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Professor emeritus Michael Baird (Chemistry) was recently recognized by McMaster University with the 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award.

At the time of his graduation in 1962, Dr. Baird was the senior class president and one of Canada’s top university sprinters, for which he was inducted into the McMaster Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997.

Dr. Baird joined Queen’s in 1967 and built an international reputation for his research in organometallic chemistry, including the development of novel protocols for synthesizing and studying thermally-unstable compounds. He is also recognized for making significant advances in the study of catalysts which are important to the chemical, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries. Notably, his research group helped make the manufacture of automobile tire rubber more environmentally manageable. His research has also supported the development of promising new titanium-based anti-tumor drugs.

With more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and 10 patents, Dr. Baird has received many significant awards throughout his career, including the Queen’s University Prize for Excellence in Research. In 2003 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

At Queen’s Dr. Baird has won the Department of Chemistry’s Student Council Prize for Excellence in Teaching a record five times. He also coached the track team and was one of the inaugural inductees into the Queen’s Athletics Coaches Hall of Fame in 2003.