Laurel Schafer is a Canadian Organic chemist. She is a full professor at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

and

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

in Catalyst Development. Schafer's research is at the intersection of

organometallic Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...

and

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

Early life and education

Schafer grew up on a farm in Wellesley, Ontario, Canada. She completed her BSc at the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

in 1993, and her PhD at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

in 1999 where she worked with Prof. David J. Berg. She worked as an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

with Prof. T. Don Tilley.

Career

Schafer joined the Department of Chemistry at the

(UBC) in 2001. She was shortly thereafter the recipient of the 2004

Boehringer Ingelheim C.H. Boehringer Sohn AG & Co. is the parent company of the Boehringer Ingelheim group, which was founded in 1885 by Albert Boehringer (1861–1939) in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany. As of 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world's List of la ...

Young Investigator Award for Organic Synthesis and UBC's Teaching Excellence Award. In 2007, Schafer was promoted to Associate Professor and named a

Sloan Fellow The Sloan Fellows program is a middle and senior-career master's degree program in general management and leadership offered at MIT, Stanford University, and London Business School (LBS). Initially supported by a grant from Alfred P. Sloan, fo ...

. In 2011, Schafer was appointed a Tier 2

(CRC) in Catalyst Development. She also received funding from the Discovery Accelerator Supplements program to investigate catalysts that produces no by-products and minimizes energy consumption in the synthesis of useful chemical structures. While serving in her role as CRC, she was also elected a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

in 2014. Schafer also received funding for an Industrial Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Program in the area of Sustainable Synthesis. The program was aimed to teach graduate students the importance of the

green economy A green economy is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without environmental degradation, degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological econ ...

and clean technologies. For this, she was the recipient of UBC's 2013 Killam Award for Excellence in Mentoring. In 2015, Schafer received the Clara Benson Award as a woman who made distinguished contribution to chemistry while working in Canada. In December of the following year, Schafer was renewed as a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Catalyst Development. As a result of her research, Schafer was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

in 2017. Two years later, she was appointed a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Catalyst Development. She also became the first woman to have risen through the ranks to full Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of British Columbia.

Research

Schafer's research is at the intersection of

and

. At UBC, she established a

Canada Foundation for Innovation The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI; , ''FCI'') is an independent corporation created by the Government of Canada to invest in research facilities and equipment in Canada's universities, colleges, research hospitals, and non-profit research in ...

funded interdisciplinary research facility that aims at promoting research excellence from hetero- and

homogeneous catalysis In chemistry, homogeneous catalysis is catalysis where the catalyst is in same phase as reactants, principally by a soluble catalyst in a solution. In contrast, heterogeneous catalysis describes processes where the catalysts and substrate are in d ...

through to biocatalysis.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Laurel Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century Canadian chemists Canada Research Chairs University of Guelph alumni University of Victoria alumni Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Faculty of Science Canadian women chemists 21st-century Canadian women scientists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada