Canadian scientist receives the 2009 L’Oreal-UNESCO Award For Women in Science

Montreal, QC – In conjunction with World Science Day on November 10, the jury of the L’Oreal-UNESCO Awards For Women in Science announces the names of the five exceptional women scientists from around the world who will receive the 2009 Awards.

Created in 1998, the L’Oreal-UNESCO Awards For Women in Science were established as the first international awards dedicated to women scientists around the world. For the first time since the beginning of the program a Canadian scientist is being honoured with this award. Professor Eugenia Kumacheva, born in Russia, obtained her PhD at the Institute of Physical Chemistry in Moscow and then undertook postdoctoral research at the Weizmann Institute of the University of Toronto, where she has been a professor since 1996.

This year, the theme of the awards is “Physical Sciences”, and the Laureates were selected through nominations by a network of nearly 1,000 members of the international scientific community. Diverse in origin, determined in nature, and extraordinary in intellect, the 2009 Laureates reflect the program’s mission: change the face of science and support the advancement of women in the scientific field. The Awards Ceremony will take place on March 5 2009, at UNESCO head quarters in Paris. Each Laureate will receive US$100,000 in recognition of her contribution to science.

The Laureates for the L’Oreal-UNESCO Awards For Women in Science 2009:

– North America: Prof Eugenia Kumacheva, professor in the department of chemistry at the University of Toronto in Canada, for the design and development of new materials with many applications including targeted drug delivery for cancer treatments and materials for high density optical data storage.

  Latin America: Prof Beatriz Barbuy, professor at the institute of astronomy, geophysics and atmospheric sciences at the University of Sco Paulo in Brazil, for her work on the life of stars from the birth of the universe to the present time.

– Europe: Prof Athene M Donald, professor of experimental physics at the Cavendish Laboratory in the department of physics at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, for her work in unravelling the mysteries of the physics of messy materials, ranging from cement to starch.

– Africa & the Arab States: Prof Tebello Nyokong, professor in the department of chemistry at Rhodes University in South Africa, for her work on harnessing light for cancer therapy and for environmental clean-up.

– Asia-Pacific: Prof Akiko Kobayashi, professor and chair of the department of chemistry, college of humanities and sciences at Nihon University in Japan, for her contribution to the development of molecular conductors and the design and synthesis of a single-component molecular metal.