Western Physics and Astronomy professor Andrea Soddu is part of a team that is navigating through uncharted territory with their research into communication between the brain’s two known networks of perception, namely internal thoughts versus the perception of the external world.  The group has found exciting differences in the communications between these two networks of perception for patients with impaired consciousness versus patients who are recovering from disorders of consciousness.

Andrea is a member of Western’s Brain and Mind Institute.

[see details at Western Media Relations] [London Free Press article]

Robert and Ruth Lumsden Graduate Fellowships were awarded to Zahra Haghshenasfard (above) and Fereshteh Rajabi for the academic year 2015-16.

Parshati Patel successfully defended her PhD thesis on Monday, 25 April 2016.

She gave a public talk on the topic of her thesis, which is titled, “The Inner, Gaseous Disks of Herbig Be Stars”.

Parshati was co-supervised by Professor Aaron Sigut and Professor Emeritus John Landstreet.

Setareh Changizrezaei successfully defended her MSc thesis on Friday, 22 April 2016.

Setareh gave a public lecture on her thesis research, which was titled, “Simulation of heterogeneous colloidal particles immersed in liquid crystals“.

Prof. Colin Denniston was Setareh’s thesis supervisor.

Renjie Hou successfully defended his PhD thesis on Tuesday, 19 April 2016.

Renjie presented a public lecture on his thesis, which is titled, “Optical characterization of anisotropic interfaces”.

Renjie was supervised by cross-appointed Chemist, Prof. Francois Lagugné-Labarthet.

Aycha Tammour successfully defended her PhD thesis on Thursday, April 14, 2016.

Aycha gave a public talk on her thesis, which is titled, “Insights into the physical properties driving emission and absorption in quasar UV/optical spectra“.

Astronomer Dr. Sarah Gallagher is Aycha’s PhD supervisor.

Astronomers from the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration at Western, led by graduate student Kendra Kellogg, have discovered one of the brightest and youngest free floating ‘extrasolar giant gaseous planet analogues’ (rogue planet) to date.  The newly discovered planet, designated 2MASS J1119–1137, is situated in the TW Hydrae association of young stars, residing approximately 160 light years from Earth.

The analysis was done using data from both ground-based telescopes as well as NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Explorer (WISE).

[details at Western Media Relations] [Youtube video 360 degree tour of TW Hydrae Association]

The Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration (CPSX) held its 2nd annual Space Day @ Western celebration on Monday, 4 Apr 2016.

Acting CPSX Director Ken McIsaac warmly welcomed the speakers and the audience to the event, being held in PAB 100.

Acting CPSX Assistant Director Jan Cami introduced keynote speaker Dr. Stefanie Milam of NASAs Goddard Space Flight Centre.  Stefanie gave a presentation titled, “Searching for our Molecular Origins in Space through Astrochemistry“, and also added a fascinating update, with great images and video, on the James Webb Space Telescope, which is set to launch in late 2018.

Following the keynote presentation, the audience heard short research presentations from an elite group of researchers.

The research speakers were:

• Tanya Harrison – “Thermal Inertia of Gully Fans on Mars as a Marker for Recent Activity”
• Matt Shannon – “Auto exhaust along the Milky Way”
• Dr. Haley Sapers – “Beyond the Catastrophe: Life after impact”
• Jon Kissi – “Geological Formation Reconstruction – a stereo vision perspective”
• William Zylberman – “Did a double impact happened 270 Ma ago in Québec?”
• Tiffany Ensor – “A Principal Component Analysis of Diffuse Interstellar Bands
• Danny Bednar – “Current State of Orbital Debris Politics”

Following the talks, everyone adjourned to the Physics and Astronomy building atrium for a reception and to view student research posters.

[images on Flickr]