Dr. Lee Wil­son is a Pro­fes­sor in the Depart­ment of Chem­istry at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan. Dr. Wil­son has made sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to the inves­ti­ga­tion of the for­ma­tion of sug­ar-like mate­ri­als wide­ly used in food and phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals and their rela­tions to oth­er mate­ri­als, and is cur­rent­ly research­ing the devel­op­ment of new types of mate­ri­als that will have a tremen­dous impact on areas such as the envi­ron­ment, med­i­cine, advanced drug deliv­ery sys­tem, and ener­gy stor­age devices. This research will be of great impor­tance for many Abo­rig­i­nal com­mu­ni­ties in Cana­da that suf­fer from water qual­i­ty and health issues. Dr. Wil­son was born in St. Boni­face, Man­i­to­ba and grew up in the small rur­al com­mu­ni­ty of Lake Fran­cis. He obtained a B.Sc. from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Win­nipeg in 1992, and grad­u­at­ed with a Ph.D. in Chem­istry from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan in 1998, becom­ing the first Métis stu­dent to earn such a degree. He has pub­lished many papers in high­ly respect­ed peer reviewed jour­nals, is a sought-after speak­er at con­fer­ences, and has won many awards and hon­ors includ­ing the Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al’s Gold Medal in Grad­u­ate Stud­ies, the Grad­u­ate The­sis Award, Vis­it­ing Fel­low­ship in a Cana­di­an Gov­ern­ment Lab­o­ra­to­ry Award, and the 2006 Saskatchewan Cen­ten­ni­al Medal. Dr. Wil­son has served as a role mod­el and men­tor through­out his grad­u­ate and teach­ing years. He has pro­vid­ed inspi­ra­tion to Abo­rig­i­nal youth through the Inno­va­tors in the Schools Pro­gram, and has devel­oped sci­ence pro­grams and camps for Abo­rig­i­nal stu­dents at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan. He is cur­rent­ly devel­op­ing hands-on lab­o­ra­to­ry expe­ri­ences for north­ern Saskatchewan high school stu­dents vis­it­ing the uni­ver­si­ty cam­pus in part­ner­ship with the Out­reach and Tran­si­tion Pro­grams Office at the Col­lege of Engi­neer­ing. Dr. Wil­son con­tin­ues his involve­ment in Canada’s sci­ence and tech­nol­o­gy com­mu­ni­ty through the Cana­di­an Abo­rig­i­nal Sci­ence and Tech­nol­o­gy Soci­ety, Bio­tal­ent Cana­da, Uni­ver­si­ty of Saskatchewan ini­tia­tives, and var­i­ous grass roots organizations.