Team Members | Mysite

Meet the Team

Geniece L. Hallett-Tapley, PhD

PI and Associate Professor

Dr. Geniece Hallett-Tapley was born and raised in Shelburne, NS, a small community with a population of ~2000 on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. She graduated from Shelburne Regional High School in 1998 and then proceeded to Acadia University, where she graduated with a BSc in Chemistry in May of 2002. Immediately following graduation, Geniece began work under the supervision of Dr. Frances Cozens at Dalhousie University, with whom she completed both an MSc (2004) and PhD (2009) in Physical Organic/Photochemistry investigating the excited state dynamics of carbocation intermediates within the confines of alkali-metal cation exchanged zeolites. In September 2009, she relocated to Ottawa where she began a Postdoctoral Fellowship under the supervision of Dr. Tito Scaiano at the University of Ottawa. In September 2011 she was promoted to Research Assistant. During her time in Ottawa, Geniece was fortunate to collaborate and aide in the supervision of a multi-national research team.

In June 2014, Geniece relocated back to the East Coast, and established a research group within the Department of Chemistry at St. FX. In December 2018, she was granted tenure and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor and was the recipient of the President's Research Award in May 2023.

Research Assistants

Our RA's are valuable to the continued productivity in our lab.

Yashodha Panagodage

Yashodha joined our group in September 2021 from Sri Lanka and defended her research in August 2023. Yashodha rejoined our group in March 2024 as a Research Assistant for a newly funded collaboration with the Bertin group examining novel plasmonic metal organic framework nanomaterials for alternative fuel generation. In Fall 2024, Yashodha will join Dr. M. English (StFX) to begin her PhD studies!

Jillian Fougere

Jillian will return to our group after completing her BSc Honours in May 2024. From River Bourgeois, NS, Jillian will focus on scalability of her thesis project using plasmonic materials for sustainable methods of chemical feedstock generation. In her spare time, Jill is an avid musician who sings and plays the guitar and fiddle. In September 2024, Jillian will join Dr. C. Charron at Dalhousie University as an MSc candidate.

Graduate Students

Our MSc students are trained as independent scientific researchers and gain valuable experience on world class experimental techniques and undergraduate supervision.

Leah Baylis

Leah joins our group from Barrie, Ontario. Also a StFX and group alum (Summer 2022 Cunningham Memorial Scholarship, BSc Adv. Major '23), Leah was the recipient of a Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship for 2023-24 and a NSERC CGS-M for 2024-25. In addition to also being an awesome researcher, Leah is a staple at the StFX Box Office and also loves to travel. Her research will examine the light activated degradation of chlorinated pollutants to the agricultural sector using novel heterogeneous catalysts.

Undergraduate Students

Our undergraduate students receive first-class training in a myriad of experimental techniques. As a student at one of the best undergraduate institutions in Canada, our undergraduates are integral contributors to the scientific process. They are afforded opportunities to gain valuable knowledge in experimental design, while working along side the PI and a dynamic team of graduate students and regional, national, international and industrial collaborators.

Lauren Gatto

Lauren joins us from Elmsdale, NS for her second summer as a 3rd year BScH student. She is currently working on plasmonic hydrogen generation and its applications towards more energy efficient organic transformations. She received a NSERC URSA in 2024. In her spare time, Lauren likes hanging out with friends and familly, as well as walking her dog. Fun fact - she LOVES the hot summer weather we have in Antigonish!

Victor Martinez Macias

Victor is originally from Ecuador. He is rejoing our group for a second summer. Co-supervised with Dr. Alex Foo, Victor will continue to design of nanomaterials for biomarker detection. Victor was the recipient of a Cunningham Memorial Fellowship for Summer 2023 and a Scotia Scholar award in 2024. In his spare time, Victor loves exploring the Maritime outdoors!

Sydney Palmer

Sydney joins our group from Summerside, PE as a BSc Adv. Major Chemistry student (minor in Biology). This summer Sydney will collaborate with our colleagues in the MacQuarrie lab group at CBU examining the use of metal oxide/biochar nanocomposites for pollutant photoremediation. Outside of the lab, Syd loves swimming, reading and spending time with her friends.

Anna MacPhee

Anna joins our group this summer as a 3rd year chemistry honours student from Sydney River, NS, co-supervised by Dr. Bertin. Anna will be working closely with Yashodha and Lauren as we continue to expand out study into light-activated hydrogen generation. In her spare time, Anna enjoys exercising (having just taken up running!) and also spending time with her friends. She is excited to explore Antigonish this summer!

Sasha MacDonald

From Sydney, NS, Sasha joins us as a 4th yr BSc Honours student. She will be working towards a new collaboration with Dr. Silvero on the development of novel anti-aging sunscreen agents. When not in front our HPLC, Sasha can

Brooke Lawrie

Brooke is a 4th yr Adv. Major Chemistry student co-supervised with Dr. Bertin. She is currently working on a new joint project looking at the photothermal decomposition of persistent PFAs pollutants. When not in front of an LED, Brooke enjoys cooking, hiking, swimming and outdoor adventures of all sorts. Brooke loves to downhill ski in the winter though she doesn't get as much opportunity to in NS. On a good day she can be found near a body of water with a novel in hand.

Visiting Researchers

Our research group is a internationally diverse team, providing all students in our group an opportunity to become versed in international scientific study.

Dr. José Carlos Netto Ferreria

INMETRO Brazil and is Professor Emeritus at Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Visiting James Chair Researcher Summer 2018

Visiting Research Associate Summer 2019

Interests: Light-Driven Biomass Conversion

Dra. Jazmín Silvero

Research Associate (University of Ottawa; Dr. J.C. Scaiano)

Facultad de Ciencias Quimicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Asst. Professor), Argentina

UNITEFA-CONICET (Asst. Researcher)

Visiting James Chair Researcher Summer 2019

Visiting Research Associate Fall 2021

Interests: Nanobiomaterials for Bacterial Detection and Remediation

Dra. M. Luisa Marin

Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ) UPV-CSIC
Universitat Politècnica de València (Professor)

Valencia, Spain

Visiting James Chair Researcher Summer 2023

Interests: Plasmonic Environmental Remediation, Flow Cell Photocatalaysis, Light-Activated Sustainable Fuel Generation

Industrial Collaborators

CEC Analytics

Development of Pathogen Sensitive Nanosensors

Group Alumni

Kogie Esteban - BScH May 2024. Currently, MSc Candidate, Dalhousie University
Julia Schmitt - MSc August 2023. Currently: PhD Candidate, Dalhousie University
Megan Ethier - BScH May 2023. Currently: MSc Candidate MacMaster University
Nick Clarke - BSc with Dip in Eng May 2022. Currently: Chemical Engineering, Dalhousie University
Darian MacLean - BSc Honours May 2022. Currently: Graduate School, Australia
Mackenzie LeVernois - BSc Honours May 2022. Currently: MSc Candidate, Dr. D. Risk (Earth Science) StFX
Sophia Bertolo - BASc Health Honours 2022. Currently: Graduate School MUN
Paytan Robinson - BSc Honours 2022
Jenna MacPhee - Research Associate 2020/2021. Currently: BEd StFX
Tracy Kinyenye - Research Associate 2020/2021. Currently: BEng Dalhousie
Charlotte Elliott - BAScH Honours May 2021. Currently: MUN Medical School
Dreenan Shea - BSc Adv. Major May 2017; MSc August 2020. Currently: PhD Candidate Dalhousie, Dasog Research Group
Nikita Kenney - BSc Adv. Major May 2020. Currently: Pharmacy, Dalhousie University
Elvin Girineza - RISE Scholar 2019. Currently: BEd University of Ottawa
Tiffany MacLennan - BSc Honours May 2020. Currently: Graduate Student in HIgher Education, Harvard University
Hongyun Zhu - BSc Adv. Major May 2020
Andrew Duffy - BSc Honours May 2019. Currently: Dalhousie Medical School
Katie Doran - RISE Scholar 2018. BScH Chem.Bio., McMaster University (Currently: Graduate School UOttawa)
Sophie LeBlanc - BSc Honours May 2019, Currently: McGill Medical School
Shane Bickerton - BSc Adv. Major May 2019
Bry Crabbe - BSc Adv. Major May 2016, MSc 2019. Currently: Senior Scientist/Quality Control Lead, BioVectra Inc.
Qianwen Xu - BSc Honours May 2018. Currently: working in China
Oliver Kuehm - BSc Honours May 2018. Currently: R&D Specialist, Precision Biologics
Melissa Chassé - RISE Scholar 2017. BScH Chem.Bio., McMaster University (Graduate School - University of Toronto)
Anthony Aquino - BSc Honours May 2017 (Dr. S. Razul, StFX). Currently: Forensic Scientist, Calgary, AB
Taylor Hope - BSc Honours May 2017. Currently: Senior Associate Scientist, X-chem Inc.
Emily Piggott - BSc Honours May 2016, MEng Carleton University 2018. Currently: Environmental Scientist at GEMTEC Consulting Engineers & Scientists Limited, Moncton, NB.
Jue Gong - BSc Honours May 2016, MSc MUN 2018. Currently: PhD Candidate, Western University.
Patrick Aquino - Co-op Summer Student 2016. Currently: MEng Candidate, Technical University of Denmark
Pierre-Michel Jalbert - RISE Scholar 2016. BScH Chem., UQAM. Current: MSc Candidate Université de Sherbrooke (Dr. J. Claverie)

Join the Team!

We are currently searching for self-funded and motivated MSc students to join our group. Feel free to contact us using the link below, including an up-to-date CV, transcript and 2 letters of references.