IUPAC Chemistry Breakfast 2019
On February 12th, we joined the global chemistry community in hosting an informal breakfast for the entire Chemistry Department at the University of Toronto in celebration of IUPAC 100. Each campus showed their own unique personalities with varying breakfast offerings. In the downtown campus, pancakes were prepared and served with an assortment of toppings (walnuts, chocolate, whipped cream, fruit syrups and most importantly, maple syrup). In Scarborough (UTSC), chemists gathered to enjoy familiar Timmies baked goods. In Mississauga (UTM), students cooked eggs and sausages to round out a full breakfast. Prior to the event, graduate students were invited to submit a short summary of their research to be displayed on screens to not only generate discussion about the research conducted within our department, but to also know which chemist is involved in those projects. Despite adverse weather the entire week, there was excellent attendance at all three campuses with roughly 70 attendees at the St. George campus, and 30 at UTSC and UTM. The event was postponed until February 15th at UTSC and UTM due to campus closures.
We are grateful for funding and support from the Canadian Society for Chemistry, CIC Chemical Education Fund, the Graduate Office of the Department of Chemistry, ChemClub and the Chemical and Physical Sciences Graduate Student Association. We also want to particularly thank Celia Ferrag and Fioralba Taullaj for coordinating the events at UTSC and UTM, respectively..