Published by Communications and Public Affairs 519 824-4120, Ext. 56982 or 53338

News Release

February 22, 2007

Chemistry Prof Named Killam Fellow

A University of Guelph chemistry professor is among 10 Canadians who received prestigious Killam Research Fellowships today. The $140,000 award will allow Prof. Jacek Lipkowski to devote himself to research full time over the next two years.

“This is a great honour and distinction,” said Lipkowski. “The release from teaching made possible through the Killam award will allow me to concentrate on two important and ongoing research projects.”

A U of G professor since 1983, Lipkowski is renowned for groundbreaking research conducted over the past 30 years. Currently, he is co-ordinating research on proteins and peptides through the Guelph-based Advanced Foods and Materials Network that involves 13 scientists from across Canada.

He is also leading a research team that received $2.7 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation in 2006 to conduct leading-edge life science and soft materials research involving biomolecules, cells and bacteria. This project involves 24 investigators at U of G and more than 100 post-doctoral researchers and students.

Lipkowski was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 2004 and was named one of U of G’s first Canada Research Chairs in 2001. His many other honours include a research award from Germany's Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 1995, the Prix Jacques Tacussel Award from the International Society of Electrochemistry in 1997, the Canadian Society for Chemistry’s Alcan Award in 1998, the Gold Medal of the International Society of Electrochemistry in 2004, and a Gold Medal from the Canadian section of the Electrochemical Society in 2005.

He received his master’s degree and PhD in chemistry from the University of Warsaw. He has been a visiting professor at the Fritz-Haber Institute in Berlin and in 1996 was a Humboldt Fellow in electrochemistry at the University of Ulm in Germany. He edited the Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry and Interfacial Chemistry from 1996 to 2003.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Killam research awards, which are administered by the Canada Council for the Arts. They support scholars engaged in research projects of outstanding merit in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences, engineering and interdisciplinary studies within these fields. The awards are made possible by a gift and a bequest from philanthropist Dorothy J. Killam, who died in 1965. Recipients are chosen by a committee made up of 15 eminent scientists and scholars.