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Dr. Aidan England joined the Baker group for a postdoctoral fellowship in July 2025. He comes to us from the University of Guelph, with a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Marcel Schlaf. Welcome Aidan!

On June 10 2025, Dr. Rachel Baker received the award for the 2024 Polanyi Prize in Chemistry at a ceremony hosted by the Lieutenant Governor in Queen’s Park. This award is for early career researchers that show promising research potential. Congrats Rachel!

The Baker group grew quite a lot in May, with the addition of 7 new researchers! Amanda Pacholczak joined the team from Lakehead University as a Master’s student co-supervised by Dr. Charlotte Gibson in the The Robert M. Buchan Department of Mining. James Czerkawski came back for another summer, and is now co-supervised by Dr.

Master’s student Dante Flores attended the 10th Annual Green Chemistry Initiative (GCI) Symposium “Thinking Green(er) in Daily Life” at the University of Toronto from May 7-9 2025. His poster presentation was the first time a student from the Baker group presented their research at a session outside Queen’s campus. Way to go Dante!

As we approach the end of the 2024-25 school year, the Baker group celebrated at a local Kingston restaurant. Great work from the team this year, and congratulations to undergraduate student Spencer!

On Sunday March 23rd, undergraduate student Spencer McCluskey received his iron ring at the ceremony in Kingston, ON. Congrats Spencer!

Spencer McCluskey, co-supervised by Dr. Baker and Dr. De France, presented his undergraduate thesis work from the fall semester at the poster session on December 3rd 2024. Great job Spencer!

Dr. Rachel Baker was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List for the Science Category for 2025. This news was highlighted by the Queen’s Gazette, and she was interviewed by the University of Toronto Department of Chemistry for an alumni profile. Dr. Baker was also deemed 1 of 5 Women in STEM to Watch

On October 10 2024, the Queen’s and RMC Chemical Engineering departments held a poster day for graduate and undergraduate students to present their research. Baker group members Dante and Spencer did a great job explaining their research, and Spencer won the Best Undergraduate Poster Award. Well done!

Congratulations to Dr. Rachel Baker for being named on the Kingston Young Professionals 40 Under 40 list for 2024! Dr. Baker was recognized for professional success and contributions to the local Kingston community. Way to go!