Professor Scott Hopkins has been named the winner of the 2022 Keith Laidler Award for his outstanding early-career contributions to physical chemistry in Canada.
Hopkins’ research explores gas phase ion chemistry and employs controlled environments to study the evolution of condensed phase properties. He develops and uses experimental tools such as ion mobility spectrometry, mass spectrometry, and laser spectroscopy, as well as computational tools including artificial intelligence. His work has application in areas such as nanotechnology, environmental analysis, and drug discovery.
Hopkins has authored three patents and 80 peer-reviewed articles in top tier chemistry journals. He has co-authored more than 210 presentations at conferences and research institutions, including 47 invited seminars, and his work has been highlighted on journal covers 12 times.
Hopkins is a member of Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology and the Waterloo Artificial Intelligence Institute. His previous awards and honours include the Early Researcher Award of the Province of Ontario (2017), and the Young Investigator Award of the Canadian Society for Mass Spectrometry (2020).
Formerly known as the Noranda Award, the Keith Laidler Award is sponsored by the Chemical Institute of Canada’s Physical, Theoretical and Computation Chemistry Division. Hopkins is the fourth Waterloo chemist to win the award: The award was previously held by Pavle Radovanovic (2019), Pierre-Nicholas Roy (2007), and K. Tong Leung (1997).
Hopkins will receive his framed scroll and give a lecture in a Physical, Theoretical and Computational Symposium at the annual Canadian Society for Chemistry Conference in Calgary this June.
Congratulations, Professor Hopkins!