Job safe for a couple more years

Great find Dave

Can of Ouest West Coast IPA in the hand of the OP

First beer of #Decembeer from the cALEndar. Ouest is is a West Coast IPA 7.0% ABV with Simcoe and Amarillo hops from @ilesauvagebrewing.bsky.social here in Victoria. @mcindoe.bsky.social @leitchlab.bsky.social we are are off to a strong and very tasty start

Faster, Simpler, and More Precise Calibration Curves: Expanding the Scope of Continuous Calibration Accurate calibration curves are essential for quantitative analysis but are often neglected due to their time, cost, and labour demands. Traditional calibration involves measuring solutions of known c...

Want an easier and faster way to collect calibration curves? Check out our pre-print describing a modernized continuous calibration method, facilitated by an open-access web application: chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr.... We even measure molar absorption coefficients and pKas from single experiments!

backyard

Group photo

Group photo

Group photo

Post-pizza hike up PKOLS for a sunset(?) group photo followed by s’mores in the backyard

Zoom call

Congratulations to Nick Roberts, who successfully defended his MSc on Wednesday. Thanks to Bosco Yu for external duties and Irina Paci for serving on the committee. Nick is now back in Halifax and exercising his 3D design & printing skills in his new job (so double congratulations are in order!)

CK

Team

Congratulations to now-Dr Charlie Killeen, who successfully defended his PhD on Monday. Many thanks to Professor Jolene Reid (UBC), for visiting (and delivering a great seminar) to perform external examiner duties, and committee members Jeremy Wulff and Dave Goodlett

Cover art

Our paper on PFAS degradation (doi.org/10.1039/D4VA...) on the cover of Environmental Science Advances with Dr Sapan Thind, Bobby Ryane, John Hayden, @chagunda.bsky.social, Dr Mathias Paul
More to come on this topic soon...

I wreck on your rite, you no

Excited to begin my NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship at Ruhr University Bochum, working with Prof. @viktoriagessner.bsky.social! I'll be exploring structure–activity relationships of YPhos ligands to advance their use in challenging catalytic transformations. Thrilled to join such a fantastic team!🧪

Pub patrons

Group dinner at #CSC2025 - @gilianthomas.bsky.social joined Jack, Peter & I (and the @hoflab.bsky.social) before the Inorganic mixer

Artist beside work

Jack’s cage art won 3rd prize in the ChemiSTEAM event at #CSC2025 👍

What better to do on the morning of #CSC2025 than explore some Ottawa trails with @leitchlab.bsky.social, @nelsonyslam.bsky.social and @hoflab.bsky.social ?

Presenters

Having a blast at #STLHE2025, here post-presentation with Pamini, Ann & Sean from my 2022 3MNTF cohort. Great feedback on our new tool, too 👍 which is now available at reflectiveteaching.ca

Fun visit from Andy @wellerchemyork.bsky.social these last few days - in addition to collecting some high quality data on aminoborane polymers on Friday (thanks @c-killeen.bsky.social), we were treated to a talk today and got in a cycle ride Saturday (the locally-famous 3 ferry loop)

GPS trace

Hooray, it’s #GoByBike week

[Person with ponytail wearing lab coat hands balloon to another person in front of a springboard, a magnet hanging from above, and then a target] PERSON WITH PONYTAIL to Person 2: Rub this balloon against your head, then go jump past that magnet toward the target on the wall. [caption] Before the bathroom scale was invented, the only way to weigh people was mass spectrometry.

Mass Spec

xkcd.com/3094/

3 Saanich summits on Saturday

Dr Smith

Research group at bar

Congratulations to newly minted PhD Dr Stuart Smith, who passed his viva this morning remotely the day before flying back to the UK. It’s been great to have you here Stuart, best of luck on the postdoc!

Pub guests

Stuart Smith (visiting PhD student) and I caught up with Lars Yunker (ex-PhD student) this evening at an Esquimalt pub

Congratulations Steve(s)!

welcome to UVic, Saurabh!

4 mausolate complexes

Our latest preprint (led by Jack) involves burying the alkaline earth metals in mausolate ligands. Ba2+ has a very similar ionic radius to Ra2+, so these results of relevance to radiotherapy/imaging
doi.org/10.26434/che...

Stuart

Welcome to visiting graduate student Stuart Smith, here with us for a couple of months from the University of York (UK). Great to have you with us, Stuart!

The 13 municipalities of the #YYJ #CRD can be visited in one long (120 km) ride, mostly on trails

Classic demo from Charlie @c-killeen.bsky.social showing why getting fuming nitric acid on nitrile gloves is not recommended

Dennis & Bruce

Video presentation

Table chat

Group photo

Very proud of my friend & colleague Dennis Hore who (with Bruce Wallace) was presented with the CUFA Academic of the Year award last night for their drug-checking work. Congratulations! 🎉🎉🎉

Catalyst Chemistry with Ian Chagunda Beyond the Jargon · Episode

Check out Ian @chagunda.bsky.social's interview on the "Beyond the Jargon" podcast, where he talks about his (recently successfully defended) PhD research. Very accessible chat about a rather intricate topic!
open.spotify.com/episode/5L4s...

Ian raising a tankard of ale

Congratulations to Dr Ian @chagunda.bsky.social, who successfully defended his PhD today. Fantastic job Ian (12 published papers from his time at UVic!). Many thanks to external Jason @profhein.bsky.social and internals Dave @leitchlab.bsky.social and Al Boraston

David Leitch wins Killam Fellowship - UVic News David Leitch wins the 2025 Dorothy Killam Fellowship for research in chemistry for better health care and environmental sustainability.

Congratulations Dave! @leitchlab.bsky.social
Fantastic & well-deserved recognition
news.uvic.ca/2025/killam-...