Top 40 winner has a certain chemistry
Written By: Richard Cairney
2004-04-30
; "Dr. Jillian Buriak")
When you consider her many achievements, you can't help but wonder how Dr. Jillian Buriak, named one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 today, accomplishes as much as she does.Buriak joined the University of Alberta last year to teach chemistry and to lead the materials and interfacial chemistry group at the National Institute of Nanotechnology, based at the U of A. Born and raised near Toronto, Buriak had previously been at Purdue University and the Scripps Research Institute.
The 36-year-old is the author of 38 scientific papers and book chapters, and holds six patents. She has earned several prestigious teaching and research awards, most notably the American Chemical Society Pure Chemistry Award, in 2003.
“That award covers all areas of chemistry so it is an incredibly intense competition,” said Dr. Martin Cowie, chair of the U of A Department of Chemistry. “You run down the list of winners and it reads like a who’s-who of chemistry. The people on this award are the people who are the leaders in their respective areas and a number of these people have gone on to win Nobel prizes.”
But being named to the Top 40 list, Buriak said, is a unique honour. Canada's Top 40 Under 40 is a national program founded and managed by The Caldwell Partners, an executive search firm, to honour Canadians who have reached a significant level of success but have not yet reached the age of 40.
“I think it’s a really nice idea,” she said. “I think the point is that they want to get all 40 of us into a room so we can meet and share ideas.”
And Buriak is going to take advantage of that opportunity when the award recipients meet in Ottawa next week. Buriak, whose research on the use of organometallic and inorganic chemistry on silicon surfaces is leading to advances in molecular electronics, is already collaborating on the creation of nanodevices with University of Calgary electrical and computing engineer Dr. Ted Sargent, also named to the Top 40 group. So she’ll introduce herself to pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Peter Dirks, from the University of Toronto, Dr. David Jaffray, head of radiation physics at Princess Margaret Hospital and cardiologist Dr. Shamir Metha, from McMaster University.
“It’s going to be interesting. Sometimes you’ll think 'Oh--radiation physics? I don’t know anything about that.’ But then you talk to the person and find out that they need something you can easily provide them with.”
Buriak welcomes the fact that such conversations may ultimately mean even more work, although you might think she’s already got enough on her plate. Buriak and her husband, Dr. Hicham Fenniri, also of the Department of Chemistry, are both world-renowned chemists and their time is in high demand. Buriak has been travelling almost every week this year, but manages to balance work and home life.
The couple’s children, aged two and four, “have also racked up a lot of frequent flyer points,” said Buriak, who credits much of her success, and her ability to balance her home and work life, to her hard-working postdoctoral fellows and graduate and undergraduate students.
“I’ve just had really good students and postdocs,” she said. “They are the ones doing the work in the labs.”
Cowie says that kind of support is essential, but quickly adds that Buriak brings a certain, well, chemistry, to the field.
“First and foremost, yes, she is incredibly talented. This is an incredible hire for Canada,” he said. But she also has boundless energy, and an uncanny ability to transmit her enthusiasm to others. She has a knack for clarity, for simplicity and she has an amazing ability to communicate effectively with experts and non-experts. You sit in a talk by Jillian and the experts are in awe of the science and the non-experts understand to a significant degree what the science means.”
This article originally appeared in Express News.