Faculty & Contact - Bishop's University

Below is a list of faculty that are active in the department, and available to students with course specific questions. If you need administrative support, we encourage you to refer your questions to one of the following;

The Chair of the department (see below) can address detailed program questions, including program requirements, planning and selection, research opportunities, graduate studies, and more.
The Academic Advisor, if available, can offer support including course registration and course load, important dates, academic policies and more.
The Academic Deans serve as the academic and administrative anchors to the professors within their Faculties or Schools as well as the students.

Chemistry and Brewing Science Department

Contact Information is found in the BU Directory

Dr. Alexandre Drouin

Assistant Professor – Department Chairperson

Dr. Alexandre Drouin was born in Arthabasca, Quebec. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in organic chemistry at the Université de Sherbrooke under the supervision of Dr. Jean Lessard and Dr. Claude Spino. His research was aimed at the development of the rearrangement of N-heterosubstituted lactams. He then moved to the Université catholique de Louvain, in Belgium, as an ARC-FNRS postdoctoral research fellow, where he worked on the total synthesis of polycavernoside A and the development of a new methodology for the hydroamination of unactivated alkenes, under the supervision of Dr. István Markó. After two years in Belgium, he came back in Sherbrooke where he joined Tranzyme Pharma as an NSERC postdoctoral scientist and worked on the development of new drugs for gastrointestinal diseases. He finally joined Bishop’s University in September 2012 as an assistant professor where he teaches all organic chemistry courses and labs.

Alexandre is also involved in research. He seeks to develop efficient and selective chemical transformations that will be applicable to the synthesis of complex natural products and motifs of pharmaceutical importance. He has a particular interest in cascades of pericyclic reactions as well as in enantioselective carbon-carbon bond formation that can be applied to the total synthesis of biologically active targets. These goals are currently split in 2 distinct research projects: 1- Combination of organocatalysis and pericyclic reactions for the synthesis of useful building blocks. 2- Development of a new catalytic method for the enantioselective alkylation of enolates.

Mr. Karl Gagnon

Department Technician

Karl is lab instructor and lab technician in the department of Chemistry. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Bishop’s University and his master’s degree from the Université de Sherbrooke under the supervision of Dr. Pierre D. Harvey. His research was aimed on the study of new conjugated metalladiethynyl polymers.Karl teaches the Introductory Chemistry laboratory courses.

Dr. Dale J. Wood

Associate Professor

Dr. Wood is Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Bishop’s University and Adjunct Professor at Université de Sherbrooke. He earned his Bachelor of Science and PhD in Chemistry at University of New Brunswick. His primary field of research is main-group inorganic chemistry.

Chemistry professor Dale Wood has inspired students from various disciplines to enter his lab and study the science of brewing. Over the years, his individual course offering has grown into what will become Eastern Canada’s first academic brewery, opening in Fall 2015.

Dr. Dale Wood, Chemistry professor and brewing aficionado

Dale Wood Brewing aficionado

Dr. Wood’s unique project has attracted a multitude of attention, but more importantly, it has sparked a unique exchange between he and his students. “We have business and marketing majors involved with the brewery; they’re working on marketing projects with a brewery in mind,” explains Dr. Wood. “Those students will bring into the lab things I don’t know, and contribute in ways that are going to allow them to apply their backgrounds to something new, something practical, something experiential.”

“We sell this idea to prospective students: you come to Bishop’s, we’re going to develop your ideas to be all they can be, but it’s not just the students who get this advantage, it’s the professors too. I don’t think I could have done this anywhere else; the interdisciplinary nature of this fits perfectly with the liberal education model here at Bishop’s.”

Students in Bishop's brewing program

Dr. Wood’s sees many similarities between his role as an academic and the brewmaster. “Professors, like brewmasters, are craftspeople who gather together raw materials and create conditions that encourage transformative processes – with sometimes ineffable results…the light bulb moments in our students when they finally combine their preparation, hard work, and learning with a touch of magic and a flash of insight to make sense of the world around them in a new way,” he says.

He adds: “We encourage our students to explore and make sure their ideas are known; I think that’s the reason this kind of project can work so well. I’m not isolated in a building on campus that’s spread out across an entire city; I’m exposed to the entire community. That is liberal education; it’s as much about the profs learning as the students.

“I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”

Boyle, P. D., Cameron, T. S., Decken, A., Passmore, J, and Wood, D. J. 1997. Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon 124 & 125, 549.

Cameron, T. S., Decken, A., Fang, M., Parsons, S., Passmore, J., and Wood, D. J. 1999. Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications 1801.

Berces, A., Enright, G.D., McLaurin, G.E., Morton, J.R., Preston, K.F., Passmore, J. and Wood, D. J. 1999. Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry 37, 353.

Arp, H.P.H., Decken, A., Passmore, J. and Wood, D. J. 2000. Inorganic Chemistry 39 (9), 1840.

Mr. Giovanni Venditti

Brewing Science and Sales Coordinator

Giovanni earned his bachelor’s degree at Concordia University and brings over 4 decades science and business management experience within the pharma industry. He is also a graduate of the Brewing Science program at Bishop’s.

As a member of the first cohort of students of the GCBS, Giovanni became the cornerstone of the brewing science program ever since. He is responsible for managing the brewing science program, the brewing lab and commercial activities of Bishop’s Arches. Giovanni actively pursues collaborations with industry partners. The LAGARTO is a business initiative with brasserie rurale 11 Comtés using Bishop’s own recipe and is now produced commercially and distributed everywhere in the Province of Quebec.

Giovanni teaches the Business of Brewing course in the program.