Course Information

Course Objectives: (Please note: these seminars are not the same)

• To accustom the student to the regular perusal of the literature
• To develop the student’s ability to assemble and critically appraise the recent literature
• To develop an understanding (for both the student and the audience) of a research topic of current interest
• To develop the student’s ability to present a seminar
• To accustom the student to public speaking
• To give practice in dealing with verbal questioning

• Course Information
• Speaker Schedule
• Previous Topics
• Lipson-Baines (Course) Award
• Course Topic Form
• Online Seminar Rubric

• See Class Schedule on the Website

Objectives:

This is a milestone added to the transcript for each year of the degree. A grade will still be recorded in Pathfinder when yearly reports are submitted.

Policy guideline and implementation

This milestone is not counted as a requirement for the degree.

Course Objectives:

The intention of the course is to encourage students to expose themselves to experiences that will enhance their professionalism, communication and teaching skill set. Such expertise is critical for successful degree progression and then beyond your time at Western, especially in the workforce.

Course Coordinator:  Associate Chair, Graduate Education or their Designate

Course Guide: Associate Chair, Graduate Education or their Designate

This course is a guided, self-directed  experiential course; the Course Guide will offer advice and ensure a distribution of experiences that fulfill the course requirements.  Thus, it is important to notify the Course Coordinator of your enrolment in the course before accumulating more than one-half the units necessary for completion. Only experiences gained while a registered graduate student are eligible.

EPIC (Chem 9844  and 9855) will be recorded as milestones that will remain as "not completed" on the transcript until completed.  

• This joint undergraduate and graduate course encompasses selected topics at the advanced level
  of analytical sciences. They include simulations for electroanalytical chemistry, analytical
  instrumentation and their applications to research, computer titrations, advanced electrochemistry
  for analysis.

• This course deals with instrument automation, data acquisition and data analysis for working in a
  modern research lab in chemistry and related interdisciplinary sciences and engineering. Some
  discussion of the basic principles of instrument operation will be included. The main purpose of the
  course is to make the student familiar and comfortable with advanced instrument components and the modification of the research setups (rather than to teach circuit or device design).

• The main objective of the course is to provide a societal and environmental context to the global
  field of corrosion science and engineering.

• This course will elaborate on material-ethical questions, such as how corrosion and materials
  engineering have impacted different Indigenous communities globally and how corrosion products
  from recycling and industrial waste affect public health in the Global South, by using the student’s
  international and intersectoral experience and documentation (from their mobilities) in a traineecentred seminar.

• Materials under extreme conditions can exhibit exotic phenomena and behave drastically
  differently than at ambient conditions. The course addresses structures and properties of
  materials and their potential applications under extreme conditions especially at high
  pressures. Topics include principles of high-pressure materials science and technology,
  history and development in generation of extreme conditions, in situ structure and property
  characterization methods including spectroscopy and synchrotron techniques, as well as
  computational methods for high-pressure materials research. Examples of recent
  advances will be given to illustrate the application of these techniques in this highly
  interdisciplinary area involving high-pressure chemistry, physics and materials science.

• This course will begin with a broad overview of chemical biology with special
  emphasis on topics, including protein synthesis with non-canonical amino acids, probing cellular
  functions and protein-protein interactions with small molecules, and chemical genetic approaches
  to drug discovery. Following the course lectures, each student will have the opportunity to lead a
  Journal Club and discussion session. Students will be expected to write a 1-page ‘news & views’
  article about any area of chemical biology.

• An overview of biomolecules and their use as drugs and imaging agents will be presented. The course will focus on the development steps for peptide-based drugs and radiolabeled peptides as imaging agents. Course content will include: examining the process of converting a natural peptide into a drug candidate, exploring the concept of drug delivery as related to peptides, comparing radioisotopes and methods for radiolabelling peptides, and assessing peptide-based imaging agents. The course will conclude with student seminars, where the development of a recent peptide drug or imaging agent is presented by the student.

• The basic theory of electrostatics will be discussed with applications into chemical and biochemical problems. Chemical problems that will be discussed are polarizability, intermolecular forces, usage of electrostatics in molecular simulations. In biological systems, the role electrostatics in the stability of proteins and nucleic acids will be discussed.

• An overview of the physical principles underlying the structure, function, and
  dynamics of biological systems, with focus on proteins and biomembranes. Topics to
  be covered include: Selected applications of thermodynamics and statistical
  mechanics; inter- and intramolecular (noncovalent) interactions; protein folding;
  spectroscopic properties of biopolymers.

• An overview of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and applications in organic and inorganic chemistry. The course will begin with a review of the fundamentals of NMR spectroscopy followed by an overview of chemical shifts, coupling constants, and chemical and magnetic equivalence. Emphasis will be placed on the interpretation of one dimensional first and second order spectra. Following a general discussion of the basic pulsed Fourier Transform NMR experiment, including a discussion of the parameters used in data acquisition and processing, the course will finish with a discussion of spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation, spectral editing techniques and polarization transfer.

• Homogeneous catalysis is commonly employed in organic synthesis as an efficient
  and selective method to generate high-value products. New catalytic systems are
  continually being reported for known and new reactions. How is one to identify what is
  the best catalyst? How would you go about designing a better system? We will tackle
  these questions by identifying suitable methods for catalyst comparison. Methods and
  techniques to elucidate catalyst performance (activity and selectivity) and mechanism
  will be covered. Examples will be taken from the literature focusing on current and
  useful catalytic transformations.

• This course will give registrants 1) a working knowledge of crystal structure analysis so that they
  will be able to make an informed reading of crystal structure results they encounter in the chemical
  literature and 2) provide enough background for those Chemistry Ph.D. students who would like
  to go on and learn how to collect their own data and solve and refine crystal structures. This course
  is broken up into 2 components: CHEM-9541 (Winter 2024) and CHEM-9542 (Fall 2024), which
  will cover theoretical and practical aspects of X-ray crystallography, respectively.

• Mass Spectrometry - Fundamentals and Biochemical Applications. Topics covered include the following. Ionization techniques:  Focus on electrospray ionization (ESI), but others will be briefly covered as well: MALDI, EI, CI, APCI. Ion fragmentation by CID, SID, IRMPD, ECD, ETD. Mass analyzers:  time-of flight, quadrupoles, ion cyclotron resonance instruments and orbitraps.  Ion mobility spectrometry. Hybrid systems. Biochemical applications (many of these may be covered in seminar presentations given by students – one presentation for each participant):  Native ESI-MS, LC-MS, drugs and metabolites, peptides and proteins, protein identification and other proteomics techniques, H/D exchange, protein charge state distributions, covalent and noncovalent modifications.

• This quarter course introduces basic concepts in surface and interface chemistry
  and discusses how these concepts are applied to the colloidal nanoparticle
  research. During the nanoparticle synthesis, processing, and applications, at
  least two phases are involved, such as solid-gas, solid-liquid, and solid-solid.
  Interactions among individual particles, solvent molecules, dissolved gas bubbles
  play key roles in manipulating the growth of the nanoparticles, their stability,
  and their functionality. In this course, we will cover fundamental concepts
  related to surface and interface phenomena, such as surface force, surface
  energy, intermolecular forces, electric double layer, and surface adsorption.
  These concepts are then applied to explain various phenomena in the
  nanoparticle research such as controlled particle growth (size and shape),
  particle aggregation, colloidal stability, solubility, and surface functionalization.

• Solid-state NMR spectroscopy is one of the most powerful and widely used
  techniques for materials characterization, providing both structural and dynamic
  information complementary to that obtained from X-ray diffraction based methods.
  This course is constructed to incorporate and expand upon the foundation
  established in the existing course, 9581 (Basic Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy). It
  aims to provide a more comprehensive description of nuclear spin interactions that
  are important to solid-state NMR, facilitating a deeper understanding of these topics.
  Several advanced solid-state NMR experiments for high-resolution and wide-line
  solid-state NMR for both spin-1/2 and quadrupolar nuclei will be introduced with
  relevant physical background discussed. These techniques are then explored for
  their diverse applications in Chemistry
  Prior completion of course 9581 is not mandatory for enrollment in this course as the
  pertinent materials from 9581 will be succinctly revisited, and students will have the
  opportunity to swiftly grasp the content through assigned readings. This allows
  students at any stage of their graduate study to take the course. 

• This 0.25 course will explore modern approaches to polymer synthesis (e.g., ionic,
  radical, and ring-opening polymerization) and characterization methods (e.g., NMR
  spectroscopy, Gel Permeation Chromatography, Thermal Analysis). Through the
  discussion of recent examples from the literature, the ability of these techniques to
  provide custom functional materials for various applications will be explored.