Scott Hopkins

Scott Hopkins is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Waterloo. His research interests lie at the intersection of chemistry and physics for charged molecules and clusters, where he applies experimental, theoretical, and machine-learning methods to deduce molecular properties. Dr. Hopkins has received several awards for his research, including the Keith Laidler Award of the Canadian Society for Chemistry and the PerkinElmer Award of the Canadian Society for Analytical Sciences and Spectroscopy. Dr. Hopkins has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in highly regarded journals, including the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie, and Nature Communications, and he has co-authored six patents. He is the project lead and director for the new Canadian free electron laser facility that is being built at the University of Waterloo.

• Clusters

• Quantum chemistry

• Spectroscopy

• Mass spectrometry

• Photodissociation

• Drug Discovery, Design and Delivery

• Devices and Analytical Methods

• Molecular Therapeutics and Theranostics

• Pharmacokinetics

• 2006, PhD, Chemistry, University of New Brunswick, Canada

• 2001, BSc, Chemistry, University of New Brunswick, Canada

• 2024, University of Waterloo Excellence in Science Research Award

• 2024, Inorganic Chemistry Cover Article

• 2023, University of Waterloo Outstanding Performance Award

• 2023, WIN Research Leader Award

• 2023, Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling Cover Article

• 2022, Keith Laidler Award of the Canadian Society for Chemistry

• 2022, Angewandte Chemie Int Ed. VIP & Frontispiece

• 2022, PerkinElmer Award, Canadian Society for Spectroscopy and Analytical Sciences

• 2022, NSERC Discovery Horizons Program Fit Advisor

• 2021-2022, NSERC Chemistry (1504) Evaluation Group Co-Chair (physical/analytical)

• 2021, University of Waterloo President’s Excellence in Research Award

• 2021, Kitchener-Waterloo Community Volunteer Award

• 2021, Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry Cover Article

• 2021, American Society for Mass Spectrometry Invited Conference Session Chair

• 2021, Canadian Journal of Physics Cover Article

• 2020-2021, NSERC Chemistry (1504) Evaluation Group In-coming Chair (physical/analytical)

• 2020, Canadian Society for Mass Spectrometry Young Investigator Award

• 2019-2020, NSERC Chemistry (1504) Evaluation Group Member

• 2019, Angewandte Chemie Int Ed Cover Article

• 2019, University of Waterloo Outstanding Performance Award

• 2018, The Journal of Physical Chemistry A Cover Article

• 2017, ACS Central Science Cover Article

• 2017, Early Researcher Award, Province of Ontario

• 2016, European Journal of Organic Chemistry Cover Article

• 2016, JACS article highlighted in Chemical & Engineering News

• 2016, Journal of the American Chemical Society Cover Article

• 2015, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics Cover Article

• 2015, Analyst Cover Article

• 2015, Molecular Physics Cover Article

• 2015, The Journal of Physical Chemistry A Cover Article

• 2015, University of Waterloo Outstanding Performance Award

• 2014, The Journal of Physical Chemistry A Cover Article

• 2014, University of Waterloo Periodic Table Teaching Award

• 2013, University of Waterloo University Research Chair

• 2012, Fibre-optic Pickup invention highlighted in Nature Photonics

• 2009, Chemical Physics Letters Editor’s Choice

• 2008, Ramsay Memorial Fellow, University of Oxford

• 2008, New Hall College Fellow, University of Cambridge

• 2006, Queen’s University Postdoctoral Travel Award

• 2005, University of New Brunswick Board of Governors Award

• 2005, University of New Brunswick Chemistry Graduate Student Award

• 1997, University of New Brunswick Entrance Scholarship

• 1997, Humber – St. Barbe Electoral District Scholarship

• 2017-present, Project Lead, WaterFEL: Waterloo Free Electron Laser

• 2021-2022, WIN-Nano Digital Health Conference Organizing Committee

• 2020-2021, Project Lead, AI in Healthcare and Medicine

• 2020, Founding Member, Centre for Eye and Vision Research

• 2019, Nominating Committee for Dean of Science

• 2018-2019, Member, Waterloo AI Graduate Level Scholarship Committee

• 2016-2019, Member-at-large, CSC Physical & Theoretical Chemistry Division Executive Committee

• 2015-2017, University of Waterloo Representative, "Interaction between light and Matter" initiative with University of Bordeaux

• 2014-2015, Session Chair, Trent Conference on Mass Spectrometry

• 2014-2015, Director, YouTube Channel: "CPPC – Chem Phys Phys Chem"

• 2013-2015, Member, President’s Advisory Committee on Convocation Speakers

• 2012-2015, Organizer, Symposium on Chemical Physics, University of Waterloo

• 2012-2015, Session Chair, Symposium on Chemical Physics, University of Waterloo

• 2012, Prize Judge, SOUSCC Physical & Theoretical Chemistry Division

• 2012, Virtual Researcher on Call (VROC) outreach program

• 2012, Poster Judge, CSC Physical & Theoretical Chemistry Division

• Member-at-large PTC division executive, Canadian Society for Chemistry

• Canadian Association of Physicists

• Canadian Society for Mass Spectrometry

• American Chemistry Society

• American Society for Mass Spectrometry

• Member, Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Institute

• Member, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology

• Member, The Water Institute

• CHEM 120 - General Chemistry 1
  • Taught in 2020
• CHEM 240 - Mathematical Methods for Chemistry
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2025
• CHEM 400 - Special Topics in Chemistry
  • Taught in 2023, 2025
• CHEM 750 - Selected Topics in Physical Chemistry
  • Taught in 2023, 2025

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• View all Scott Hopkins' publications on Google Scholar.

• Steinstra C, Herbert L, Thomas P, Haack A, Guo J, Hopkins WS,* Graphormer-IR: Graph Transformers Predict Experimental IR Spectra Using Highly Specialized Attention, 2024, 64(12), 4613-4629.

• Lee A, McMahon TB,* Hopkins WS,* Fluorinated Propionic Acids Unmasked: Puzzling Fragmentation Phenomena of the Deprotonated Species, J. Phys. Chem. Letters, 2024, 15, 3029-3036.

• Steinstra C, Haack A, Lee A, Hopkins WS,* Ion core switching during photodissociation dynamics via the Rydberg states of XeAr, Chem. Phys., 2024, 112254Abaeva M, Ieritano C, Hopkins WS, Schipper D* Unsymmetrical Imidazopyrimidine-based Bimetallic Ligand and Complexes, Inorg. Chem., 2024, 63(2), 1010-1019.

• Dezalay J, Ryan C, Ieritano C, Hopkins WS, Fernandes I, Cammidege A, Stockett M, Nobel J, Bull J* Protomers of the green and cyan fluorescent protein chromophores investigated using action spectroscopy, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2023, 2023, 25(30), 20405-20413.

• Ieritano C, Haack A, Hopkins WS,* MobCal-MPI 2.0: An Accurate and Parallelized Package for Calculating Field-Dependent Collision Cross Sections and Ion Mobilities, Analyst, 2023, 148, 3257-3273.

• Stienstra C, Ieritano C, Haack A, Hopkins WS,* Bridging the Gap between Differential Mobility, Log S, and Log P Using Machine Learning and SHAP Analysis, Anal. Chem., 2023, 95(27), 10309-10321.

• Ryan CRM, Haack A, Hopkins WS*, Predicting Ion-Solvent Clustering in Differential Mobility Spectrometry using Anharmonic Theory, ChemRxiv. Cambridge: Cambridge Open Engage, 2023.

• Dezalay J, Ryan CRM, Ieritano C, Hopkins WS, Fernandes I, Cammidege A, Stockett M, Nobel J, Bull J* Protomers of the green and cyan fluorescent protein chromophores investigated using action spectroscopy, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2023, 25(30), 20405-20413.

• Ieritano C, Haack A, Hopkins WS,* MobCal-MPI 2.0: An Accurate and Parallelized Package for Calculating Field-Dependent Collision Cross Sections and Ion Mobilities, Analyst, 2023, 148, 3257-3273.

• Stienstra C, Ieritano C, Haack A, Hopkins WS,* Bridging the Gap between Differential Mobility, Log S, and Log P Using Machine Learning and SHAP Analysis, Anal. Chem., 2023, 95(27), 10309-10321.

• Ieritano C, Thomas P, Hopkins WS,* Argentiation: A Silver Bullet for Cannabinoid Separation by Differential Mobility Spectrometry and Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Anal. Chem., 2023, 95(22), 8668-8678.

• Bissonnette JR, Ryan CRM, Ieritano C, Hopkins WS,* Haack A,* First-principles Modeling of Preferential Solvation in Mixed-modifier Differential Mobility Spectrometry, J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom., 2023, 34(7), 1417-1427.

• Ieritano C, Haack A, Hopkins WS,* Chemical Transformations can Occur during DMS Separations; Lessons Learned from Beer’s Bittering Compounds, J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom., 2023, 34(7), 1315-1329.

• Haack A, Schaefer C, Zimmermann S, Hopkins WS,* Validation of field-dependent ion-solvent cluster modelling via direct measurement of cluster size distributions, J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom., 2023, 34(6), 1035-1046.

• Win Z-M, Cheong A, Hopkins WS,* Using machine learning to predict partition co-efficient (Log P) and distribution coefficient (Log D) from molecular descriptors and liquid chromatography retention time, J. Chem. Inform. Model., 2023, 63, 7, 1906-1913 (Cover Article).

• Steinstra C, Coughlan NJA, Haack A, Carr PJJ, Crouse J, Featherstone J, Hopkins WS,* Investigating the Rydberg States and Photodissociation Dynamics of Kr2 using Velocity Map Imaging, Can. J. Chem., 2023 (Invited following Laidler Award).

• Predicting Molecular Collision Cross-Section using Differential Mobility Spectrometry, Campbell JL, Hopkins WS, August 15th 2023, US 11,728,152 B2.

• Ion Mobility Spectrometer and Method of Analysing Ions, Hopkins WS, Pawliszyn J, June 6th,2023. Canadian Patent No. 3,090,898.

• Machine Learning Drug Evaluation Using Liquid Chromatographic Testing, Zaw M-W, Cheong A, Hopkins WS, USPTO 17/864,393.

• Apparatus and Method for Parallel Flow Trapped Ion Mobility Spectrometry, Hopkins WS, Pawliszyn J, March 7th, 2023. U.S. Patent No. 11,598,748 B2.

• Ion Mobility Spectrometer and Method of Analysing Ions, Hopkins WS, Pawliszyn J, March 15th, 2022. U.S. Patent No. 11,275,054 B2.

• Predicting Molecular Properties using Differential Mobility Spectrometry, Campbell JL, Hopkins WS, Provisional: November 22nd, 2017; international filing: November 11th, 2018; Full: June 6th 2019, WO/2019/106483.

• Optical Pickup for a Musical Instrument, Hopkins WS, Trefiak NR, Saari J, Resendes R, U.S. Patent No. 61-105624, Filed: October 15th, 2008. Canadian Patent Application No. 268287.