Fall graduation for the Faculty of Science was held on Wednesday, October 25, 2017.

A noon hour reception and recognition ceremony were held in the Physics and Astronomy atrium 2nd floor lounge. The dpeartment had seven graduates this fall, five of whom were in attendance with their families, and friends.

Students were introduced by their supervisors, who spoke a bit about their research together and future plans. Each graduating student received the traditional departmental coffee mug.

Congratualtions to all our Fall 2017 graduates!

[google photos of event]

On Tuesday August 29, 2017, Sina Kazemian gave a public lecture on his thesis topic “Modelling the thermal conductivity of layered materials from photothermal measurements”.

He then successfully defended the thesis. Sina was supervised by Dr. Giovanni Fanchini.

On Monday August 21, 2017, the Department of Physics and Astronomy hosted a viewing of the partial eclipse on University College hill and the Cronyn observatory. Undeterred by the heat more than 5000 visitors of all ages, both the public and members of the Western community, came out to enjoy the show creating a festival atmosphere for the afternoon. Nature cooperated with clear skies offering magnificent views throughout the nearly three-hour event, where 75% of the sun was covered by the moon at the maximum of the eclipse. Several telescopes were set up along the walkway on the hill, as well as demonstrations of safe projection methods, while at Cronyn the Sun’s image was projected through our 25.4 cm refractor, and a live stream from the path of totality was broadcast in a classroom in the Engineering building next to the Observatory.

A big thank you to the volunteers from the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, who handled the large, enthusiastic crowd of anxious eclipse seekers with grace and professionalism, distributing viewing glasses, information sheets and much-needed water, and helping make an already unforgettable day even more so. The event would not have been possible without their efforts and dedication. Particular thanks go to Prof. Jan Cami for organizing the event and PhD candidate Robin Arnason for running operations on the day.

[google photos of the event]

On Monday August 14, the summer undergraduate students presented their research in PICO style during the Fusion Pizza event. Each student did a two minute presentation with slides before spreading out across the room for a Q&A session where attendees could circulate inquiring about each student’s research. The undergrads brought laptops and tablets to show their slides and provide more details for those interested. The event was a great success with some fantastic presentations and some interesting research on display.

Our Summer Undergraduate Presenters (l to r) Matt McCready, Derek Churchill, Roy Zang, Logan Dewsnap, Tim Hallett, Tina Yu, Chris Lee, Ian Fare.

Edith Yeung won the Best Graduate Poster award at the sixth annual Women is Physics Canada (WIPC) conference was hosted by the University of Waterloo, for her poster entitled “Incorporation of radical polymers in perovskite solar cells as hole transport material”.

Congratulations Edith!

On Thursday July 13, 2017, Kendra Kellogg gave a public lecture on her thesis topic “Investigating the Effects of Gravity, Cloud Structure and Metallicity on Brown Dwarf Atmospheres”.

She then successfully defended the thesis.Kendra was supervised by Dr. Stan Metchev.

On Monday June 26 the department honoured its TA Award winners for the 2016-2017 academic year. The event was hosted by graduate chair, Silvia Mittler, during the weekly department coffee and each winner was awarded a certificate and a $100 gift card to the campus bookstore.

TA Award for Demonstration: Dan Hatfield

TA Award for Administration: Mitchell Brocklebank

TA Award for Tutoring: Shayamila Mahagammulla Gamage (absent, attending a conference in Romania)

At a ceremony back in May, Mark Baker was awarded the Faculty of Science’s Graduate Student Teaching Award for the Department of Physics & Astronomy

Congratulations to all our award winners!

On Thursday June 15, 2017, the department of Physics and Astronomy celebrated its graduating class of 2017 with a reception for graduates and their family and friends prior to the convocation ceremony at Alumni Hall. Congratulations to all of our Graduates!

Physics and Astronomy Graduating Class of 2017:

PhD and MSc Graduates in Attendance

BSc Graduates in attendance

Congratulations are in order for a pair of Physics & Astronomy graduate students who won awards at recent conferences.

At the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) annual meetings in Edmonton, Megan Tannock won 1st prize for the Best student poster presentation (as judged by the Board), for her poster: Weather on Other Worlds: Discovery of Three Extremely Fast Rotating Brown Dwarfs.

At the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) Congress held in Kingston, Carolyn Cadogan won 2nd place in the Condensed Matter and Materials Physics division for her talk: Optical and Electrical Properties of Self-Assembled Silicon Nanoclusters.

Congratulations Megan and Carolyn!

For a fourth year Western is taking part in the Global Corporate Challenge: a 100-day, world wide adventure where every step counts.

Seven intrepid individuals from Physics and Astronomy have stepped up to the challenge and formed a team to represent the department called “Phitness & Astronomy”

Our Team: Jennifer, Carol, Paul, Jodi, Phin, Emily and Shailesh.

The challenge takes teams on a virtual tour around the world, each step in the real world counting for a step on their virtual tour. Our team began in Northern California and after only one week are currently crossing the New Mexico desert.

The adventure continues until September 1, and we wish our representatives all the best. Make P&A proud!