Graduate Students

David Cameron

Graduate Student

Matthew Johnson

Graduate Student

Zachary Schroeder

Graduate Student

Yanwen Yang

Graduate Student

Kate Qiu

Graduate Student

Munashe Chizema

Graduate Student

Shedrack Nwachukwu

Graduate Student

Dominic Lavergne

Graduate Student

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David Cameron

Graduate Student

David Cameron joined the Tykwinski group as a Ph.D. candidate during the Spring of 2018. He obtained his master’s degree (MSc. Organic Chemistry ‘18) at the University of New Brunswick under the supervision of Dr. Sara Eisler. He also obtained his bachelor’s degree from UNB in Medicinal Chemistry (BSc. Chemistry ’15). David was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Matthew Johnson

Graduate Student

Matthew completed his B.Sc. (Hons) at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2018, where he did his undergraduate research under the supervision of Professor Yuming Zhao. He is currently pursuing his graduate studies in the Tykwinski group at the University of Alberta.

Zachary Schroeder

Graduate Student

Zachary Schroeder did his honours BSc in Chem at Wilfrid Laurier University. He is passionate about sports, music, and all things chemistry!

Yanwen Yang

Graduate Student

Yanwen was born in Zhuozhou, but grew up in Tangshan and Beijing, China. She came to University of Alberta in 2015 and  joined the Tykwinski group in winter 2019 as a CHEM 401 student.

Kate Qiu

Graduate Student

Kate was born in Canton, China and completed her BSc degree at the University of Alberta. During her study at the University of Alberta, she joined Dr. Vladimir Michaelis’ group to investigate dental material components using solid-state synthetical method. This work provoked her interest in doing inorganic research. Afterwards, she pursued this interest by joining Dr. Arthur Mar’s Group to study quaternary chalcogenides systems. In 2019–2020, Kate did her internship at Gilead, where she found her interest in organic synthesis. With a curiosity in highly conjugated molecules, she decided to pursue her Ph.D. degree at University of Alberta in Dr. Rik Tykwinski’s group.

During her free time, Kate likes singing, playing guitar and doing different sports.

Munashe Chizema

Graduate Student

Munashe was born in Zimbabwe and did his primary and high school in Zimbabwe. He got a presidential scholarship to study in South Africa at the University of Johannesburg. In his undergraduate he did a BSc in Biochemistry and Chemistry, then BSc honors in Chemistry. He also did an MSc in Chemistry with Prof H.H. Kinfe working on synthesis of carbohydrate based thiochrams analogues as potential anti-malarial drugs. He then moved to the University of Alberta to pursue his PhD studies in 2019 and joined the Tykwinski/Stryker groups.

Shedrack Nwachukwu

Graduate Student

Shedrack hails from Ebonyi State, Nigeria. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Industrial Chemistry (BSc. Industrial Chemistry) from Ebonyi State University in 2014. Subsequently, in 2019, he completed his master’s degree in Chemistry (MSC. Organic Chemistry) at the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He embarked on his doctoral journey in fall 2022 as a Ph. D. student in the Tykwinski group at the University of Alberta. His research focusses on the synthesis and characterization of linear and cyclic ployynes. Outside of academia, Shedrack finds joy in singing, track events, and all things chemistry.