A PhD candidate in condensed matter physics, Carolyn Cadogan is giving back to her home of Barbados by volunteering as a teaching assistant in the Student Program for Innovation in Science and Engineering (SPISE) of the Caribbean Science Foundation.

Carolyn has always had a passion for physics. Her research at Western involves an investigation of the light emission efficiency of quantum dots. Silicon quantum dots offer hope of a less polluting, and more efficient, replacement for our present day LCD display screens. Carolyn is being supervised by Physics and Astronomy professors Lydumila Goncharova and Peter Simpson.

Read the full article at Western Science.

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As Department Chair Shantanu Basu put it, this version of the Physics Undergraduate Conference was certainly a “PhUnCy” event !  All that was missing was perhaps the sounds of the Theremin or the strains of  “The Planets” by Gustav Holst in the background.  Music of the Spheres might have been another interpretation of the event.

The beautiful open space of the first floor atrium in the newly renovated Physics and Astronomy building played host to the Physics Undergraduate Conference student posters and art displays.  Posters titles ranged from “Mirror Inversion Theorem” for music, authored by Johnathan Levert, to “Diffusion Tensor Imaging” for medical physics, presented by Mona Abu Sharkh.

Those present were also fortunate enough to enjoy the multi-media paintings of budding artist Samantha Le Grand.

On the more formal side, the department packed the room for an invited talk by Dr. Emily Rauscher from the University of Michigan. She delighted the audience with a presentation titled, “The Increasing Complexity of Exoplanet Atmospheres”.

Later on, a panel discussion on the topic of “Unexplored Space and What Awaits” took place.  Panelists were Dr. Emily Rauscher, and graduate students Shannon Hicks and Parshati Patel. Panel moderators were Sumit Sharma and Chris Rose.

Sumit Sharma and Chris Rose were the key organizers, working with assistance from Prof. Shantanu Basu, instructor of the undergraduate seminar class.

A visitation for Mike Marlborough will be held at Westview Funeral Chapel (709 Wonderland Rd, 519-641-1793) from 5pm-9pm on Thursday, March 26. Details can be found in the obituary.

See the stars through period and modern telescopes on an evening named Yuri’s Night, which is a worldwide celebration of humanity’s achievements in space.

Spend an evening finding out how John Harris of Eldon House might have used a telescope as he helped to map the Great Lakes after the War of 1812.

An opening presentation will make history come alive, led by actor and historian Mark Tovey. This will be followed by observing on the lawn of Eldon House through period and modern telescopes.

Members of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), astronomers from Western University’s Exploring the Stars Program (Department of Physics and Astronomy),  as well as planetary scientists from the Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX) at Western University, will be on hand to assist and answer questions.

Space music will lend atmosphere. Hot chocolate will be served.

Space-themed attire is encouraged, and please dress warmly!

Date:  Sunday, April 12, 2015, beginning at 8:00p.m.

Registration is required.

Cost : $15.00 (incl. HST) per person.

To register please call 519-661-5169.
481 Ridout Street N.
London, ON, N6A 1P6
www.eldonhouse.ca

The Optical Society of America has chosen a research paper, written by Western Professor Bob Sica and his colleague Alexander Haefele for their Spotlight in Optics honour.

The citation, in part, states that “The paper by Sica and Haefele introduces important advances in the retrieval of temperature profiles from Rayleigh-scatter lidar by applying the optimal estimation method (OEM)… Therefore, it is expected that this method will become more widely used among the lidar community.”

The research paper by Sica and Haefele is titled, “Retrieval of temperature from a multiple-channel Rayleigh-scatter lidar using an optimal estimation method” and was completed while Bob was on sabattical in Switzerland.

Professor Gordon (Oz) Osinski has been honoured by the Mineralogical Association of Canada as  recipient of the 2015 Young Scientist Award.

Communicating the news was Professor Ron Peterson of Queens University, who wrote, “It is with great pleasure that I say to you that you have been selected to receive the Young Scientist Award of the Mineralogical Association of Canada for 2015. This award is given to a young scientist who has made a significant international research contribution in a promising start to a scientific career. The areas of research considered are any or all of those covered by the Mineralogical Association of Canada. “

Gordon thanked the local nominating committee, which was led by Professor Roberta Flemming.

Read more about Gordon’s double honours at Western Science.

The Physics and Astronomy Department announces with sadness the passing of Emeritus Astronomy Professor Mike Marlborough.

Mike was a native of Toronto, Ontario. He studied as an undergraduate at the University of Toronto and as a graduate student at the University of Chicago, where he received his PhD working under the supervision of Nelson Limber.

Mike came to Western in 1967 and quickly established Western as a centre for research into massive stars and circumstellar material. Mike’s lifetime contribution to the field of Be (or B emission-line) stars was honoured in 2014 at the International “Bright Emissaries” Astronomy conference held on the Western University campus. Mike will be missed by his friends and colleagues and will be remembered for his generosity and keen sense of humour, as well as his love of fine wine.  He was also an accomplished athlete, enjoying sports such as baseball and hockey.

A partial list of Western graduate students who were advised by Mike include Carol Jones, Jean-Rene Roy, Roland Poeckert, Haiqi Chen, Chris Blake, and Henry Leparskas.

Post doctoral fellows were Rens Waters, Aaron Sigut, and Mike’s last student Carol Jones.

Mike is survived by his wife Lynda and his children Michelle and Matthew.

The funeral and internment will be in Toronto. The London visitation is at Westview Funeral Chapel (709 Wonderland Rd, 519-641-1793) from 5pm-9pm on Thursday, March 26. Details can be found in the obituary.

At 11am on April 1 2015, the flag on UC tower at Western University will be flown at half mast in Mike’s memory.

The Physics and Astronomy main landing web page now displays an RSS feed of the department events calendar.

Please add the feed to your RSS reader/aggregator and also add our calendar page to your browser bookmarks.

A foggy start to the day did not deter hundreds of visitors to the Physics and Astronomy atrium for the 2015 March Break Open House.

Volunteers for this year were Ian Mulholland, Stephanie Kirkvliet, Patrick Hatch, Danielle Whitfield, Peter Frank, Phin Perquin, Eugene Wong, Aaron Sigut, Tamie Poepping, Alex Buchel, Shantanu Basu, Carol Jones, Richard Holt, John de Bruyn, Margaret Campbell-Brown, Peter Brown, Kanthi Kaluarachichi, Wayne Hocking, Henry Leparskas.

It was exciting to hear that families were came from as far as Mississauga, Peterborough, and Ottawa in order to learn what Western offered in Physics and Astronomy.

Special this year was a ‘Meet and Greet’ with three of our alumni, Jeremy Gill (CEO Parallax Innovations), Arvand Barghi (studying Internal Medicine at Western), and Laura Lenkic (Astrophysics graduate student). Unfortunately, Laura could not make it at the last minute, but several families had a wonderful chance to speak with Arvand, Jeremy, and several professors.

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