The 2010 Faculty of Science Award for Excellence in Teaching goes to Peter Wentzell.

Peter joined the Department of Chemistry at Dalhousie University as Assistant Professor in July of 1989.  He was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor in 1994 and further promoted to Professor in 2002.  He is a first class researcher who has devoted most of his professional career to the study of chemometrics, very successfully combining elements of mathematics, statistics, and analytical chemistry to solve chemical problems. 

Since arriving at Dalhousie University, Peter has taught courses in General Chemistry (regular and advanced), Introductory Analytical Chemistry, Instrumental Analysis, and Chemometrics at the undergraduate level.  He has also presented the courses in Chemometrics and Electronic Instrumentation at the graduate level.  In addition, he has supervised twenty-one undergraduate research projects, thirteen graduate students and three post-doctoral fellows a visiting scientist.  He is responsible for the introduction of Chemometrics to the Dalhousie curriculum as well as the development of an online chemistry class (Chem 1410) for the Health Sciences.

Peter is well recognized by members of the Department of Chemistry as one of the most dedicated and effective teachers in Chemistry and is likely one of the best teachers on campus. 

In 2005, Peter received the Department of Chemistry Undergraduate Teaching Award, which is determined by and presented by the students.  Peter’s students have provided many letters in support of this award, describing him as “a gifted teacher”, “enthusiastic, interesting and remarkable”, “an especially effective communicator”, “having diligence and special ability to inspire students”, “having an extraordinary understanding of how a student who is new to the subject might view the theory”, and “an outstanding mentor”.