October 2015
Congratulations to Ken Davey (Biology) on receiving an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from York for his contributions to science, university life and Canada. He delivered a passionate and thought-provoking address at fall convocation.
Congratulations to Demian Ifa (Chemistry) on receiving this year’s Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award for excellence in teaching and research that will enrich the learning environment and contribute to society.
A. Kumarakrishnan (Physics & Astronomy) received $100k in additional support through NSERC I2I Phase 1b and OCE VIP programs for laser development. Congratulations to Kumar and his team.
Congratulations to STS graduate student Anita Buragohain on being selected as one of three Elia Scholars at York.
The Chemistry department held a symposium to celebrate the graduate awards named in honor of the late faculty members Michael Pollard and Douglas Butler. Recipients Lucas McCann and Jennifer Farmer presented their research, and Prof. Dennis Hall (University of Alberta) delivered the keynote address. The benefactors of these graduate awards were also in attendance.
The new batch of Faculty of Science videos feature:
- Undergraduate Nathan Gold (working with Stephen Wang – Mathematics & Statistics)
- Faculty member Jane Heffernan (Mathematics & Statistics)
- Graduate student Alexandra Terrana (working with Matt Johnson – Physics & Astronomy)
- Banting postdoc Alexander Stasheuski (working with Sergey Krylov – Chemistry)
- Faculty member Sean Tulin (Physics & Astronomy)
Previous videos have won gold in the CASE District II competition. Check out the YorkU Science YouTube channel to see all our videos.
The Department of Physics & Astronomy hosted over 250 high school students and teachers for a special screening of The Martian, introduced by Allan Carswell and followed by a Q & A with Paul Delaney and Chris Bergevin. Special thanks to Allan for making this terrific event possible.
The Ada Lovelace Day was celebrated, for the first time at York, with two events in October. Over 40 people attended a lively talk by Ryerson’s Science Dean Imogen Coe on “All about STEMinism” and over 20 participated in a daylong drop-in Women-in-STEM Wikipedia Edit-a-thon. Many thanks to Dawn Bazely (Biology), John Dupuis and the other organizers.
Nine students from Physics & Astronomy participated in the Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference held this year at Trent University in Peterborough. They presented their research on topics ranging from stellar evolution to the search for magnetic monopoles.
Sun Kwok, Dean of Science and Chair Professor of Physics at the University of Hong Kong, visited the Faculty of Science. He delivered a lecture on curricular reform and a Physics & Astronomy colloquium, and discussed possible collaborations.
The Science of Science Fiction series continued with three well-attended and engaging talks by Michael Jenkin (Computer Science, Lassonde), Wendy Taylor (Physics & Astronomy) and Carol Bucking (Biology). Sean Tulin (Physics & Astronomy) and Michael Scheid (Biology) will deliver the last two talks on November 12.
In the Media
New issue of The York University Magazine features Pat Hall (Physics & Astronomy) for his research on gas-eating black holes.
On Back to the Future Day (October 21), CP24 interviewed Paul Delaney (Physics & Astronomy) about what didn’t actually happen and may never (in our lifetime). Paul also did a number of other interviews in October: CTV National about the Nobel Prize, Global TV about neutrinos, and CHML Hamilton radio about NASA’s Mars mission.
Dean Ray Jayawardhana commented on the Nobel Prize in Physics going to two neutrino researchers, one of whom is Canadian, for over 20 media outlets, including Washington Post, Toronto Star, CBC TV The National, CBC Radio (“Here and Now” in Toronto and a dozen other programs across the country), and Radio New Zealand. He also wrote a related article in The Atlantic online and an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.
Dean Jayawardhana’s article on Einstein, fame and the 100th anniversary of general relativity also appeared in The Atlantic online.
Upcoming Events
Nov 12 – Michael Scheid – Science of Science Fiction
Nov 12 – Sean Tulin – Science of Science Fiction
Nov 17 – STS Day: Sean Michaels’ talk “Us Conductors” and theramin concert
Nov 17 – York U Science Alumni meeting
Nov 18 – Math & Stats Day and Awards Night
Nov 24 – Science Honours & Awards evening, with keynote by alumnus Dan Riskin
Nov 26 – Café Mathematique at Fields Institute, featuring Jane Heffernan and Jianhong Wu
Nov 27 – Biology Day
Nov 28 – Science Legacies breakfast for emeritus and current faculty and York Circle lecture by Marshall McCall
Nov 29 – Sapna Sharma’s (Biology) RCI lecture