Students Featured in Newsletter

Alison Holliday is currently a MSc student with Dr. Diane Beauchemin at Queen's University. She is hoping to soon progress into a PhD program after completion of her comprehensive exam. She studies mixed-gas plasmas in ICP-MS, with a particular interest in methods of reducing matrix effects. Recently a winner of the SSC award at ICASS for her poster on the mechanism of ionization in a cold plasma and a plasma with nitrogen introduced into the nebulizer flow, she has also won travel awards from the CSC and the American Microchemical Society. Alison hopes to continue in academia and eventually become a professor of analytical chemistry. As an active member of the SSC since 2000, she maintains the Society's webpage (www.s-s-c.ca). Outside of the lab and SSC activities, she likes to go on hiking and canoeing trips, as well as playing hockey and laughing with friends.

Tina Mann is currently finishing her master's degree in analytical chemistry at the University of Toronto. As part of the Chemical Sensors Group (CSG), under the supervision of Dr. Ulrich Krull, she has investigated methods using ultrasound for rapid sample processing of genomic DNA to be used in DNA biosensors. The goal of her research is to help create a sampling system that will move towards the creation of a "real-time" DNA biosensor for sample types ranging from water quality to blood. At the joint 48th ICASS and EnviroAnalysis meeting, Tina won a Karasek poster award for her work that focused on the fragmentation of genomic DNA from E. coli and the feasibility of using those fragments in biosensor applications.

Outside of her research, Tina plays an active role in the SSC as the student representative on the National Executive Committee and helped to coordinate the career workshop at the EnviroAnalysis/ICASS conference. She is also the Co-President for the association of graduate students at the University of Toronto at Mississauga and a graduate student representative on a variety of committees including one for the development of a new athletic and wellness centre. Tina also leaves time to enjoy a variety of recreational activities including beach volleyball, squash, aerobics, and traveling.