James Gauld
He/Him
I am gay and I am a computational chemist.//
After completing my PhD studies in computational/theoretical chemistry at the Australian National University, Canberra, I held a postdoctoral fellowship at Uppsala University, Sweden. This was followed by a Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship at Dalhousie University, Canada. I am now a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor. I am presently the Head of the Department, and have previously been an Associate Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies. I was also the co-chair and -organizer of Canada’s first LGBTQ+ in STEM conference which was held in 2019. My research and group is primarily focused on applying a broad variety of computational methods to the study of physiologically important biochemical species and processes. In particular, we are interested in understanding the chemistry, properties, and mechanisms of enzymes. Within this broad field I have long been particularly interested in (i) the mechanisms of ancient enzymes such as the ubiquitous aminoacyl tRNA synthetases, and (ii) the biological and catalytic roles of oxidized and/or functionalized cysteine- and methionine-derived sulfur species. I was not aware of any LGBTQ+ STEM researchers during my university studies, and now hope to help raise awareness of equity, diversity, and inclusivity issues in STEM.