The recent significant research findings of Professor Andrea Soddu and his international colleagues in the field of functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) imaging of the human brain were highlighted in Western’s Gazette.
“A third of graduates with doctoral degrees from Ontario universities are in tenure-track positions somewhere in the world, with half of them working as professors in Canada, the study from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario found.”
Konstantin Batygin and Michael E. Brown’s paper regarding the so called ‘Planet IX’, as the media is calling it.
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/0004-6256/151/2/22/pdf
Dr. Livio Tornebene and his CPSX team were seen gearing up in the departmental mission control room for their upcoming session of taking images with the Mars HiRISE camera.
Above is a representative image from HiRISE.
Postdoctoral fellow Mattia Galiazzo gave a very interesting talk on asteroids, specifically enlightening the audience on the Hungaria group of asteroids which live between Mars and Jupiter.
Mattia was presented with the usual departmental mug after the talk.
In addition, to commemorate his first Canadian colloquium, Mattia was presented with a Western Mustangs toque.
Two Department of Physics and Astronomy lecturers, Alyssa Gilbert, and Shawn Donohue, were involved in teaching a cluster for Mrs. Ensing’s TVDSB itinerant gifted students.
The topic was the physics of curling.
Alyssa Gilbert helped to provide the background material and links for the class.
Shawn made a presentation to the class. He reviewed Newton’s laws, along with the concepts of inertia, mass, energy, vectors, velocity, and of course friction.
Shawn then discussed why curling stones behave the way they do. It is certainly not obvious why the stones curl in the way that we experience.
The students went to the London Curling Club to experience curling first hand.
Alyssa Gilbert presently teaches “Life in the Universe”, while Shawn Donohue teaches “The Physics of Sport”.
Professor Jan Cami was winner of this equivalence principle toy from the Einstein @ Rotman exhibit which was held at the Satellite Project Gallery back in November and December of 2015.
Contestants had to submit a photo of themselves with the toy.
The original toy / apparatus was conceived by a friend of Albert Einstein, and was presented to Einstein on his 72nd birthday.
Three of these wonderful toys had been built by Brian Dalrymple and Frank VanSas of the machine shop in The Department of Physics and Astronomy for use during the celebration of 100 Years of General Relativity.
The activities at Cronyn Observatory were highlighted in an interview which the Western Gazette did with Cronyn Observatory Director Jan Cami.
Launched in 2014, the Rowe Scholar program (Reach out for Western’s Education) was co-founded by Alex Rowe and Rachel Dales, two London high schoolers at that time, along with Physics and Astronomy professor Eugene Wong.
The program provides academic tutoring, along with mentorship, for London high school students whose families are being affected by cancer.
Connect with Rowe Scholar on Facebook.
You can find them on the web at rowescholar.ca.
Eugene Wong was interviewed on CBC Ontario Morning on Tuesday, Jan 12, 2016. [listen to podcast].
See the London CTV news story of January 8, 2016.
Alex Rowe is now in her second year nursing degree in Ottawa, and Rachel Dales is a second year Western student. Eugene Wong is continuing to connect with staff at the London Regional Cancer Program about research and rowescholar. Our objective is to help youths get into post-secondary schools to pursue their dreams.
Adjunct Physics and Astronomy Professor Emeritus Gordon McBean has been honored with the 2015 Ambassador Award of the American Geophysical Union.
The award was bestowed at a ceremony in San Francisco in December of 2015.