HQP Event Review: Guelph, Monday, March 6, 2006

On March 6, the HQPA recently hosted a very successful retreat at the University of Guelph. The event, attended by over 35 HQP and researchers, included a Highly Qualified Personnel Association Presentation; a Keynote address by Dr. Manfred Jericho, Department of Physics, Dalhousie University; a presentation on non-verbal communication skills by Peter Barrow, Petrona Associates; tips on grant writing by our own Rickey Yada and an oral competition between HQP to showcase the research excellence of our members to the rest of AFMnet. Michael Nickerson, Ph.D and former HQPA Director noted that "The overwhelming interest for the HQP oral competition is a testament to the breadth of research and rich talent-base in the area." Designed to raise the visibility of HQP within the network, the retreat provided an excellent forum for networking to facilitate collaborations, friendships and scientific advancements.

We'd like to thank the 10 HQP who participated in the oral competition. All presentations were well delivered and informative. A huge congratulations goes out to the day's winners:

• Awarded the prestigious "first place" position was Thamara Laredo, University of Guelph for her presentation on Spectroelectrochemical studies of Gramicidin D in a model membrane.
• Second place went to Jay Leitch, University of Guelph, for his talk on the Characterization of a Novel Thiolipid for Developing Tethered Membrane Bilayers on Au(111) Electrode Surfaces.
• Third place was awarded to Ryan Hunter, University of Guelph, for his presentation on High Resolution Visualization of Microbial Communities by Freeze-Substitution Transmission Electron Microscopy

We'd also like to thank our three judges: Tania Framst (AFMNet), John Dutcher (University of Guelph) and Barbara Moffatt, University of Waterloo.