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Departmental News

Prizes for Excellence in Research Public Lectures

Information on Prizes for Excellence in Research Public Lectures. Special congratulations to Prof. Stephen Hughes!

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Physics teachers honoured by AMS

At the 2015 Alma Mater Society Teaching Awards Dinner on March 26, two people from physics were honoured!

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Chenman (Cara) Yin wins 3MT Final Promotion!

A huge congratulations goes to our very own Cara Yin who won the 3MT Final promotion on Tuesday, March 24, 2015!

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Physics professors honoured for their teaching in 2014/2015

Congratulations to the honoured professors in 2014/2015 for their excellence in teaching!

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Engineering Physics: An education that prepares you to solve the problems of the 21st century

An information night on the Engineering Physics program with guest speaker Geoff Olynyk, (Eng. Phys 2007), PhD (MIT).

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information session

The Department mourns the loss of Professor Geoff Lockwood

After an inspirational life that deeply touched many people, Geoff Lockwood passed away on Tuesday afternoon, January 20th, 2015. The family does not wish to have a memorial service. No flowers please. Geoff was a fervent believer and financial supporter of the United Way - so if you wish, a donation in Geoff's name would be greatly appreciated.

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Dalton Kellet, a fourth year Engineering Physics student signs with Andretti Autosport

Dalton Kellet, who is a fourth year Engineering Physics student, signed a one year contract with Andretti Autosport.

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Dr. Stephen Hughes honoured for outstanding work in Physics

Dr. Stephen Hughes is one of five researchers to be honoured for his outstanding research in 2014.

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Dr. Gilles Gerbier is a Canada Excellence Research Chair in Particle Astrophysics.

Dr. Gilles Gerbier has joined the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy as the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Particle Astrophysics.

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Emeritus Professor Alec Stewart Has Passed Away

STEWART, Alec Thompson - 89, of Kingston, Ontario, died peacefully July 28, 2014 at Kingston General Hospital. Alec was born June 18, 1925, in Windthorst, Saskatchewan, son of Arthur Stewart and Nell (Thompson) Stewart, and older brother of Donal Stewart. Alec graduated from Dalhousie University and then Cambridge University. He inspired many students and colleagues during his long career as a scientist at Chalk River Laboratories, and as a professor of physics at Dalhousie University, the University of North Carolina, and Queen's University...

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Physics News & Events in Photos

Dr. Judith Irwin (Principal Investigator) and her colleagues/members from project CHANG-ES (Continuum HAlos in Nearby Galaxies - an EVLA Survey) have released a composite image of the galaxy NGC 4631, the "Whale Galaxy", revealing large magnetic structures.

For more information about the exciting image results, please visit Giant Magnetic Ropes in a Galaxy's Halo.

Credit: Composite image by Jayanne English of the University of Manitoba, with NRAO VLA radio data from Silvia Carolina Mora-Partiarroyo and Marita Krause of the Max-Planck Institute for Radioastronomy. The optical data were from the Mayall 4-meter telescope, collected by Maria Patterson and Rene Walterbos of New Mexico State University. Arpad Miskolczi of the University of Bochum provided the software code for tracing the magnetic field lines.
Celebrating with Dr. Schreiner on his retirement dinner at the Renaissance on November 27th. Congratulations John!

Back row from left to right: Prof. Rob Knobel (Department Head), Prof. Marc Dignam.
Front row from left to right: Roz, Dr. Dave Hanes, Dr. John Schreiner, Prof. Alaistair McLean, Gill.

(Photo courtesy of Prof. Dignam)
Celebrating Sci Formal in a classy manner, pictured here are some of our amazing Eng Physics students, class of 2020.

(Photo credit: Matthew Filipovich)
Professors Gerbier, Rau and Noble are particle astrophysics researchers on the hunt for dark matter! They are "playing key roles in large collaborative teams of Canadian and international researchers conducting three competing, but complementary experiments that use different tools to seek, find and ultimately understand the nature of dark matter". For more information on the hunt, please visit Dark Matter Detectives.

(Illustrations by Zachary Kenny)
Congratulations to all the hard working TAs! The winners of Malcolm Stott Teaching Award was announced in early October. To see the results please visit Winners of 2018-2019!

(Photos credit: Prof. James Fraser)
Queen's-associated female astrophysicists. Queen's long history of promoting women in astrophysics goes back to Allie Vibert Douglas, who was an astronomer and a pioneer in the teaching of astrophysics - see https://www.queensu.ca/gazette/alumnireview/stories/allie-vibert-douglas

Left-to-right: Dr. Sarah Sadavoy (Assistant Professor), Dr. Theresa Wiegert (Adjunct Assistant Professor and former Queen's post-doc), Dr. Judith Irwin (Professor), Dr. Kristine Spekkens (Associate Professor, cross-appointed to RMC), Dr. Laura Fissel (Assistant Professor), and Dr. Jayanne English (Associate Professor University of Manitoba and former Queen's post-doc). (Photo credit: David van Vliet)
Engineering Physics student Sarah Choudhury created the smallest Queen's logo ever (67 microns long, smallest features 18 nanometres wide) using electron beam lithography and metal deposition. This work was done at Nano Fabrication Kingston where Queen's researchers make big discoveries about small things. For more images, please click on Small Images.
Dr. Bhavin Shastri was interviewed by The Optical Society (OSA) about his research in silicon photonic for neuromorphic computing and artificial intelligence, and shares his excitement about working with his students at Queen's University. Please click on Shastri Lab to watch the interview.
The Queen's Hyperloop Design Team (which has a number of Engineering Physics members, including Matthew Filipovich pictured here draped in the Queen's flag, beside Elon Musk) competed in the 2019 Hyperloop Pod Competition hosted by SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. The team passed several interview rounds including design reports and a live Skype conference with SpaceX engineers in order to be accepted into the competition. This is the first time in the team's four year history that they were accepted. The team leverages the amazingly talented students within the Queen's community to work in a cross-functional team who share a passion for innovative design. More information about the team can be found at https://queenshyperloop.ca/

Visit QHDT at the 2019 Hyperloop Pod Competition for more photos and/or listen to CBC's All in a Day with Alan Neal interview with Matthew Filipovich. (Photo courtesy of M. Filipovich)
A huge congratulations to graduating Physics student Erin Avryl Crawley for the four medals presented to her at the graduation ceremony this year! She received The Governor General's Academic Medal for the highest academic standing in a Bachelor degree program at Queen's, The Prince of Wales Prize for the highest academic record in the Faculty of Arts and Science, the Medal in Mathematics and Statistics, and the Medal in Physics.

Erin with her parents and Prof. Marc Dignam, Physics Department Head. (Photo courtesy of Prof. Dignam)
Graduate student volunteer Heidi Miller helps a camper make electrical measurements at the first G.I.R.L.S. camp held on July 22-26 at Queen's. For more information on the success, please visit GIRLS Camp was "out of this world".

(Photo courtesy of GIRLS Camp)
NSERC CREATE-MAPS students from Physics, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering taking part in their annual retreat on the shores of Elbow Lake, in the UNESCO Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve, just north of Kingston. For more information about the program, please visit Materials for Advanced Photonic and Sensing web site. (Photo courtesy of Prof. Fraser)
Congratulations to the Arts & Science Physics Graduates of 2019!

(Photo courtesy of Prof. Fraser)
Graduate student Ingrida Semenec (centre) tests out the van de Graaf generator as she and graduate students Liz Fletcher (left) and Ben Tam (right) help to set up for the annual Science Rendezvous Kingston outreach event. Researchers from the Department of Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy contributed three interactive displays to the event, which welcomed over 5200 budding scientists and their families to the Leon’s Centre in Kingston, Ontario. (Photo courtesy of Prof. Wright)
Jonathan Corbett and Julia Puistonen awarding Prof. James Fraser the 2018/19 Geoff Lockwood Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching.

(Photo credit: Prof. Dignam)
Jonathan Corbett and Julia Puistonen awarding Prof. Bob Gooding the 2018/19 Award for Excellence in Instruction in the Engineering Physics Program and Prof. Ryan Martin the 2018/19 Award for Excellence in Instruction in Pure Physics.

(Photo credit: Prof. Dignam)
Geneviève Hayes, an undergraduate student in Engineering Physics, attended and presented at the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging's (SCMR) 2019 Scientific Session in Seattle, Washington in February 2019. Her research presentation was on the Optimization and Validation of Joint T1 and T2 Mapping conducted with the Stephenson Cardiac Imaging Centre this past summer. (Photos courtesy of G. Hayes)
The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, was at Queen's yesterday to announce that more than 90 Queen’s University researchers, including faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral fellows, are the beneficiaries of $4.6 million from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Shown left to right: Ted Hsu, Prof. Stéphane Courteau (Physics), The Honourable Minister of Science and Sport Kirsty Duncan, and Prof. Mark Chen (Physics and Gray Chair).
(Photo by Bernard Clark)
Congratulations Prof. Knobel for receiving the Dean Nathan F. Dupuis Leadership in Engineering Education Award, a one-time prize presented to a deserving faculty member by the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science in recognition of the 125th anniversary of engineering education at Queen’s. For more information, please visit Prof. Knobel's Award.

(Photo credit: Queen's Gazette)
Kyle Oppenheimer received the highest GPA in Engineering Physics Program. Congratulations Kyle!

Kyle is featured for his accomplishment in the promo video made by the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science 125. Click Kyle's responses for a longer video.

(Photo from video created by Matt Mills)
Congratulations to the Queen's Engineering Team for winning top prize in the Junior Design competition category at the 2019 OEC! Now they are off to the national competition held in March. For more information on the winning design, visit 2019 OEC Junior Design Winners!

From left to right: Chas Meadows (mining) , Connor Chappell (computer), Justin Bonal (engineering physics), and Matt Julseth(civil).
Photo courtesy of: Justin Bonal
A group of 15 dedicated Queen's physics and engineering physics students who are passionate about their field as well as gender and minority equity in physics attend the 2019 Canadian Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CCUWiP) in Ottawa. Special congratulations to Hadiya Ma for winning the Delegate's Choice Best Talk! Please see 2019 CCUWiP for more photos.
Big congratulations to engineering students (from left to right) Sarah de Lazzari, Tiffanie Bankosky (Engineering Physics), Serena Corscadden, Kathryn Instrum for winning the top prize at the 2018 International Project Management Conference in Toronto!

For the full exciting story, please read All-female Engineering Student Team nets Top Prize at Project Management Conference.
(Photo used with permission from Tiffanie Bankosky)
Huge congratulations goes to Prof. Hughes who received a prestigious Humboldt Research Award for his outstanding research!

For more information, please visit Queen's Gazette. (Photo credit: Queen's Gazette)
Proving that research is a team effort, past and present Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) employees and their family members gather around the plinth.

For more information, visit Commemorating the Nobel Prize-winning Research.
(University Communications)
Dr. Webster, who is a graduate of Queen's Engineering Physics, developed the key Laser Depth Dynamics (LDD) technology called Inline Coherent Imaging (ICI) during his PhD under the supervision of Prof. James Fraser. For more information about the purchase of LDD, please visit Inline Coherent Imaging Goes Global.

(Image:University Communications Queen's Gazette)
Congratulations! The first CFI grant, lead by Prof. Noble, will be used to build a next generation detector, PICO 500L, that will search for dark matter, while the second grant, lead by Profs. Hughes and Fraser, will be used to establish the Queen’s Nanophotonics Research Centre, which will explore the behaviour of light and light-matter interactions on the nanometre scale. See full article on Queen's Gazette.
(Photo credit: Queen's Gazette)
SNOLAB receives $28.8 million in provincial funding from Minister of Research, Innovation and Science, Reza Moridi (center).

(Photo credit:Queen's Gazette)
Celebrating Professor James Fraser's induction to prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship. From left to right, Provost Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Director-Centre for Teaching & Learning Peter Wolf, Department Head Marc Dignam, Prof. James Fraser.

(Photo: Queen's Gazette)
Congratulations to professor emeritus Arthur McDonald and the entire SNO Collaboration who have been awarded the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics! The $ 3 million prize is shared with four other international experimental collaborations studying neutrino oscillations: The Superkamiokande, Kamland, T2K/K2K and Daya Bay scientific collaborations.

(Background image: Roy Kaltschmidt from LBL)