APPLICATION DEADLINE: Application deadline is Friday 10 Feb 2023.
Brief description:
Location: The internship will be held at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC), Kingston,
Ontario, in the laboratory of Professor Sabat in the Department of Physics and Space Science. For
more information about the research group and the lab, please visit the following link
http://www.sabatresearchgroup.ca .
Dates: First week of May until mid-August 2023 (16 weeks).
Nature of the organization: The Royal Military College of Canada is the only federal university in
Canada. All undergraduate students are military officers in training, while graduate students can
be civilians (without any connection to the Canadian Armed Forces) or military officers. Most of
the professors at RMC are civilians and have university research programs funded by various
organizations such as NSERC.
Functions of the trainee: The Research Assistant will conduct experimental research in the
laboratory of Professor Sabat. They will be trained to operate research equipment in optics and
photonics. They will use lasers to inscribe photonic nanostructures, microstructures and
metasurfaces in photomechanical thin films and study their physical properties. They will prepare
test samples utilizing specialized scientific equipment, such as spin coaters, glovebox chamber,
metal layer sputter coater and evaporator, surface profiler, high-powered lasers, atomic force
microscope, spectrometers, LabView programs, photodetectors and lock-in amplifiers, etc... The
research goal is to conduct in-depth studies on the photomechanical effect (light activated
mechanical motion) in azobenzene materials, and on the generation, propagation and
enhancement of surface plasmon resonance at metal/dielectric interfaces. The fabricated
plasmonic metasurfaces will be used as biosensors, imagers and possibly in thin-film organic solar
cells. Finally, the Research Assistant will put their research data clearly in Excel, participate in
weekly research group meetings and write a summary report at the end of the internship.
Work environment: This is a good opportunity for a student to work in a research group that
produces several publications every year. There is a good chance that the trainee will be a coauthor
on a scientific paper if the research is successful.
Specific requirements: The Research Assistant will be paid a $6,000 scholarship from the NSERC
USRA program that the student can earn. In addition, Prof. Sabat will pay an extra $2,000.
Therefore, the total amount for the duration of the internship is $8,000 given as stipends (nontaxed).
There are several NSERC USRA Scholarships available at RMC for this summer for undergraduate
students at Canadian Universities (only one or two positions in Prof. Sabat’s group). The higher
the student's grades are, the higher the chances that they will get this scholarship. In past
summers, every student chosen by Professor Sabat for this internship has won the NSERC USRA
Scholarship.
Preference will be given to students studying in Physics or in Engineering Physics, however, Prof.
Sabat will accept applications from outstanding students in Electrical Engineering or
Biotechnological Engineering.
Visible and gendered minorities, women, persons with disabilities, as well as aboriginal peoples,
are encouraged to self-identify. Only Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada are
eligible to apply.
Please email Prof. Sabat { sabat@rmc.ca } with your C.V. and unofficial transcript. Please contact
Prof. Sabat if you have any questions