Carleton Researcher Wins Polanyi Prize in Chemistry
Carleton University chemistry researcher Kate Marczenko has been awarded the prestigious John Charles Polanyi Prize for her groundbreaking research in advanced functional materials and crystalline systems.
Marczenko is one of five early-career researchers in Ontario to receive the Polanyi Prize this year.
“I am honoured to receive the Polanyi Prize,” said Marczenko. “As an early-career researcher, this recognition is especially motivating and provides encouragement to continue building an ambitious and innovative research program at Carleton University.”
The Polanyi Prizes are bestowed annually in five areas — chemistry, physics, literature, economic science and physiology or medicine — in honour of scientist John C. Polanyi, who won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The prizes highlight early-career leaders in their fields who are either continuing postdoctoral work or have recently gained a faculty appointment. Each of the five winners receives $20,000 in recognition of their exceptional research.
“We are incredibly proud to see Kate Marczenko recognized for her impactful work with the Polanyi Prize,” said Carleton President and Vice-Chancellor Wisdom Tettey.
“As the pace of innovation accelerates worldwide, awards like this enable researchers to advance discoveries that address critical global issues.”
Marczenko, who joined Carleton in 2023, is the university’s sixth Polanyi Prize winner since the awards were established by the Ontario government in 1987, a testament to the calibre of Carleton’s researchers and to the university’s expanding impact in important fields.
Carleton’s previous Polanyi Prize recipients are Maria DeRosa, chemistry, 2007; Sarah Casteel, literature, 2008; Rowan Thomson, physics, 2011; Tao Zeng, chemistry, 2013; and Kyle Biggar, biology, 2017.
Designing Safer, Smarter Materials
Marczenko’s research focuses on understanding how the arrangement of molecules within crystalline materials governs their physical and chemical behaviour. By uncovering how subtle structural changes influence properties such as reactivity, motion and energy release, her work aims to enable the rational design of materials that are both high-performing and inherently safer.
One area of her research explores energetic materials (EMs) — substances that store and release chemical energy and are essential for applications in national security, space exploration and mining. Traditional EMs are often composed of toxic heavy metals, posing environmental and safety risks. The foundational chemistry of EMs has seen little innovation since the development of dynamite and TNT in the 19th century. Achieving EMs that balance high performance with low sensitivity remains a longstanding scientific challenge.
“Our research explores how crystalline materials can exhibit responses such as light-driven motion and controlled energy release. By developing a deeper fundamental understanding of structure–property relationships, we can design smarter, more responsive materials with real-world impact.” Marczenko explained.
Marczenko’s work brings together molecular-level design and photoresponsive materials chemistry. Her research aims to create materials that remain stable under normal conditions but can be precisely activated using light, enabling greater control over when and how they respond. This approach has the potential to improve safety in manufacturing, transport and deployment of EMs, while also opening new avenues for advanced functional materials.
“Kate Marczenko’s research is poised to make major breakthroughs,” Nadeem Siddiqi, Carleton’s Vice-Provost (Graduate Studies), wrote in his Polanyi Prize nomination letter, calling her one of the university’s “most exceptional emerging scholars.”
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