Three faculty members at the University of Alberta have been inducted into the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, the newest academy of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) that celebrates demonstration of early career success. This is the second induction since its conception in 2014.
Jonathan Martin, a professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathology, is among those inducted, claiming the honour one short year after being named one of Thomson Reuters' Highly Cited Researchers.
"Having the opportunity to contribute to RSC initiatives at this stage of my career is very exciting, and to be acknowledged in this way by my Canadian peers is absolutely humbling," he says.
Currently, Martin leads a research group of nine, including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting international scholars. Their work is largely centred on three high-profile areas of environmental chemistry or toxicology: the effects that oil sands development may have on the surrounding environment, the effects that a pregnant mother's exposure to contaminants may have on long-term neurodevelopment of her child and the sources of persistent perfluorinated chemicals in the environment.
"Our research is not only concerned with pointing out environmental risks, but also with finding solutions to mitigate these risks, and in this way, the research is having an impact on the way industry or government manage chemicals" he says.
Keavy Martin from the Faculty of Arts and Shannon Scott from the Faculty of Nursing have also been inducted into the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. Additionally, Mark Lewis in the Faculty of Science and Zhenghe Xu in the Faculty of Engineering were elected as fellow of the RSC.
Originally published Sept. 22