Doctoral student David Nielsen has been named as this year’s recipient of the J.H. Stewart Reid Memorial Fellowship from CAUT.

Nielsen, a Queen’s University student, will receive $5,000 over the next year to pursue his PhD in chemical engineering. He received a BSc from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and started as a Master’s student at Queen’s in 2001.

In 2003 he was promoted to the PhD program "in recognition of his superior research and academic performance," commented Queen’s professor Andrew Daugulis, co-supervisor of his graduate studies.

Nielsen’s research focuses on the development and optimization of a new type of technology for the treatment and control of potentially harmful gas emissions.

"Despite the fact that other technologies are presently available for such treatment needs, my work has shown that using bioreactor technology is a viable option to treat harmful gases, and offers the opportunity to decrease the environmental impact of many currently employed industrial processes," Nielsen said.

He said his work, in the larger sense, "strives to further push research in the fields of bioremediation and biotechnology to provide solutions to critical environmental issues."

Nielsen, whose work has been published in several leading scientific journals, including Biotechnology and Bioengineering, and Environmental Science and Technology, has presented key findings at major national and international conferences in the areas of chemical engineering, environmental biotechnology and microbiology. He has been the recipient of several awards, including four postgraduate scholarships from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

The J.H. Stewart Reid Memorial fellowship was established by CAUT through voluntary contributions by faculty associations and unions and individual faculty members from across the country to honour the memory of the first executive secretary of the association. The $5,000 fellowship is available to Canadian citizens or permanent residents who are working towards a doctoral degree at a Canadian university.