluable in getting complete portraits of each department according to various criteria including scientific pedigree profiles, the identification of specific areas of chemistry departments may be targeting in their searches, age profiles, gender profiles, and internal connections profiles. Young scientists who seek academic careers will be better able to target specific chemistry departments in their campaign for academic positions in Canada. It is intended that this directory will facilitate the matching of "best candidates" with "best departments".

•Homepages of Departments of Chemistry at Canadian universities (see Index of Homepages for Departments of Chemistry )
•Canadian Chemical News announcements of awards given to faculty members at Canadian universities. (These announcements give mini-biographical sketches of awardees)
•American Men and Women of Science , 20th. Ed., 1998 and previous editions.
•ACS Directory of Graduate Research 1999
•Science libraries at Canadian and international universities (via e-mail correspondence)
•SciFinder Scholar (access to Chemical Abstracts )
•Consultation of actual research papers published in scientific journals to confirm authors of correspondence

Disclaimer and Waiver of Responsibility:

Acceptable Site Use:

Information given in careerchem.com is being made freely available on a trial basis for the benefit of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, prospective faculty members, and employed faculty members in their career management in the chemical sciences. During this probationary period downloading of files is permissible for personal use only. Restrictions may apply in the future. Notice will be posted on careerchem.com if and when such restrictions will take effect.

Departments of Chemistry or other educational Internet sites, organizations, and chemical societies are permitted to make links from their respective webpages to careerchem.com pending that webmasters first ask permission in writing to c1000@careerchem.com .

Proper citation of this database should be made if users intend to use any information contained in this document in whole or in part for educational purposes only. This includes reviews in chemical society publications, conference proceedings, and newspapers in written or electronic formats. Written permission for any such use should be made to c1000@careerchem.com .

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Use of any information contained in careerchem.com without proper citation or expressed written permission to c1000@careerchem.com .

Information given in the Directory of Departments of Chemistry in Canada will be updated annually on or about September to coincide with the beginning of the academic year at universities and the seasonal posting of academic positions in the Fall.