Warren Piers, professor, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, has received a prestigious Killam Annual Professor award. Photo by Riley Brandt, University of Calgary
Genes no doubt played a role in Dr. Warren Piers, PhD, becoming a chemist. But it was inspirational teachers who sparked his interest in chemistry and helped shape his illustrious career.
Recognized internationally as one of Canada's top inorganic chemists, Piers is one of five University of Calgary professors awarded prestigious 2019 Killam Annual Professorships for excellence in research and teaching. It is the most recent in a constellation of honours for Piers, who holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in the Mechanisms of Homogenous Catalysts, in the Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science.
"I'm very grateful for the recognition and to be associated with the Killam name again," says Piers, who was a Killam postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology, received a Killam Research Fellowship while at UCalgary, and has trained Killam-supported students in his laboratory.
Piers' late father, Edward, was a prominent organic chemist and professor at the University of British Columbia. "I guess through some form of osmosis, I knew what organic chemistry was about, just because I often asked my dad," Piers says.
However, young Warren, in his first year at the University of Alberta in 1980, started out in biology. Then he took an undergraduate course from "a pretty awesome chemistry teacher," Prof. Bill Ayer, which prompted him to switch to chemistry. "I was good at it, but it also made a lot of sense to me," Piers says.
He did so well in his first semester he was put in an advanced laboratory run by organic chemist Margaret-Ann Armour, then one of the few women working in academic science. Armour, who died at 79 in May, became a renowned champion of diversity and women pursuing science, engineering and technology. "It was clear that, through a crusty exterior, she cared deeply about students," Piers says.
Piers transferred to UBC to complete his undergraduate degree and, at age 26, a PhD. There, one of his father's colleagues suggested he work with a young assistant professor and inorganic chemist, Prof. Michael Fryzuk another key mentor in Piers' career.
