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Opening Remarks
Dr. Patrick Deane became the 21st Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen's University on July 1st, 2019. Dr. Deane is the former President and Vice-Chancellor of McMaster University, a position he held for nine years. Prior to that, Dr. Deane served as Vice-Principal (Academic) at Queen's and also held a number of academic administrative appointments at Western University and the University of Winnipeg. Dr. Deane is a Professor of English Literature, with his principal research focus being the relationship between cultural production and British politics in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Dr. Deane read English and Law at the University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, Gauteng South Africa) before undertaking graduate studies and receiving both an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Western University. Dr. Deane was the first recipient of the John Charles Polanyi Prize for Literature in 1988 and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. Dr. Deane is President of the Governing Council of the Magna Charta Observatory, a member of the Board of Directors of Providence Care, and a member of the Campaign Cabinet for the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington. 
Dr. Patrick Deane
Dr. Josephine Tsang
Dr. Josephine Tsang became the Executive Director of the Chemical Institute of Canada on February 1st, 2022. Dr. Tsang holds a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from Queen’s University (2006) and is passionate about helping Canadians make everyday life better through science. Dr. Tsang’s experiences in industry allow her to appreciate how collaborations amongst and across sectors are valuable to the community. Additionally, Dr. Tsang is an eager builder of engaged communities. Dr. Tsang advises on the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Vaccine Confidence Advisory Council, Queen’s University – Faculty of Arts and Science’s Dean’s Council, the Institute for Community Prosperity’s “Measuring What Matters” Forum, Vivo for Healthier Generations, and the Centre for Suicide Prevention. Dr. Tsang also works with the Board for Science & Technology Awareness Network (STAN).
The Arts Speaker Session
Dr. Stephanie Dickey
Dr. Stephanie Dickey recently retired as a Full Professor and the Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art at Queen’s University. While at Queen’s University in the Department of Art History & Art Conservation, Dr. Dickey specialized in Dutch and Flemish art, printmaking history, portraiture, and other topics. Dr. Dickey received a Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University (New York, New York USA) and then taught at Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana USA) prior to joining Queen’s University. Dr. Dickey’s research and publications explored the art of Rembrandt van Rijn, Anthony van Dyck, Jan Lievens, and related artists, with particular interests in the cultural practice of portraiture, the representation of “the passions,” the making and collecting of prints, and the intersection of art, religion, and literature in the early modern world. Dr. Dickey co-curated the major exhibition Rembrandt in Amsterdam at the National Gallery of Canada and has collaborated on exhibitions for the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC USA) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, New York USA).
Dr. Aaron Shugar
Dr. Swen Steinberg
Dr. Aaron Shugar is a Full Professor and the Bader Chair in Art Conservation in the Department of Art History & Art Conservation at Queen’s University. Dr. Shugar received an H.B.A. in Anthropology and Law & Society from York University and an M.S. in Archaeological Materials from the University of Sheffield (Sheffield, England). Dr. Shugar then received his Ph.D. in Archaeometallurgy from University College London (UCL) (London, England). Following UCL, Dr. Shugar co-directed the Archaeometallurgy Laboratory at Lehigh University (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania USA), was a guest scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Gaithersburg, Maryland USA), and was a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C. USA). Dr. Shugar serves on the Scientific Vetting Committee for The European Fine Art Foundation and as a forensic materials expert for the Court of Arbitration for Art. Dr. Shugar was previously the Mellon Foundation Professor in Conservation Science at Buffalo State University (Buffalo, New York USA).
Dr. Swen Steinberg is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of History at Queen's University. Dr. Steinberg is also an Affiliated Scholar of the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. USA with its Pacific Regional Office at University of California – Berkeley (Berkeley, California USA). Dr. Steinberg received his Ph.D. from Dresden University (Dresden, Germany) in 2013, and Dr. Steinberg’s research focuses on the intersection of migration and knowledge, knowledge and young migrants, forestry and mining, exile and forced migration studies, religious corporate culture concepts, and economic transformations. In 2019, Dr. Steinberg joined the Advisory Committee of the Austrian Archive for Exile Studies and the Exile Library in Vienna, Austria, and since 2019, Dr. Steinberg has been a Research Ambassador of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) at Queen's University. Also at Queen’s University, Dr. Steinberg coordinated the Queen’s Refuge: Refugees and the University exhibit that displayed the shirt that the late Dr. Alfred R. Bader wore while he was living in an internment camp at Fort Lennox in Quebec in 1940. Additionally, Dr. Steinberg transcribed and translated the late Dr. Bader’s diary that he kept while living in the internment camp. This diary is available online through the Queen’s University Library – Digital Collections.
Chemistry Speaker Session
Dr. P. Andrew Evans
Dr. P. Andrew Evans is a Full Professor and the Bader Chair in Organic Chemistry at Queen's University; Dr. Evans also holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Organic and Organometallic Chemistry. Dr. Evans received a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, England) and completed a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas USA). In 1993, Dr. Evans launched his independent career at the University of Delaware (Newark, Delaware USA), ascending to the rank of Full Professor before joining Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana USA) in 2001. Dr. Evans then assumed the Heath Harrison Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Liverpool (Liverpool, England) in 2006, ultimately culminating in his current position at Queen’s University since July 2012. Dr. Evans has received several prestigious awards, including the 2023 R.U. Lemieux Award from the Canadian Society for Chemistry and the 2022 Paul G. Gassman Distinguished Service Award from the American Chemical Society’s Division of Organic Chemistry. In addition to being a prolific author with nearly 150 publications and over 500 invited and plenary lectures worldwide, Dr. Evans also serves as the President/Senior Consultant of Apieka Consulting, providing expertise and guidance to industry stakeholders.
Dr. Rik R. Tykwinski
Dr. R. David Britt
Dr. Rik R. Tykwinski is a Full Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta, specializing in organic chemistry. Dr. Tykwinski received a Ph.D. from the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah USA) in 1994. Dr. Tykwinski completed a postdoctoral fellowship at ETH-Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland), and in 1997, Dr. Tykwinski joined the faculty at the University of Alberta. In 2009, Dr. Tykwinski moved to Germany to accept the position of Chair of Organic Chemistry at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg (Erlangen, Germany), and in 2016, Dr. Tykwinski moved back to the University of Alberta as Chair of the Department of Chemistry. Dr. Tykwinski is a physical organic chemist, with a focus on structure-property relationships in conjugated molecules. Dr. Tykwinski has published extensively in his field and is known for contributions to the chemistry of carbon-rich materials. In 2023, Dr. Tykwinski received the Alfred Bader Award from the Canadian Society for Chemistry; this award is presented as a mark of distinction and recognition for excellence in research in organic chemistry by a scientist who is currently working in Canada.
Dr. R. David Britt is the Winston Ko Chair and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California – Davis (Davis, California USA). Dr. Britt received his Ph.D. in 1988 from the University of California – Berkeley (Berkeley, California USA), and in 1989, Dr. Britt began his independent career at the University of California – Davis as an Assistant Professor, was promoted to Associate Professor in 1994, and to Full Professor in 1997. Since 2005, Dr. Britt has served as Chair of the Department of Chemistry at UC Davis, and in 2018, Dr. Britt received the Winston Ko Professorship in Science Leadership. Dr. Britt and his group use electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to study metalloenzymes and enzymes containing organic radicals in their active sites. Dr. Britt is the recipient of multiple awards, including the 2014 Gold Medal from the International EPR Society, the 2015 Bruker Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the 2018 Zavoisky Award from the Kazan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the 2019 Bioinorganic Chemistry Award from the RSC, and recently the 2023 Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry from the American Chemical Society. In 2023, Dr. Britt was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences; Dr. Britt is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the RSC.
Exhibition & Performance Session
Dr. Suzanne van de Meerendonk
Dr. Suzanne van de Meerendonk is the Bader Curator of European Art at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen's University. Dr. Van de Meerendonk received an M.A. from the University of Amsterdam (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and a Ph.D. from the University of California – Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, California USA). At the Agnes, Dr. Van de Meerendonk has curated the exhibitions Studies in Solitude: The Art of Depicting Seclusion (2021-2022) and The Fabrics of Representation (2022), among other exhibitions. Dr. Van de Meerendonk previously worked at the Picker Art Gallery at Colgate University (Hamilton, New York USA), The Art, Design & Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (Netherlands), and the Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles, California USA). Dr. Van de Meerendonk’s curatorial interests focus on intersectional and transhistorical approaches to the presentation of historical European art.
Dr. Tanya Paul
Katya Poplyansky
Dr. Tanya Paul is the Isabel and Alfred Bader Curator of European Art at the Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA. Dr. Paul received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia USA), and before joining the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2013, Dr. Paul held curatorial positions at the Philbrook Museum of Art (Tulsa, Oklahoma USA), the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, California USA), and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation’s Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, Texas USA). One of Dr. Paul’s notable works was the exhibition Elegance and Refinement: The Still Life Paintings of Willem van Aelst, which travelled to the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC USA). Dr. Paul has over twenty years of museum experience and has organized numerous exhibitions; Dr. Paul specializes in seventeenth-century Dutch art, focusing on identity and cultural exchange.
Canadian violinist Katya Poplyansky is a prizewinner at numerous competitions including the Isabel Bader, Tunbridge Wells, and Eckhardt-Gramatté competitions, where Katya was awarded the prize for the best performance of the commissioned work, Carmen Braden’s Foxy Fox’s Musical Games. An accomplished chamber musician, Katya has been invited to participate in North American and European festivals, including the Toronto Summer Music Festival, IMS Prussia Cove (UK), Festival Jong Talent Schiermonnikoog (Netherlands), Hvide Sande Masterclass (Denmark), and the Smithsonian Haydn Quartet Academy (USA); Katya has also collaborated with Amici Chamber Ensemble and the ARC Ensemble. Katya is currently serving as First Violin of the Isabel Quartet at Queen’s University as well as concertmaster of the Kingston Symphony Orchestra. In July 2024, Katya was named co-concertmaster of Les Violons du Roy in Québec City. Katya is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Guildhall School, and the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School, where Katya was also a Rebanks Fellow. Katya’s teachers include Paul Kantor, Barry Shiffman, David Takeno, Ida Kavafian, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Oleg Pokhanovski, Atis Bankas, Victor Danchenko, Inga Granovskaya, and Joseph Silverstein. Katya is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Toronto, studying with Jonathan Crow.
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