11 Feb 2020
Maia Murphy is a 2019 Canada Student Merit Award winner. She achieved this award for obtaining the highest standing of her class in the fourth and final year of her degree. Here is a brief biography of the winner.
My name is Maia Murphy and I graduated from Mount Allison University in 2019 with an Honours degree in Chemistry. During my undergraduate degree, I had the honour of working in Dr. Stephen Westcott’s research group, the WiLd ToAdS, beginning the summer after my second year. Throughout my time in the group, I worked on three different projects focused on the synthesis of novel ligands and their various corresponding metal complexes. This includes my fourth-year thesis project, for which I was awarded an NSERC USRA, focused on the phosphinoboration reaction – a reaction that was discovered by our group.
Outside of the lab, I was the President of the Chemistry/Biochemistry Student Society, a teaching assistant for various Chemistry courses, as well as a campus ambassador. I was also a Shinerama volunteer throughout my time at Mount Allison, as well as a MASSIE conversation partner and co-recycling coordinator for SappyFest (a local music festival) during the summers.
Currently, I am pursuing my graduate studies in Chemistry at McMaster University for which I was awarded an NSERC CGS-M.
Maia Murphy
Mount Allison University
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