about cora
Dr. Cora Young is a Professor and the Rogers Chair in Chemistry at York University. Her research group focuses on the development and application of new analytical techniques to increase our understanding of issues in air quality, climate change, and pollutant transport. Her team has been funded by numerous agencies, including the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council and Environment and Climate Change Canada. She has received several awards, including the 2022 Chemical Institute of Canada Environment Division Early Career Award, as well as being named to Chemical and Engineering News’ “Talented 12” in 2019. Work from her group has been featured by numerous media outlets, including CBC (Nature of Things, Quirks and Quarks), CTV, and the BBC. Cora serves as an Associate Editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts.
Cora completed her undergraduate and doctoral studies in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Scott Mabury, where she studied the atmospheric fate and transport of polyfluorinated compounds. She then took on a postdoctoral position at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), working with Steve Brown. There, she developed new optical techniques to study trace reactive species that impact air quality, including nitrous acid. Cora was an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at Memorial University from 2012 to 2017. She joined the Department of Chemistry at York University in July of 2017 as the Guy Warwick Rogers Chair in Chemistry.
Selected awards and recognitions:
Early Career Research Award (2022, Canadian Institute of Chemistry, Environment Division)
Best Review Paper of 2021 (2022, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts)
Group Achievement Award (2020, NASA for FIREX-AQ Airborne team)
Outstanding Reviewer (2021, 2019, Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts)
Talented 12 (2019, Chemical & Engineering News)
Discovery Grant Accelerator Award (2017, NSERC)
Award for High-Impact Research (2014, Colorado Governor for team looking at atmospheric effects of oil and gas)
Education and Experience:
2024–present Professor and Rogers Chair, Department of Chemistry, York University
2020–2023 Associate Professor and Rogers Chair, Department of Chemistry, York University
2017–2020 Assistant Professor and Rogers Chair, Department of Chemistry, York University
2012–2017 Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Memorial University
2010–2012 NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
2010 PhD, University of Toronto
2004 BSc(Hon), University of Toronto