On Wednesday September 12, 2018, Sebastian Bruzzone Rama gave a public lecture on his thesis topic: “Mapping debris disk at extreme contrast: Near-IR Differential Polarimetric Imaging with the Gemini Planet Imager”.
He then successfully defended the thesis. Sebastian was supervised by Dr. Stan Metchev.
Congratulations Sebastian!
PhD candidate Pubuditha Abeyasinghe’s research was the focus of a recent piece by CTV London.
Working with professor Andrea Soddu and a team of Western neuroscientists, their research suggests the human brain is better understood as two-dimensional, rather than three-dimensional, a discovery which will enable them to better understand changes in spontaneous brain activity.
Watch the CTV London piece here
On Monday August 20, 2018, Cameron Hopkins gave a public lecture on his thesis topic: “Vibrating-wire Rheometry”.
He then successfully defended the thesis. Cameron was supervised by Dr. John de Bruyn.
New research from Prof. Andrea Soddu and his team of neuroscientists has unearthed a different method of calculating distance in the brain.
Graduate Student Pubuditha Abeyasinghe authors the paper, which is now published in the journal Brain Connectivity.
To read more, please visit http://mediarelations.uwo.ca/2018/07/24/new-research-western-university-call-arms-flat-brainers/
On Thursday July 12, 2018 the Purple Crow Lidar group hosted scholars from the SHAD program for an evening of scientific discovery at the Environmental Sciences Western Field Station. Students in the SHAD program are high school students who come to host Universities for immersion in the fields of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math). This year the program’s focus is on Natural Disasters.
The Purple Crow Lidar group is headed by Dr. Bob Sica, Chair of Western’s Physics and Astronomy Department. A lidar is a laser radar that can measure atmospheric temperature, composition, and wind. More information about the lidar and the Purple Crow group can be found here http://pcl.physics.uwo.ca/
Western’s 75 SHAD students were treated to a tour of the Lidar facilities and presentations by Graduate students and Summer Students from the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Jeff Vankerkhove and Ali Jalali gave tours of the laser and liquid mirror telescopes. Presentations included Graduate students Achini Abayakoon explaining how lidar can measure forest fires, Shannon Hicks speaking about Global Warming, and Ghazal Farhani discussing measuring ozone with a lidar during the Polar Night in Eureka, Nunavut. Graduate students Venu Wadehra and Shayamila Gamage and Summer students Rick Sugden and Dakota Cecil showed the SHAD students how to measure humidity in the air using a thermometer and a piece of wet gauze.
The night concluded with the Purple Crow team turning on the lidar while the SHAD students sang, cheered, and took pictures. This video captures the students’ reaction to seeing the laser beam go up into the sky: http://drp.rjsi.ca/jZqQ22/jAtdl9MPBOmQ+
The Department of Physics & Astronomy would like to thank Environmental Sciences Western’s Caroline Rasenberg and Peter Duenk for their support in running this event, and a special thank you to Shayamila Gamage for her organization of the visit.
Assistant Professor Robert Cockcroft, a 2018 recipient of the UWOFA Contract Faculty Research and Development Fund, is developing a fascinating new course. Indigenous Astronomy will be available in Fall 2019 and will combine traditional Indigenous concepts of the sky with the principles of Western astronomy.
To read more about this exciting offering, please visit https://www.uwofa.ca/article/contract-faculty-fund-recipient-developing-indigenous-astronomy-course
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Western is proud to announce that Adjunct Professor Dr. Gordon McBean is the recipient of this year’s International Meteorological Organization (IMO) prize.
From the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) website, “the IMO Prize is the equivalent of the Nobel prize for meteorology. Established in 1955 and named after the predecessor of the WMO, the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), it is awarded every year by WMO Executive Council”.
For more information, please visit https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wmo-presents-top-scientific-prize-gordon-mcbean-of-canada
Astronomy on Tap was a great success this year! Held at Forked River Brewing Co. on June 22, this event drew a full house. Attendees heard talks from Dr. Sarah Gallagher (Things that Go Burp in the Dark) and Dr. Stan Metchev (Where the Alien Things Are) and then participated in trivia games and won prizes.
To view photos of the event, please visit https://drive.google.com/open?id=15J8WIkeqHwKfiXfTsVRYV-LV0bugawxu
Astronomy On Tap is coming to London! Astronomy on Tap features free accessible and engaging astronomy talks by professional astronomers. Join us at Forked River Brewing company at 7:30pm on June 22nd. Due to limited space, seating is only available for the first 50 people.
Our speakers will be Professors Sarah Gallagher and Stan Metchev from Western University. Afterwards there will be trivia and prizes! After the talks, join the members of the London Centre Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for a star party! Members will set up their telescopes in our parking lot and share their passion of the night sky by inviting the public to look through at the available celestial objects. (Weather permitting of course!)
Things That Go Burp in the Dark by Professor Sarah Gallagher
Every big galaxy (including our Milky Way!) has a supermassive black hole at its centre. These black holes grow by eating the gas and stars within their reach. Not everything winds up in the belly of the black hole though – some of it gets shot out into space. Come hear about the cosmic “burps” of supermassive black holes and what they do to the galaxies they live in.
Where the Alien Things Are by Professor Stan Metchev
NASA has just reported the discovery of organic matter on Mars. Within three years space telescopes may offer the first shot at detecting life outside the Solar System. And, there’s a chance humanity will send its first interstellar mission in the next couple of decades. … Really?! Come by and let’s sort out the propaganda from the facts with the help of some beer.
Megan Tannock has been announced as the winner of the Faculty of Science Graduate Teaching Award for 2017-18. Megan is currently working on her Ph. D. in Astronomy under the supervision of Dr. Stan Metchev. Congratulations, Megan!
http://physics.uwo.ca/news/student_awards_archives/ta_faculty_award.html
