Chemistry Researcher and Biology Graduate TA Receive REACH Awards

The Faculty of Science has two winners in this year's REACH Awards. 

The Department of Chemistry's Dr. Scott McIndoe has been named the winner of the Silver Medal for Excellence in Research. Biology Graduate student Geraldine Gourlay received an Andy Farquharson Teaching Excellence Award.

The REACH Awards combine the Teaching Excellence Awards with the Craigdarroch Research Awards. The awards will be presented at an evening ceremony on May 25 at the Royal British Columbia museum. 

Scott McIndoe, Chemistry

Silver Medal for Excellence in Research

Since arriving at UVic in 2003, Scott McIndoe has quickly established himself as a force within the chemistry department and in the global community of organometallic compounds and catalysts, having pioneered a technique that is rewriting textbooks and attracting significant interest from academic and industrial collaborators. Along the way, he's established a world-class research program, authored 90 publications, including three books, earned glowing reviews as a teacher and mentor, and helped rejuvenate the chemistry department's first-year course curriculum. McIndoe was awarded the Faculty of Science's Teaching Award in 2012-13. 

Geraldine Gourlay, Biology

Andy Farquharson Teaching Excellence Awards for Graduate Students

"I've never had a teaching assistant more committed, more enthusiastic and more genuinely caring," sums up one of Geraldine Gourlay's students—a statement that encapsulates the infectious excitement she brings to her TA work. Gourlay has the ability to ignite learning in others due to her high expectations, respect for students and active mentorship. This is also evidence through her work as a TA consultant in the biology department where she prepares and supports new TAs as they begin to learn about teaching. 

Excerpted from The Ring (April / May 2017)