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Biography
A native of Rosemère, QC, Diane Beauchemin studied at l'Université de Montréal where she obtained a B.Sc. in Chemistry in 1980, followed by a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry in 1984 under the supervision of Prof. Joseph Hubert. She then became a Research Associate in the (then) Chemistry Division of the National Research Council of Canada until she joined the Department of Chemistry at Queen's University in 1988 as an Assistant Professor. Beauchemin was promoted to Associate Professor in 1993 and to Full Professor in 2001.
She is renowned for finding simple solutions to problems, which is why all her sabbatical leaves have been sponsored by industry, and her students usually have an industrial position lined up by the end of their studies. Her contributions include a method to help locate buried ore deposits in geochemical exploration, a pragmatic approach to risk assessment of food safety, a quick method for the direct multi-element analysis of head hair to infer gender and general ethnicity, a forensic analysis method to identify the manufacturer, and a year of production and colour of vehicles from paint scrapings left in hit-and-run cases.