Gareth Campbell poses for a photo near his old high school as he enjoys the remainder of his summer here in the Hat before moving overseas to pursue studies at the prestigious University of Cambridge.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
Later this month, Hatter Gareth Campbell is heading to England to pursue his research on how plastics bond at a molecular level at the prestigious University of Cambridge, which includes notable alumni like Stephen Hawking, Charles Darwin and Issac Newton.
Campbell grew up in Medicine Hat and attended River Heights Elementary, Alexandra Middle and Hat High School, where he developed his passion for science.
“I think I did have a lot of good math and science teachers that kind of pushed me in an engineering direction,” he said. “Renee Schritter was my physics teacher at Hat High and then Kent Campbell was my math teacher in Grades 11 and 12, and both of those two had a big impact on me.”
This past fall, Campbell finished his Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering at the University of Alberta, completing a five-year program which included four years of classroom studies and then a 20-month work experience portion.
Campbell was able to carry out his work experience at Syncrude in its research and development department.
While working under his supervisor Kevin Reed, Campbell was encouraged to apply for the 2025 Sir Winston Churchill Graduate Scholarship in Engineering, and pursue his passion for research. Reed himself is also a former graduate of University of Cambridge.
Due to his passion and academic success, Campbell was selected and received a very competitive scholarship worth $64,000 CDN, roughly 34,200 GBP, for three years of study at Cambridge.
He is set to skip across the pond at the end of September to begin his first semester, which starts in October in England.
“It’s a big leap, I’m excited for it, I think it’ll be an adventure, I’m excited and open to meet new people … and just the chance to be around like minded people and just see what I’m capable of.”
According to Campbell, he will be researching micro particles in plastics and polymer reactions, in hopes of finding a stronger bond between the particles, basically improving the overall product.
“To have uniform material properties throughout, you don’t want a really big piece of the polymer that is a lot stronger than a little one that’s a lot weaker,” he said. “Basically my research will be more looking at really small particle sizes of those plastics.”
His work in chemical engineering, specifically plastics, is beneficial in the medical and pharmaceutical fields and will build on research, especially in the design and different shapes of reactors that might control speed and yield sizes of medications.
“There’s a lot of applications in the pharmaceutical industry where you might want to control the rate that the outside of a pill dissolves or something,” he says.
Campbell also says his study group also focuses research on using green electricity to create ammonia fertilizer.
In the field of chemical engineering, Cambridge is known as a hot spot as several international companies, like AstraZeneca, are headquartered there.
However in Canada, Alberta homes the headquarters of several large chemical engineering companies. Campbell says he is hopefully to return to Canada after his time overseas to make an impact at home.
“I think I’d really like to come back. I love Edmonton. A lot of chemical companies and oil and gas petrochemical companies are headquartered in Calgary, and I think it would be really fun for me to be able to work in sustainability in the province that I grew up in, and contribute to this economy and live not too far from my family,” said Campbell.
Growing up in the Hat, Campbell also served as a lifeguard and swimming instructor at the Redcliff Aquatic Centre, YMCA and at the CFB Suffield recreation centre. He also served his first co-operative at Cancarb.
Campbell says his family has also supported him along his educational journey. He also wanted to thank Dave Sharp, his facility service officer at the University of Alberta.
