Barbara Sherwood Lollar awarded Killam Prize in Natural Sciences
Published: May 26, 2020
Geochemist Barbara Sherwood Lollar has received this year's Killam Prize in Natural Sciences from the Canada Council for the Arts.
“It is an extraordinary honour to share this with many U of T colleagues,” says Sherwood Lollar, “both this year and in past years. My team and I are extremely grateful.
“Canada Council for the Arts’ commitment to scholarship through the Killam Prizes and Fellowships is a timely reminder of the vital role that fact-based research plays in serving society — both as a source of fundamental understanding and as a driver for fact-based decision making.”
Sherwood Lollar, a University Professor in the department of Earth sciences in the Faculty of Arts & Science, was recognized for her pioneering work in energy sources, water and microbial life deep beneath the Earth’s surface — including the discovery of billion-year-old groundwater within the Canadian Precambrian Shield. Her work is important to geologists, geochemists and astrobiologists studying the possibility of life beyond our planet. She also studies the remediation of near-surface groundwater that contains organic contaminants such as petroleum hydrocarbons.
Sherwood Lollar’s many honours include Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Canada, Companion of the Order of Canada, the C.C. Patterson Award, the NSERC John C. Polanyi Award, the Logan Medal and the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal.
