Undergraduate Awards Night 2026
On Thursday March 26th, the Chemistry and Biochemistry Club hosted the 43rd Annual Department of Chemistry Mixer and Awards Night at the University Club MCed by Brianna Mandarino and Emma Schaafsma.
Dept. Chair Kathryn Preuss opened the night with a welcome message to the students acknowledging those who were the recipients of the University of Guelph Entrance Scholarship. Of the 44 total recipients, 13 were in attendance to receive their certificate.
Preuss also presented the Amina Kapadia Memorial Scholarship to Saija Ottonen for receiving the highest grade of a Biological and Pharmaceutical Chemistry Major in CHEM*1040. Preuss also presented the Board of Governors’ Scholarship to Emma Grieve. This prestigious award is granted to a student who is entering their program with one of the highest admission averages for their cohort.
Next, Professor Jennifer Murphy presented the Chemistry Club Prize for Chemistry Promotion to Brianna Mandarino, the Earl B. MacNaughton Entrance Scholarship to Lola Curry and the McArthur-Humphries Scholarship to Analiese Terpstra.
On behalf of Wellington Labs, Dr. Alex Konstantinov and Dr. Katrina Tait presented the Dr. Robert McCrindle Academic Scholarship in Chemistry to Emily McNaughton and Kendra Stoddart for having the highest admission averages entering a Chemistry major. Konstantino and Tait also presented the Dr. Stephen Safe Entrance Scholarship to Jungbin Park and the Wellington Laboratories Chemistry Scholarship to Minja Duricin.
Next, Professor Emeritus Daniel Thomas presented the Dr. Caesar Senoff Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Chemistry to Serenity Vollmerhaus and the Highdale Farms Scholarship to William Fairhead.
Professor Jeremy Gauthier presented the Honours Biological and Pharmaceutical Chemistry Scholarship to Olivia Larman as well as the Honours Chemistry Scholarship to Jade Leblanc for having the highest cumulative average in their respective programs.
A lovely tribute to the late Martin Bosch – a former PhD graduate student and longtime donor to the department was presented by his wife and former Vice President of Finance and Administration, Nancy Sullivan. Bosch regularly attended the Awards Night. This year, Sullivan presented the Martin Henry Bosch Doctoral Scholarship in Chemistry to Ruzhen Xu, Carlos Ramirez Erazo, and Dylan Roby. She also presented the Graham Fraser and Trevor Bosch Scholarships in Chemistry to Gillian Groves and Sophie Kakihara. Finally, Sullivan presented the Guelph Soap Company Scholarship to Jade Leblanc.
Professor Aziz Houmam presented the Chemistry Co-op Book Prize to Nicholas Leite for the best written co-op report during the previous year. Houmam also presented the Far from Home Scholarship and the George A. Farley Scholarship to Emma Stefanutti.
The Floyd Roundhouse Prize in Analytical Chemistry was presented to Jaya Bindlish by Professor Peter Tremaine. Tremaine also presented the Nick Westwood Memorial Scholarship in Spectroscopy to Hayeon Moon for having the highest grade in Structure and Spectroscopy. The Thermodynamics and Kinetics Scholarship was presented to Connor Kremer.
Professor Adrian Schwan presented the Lange and Prokipcak Chemistry Scholarship to Rafaela Jauregui Casapia as well as the Lautens Prize in Organic Chemistry to Nicholas Leite. The Canadian Society for Chemistry Silver Medals were presented to Saige Cunniffe (BPCH) and Anna Tavner (CHEM).
The Chemistry Laboratory Instructor Scholarships were presented by Professor Thomas to Ruzhen Xu (first-year) and Scott Sammons (upper-year).
CCMPS Dean, Stacey Scott presented the Dean’s Scholarships to Maia Sraga and Alicia Wong.
All the students that were acknowledged on this night should be very proud of their achievements thus far. Congrats to all that were awarded!
The night was made possible by the donors, presenters, and students.
Special thank you to the masters of ceremonies: Brianna Mandarino and Emma Schaafsma, volunteers: Julia Covney, Jagandeep Saraya, and Tony Shi and event organizers: Professor Leanne Chen, Naomi Schneider, Jackèe Colquhoun, and Professor William Tam.
University of Guelph Entrance Scholarships
Ruby Abramson
Mya Arauz
Itzel Bahena Miranda
Amrit Bharth
Blythe Burchart
Cesar Cardenas Perez
Marzana Chowdhury
Ardyn Ciocca
Hannah Coleman
Orion Cowles
Lola Curry
Keira Dayment
Sara Dexel
Chloe Dicarlo
Cassie Donnelly
Christian Ferro
Taryn Hare
Mariam Hashem
Caroline Hazelton
Lydia Kopko
Asimina Kouloulias
McKenna Malak Meghan May
Emily McNaughton
Habiba Mohamed
Jane Murphy
Aidan Myerscough
Liam Nolan
Saija Ottonen
Jungbin Park
Bridget Reed
Cedar Rysavy
Caellum Skelly
Kira Soward
Kendra Stoddart
Mia Stoneman
Quinn Sutherland
Aliza Syed
Analiese Terpstra
Grace Wilson
Zhennan Wu
Zoey Yiu
Liel Zeharia
Ava-Marie Zitnansky