David Magee

A native New Brunswicker, David first came to University of New Brunswick in 1978 to do a BSc in chemistry. He went on to receive a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from UNB in 1987 under the direction of Professor Zdenek Valenta. He then undertook a two-year NSERC post-doctoral fellowship with Professor Robert K. Boeckman, Jr. at the University of Rochester. In 1990, David began as an Assistant professor at UNB; in 1995 he was promoted to Associate Professor and in 2000 was promoted to full professor. From 1999 to 2007 David served as Chair of the Department of Chemistry, except for a brief 6-month period from July 1 to December 31, 2005, where he served as Acting Dean of Science. From July 2008 to June 2017 David served as UNB’s Dean of Science, until he stepped into the role of Acting Vice-President Research in July 2017 for a 1-year term.

David’s area of research is mainly in the development of new and/or simpler ways to make biologically interesting and structurally challenging natural products. In recent years David has had several research collaborations with academic (Dalhousie, Acadia, Shahid Beheshti University Tehran) government (Canadian Forestry Services, Newfoundland Department of Natural Resources) and private (JDI-Ltd, Sylvar, Agrifor, Forest Protection Limited) organizations. David has published 44 peer-reviewed research papers in numerous prestigious national and international journals and has 5 patent applications. David has presented over 66 papers at various national and international conferences and been an invited speaker on 17 other occasions. He has also served as an external examiner for numerous PhD theses.

In conclusion, David has refereed over 170 papers for 34 different journals and 38 grant proposals for national and international granting organizations.

Since joining the faculty at UNB, David has established an excellent scholarship and teaching record. He has supervised 27 graduate students: 10 completed PhDs, 15 completed MScs, and 1 MSc and 1 PhD still in progress. In addition, he supervised 67 Honours BSc students. Undergraduate and Graduate students from his group have gone on to MSc and PhD degrees, MD studies, post-doctoral fellowships, university professorships, research scientist positions, and pharmaceutical sales.

While at UNB David has served on several University Committees. Of recent note is his involvement on the Academic Planning Committee (both stages), the Administrative Bargaining Committee for the most recent collective bargaining, the Strategic Research Planning Committee, and the UNB Standing Review Committee responsible for reviewing all CRC, CFI and AIF applications from the institution.