Hot Docs: the best PhD dissertations
Two graduate students have been recognized for their exceptional final works with Concordia University Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Prizes.
Rafik Naccache earned the award in the Engineering and Natural Sciences category and Marie-Eve Chagnon in the category of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. They will be presented their prizes, each worth $2,000, during the Faculty of Arts and Science spring convocation ceremonies.
Designing nanoparticles to fight disease
Rafik Naccache's prize is his second within the year. Last fall he earned the Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal for achieving the highest academic marks at the graduate level.
“I’m extremely humbled and very honoured,” Naccache says of this latest award. “There’s a lot of wonderful research going on in my field and I’m sure there were many strong contenders for this.”
The accolades are due to Naccache’s exceptional research into the use of luminescent nanoparticles in medical applications, which resulted in several published articles in the world’s top research journals.
His doctoral dissertation is titled “Colloidal Upconverting Nanoparticle Systems for Integration in Targeting, Therapeutics and Imaging Applications.” It investigates the development of multifunctional nanoparticles that are capable of carrying out specific operations such as active targeting of cancer cells, optical imaging of cancer and delivery of a therapeutic agent.
Naccache defended his dissertation as a member of Concordia’s Lanthanide Research Group in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He’s currently working on a post-doctoral fellowship at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique in Varennes, Que. As a project leader, he’s gaining experience that has solidified his decision to pursue an academic career.
Rewriting the history of scientific relations
Marie-Eve Chagnon, a Department of History PhD graduate, produced the other spring convocation’s award-winning doctoral dissertation: “Nationalisme et internationalisme dans les sciences au XXe siècle: l’exemple des scientifiques et des humanistes français et allemands dans la communauté scientifique internationale (1890-1933).”
The history books traditionally posit that a period of intellectual cooperation and goodwill in the international scientific community rapidly deteriorated after the outbreak of war in 1914, Chagnon explains in an email. Focusing on the French and German academic communities, she argued that the deterioration of relations was far more nuanced and complex.
“My work provides an original and revisionist contribution to our understanding of international scientific relations before, during and after the First World War.”
Chagnon, a valedictorian at Concordia’s fall 2012 convocation, did extensive research in archives in Berlin, Paris and London. She scored a coup when a lengthy paper, a precursor to her dissertation, was published in the winter 2012 edition of French Historical Studies, the premier American journal of French history.
“My professors and the faculty guided and supported me throughout the journey, always respecting my goals and choices,” says Chagnon. “Their help was paramount to the successful completion of my thesis.” She adds that the award gives her hope to achieve her dream of one day publishing a book.
Related links:
• Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Prize
• Lanthanide Research Group?
• Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Department of History
• French Historical Studies journal (Winter 2012)