Finding a Supervisor

The Importance of a Supervisor

Choosing a supervisor is one of the most important decisions you'll make in graduate school. They'll be your mentor and adviser, and you'll work together closely throughout your graduate career.

Researching Potential Supervisors

You should select a supervisor with a strong record of research and publication in your area of interest. When looking into potential supervisors for your program, become familiar with the type of research they do and their working style.

Read journals or conference papers, and sit in on any presentations.
Look on their web site and read their CV. Their publications should give you a sense of the type of research you'd be doing.
Talk to their students to get a sense of how you'd fit together.

Finding the Perfect Fit

Contact each of your potential supervisors to discuss your research interests, and see if they would be interested and available. Be sure to ask them about their availability during your graduate program, and whether they're planning any extended absences during that time.

When considering potential supervisors you should talk to several professors before asking one to become your supervisor. Be sure you understand what your prospective supervisor would expect of you as a graduate student.

The department's graduate administrator will be familiar with faculty members' expertise, teaching and research schedules. They'll know how many graduates each person is currently supervising, and can often help you create an initial short list of likely candidates.

Potential Supervisors

Inorganic Chemistry

Faculty Member	Research Interests
Corrigan, John	Semiconductor nanoparticles and nanoclusters, materials chemistry, main group chemistry
Huang, Yining	Characterization of nanoporous and layered inorganic materials by solid-state NMR and vibrational spectroscopy; crystallization of molecular sieves; host-guest interactions in zeolites; behavior of zeolites under high pressures
Puddephatt, Richard	Organometallic chemistry, molecular materials, catalysis
Ragogna, Paul	Chalcogens, main group and transition metal chemistry, ionophilic materials, cobaltoarenophanes, metallopolymers, superhydrophobic coatings, functional materials
Stillman, Martin	Metalloproteins; chemistry of Zn, Cd, As, and Hg in biology; iron scavenging by S. aureus; porphyrins and phthalocyanines; metal-thiolate clusters

Organic Chemistry

Faculty Member	Research Interests
Baines, Kim	Mechanistic organometallic chemistry, organometallic polymers, low-coordinate Si and Ge compounds, interference lithography (with Robert Lipson)
Gillies, Elizabeth	Polymers and biomaterials
Guthrie, J. Peter	Computational and mechanistic organic chemistry, no barrier theory, solvation energies
Hudson, Robert	Bioorganic and synthetic chemistry, DNA, RNA, peptide nucleic acids, fluorescence
Kerr, Michael	Synthesis of natural products, chemistry of heterocycles and cycloaddition reactions
Luyt, Leonard	Probes for molecular imaging, medicinal and bioorganic chemistry
Pagenkopf, Brian	Synthetic methods and total synthesis, catalysis, silole-based materials
Usselman, Mel	History of chemistry, early 19th century chemistry, replications of classical experiments
Wisner, James	Molecular design, supramolecular materials and polymers, self-assembly, molecular machines
Workentin, Mark	Materials, photochemistry, organic electrochemistry

Physical and Analytical Chemistry

Faculty Member	Research Interests
Constas, Styliani	Molecular simulations, chemical reactions in solution, dynamics of processes, charged clusters, activated processes, methods for rare events, polymer systems, Monte Carlo methods, molecular dynamics methods
Ding, Zhifeng	Bioanalytical and materials chemistry, scanning electrochemical microscopy, electrochemiluminescence, raman microspectroscopy
Konermann, Lars	Analytical and biophysical chemistry, mass spectrometry, protein structure and function, rapid mixing devices, kinetic measurements, computer simulations
Lagugné-Labarthet, François	Vibrational imaging, confocal microscopy, plasmonics, nanomaterials and Nanofabrication, photonics, polymers
Semenikhin, Oleg	Materials, renewable energy, electrochemistry, nanotechnology
Sham, T.K.	Synthesis and electronic properties of nanomaterials, heterostructures, surface and interfaces, X-ray spectroscopy, scattering and imaging using synchrotron radiation
Shoesmith, David	Electrochemistry and corrosion of materials, kinetics of surface reactions, modelling of surface processes, nuclear waste disposal, corrosion processes on gas pipelines
Song, Yang	Materials chemistry, extreme-condition studies, vibrational spectroscopy, synchrotron radiation
Staroverov, Viktor	Theoretical and computational quantum chemistry
Wren, J. Clara	Radiation-induced chemistry, corrosion, modelling of interfacial kinetics and transport
Yeung, Ken	Separations and mass spectrometry, sample preparation by capillary electrophoresis, proteomics, analysis of bio-oils as alternative sources of fuels and chemicals

Cross-Appointed Facluty

Faculty Member	Research Interests
Choy, James	Protein structure & dynamics, intrinsically disordered proteins, protein-protein interaction
Mittler, Silvia	Optical bio- and chemo-sensors, integrated optics, gold nanoparticles, evanescent field microscopy on living cells, cell-substrate interactions, optical tweezers, ultrathin films, guest-host interaction, recognition chemistry
Shaw, Gary	Biological chemistry; protein folding, structure, and dynamics; NMR spectroscopy