Professor Robin Hutchinson of Queen's University has been named a 2026 Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC), one of the organization’s highest honours recognizing outstanding contributions to chemistry, chemical engineering, and chemical technology.
CIC Fellowship recognizes members who have made exceptional contributions across areas including scientific and technical achievement, leadership, teaching and mentorship, and service to the profession.
Professor Hutchinson joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at Queen’s in 2000 following nine
years of industrial research with E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company in the United States and Europe. He pioneered the application of specialized pulsed-laser techniques to measure key radical polymerization rate coefficients, helping advance mechanistic understanding and simulation tools that are now widely used by industry to improve efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and increase sustainability in the production of acrylic coatings, water-soluble polymers, and polymeric dispersants.
The CIC also recognized Professor Hutchinson as one of Canada’s most widely cited polymer science researchers and highlighted his international leadership within the global polymer science and reaction engineering communities. Over the course of his career at Queen’s, he has mentored more than 50 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who have gone on to successful careers in academia and industry around the world.
Currently serving as Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering at Queen's University, Professor Hutchinson has also provided leadership during a period of faculty renewal, curriculum reform, and financial constraint within the department.
New Fellows of the CIC are formally recognized during the organization’s annual conference and awards celebrations.