Her interest in science blossomed and she attended the University of Edinburgh, obtaining a BSc in Chemistry before returning to Penicuik to work at one of the paper-making companies there. Though small, the outfit boasted its own lab and she was able to engage in interesting research, focusing on finding better coatings for paper. As a result, she synthesised and tested many compounds, working with colleagues at the universities of Edinburgh and London. Eventually, she wrote up and presented her results and Edinburgh awarded her an external master’s degree. At the time, Canadian universities were advertising for graduate students and she accepted the first positive response she received—an offer the U of A cabled to her, complete with a pre-paid response. After receiving her PhD, she returned to the University of Edinburgh for her post-doctoral fellowship, studying with Professor John Cadogan, later Principal Chemist for the BP group and, eventually, Director General of the UK Research Councils. He gave her the opportunity to do the work that interested her. But she found that in her absence, either Scotland had changed or she had and she accepted an offer to complete her post-doc at the U of A’s Department of Biochemistry.

For five years, she ran the undergraduate senior organic chemistry labs and served as a research associate to Professor Satoru Masamune, an outstanding chemist who asked her to accompany him to MIT. Having no desire to move to the US, she declined, and eventually became the coordinator of all organic chemistry undergraduate labs. It was around that time that Bob Crawford became her advocate and encouraged her to pursue her own research. She and some colleagues began wondering how small labs disposed of dangerous waste. They received some Occupational Health and Safety money through the Heritage Trust Fund and discovered that there existed no real guidelines on how to dispose of the material. This became the focus of the next 20 years of her career, during which time she published Hazardous Laboratory Chemicals Disposal Guide (now in its sixth edition), along the way becoming an international expert in the field, working with, among others, the World Health Organisation.

All her research aside, what Dr. Armour has loved most about her career is that it has taken her so often to high school classrooms to teach young people about science. She remains at heart her mother’s daughter. University of Alberta Dean of Science, Greg Taylor, asked her, when Margaret-Ann retired a couple of years ago, to become associate dean responsible for diversity. It was with great pleasure, and no hesitation, that she accepted the invitation; it takes her work with girls in WISEST to the next stage, allowing her to take action and increase the percentage of women in faculties of science. This part-time opportunity also allows her to continue speaking with kids. And who better for such a role than someone who credits her interest in science to a natural curiosity nurtured by a box full of “boy’s” toys she inherited as a four-year-old? She remembers the great joy generated by playing with her shiny Hornby Train Set, with its engines, tunnels, and bridges. Girls didn’t have such things available to them back then. Now, they do. They also have the likes of Margaret Ann-Armour, a woman whose life has been spent impacting young minds. We can only hope she’ll continue to do so for many years to come.