ChemCon 2025

Dr. Marissa Clapson is a newly appointed assistant professor at the University of Prince Edward Island. She also currently holds the positions of Chair in the Canadian Institute of Chemistry (CIC) Green Division as well as Vice Chair of the CIC Pride Resource Group. Dr. Clapson is deeply passionate about sustainability in chemistry and the workplace. She believes that sustainability, equity, diversity, inclusivity, accessibility, and reconciliation (EDI-AR), and green chemistry go hand-in hand and allow us to create a better global future.

Dr. Clapson completed her PhD thesis at the University of Calgary, working with Dr. Warren Piers [Thesis Title: Organocobalt PCP Carbene Complexes for Small Molecule Activation & SoTL Explorations in the Gamification of Learning in General, Organic, and Polymer Chemistry]. Extending from that work, she stablished her company ChemEscape Consulting Inc. focused on developing gamified learning materials for applications in STEM classrooms. She completed her postdoctoral work with Dr. Marcus Drover at the University of Windsor focusing on the application of boranes in the secondary coordination sphere of nickel complexes for small molecule activation.

Throughout her research career Dr. Clapson has been awarded a series of research and teaching awards including a CNC-IUPAC Research Travel Grant to attend the Net Zero conference in Scotland, an RCS Travel award, a UPEI internal research grant, NSERC (CGS-D) Scholarship, the Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Award (Teaching Assistant), and the University of Calgary Teaching Award for Graduate Assistants (Teaching).

Her current research is focused on the development of sustainable catalysts for small molecule transformation including CO₂ and nitrate reduction, C-C cross coupling reactions, and the development of recyclable catalysts using waste textiles as supports. Similarly, Dr. Clapson works with her team to develop interactive, gamified activities to teach Inorganic and Green Chemistry in undergraduate classrooms and at chemistry conferences (the professional’s classroom).

Dr. Mita Dasog (she/her), FRSC (UK), is an Associate Professor and Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Research Chair in the Department of Chemistry at Dalhousie University. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Saskatchewan and then moved to the University of Alberta to pursue her PhD studies. After a short stay at the Technical University of Munich as a Green Talents visiting scholar, Dr. Dasog moved to the USA to hold an NSERC postdoctoral position at the California Institute of Technology. She returned to Canada in 2016 to join Dalhousie University where her research group focuses on developing catalytic and plasmonic nanomaterials for sustainable fuel production and water purification, all using sunlight. She is currently leading the Green Hydrogen Research Cluster in Atlantic Canada. Dr. Dasog and her team’s contributions has been recognized with many awards and honors, including selection as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, 2024 Nanoscale Horizons Emerging Researcher, recognition as a top Canadian Water researcher by the Office of the Chief Scientist to the Prime Minister of Canada and Red Dot Foundation, and induction into the Global Young Academy and the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.