Top Chemistry Prize Won By Nanotechnology Researcher

Chemist Only Second Woman Winner of Rutherford Medal

(May 17, 2005– Edmonton, Alberta) — Dr. Jillian Buriak, a Chemistry researcher at the National Institute for Nanotechnology of the National Research Council (NINT) and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Alberta, has won the most prestigious honour for Canadian chemists – the Royal Society of Canada Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry.

Named for Lord Rutherford of Nelson - a great scientist and a leader in nuclear research - this medal is awarded for outstanding research in any branch of Chemistry. In recognition of Lord Rutherford's own research carried out in Canada at a relatively young age, this award is often given to candidates whose age is not over 40 in the year of the award. The award consists of a gold-plated silver medal and $2,500.

Originally from Ontario, Jillian Buriak was educated at Harvard and Université Louis Pasteur in France. Following a distinguished academic career the United States, Dr. Buriak returned to Canada in 2003 to head the Materials and Interfacial Chemistry Group at NINT.

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Background on the Rutherford Medal is available here: http://www.rsc.ca/index.php?page_id=61⟨_id=1&award;_id=7

Jillian Buriak Biography

Dr. Buriak leads the Materials and Interfacial Chemistry Group at National Research Council’s National Institute for Nanotechnology, and is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta. She is a leading expert in semiconductor surface chemistry, and is developing new methods to integrate catalysts, molecular electronics and sensing elements with technologically important semiconducting and conducting materials. Her group investigates the use of organometallic and inorganic chemistry on silicon surfaces, and works to demonstrate the fabrication of nanoscale structures that have a broad range of potential applications.

Jillian was born in Toronto, Ontario. She attended Harvard University and graduated with an A.B. in 1990, and then taught high-school science in the Fiji Islands on a Catherine Innes Ireland Fellowship from Harvard. In 1991, she began her doctoral studies in chemistry under the guidance of John A. Osborn at the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. After obtaining her Ph.D. in 1995, she was awarded an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship and conducted two years of post-doctoral work at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California with M. Reza Ghadiri. She moved to Purdue University in 1997 as an assistant professor, and was promoted to associate professor in 2001. Dr. Buriak returned to Canada in 2003 to join NINT and the University of Alberta.

Dr. Buriak has been the recipient of many academic and professional awards, including:

• Forum of Young Global Leaders, 2005
• Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, 2004
• American Chemical Society Pure Chemistry Award, 2003
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Teacher-Scholar Award, 2002
• Fresenius Award, 2001
• 3M Untenured Faculty Award, 2000
• School of Science Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award (Purdue), 2000
• Cottrell Teacher-Scholar Award, 2000
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow, 2000
• National Science Foundation Career Award, 1999
• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, New Faculty Award, 1997
• NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1995-97

Dr. Buriak is the author of 38 scientific papers and book chapters, and holds 6 patents. She is a member of the Canadian Institute of Chemistry (CIC), the American Chemical Society (ACS), the Materials Research Society (MRS), and the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Jillian Buriak is 37 years old and the mother of two children.