Hydrometallurgy Ernest Peters Master's Award

2023 Recipient
Philip Gamboa, McGill University
Philip Gamboa is a licenced professional engineer originally from Ontario with work experiences in Canada and the United States who now resides in Montréal, Québec. He completed his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the University of Waterloo in 2016, having served his first two co-operative work terms operating a titanium dioxide solvent extraction and precipitation pilot-plant process at Process Research Ortech inc. in Mississauga ON and rare-earth recovery processes at SGS Minerals Services in Lakefield ON. He diversified his work experiences by completing additional work terms in analytical services, silicone, automotive, and pharmaceutical manufacturing, where he spent his post-graduation career working in industry as a process engineer and project manager.
He began his full-time MSc. studies in Materials Engineering under the supervision of Professor George Demopoulos at McGill University in September 2022. As part of the HydroMET group, he is currently investigating low-temperature and low-caustic iron electrolysis in aqueous media under the mentorship of PhD Candidate Arian Norouzi whose project is sponsored by ArcelorMittal. His recent research goals include optimizing deposit purity considerations and washing procedures to contribute to the fundamental electrochemistry research in this area while sharing the insights learned from this carbon-free process with industry.
2022 – JoonKyung Koong, McGill University |
2021 – Noel Devaere, University of Toronto |
2020 — Guillermo Alvial-Hein, Queen’s University |
2019 — Hiroki Fukuda, University of British Columbia |
2018 — Chengqian (Charles) Wu (Queen’s University) |
2017 — Eric Shum (University of Toronto) |
Ernest (Ernie) Peters (1926-2009) received his B.A.Sc. in Metallurgical Engineering in 1949. Upon graduation, he took a job in a steel mill in Utah, but in fall 1950, he returned to UBC to do an M.A.Sc. thesis on “The Leaching of Uranium from Pitchblende Ores.” He then took employment with the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co. Ltd. (now Cominco Ltd.) in Trail, BC as a Research Engineer. He again returned to UBC in 1953, with a Cominco Fellowship and finished a Ph.D. thesis in 1956, on “The Homogeneous Activation of Molecular Hydrogen by Cupric Species in Aqueous Solutions.” Following his Ph.D., he worked with Union Carbide Co. in Niagara Falls, Ontario, until 1958, when he was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Mining and Metallurgy at UBC. Thereafter, he dedicated his research to hydrometallurgy with Professor Frank Forward as mentor.
His legacy remains huge in the hydrometallurgy community in Canada and abroad.
Scholarship Terms
To encourage graduate studies in the field of hydrometallurgy, the Hydrometallurgy Section offers one (1) award of $3,000 to honour the accomplishments of a Master’s graduate student in the field of hydrometallurgy in a Canadian university.
In addition to the cash award, we award one free registration for the conference at which we present the award, plus free admission to the social events we sponsor at that conference.

Eligibility
To be eligible the candidate should be registered in a Master’s (M.Sc., M.Eng., M.A.Sc.) program in the field of hydrometallurgy during the entire academic year in a Canadian university.
Applications must include: 1) A copy of the applicant’s academic transcripts 2) A summary of the project, including preliminary results, a discussion concerning subsequent project orientation, and a list of prepared publications or conference presentations (2-3 pages maximum)
Application deadline: March 01, 2023
Please email your application package to:
Thomas Feldmann Chair Student Support R&D Manager, 5N Plus Inc.
Email: th.feldmann AT gmx.de
Submit your application
Email your application package to Thomas Feldmann, Chair of Student Support at:
The scholarship application program is closed for 2023.