Catalyzing Chemistry is our a series of student profiles celebrating the Department of Chemistry's newest graduate students and the journies that brought them here. Myles Ma, one of our newest organic chemists, talks about hockey, travel, and choosing organic chemistry over aerospace engineering.
Myles Ma
Area of Study: Organic Chemistry
Campus: St. George
Research Group: The Lautens Group
Bio: Hi! My name is Myles, and I am from Ottawa, Ontario. I attended the University of Waterloo for my undergraduate studies, majoring in Medicinal Chemistry. I am now a part of Prof. Mark Lautens's research group, where I am currently pursuing a MSc. Chemistry. But I intend to transfer to a Ph.D. in Chemistry after my first year.
Outside of school, I enjoy playing hockey and travelling the world (trying to go to all 7 continents!), as well as trying new foods and cuisines. I am currently enrolled at UofT as an MSc in Chemistry with a focus in organic chemistry. I chose to pursue graduate studies at UofT because of the excellent reputation and facilities, and after visiting the labs I really enjoyed the not only the work of the Lautens research group but also the people within it as well.
Tell us about the journey that brought you to U of T Chemistry.
I am currently specializing in organic chemistry and am a part of the Lautens Group. I came to choose this path as I was quite interested in the drug research and the science behind synthesizing and making pharmaceutical compounds, which ultimately led me down the path of organic chemistry.
One thing that I am looking forward to the most at UofT is meeting new people and attending conferences where I can showcase my work and also learn about the works of other people.
If you hadn't gone into chemistry, what was the road not taken--what might you have done instead?
If I hadn't chosen chemistry, I think I would've become an aerospace engineer. Astro and aeronautics have continued to fascinate me, and I even did a co-op work term during my undergraduate studies at the Canadian Space Agency working on the OSIRIS-REx mission. It was an extremely rewarding experience and I met many cool people, and the fire hasn't completely died inside me yet.