Two Department of Chemistry staff members were honored with Outstanding Staff Awards at the 2025 Awards Ceremony held Tuesday, May 27, in the Davenport Atrium of Lash Miller Hall. Keisha Cokely and Matthew Forbes received the accolades from Department Chair Mark Lautens, in recognition of exceptional contributions to the department.
2025 represents the first time that there have been two separate Staff Awards—one for Administrative Services and another for Technical Services Staff. Speaking about the decision to divide the staff award into two categories of recognition, Lautens emphasized the need to shine light onto all sides of the oft-unseen work that goes into running a busy teaching department while supporting the research of so many principal investigators.
The Outstanding Staff awards are given to employees who have demonstrated ongoing distinguished service to the department, or exceptional performance in a project or service effort. With that in mind Lautens praised Cokely, Chemistry’s Administrative Assistant, for special contributions made to the Story of Water Symposium, as well as grace under pressure during a surprise visit from the Deputy Prime Minister in 2024.
Matthew Forbes is the Facility Manager of the AIMS Mass Spectrometry Facility, the core mass spectrometry facility in the Department of Chemistry.
“Many of the students will have interacted with Matt and know that he rises to every challenge that he faces,” Lautens said, adding that many Chemistry community members who nominated Forbes noted his role in supporting research projects and helping out the graduate student community. “We are so fortunate to have outstanding technical people to let us do the best research we can do.”
Chemistry Stories spoke to both recipients about their time at the department and the unique challenges and rewards of their roles.
Keisha Cokely, Administrative Assistant
Bio: My journey with the Department of Chemistry began in 2019 when I stepped into the role of Administrative Assistant in the Office of Administration. After several years in retail banking and a brief time with the Town of Aurora, transitioning into an academic environment was a refreshing and meaningful shift. It’s been an interesting and rewarding experience to support the department and grow within a completely new setting.
As an Administrative Assistant in the Academic Office, my role adapts a people-first approach—whether I am responding to various inquiries, planning events, or coordinating busy schedules, I thrive on staying adaptable and working with my team to ensure things run smoothly behind the scenes.
What was it like to learn you had won the Outstanding Staff Award?
It was an incredibly humbling experience to learn that colleagues and leaders of the department think highly enough of me to want to honor me in this way. It makes me appreciate my job even more.
What would you say is the essence of your role?
What is most important is being the friendly first stop for Chemistry’s visitors, answering questions and providing a warm welcome.
Our building, community and university are always going through changes. Can you think of something you’re looking forward to in the coming months and years?
As we move through 2025, I’m really looking forward to seeing continued progress in inclusion and diversity across the university. It means a lot to be part of a community that’s growing in such meaningful ways, and I’m excited to keep working together and learning from one another!
Dr. Matthew Forbes, AIMS Mass Spectrometry Laboratory Facility Manager
Matthew Forbes completed a BSc at Trent University (1999) followed by a MSc from Dalhousie University (2005). Matt then came to U of T, joining the Department of Chemistry in the PhD program under the supervision of Prof. Rebecca Jockusch. Matt's first interest in mass spectrometry came through an undergraduate research project with Prof. Raymond March, who was well known in the field of gas-phase ion chemistry and was an early user of the quadrupole ion trap. In subsequent post-graduate studies, Matt continued to specialize in mass spectrometry, with particular interest in analytical instrumentation relating to separation science, ionization sources, ion activation and all types of mass analyzers. Shortly after completing his PhD (2010), Matt was hired as the manager of the AIMS Mass Spectrometry Laboratory and will soon be reaching 15 years in his current role in the Department.
As manager of one of the Departmental core facilities, Matt is responsible for maintaining the lab instrumentation and ensuring the timely delivery of mass spectrometry services to researchers in the department. Other responsibilities include procurement of new instrumentation, providing training to researchers accessing user-run instruments and collaborating with clients on novel and (sometimes) challenging applications. Matt also values a close working relationship with MS specialist Chung Fung, who has more than 30 years of service in the department and has been working full time in AIMS since 2017.
What was it like to learn you had won the Outstanding Staff Award?
I was pleasantly surprised to learn I had been selected to receive this year’s outstanding staff award and am most appreciative to the faculty and staff colleagues for their support.
Tell us one thing readers might not know about your role.
One of the most enjoyable parts of the job is the opportunity to interact with clients (grad students, post-docs and external scientists) seeking advice on projects with unique analytical problems. Such a project might involve optimizing a challenging LC-MS/MS method to improve a detection limit, finding a MALDI prep protocol and suitable matrix for a new polymer or assisting in identifying an unknown reaction product.
Our building, community and university are always going through changes. Can you think of something you’re looking forward to as we continue to work together through 2025?
An upcoming project in the AIMS Lab for 2025-2026 is making preparations to update the HPLC-ESI-Q-TOF instrument. As one of the workhorses in the lab for running full service sample submissions, we are looking forward to renewing this key instrument and enjoying some upgraded capabilities that will be helpful to our clients.