Professor marches home with award

Faculty members at Trent continue to rack up recognition for their research efforts. Ray March, a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry at Trent University, has been awarded a prestigious Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree from Leeds University, the same institution from which he graduated 43 years earlier with a B.Sc. in chemistry.

March has been affiliated with Trent since 1965, when he joined as an Assistant Professor. He also holds a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Toronto.

His D.Sc. degree from Leeds recognizes his sustained program of individual research - in other words research that is done neither on behalf of a corporation or government nor towards another degree.

The vast majority of the work submitted to Leeds represented research he has undertaken at Trent. Most of that work was concerned with mass spectrometry, a remarkably specific technique that lets scientists look at ions right down to the individual molecular species.

Work he has done in the area of mass spectrometry has revolutionized research in this area, and even led to the commercial development of new equipment.

Three state-of-the-art mass spectrometers are in use at Trent in the university's renowned Water Quality Centre to test water supplies for contaminants - everything from metals to residual prescription drugs to dioxins and PCBs. Another six mass spectrometers are in use at Trent.

He commends Trent for presenting him with such a wonderful opportunity to do research, and also for matching him up with a succession of dedicated students, many of whom have gone on to brilliant careers in the field of mass spectrometry.

His trip to England to receive the D.Sc. brought back many memories to March, although he notes that Leeds has changed tremendously since his undergraduate days there. During his student days in the 50s, he mingled with 3,500 other students. Todayıs student body numbers 28,500, and "there are university buildings where I remember rows of housing."

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