Fall Convocation - Students - University of Saskatchewan

Distinguished Graduate Supervisor AwardDale WardDr. Dale Ward was born in Vancouver but was schooled inEdmonton where he obtained his B.Sc. (Honours) in chemistryfrom the University of Alberta. As a high school and undergraduatestudent, he received several academic awards and was set to starta career in the RCMP crime lab after graduation. However, whena national hiring freeze delayed the start of that post, he acceptedan NRC Postgraduate Scholarship and began a Ph.D. program inorganic chemistry under the supervision of W. A. Ayer. Forty monthslater, Dr. Ward obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Albertaand moved to Harvard University as an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowunder the tutelage of Nobel Laureate R. B. Woodward. After a termappointmentat the University of Alberta, Professor Ward joined theUniversity of Saskatchewan as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in1985. Tenure was awarded in 1989 followed by promotion to FullProfessor in 1994. Currently he is the Graduate Chair in Chemistry and the Director of the SaskatchewanStructural Sciences Centre.Professor Ward’s research program is in the area of organic synthesis with a focus on developing ways ofcontrolling molecular chirality; that is, where structures occur in two distinct “mirror image” forms, likeleft and right hands. Although chirality is one of the most difficult factors to control in chemical synthesis,it is nevertheless crucial for numerous applications ranging from pharmaceuticals to electronics. Forexample, one chiral form of the drug thalidomide is a sedative, while its “mirror image” form causes birthdefects. Professor Ward’s research has been supported with external funding from NSERC since 1986 andhas produced about 60 papers in refereed journals and an equal number of conference presentations. Allbut a handful of these contributions were co-authored with graduate students.Professor Ward believes that, as academic researchers, our lasting legacy lies in those that we train.He has supervised 8 Ph.D. and 8 M.Sc. theses and currently supervises 8 doctoral students. Includingundergraduate researchers and post-doctoral fellows, there are about 40 past and present members of the“Ward Group” from 15 countries. Now there are even some second-generation members (i.e., students offormer students). Although some remain in academia, the vast majority of the graduates from the “Group”work in the pharmaceutical industry in Canada, the USA or abroad and all of the undergraduates havegone on to pursue chemistry graduate degrees in Saskatchewan or elsewhere.University of Saskatchewan 11 Fall Convocation 2006